The Valkyrie Chronicles: Titans (2 page)

We all grinned and raised our mugs of mead as I said, “Here here.”  We sat back and drank and relaxed.

Artemis stretched, I could appreciate her feminine grace that a warrior should not have.  Half of the combined races here in Valhalla have tried unsuccessfully to woo her to their beds.  Then she started to ask, “So the next few grids we clear on the planet tomorrow, should we...”

All of us stopped and I tilted my head at her.  Kat made a clucking sound and Artemis looked around at us and had the decency to blush in embarrassment.  “Right.  No business at home.”

I grinned and took a huge gulp of mead.  “You'd think that you would learn after all of these centuries together.”

She just comically rolled her brown eyes at me and squished up her nose then took a long tug from her own mug.

I was going to miss the woman when she left Valhalla.  She had determined that after we had reclaimed Ragnarok, and all six of the planets, or 'outer ring' of the star engine created by the Frost Giants, were under the protection of the Asgard. It would be time for her to return home to Olympus and share everything she had learned over the past four thousand years with us.

She had taken up residence in our spare room with Samantha after Essa moved out with Intark. Samantha was the last of the Three Embers that lived with us now.  And soon I fear she will finally cave in and move in with Inatra and Arina's daughter, Brunhilde.  She and Essa spend more time in Folkvangr with her than here in Valhalla.  The Three Embers are inseparable.  I think it goes beyond family and is part of the strong link between their third generation evolved nanites.  The next evolution of the sentient Verr inside our bodies. 
Point in fact, Samantha was there tonight.

This would leave Kate and I alone.  That would be so strange.  Maybe it is time to think about more children.

We just spoke about family and other happenings we have heard about from the other planets. There are many news, entertainment, and data feeds that now continually flow through the quantum entanglement communication channels.  As usual, we couldn't get much out of Artemis.  She was so guarded about what she shared about her race.  I get the feeling that there is some big secret she doesn't want us to know, which hurts a little as I see her as a sister now, and love her as such.

After a while, Arina and Inatra said their goodnights, sharing human and Vanger style hugs with Artemis.  I still blush at those types of public displays of affection though they are slowly working through the Asgard society now.  It is almost a social norm now, but the old guard, stick in the mud Asgard like me, still see it is an intimate act.

Then Artemis came over and hugged Kate, who hugged back enthusiastically, and then placed the back of her hand on my cheek.  I swear she was holding back a grin at my stuffy old ways.  “Goodnight sisters, I shall see you on the morrow.”

I smiled.  She knows I like it when she calls us that.  I replied, “Goodnight sister.”  She retired to her room and I turned with Kate to retire.

Just then, our com panels chirped. 
Kroth, I just wanted some sleep!
  I made a beckoning motion to the ceiling and father's face bloomed on the large holographic display that shimmered to life above the low table in the seating area.  He didn't look happy.  I straightened up at that and said, “Well met father.  What is it?”

His lips pursed together in a thin line then he said, “I'm not sure.  Can you meet me in my workshop, bring the Little One?”  He paused.  “You may want to wear your armor.”

At that Kat murmured, “On it love.” She rushed to our room to retrieve our armor.  Artemis poked her head out her door and I nodded once.  She disappeared back into her room to gear up.  I repeated again under my breath, “ Kroth!”

Then I thought of Arina and gently said over our nanite link, “ Little one?”

I had the impression of her gentle voice in my head, “ Yes Kara?”

I smiled and tried to send an apology across the link as I said, “I'm sorry, but can you please meet us in father's workshop?”  Then added, “Wear your armor.”

I hated to add that because she is the first of the Valkyriefrior, like the Three Embers and would do no violence.  But I figured that if father thought I might need mine, then something dangerous may be afoot. I wanted her protected as much as possible, not that anything could ever get past the personal shield that only she can project.

This got a startled reply, “Oh... yes by all means.”  As I took my armor from my wife and started gearing up.  Through thousands of years of practice, we helped each other into our regenerative armor and checked each other over.  She made sure my Ragnarok family death veil was tied firmly on my left arm, a gift from a long dead friend that has been repaired and rewoven dozens of times over the years by Master Loomer Hajart. 

