three. Taroa is where we originally entered the cluster and had our first run-in with the Ta’Akar. Taroa’s secondary component, Korak, is the red dwarf with the heavy asteroid belt that we hid in just after that.”
“Yes, I remember it fondly,” Nathan commented.
“Taroa has eleven planets, two of which are inhabited, along with three more reformed moons that are also inhabited. It was on one of those moons that the rebel’s last base was located.”
“It also was a reformed world. It was completed more than three years ago, and was fully developed.”
Nathan noticed the forlorn look on Tug’s face, as well as his use of the past tense. “Was?”
“There were more than three million people living on that small moon. When they refused to reveal our location, the Ta’Akar simply obliterated them from orbit, as a warning to any others that might support us.”
“They glassed the planet?” Jessica asked, shocked.
Tug looked at her for a moment, as he considered the terminology she had used. “Yes. I guess that is as good a term as any. There is undoubtedly little left on the surface.”
After waiting for what seemed like a polite interval, Cameron continued. “Over here,” she said, pointing to another pair of yellow balls orbiting around one another, “we have another binary system called Mellabore. It’s similar in size and type to the Alpha Centauri system near Sol: two G-type stars, the B component smaller than its primary. The primary is called Savoy, and the secondary is called Darvano. Between the two of them, there are about eight inhabited planets and moons.”
“Where are we now?” Nathan asked, looking over the hovering holographic display.
Cameron reached down and pressed a button on the slide-out control drawer, causing the holographic display to zoom out. As it did so, several more stars appeared about the fringe of the display. “We’re about here.” Cameron pressed another button and a small blue triangle appeared next to an amber colored star. “Just outside of the Haven system,” she explained, as she pointed at the amber star. “Just a second.”
Using both hands, Cameron entered several commands into the control pad, pressing the last button as she began to speak again. “As I stated before, we jumped in here, in the Taroa system.” The blue triangle that had appeared next to the amber star representing Haven disappeared, only to re-appear a moment later, overlapping the yellow star representing Taroa. “We then jumped to Korak.” She pushed another button, and the blue triangle repositioned itself overlapping the nearby red dwarf star, a dotted blue line connecting the two stars. “Then we jumped to about the same place we are now, just outside Haven.” Again, the triangle moved, drawing another dotted blue line. “From there we flew into the Haven system at sub-light.” A solid blue line drew itself through the air from its starting point the last few centimeters to the amber star representing Haven. “After that, we did the mini-jump, and then jumped back out to here again.” Finally the blue triangle returned to its position a few centimeters away from the symbol for the Haven star.
“So technically, we’re still outside of Ta’Akar space?” Nathan surmised.
“Actually,” Tug explained, “the Ta’Akar never formally released any of their former worlds from their control. They simply chose to withdraw their forces and cease their governance and taxation. This is one of the reasons that I fully expect them to quickly retake these lost worlds, once they have put their new power source into widespread use.”
“How many worlds are we talking about?” Nathan wondered aloud, noticing that only a few had been added to the display when Cameron had zoomed out.
“This was the area controlled by the Ta’Akar at the start of the rebellion.” Cameron again zoomed out, this time more than twice the distance. At least two dozen more star systems appeared.
“Whoa,” Jessica said under her breath.
“These are the inhabited ones,” Cameron added, pressing another button on the control pad. More than half of the newly added stars in the display suddenly changed to a brilliant lavender. “Eighteen out of the twenty-eight additional systems are inhabited.”
“And many of those have multiple bodies that have been colonized.”
“I had no idea this area of space was so heavily colonized,” Nathan admitted.
“Yes. This area of space is blessed with a great number of bodies that are hospitable by nature, and many more that were easily reformed. It is believed to be one of the main reasons that humans originally settled here.”
“Believed?” Nathan was a bit surprised. “You mean you don’t know?”
“We once did, of course. But remember, Caius has been in power for over one hundred years. During this time, adherence to the Doctrine of Origins required the destruction of all heretic historical documents. As crazy as it sounds, Caius was trying to elevate himself to the level of a God by removing all evidence to the contrary.”
“Kind of takes narcissism to a whole new level, doesn’t he?” Jessica commented.
“Surely, out of all these worlds, someone must possess the truth of how you all came to be out here.”
“There are many,” Jalea interrupted, speaking for the first time since the meeting had begun. “They form an order of sorts, partially spiritual, partially historical. But they maintain documentation of the truth of our origins. This is what Tug refers to when he speaks of the Legend of Origins.”
“Shouldn’t it be called the Truth of Origins?” Nathan suggested.
“Perhaps,” Jalea agreed. “But the Ta’Akar began using the word legend in order to support their claim that the records were no more than fabrications created to further the agenda of the Order. Actually, we had hoped that you would be able to fill in some of the holes in the legend that have been created by the efforts of the Ta’Akar over the decades.”
“Well, as I explained to Tug before, civilization on Earth fell apart because of the plague. Had we not discovered the Data Ark a century ago, we wouldn’t even be back in space yet, let alone a thousand light years from home.”
“Did this Ark contain nothing about the mass exodus from your world?” Jalea asked.
“Only that people fled the core worlds in order to escape the bio-digital plague. We assumed that most of that migration had been to the few fringe worlds that were just being established at the time. We surmised that some expeditions might have struck out on their own, traveling deeper out into space. But early into the plague, the Data Ark was sealed off to protect it. So details about the aftermath are vague at best. The following seven centuries were brutal for the people on Earth. It took more than two hundred years just for the population to start to increase again. There were only a few million people left alive after the plague ran its course.” Nathan sighed. “So, you can see how we would have very little information that might help you. Quite frankly, we were shocked to find out that some of us had traveled out this far.”
Cameron looked around the room, waiting to see if they had finished their discussion. “If we can get back on topic?” Nathan nodded sheepishly. Cameron took his cue and touched the display control pad, zooming in again to show the Pentaurus cluster and a few of the systems on its borders, including their current location just outside of Haven. “Although I still believe that departing the area posthaste would be the most prudent course of action, in line with your orders, sir, Tug and I have discussed the best location in which to conduct repairs and take on more supplies.” Cameron pointed to at the second binary system she had described earlier. “The Mellabore system, or more precisely, the secondary component, Darvano.”
“That’s all the way on the opposite side of the cluster,” Nathan pointed out. “Is it even within our range?”
“Technically, yes,” Abby said. “However, I would prefer that we travel there in two shorter jumps instead of one max-range jump. We have yet to test the drive at its maximum jump range.”
“Other than the thousand light year jump that got us here,” Nathan reminded her. He looked at Tug. “Why Darvano?”
“Several reasons,” Tug started. “First, being so far away, it is not only the last place they would look for you, but it is also the last place that will learn of your existence. Even with the comm-drone system, unless they were to dispatch a dedicated drone, it would take nearly a week for the message to propagate through the system and reach Darvano. Second, the presence of the Order is strong on this world. This usually means that there is considerable support available for our cause. Although if news of our defeat has reached Darvano, then that might no longer be the case.”
“Any other reasons?”
“Yes, and perhaps the most compelling. We have a rather unique facility hiding in the Darvano system. The system has a fairly dense asteroid field. It is heavily mined, using a method whereby the larger asteroids are hollowed out until they are nothing more than an empty shell. Then the shell is sent on a slow intercept trajectory