As we headed to the door, Artemis strode out of her room with her gear on as well.  I grinned at the bow on her back. Besides the Valkyrie and Einherjer, she was the only person allowed weapons inside any of the Asgard citadels.  She has stood beside the Valkyrie for eons now and has earned our people's trust and love.  That bow was an incredible piece of technology that Odin and Arina both have said is almost at Asgard levels of sophistication.

She wore regenerative leg armor that Arina designed for her, but she wore no armor besides that, her hooded cloak gave her as much protection as our armor, if not more.  And though her camouflage circuit wasn't quite as good as Freya's chameleon shroud, it came krothing close.  I gave her one last appraising look; she looked just like the Earth legends of her, the eternal hunter; then we stepped out of our quarters into the corridor.  Arina and, of course, Inatra were waiting at the elevators for us.

Inatra shrugged and used an old Earth axiom she had become fond of.  “When it rains, it pours.” I nodded sadly and we made our way to father's workshop.

We arrived at father's workshop and I was not surprised that Tyr and Mist were already there with him.  We all exchanged greetings and then Father made a flicking motion from his console toward the ceiling and the gigantic holo-display sprang to life in the middle of the screen.

There were data streams scrolling below live scans of the asteroid field one hundred and thirty-seven light minutes outside of Ragnarok's orbit around its star, Rok.

Before father could speak I saw Arina's eyes go wide as she absorbed the data being displayed.  She gasped and ran a finger through one stream and snapped her fingers wide and an overlay bloomed in front of her as she examined it.

She looked up to father and said, “But this is just like...”  She trailed off as father nodded then turned to address us all.

He glanced back at the holo-display then said, “The spatial disturbance that appeared in the Earth system a few days back, that Thor and Geiravor are investigating, has also appeared here in the Ragnarok system.  It was obscured by the asteroid field until our orbit progressed to a more oblique angle.  We don't know how long it has been there.  But prior scans from our previous orbit do not show the distortion, so it is safe to conjecture it appeared around the same time as the one in the Earth system.”

He gave that a second to sink in before adding, “I had Freya dispatch one of the Ragnarok ships above the ecliptic to scan the Folkvangr system, and the distortion was there as well.  Behind the asteroid field on the fringes of their system.  Their scans never discovered it because of the heavy vetricite deposits in the asteroid belt.”

Then he stated what we were all thinking, “This obviously isn't a coincidence on a cosmic scale and would seem that it is coordinated.  There is no trace of the distortion in any of the planetary systems we do not have a citadel.”

I pulled up an overlay of my own to show the three distortions.  There was no radiation nor power emanating from them, no gravitational disturbances either, so they had no mass.  I squinted and asked more to myself than anyone else,  “An attack of some sort?  Who could generate these distortions? And to what end?”

Arina corrected me as her hands blurred through all the data that was being amassed. “Not distortions... distortion.  Singular.”  All eyes turned to the Little One and she clarified, “The data we are receiving from all three locations is identical, right down to the quantum signature.  It is similar to our Bifrost but on a massive scale.  Its oblong shape is approximately one by two miles.”

I blanched at the implication.  “It's a doorway?!”

All of the color in Artemis' face drained away as she put both hands on the workbench to support her from swaying.  I saw fear in her eyes as she said hoarsely,  “You must evacuate the three worlds now!”

Odin laid a hand on hers on the workbench, she looked to be hyperventilating.  He asked softly, “What is it Artemis?”

The word that came out of her mouth was barely audible, tinged with fear she had never used when she spoke of the Jotunn, “Titans!”  The room went silent.

Artemis never spoke of the Titans that her race was created by the Frost Giants to fight.  The Asgard were apparently the next phase in the process after the Olympians refused to fight for the Jotunn and were forced to flee and go into hiding for eons.

We Asgard were built along the same template as the people of Olympus, but with under-developed aggression centers in our brains so the Jotunn could determine where their design went wrong.  To their folly, the Frost Giants found that the Asgard were even more deadly than the Olympians.  Well, at least the Valkyrie that have spawned from Asgard.

Artemis shared how all of the other iterations of machines and bio-mechanical creatures that were created to battle the Titans, like the hybrids had all failed to stop the Titans. So that is when the Frost Giants determined that more intelligent warriors were needed.  What they didn't count on was the fact that sentient beings have free will, and neither the Olympians nor the Asgard wanted anything to do with their war.

Though she is a wealth of knowledge about the Jotunn, we haven't been able to get much from her about the Titans.  It seems to be a point of shame with her and we would never press to bring that shame to the forefront.

All we know is that the Titans seem to be on technical parity with the Frost Giants and that their war had been fought since before time and this universe began.  They have been at a stalemate for most of that time.  At one point, the Titans had killed a single Jotunn.  Never before had that occurred in all of history.  That is when the genesis of our races began.

But now, the combined races have stopped the Frost Giants from annihilating us, and so doing, killed ten Frost Giants, including their leader Ymir.  We also brought down one of their immense space battleships.  Father has postulated that since their numbers are so small; Ymir had indicated that there have always been one thousand Jotunn since time began, sprinkled among ten universes. That this may tip the balance in their war toward the Titans.

I took one last look at Artemis and then hit coms.  Father was in motion too.  I contacted Kitty to ready our space defenses here in the Ragnarok system.  We were most vulnerable here. We had two Sky, three whenever Looper visited like today, and twenty space capable Hornet Class wind riders with magnetic spear capabilities, the first ever armed Asgard ships, manned by Valkfela from Folkvangr.

The magnetic spears on the ships were developed to handle the transmission of pulsed of magnetic energy from the citadel. That would have destroyed thousands of vessels not equipped with the shunts and form that energy pulse into a spear of power that would momentarily have the ability to destroy the armor on a Jotunn Star Killer.  It would be less than a bee sting, but en mass, cumulative strikes may eventually damage or cripple the enemy vessel.  Earth and Folkvangr have better defenses.

Earth has seven Hyperion Class dreadnoughts that were designed specifically to take the brunt of the ungodly powerful attacks from Jotunn Star Killer main cannons.  They have a thick honeycomb shell of carbon that is packed with asteroid material. That armor has been laced with vetricite from the mines on Folkvangr, all shielded by the most powerful nano-lattices that their limited power plants can generate.  Their main weapons wouldn't scratch the surface of Frost Giant armor, but that is why the ships were built for ramming.  They are mostly giant wedges covered with nano-lattice.  The Ragnarok had proven the effectiveness of ramming Jotunn vessels during their fight for survival.

I do not understand the suicide run mentality of humans, but I do know they are fierce fighters and will resort to that kind of attack to ensure the freedom of their race.

They are backed by an entire fleet of Hornet Class wind riders and no less than thirty-seven Ragnarok Vengeance Class Generational Transports that have arrived in orbit over the centuries.  All in all, the Earth system is the most likely to survive a Frost Giant assault.

Folkvangr has a fleet of Hornet Class wind riders as well, along with two Vengeance Class vessels. But the work has just finished no less than a hundred years ago on the three Javelins!  The four mile long, system defense vessels of Freya, Song of Truth's design.  I still blush at the names the ships were christened with, the Kenatar, the Odin, and the Kara.

Each one has a magnetic energy harvesting core the same size as the one that powers the defenses of her citadel of Heildfine.  They are protected by the most powerful nano-lattice ever conceived, straight out of the mind of Arina.  The lattice on the vessels rivals the strength of the dome shields that protect our citadels.  Plus, the hulls are made of vetricite alloy that will scatter most energy strikes that may get through, and diffuse the damage.

There is but a single weapon on each Javelin.  Like the Hornets, the Javelins can generate a spike of pure magnetic force.  Thus the Javelin name.  But unlike the Hornets, the fury a spike a Javelin can generate, could bisect a small moon.

Earth should complete its first Javelin in less than a century, the Sif.  I grinned at the vessel being named after my sister in law, I had actually pushed for it so she could share in my eternal embarrassment.

Father was putting the alarm out to both Earth and Folkvangr as I spoke with the rest of our forces here on Ragnarok.  We were all aware that if the Titans attacked, Ragnarok would be the first target as we have virtually nothing to stop them yet.  I smirked at that.  It would be a mistake to underestimate the Valkyrie of Asgard.  We now number twenty-one, much closer to our peak number of thirty.  We can call upon the eight Valkyrie of Earth, the Five Valkyrie and seven Valkfela of Folkvangr to bolster our numbers.  Never before has Valhalla been more capable of defending our innocents than now.

Artemis was looking at the controls on her Jump Pack, the device she uses to travel between planets.  It takes years to gather the energy necessary from the planetary engine the Jotunn had created to make the jump.  Was she running?  She saw the disappointment on my face and paused, then said, “You do not understand Kara.  You should have Valhalla do a crash translation through the veil to your realm until the danger has passed.”

I stepped up to her and placed the back of my hand on her cheek.  She was trembling.  I smiled at her. “Please help me understand Artemis of the Hunt.  Are the Titans that much worse than the Frost Giants?”  I rarely used the title that father bestowed upon her and that seemed to snap her out of her panic.

She closed her eyes as Arina came over to hug her arm and just comfort her.  Kat stood beside me as Artemis began without opening her eyes. “Ok... I will tell you all there is to know about the Titans. We Olympians numbered one thousand, some weird symmetry from the Frost Giants warped minds. Since they numbered one thousand and so did the Titans.  A cosmic balance of sorts.  But after our only encounter with the Titans, only three hundred of us remained.”

She opened her eyes finally. Then she began to speak, “They must have detected the Frost Giant tech here and on Folkvangr, and all the armor shards from the Star Killer that were sent through to Earth for weapons development.  They will come here first as it is the least fortified system.  The Titans are...”  She was interrupted by a myriad of alarms going off at the consoles around the workshop.  Arina turned to the central holo-display and her hands were flicking through the data then she highlighted the distortion on the screen and energy buildup data started streaming below it.  The gateway was waking up!

My eyes scanned it all and my Verr automatically snapped up overlays in my vision to show me the tactical overlays I needed.  I had long since stopped noticing when this happened, the Verr were such a part of me, an extension of me anymore, that it was just a regular part of my vision.  Kate and I were the only Valkyrie with evolved nanites that had the ability.  It seems it was woken up in us by stress, emotions, and pain that resonated with the Verr, and they created more direct communication pathways in our brains.

I almost can't remember a time that I didn't have virtual data streams and overlays feeding me additional information that I needed in my vision.  The spacial distortion that once had no power signature was now alive with energy.  Nearby asteroids were instantly vaporized.  I sent Tyr at the main gates a quick message to have all Einherjer and Valkyrie at the ready in case of attack.  I heard Father doing the same for Earth and Folkvangr.

Then a series of orbs, approximately twenty meters in diameter, came rocketing out of the distortion at fractional C velocity.  The sheer numbers of them were staggering, and from this distance it looked like the distortion was belching out a cloud of them.  They sped out toward Ragnarok and I commed Kitty, “Scramble the Hornets and the Sky.  We may have incoming hostiles.”

I included a data feed with my message.  She acknowledged and as efficient as ever, my tactical readout showed our twenty Hornets and three Sky rocketing out of the thick Ragnarok atmosphere at almost hypersonic speeds just a minute later. They formed an orbiting hemispherical shell facing the incoming orbs and would keep just out of the known extreme range of Frost Giant weapons when they arrived.  Two thousand miles, though we knew the effective range was more like one thousand. It was better to play it safe with the Titans since we didn't know their capabilities.

Mist was feeding Arina tactical information as she gathered it.  We watched over the next three hours as the orbs approached the planet, refining our scans.  But then Arina stopped and cocked her head.  I heard her exclaim softly, “Huh.”  Which got Odin's attention immediately.  If it gave her pause then, it was something of some sort of significance.  Father was still First Scientist even though he held the mantle of ruler of Valhalla, but he has said on many occasions that if he had not kept the title, Arina would be First Scientist of Asgard.  Her intelligence and cleverness for uniquely inspired systems rivaled his own.

He stood next to her, towering over her as I watched the orb cloud slowly thinning as the minutes ticked by. It left a trail of icons glowing on the primary holo-display like a trail of gleaming pearls.  My Verr projected that the rate they were thinning, a single one would be eleven hundred miles above the planet at a fixed point relative to the distortion.

Father scanned the data. “What is it little one?”  She didn't speak she just highlighted the trail in the holographic display by running her finger through it. Then she made a flicking motion and another display filled with data appeared in front of her and she highlighted a portion of it.  Then father grunted, “Huh.”