Procyon - Nava Jaganh now in development.

Read the Introduction and first chapter right now.

Introduction

The year is 0GA: first year of the Great Awakening. It has been sixty days since the rescue of the survivors on Procyon 1. The people of Nava Jaganh (New World) are busy with their lives, and still adjusting to their new home-world. Much has been accomplished in the last several weeks. New apartment homes built, a GGI (Global Governing Initiative) HQ built, and civic systems put into place. Kara is still the spiritual leader, and continues to assist the people in nurturing their telekinetic and telepathic abilities, with regularly scheduled spiritual gatherings. As with Kara, Trevor remains in the service of the GGI military.

General Derrick Waquer, the aging, but very capable commander of the GGI military, along with Luche' Muskov, the Intelligence officer, has had some time to research the Seihgy’ Ma, using the CAI (Collective Artificial Intelligence) console. They have experienced several visits from Seihgy’ Ma scouts, but so far there have been no hostilities. The Seihgy’ Ma apparently don’t consider the GGI any sort of a threat quite yet, and the GGI are happy to leave things as they are… for now.

The Jahaterans continue to nurture the new settlers, and guide them in any way they can. They occasionally join in on spiritual gatherings to study the progress of the people on their journey to Ascension. They communicate, through telepathy, to the general population as the need arises, guiding them on their journey. Their knowledge and experience of the Seihgy’ Ma has also been an invaluable asset to the General and his team.

The GGI have built a new spacecraft, similar to a shuttle, with the usual assistance of CAI. This is the new PEV (Planetary Exploration Vehicle). It is a small craft, with enough passenger space for eight people, and is used for planetary exploration. The old ‘wheeled’ PEV has been decommissioned. A small group of GGI scout personnel have used the new PEV over the last couple weeks to explore the surrounding area. It is also used for border patrols. They have calculated that the Paradise Valley they call home is around fourty square miles. So they know they have some room to grow. They have designated the edges of the Paradise Valley as their borders. The landscapes surrounding this Paradise Valley however, look like they have been through several wars. The terrain is very rough and burned, filled with jagged rocks, craters, burned tree debris, piles of dirt, ore and stone rubble, and fissures of various sizes. These environments have extremely high levels of CO2, so exploration is kept to a minimum, and the areas are off limits to the general public for health reasons.

They have studied Nava Jaganh from high orbit, and estimate that the diameter is just a bit smaller than that of Earth, at around 6,500 miles at the equator. There is also a tropical region that covers parts of the equator, and they intend on exploring that further for possible future expansion. They have also located two oceans, one in the south-east hemisphere, just below and next to the continent they have set up the compound on, and another further to the west, covering both the northern and southern hemispheres, and separating the two continents they have discovered. The other continent is far to the west.

Chapter 1 - Enemy At The Gate

General Derrick Waquer is in his office at HQ, looking over data on a small portable data-pad. The data-pad has wireless access to the CAI console, with certain limitations. There is a knock at his door. “Come in.”

Luche' Muskov opens the door slowly. Being the introvert he is, without a word, he enters the office, closing the door behind him, and has a seat across from the General. “Good Morning.”

“Hey Luche’,” Derrick replies. “What’s on your mind?”

“Same old thing,” Luche' comments in a low tone. “Just thought you should know that I received a report from our scout team last night about Seihgy’ Ma ground troops on our eastern border.”

“Ground troops? That’s odd. Never seen that before. We’ve seen plenty of their scout ships, which are visiting more and more frequently. But ground troops? Are they becoming more aggressive?”

“Not really sure. They didn’t move too far inside the border, but they may have spotted our scout ship. Apparently they retreated after a few minutes. Anyway, they’ll never get across the ravine, unless they come in ships, so they aren’t too big of an issue just yet.”

Derrick thinks for a few moments. “I’m still wondering if they are just trying to make contact. Maybe to see if we want to be allies or something.”

“That will never happen,” Luche' responds with a firm tone.

“It might not be a bad idea to get a spy or two inside their ranks. It would be nice to know what they are up to.”

“Agreed. But it won’t be easy. We look nothing like them. If we get caught, that might lead to hostilities that we are ill-equipped for.”

“What if we try to make first contact, covertly, under the assumption that we want to be allies?”

“That could work. But how do we communicate with them? We know very little about their language, so we would have to spend months with CAI, learning to communicate with them. We would have to learn their language.”

Derrick raises his eyebrows. “Yeah, we can do that anyway, but I don’t want to invest that much time right now. We need to act soon. Those ground troops could be a threat. Especially if they start bringing them in ships.”

There is another knock at the General’s door. “Come in!” Derrick shouts.

The door opens, and Trevor steps in. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”

“Not at all,” Derrick replies. “Have a seat.”

Trevor sits in a chair next to Luche'. “How’s it going Luche'?”

“About the same, never changes.”

Derrick intervenes the two. “We were just discussing the Siehgy’ Ma, and how we could get a couple people on the inside for a little intel. We need to know what they are up to. They had ground troops infiltrating our eastern border last night.”

Trevor raises his eyebrows and looks at the General. “Really? Ground troops?” He pauses for a moment. “What have you come up with?”

“Well, not much yet. As Luche' and I have already discussed, we don’t know their language, and we don’t look like them. I doubt we could march right into their base and strike up a conversation. You got any ideas?”

Trevor thinks for a few moments. “Well, we don’t even know where their outpost is. We would need to find that first. Since they seem to come mostly from the east, I would suggest we start there with a scouting party.”

“Agreed,” says Luche', in his usual blunt way.

“I do have another thought though,” Trevor continues. “What if we could get the Jahaterans involved. They could walk right into their base without ever being seen. And they already know the language. They could get all the intel we need.”

Luche' just raises his eyebrows and looks to Derrick.

Derrick sits more upright in his chair and smiles at Trevor, “That would be great, if you can talk them into it. But you know their policy of not interfering.”

Trevor affirms to the General, “Well, it’s their war too. It was their war long before we came on the scene. I’m sure I can get them to cooperate. I’ll get Kara to work with me. She has built quite a rapport with them and has a way of getting into their minds better.”

“Great!” remarks Derrick. “Let’s not waste time then. Go do your thing.”

“Roger that sir,” Trevor states. He then exits the office.

Derrick and Luche' just smile at each other. Luche' exits as well, leaving the General to his thoughts.

Trevor is headed over to the community center, where Kara hosts spiritual gatherings. When he arrives, she is in the middle of a session, with a large gathering of people. Trevor decides to wait it out, and sits in a seat toward the back of the room, quietly observing the session.

After about a ten minute wait, Kara winds things down. “Namaste.”

The gathering of people begin to exit the room.

Trevor approaches Kara. “Hi sweetie.”

Kara gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Hey babe, how’s it going?”

“Great. I have something that I need your assistance with.”

“It involves the Jahaterans, and the Sieghy' Ma, right?”

“Yep, you got it.” Trevor chuckles, knowing she is reading his mind.

“You need their assistance with a covert operation?” Kara inquires.

Trevor just grins at her. “Do you just want to take the information from my mind? You’re already doing a pretty good job of that so far.”

“Yeah, I know what you need,” Kara states. “I would be happy to assist you, as usual.”

Kara and Trevor both focus their thoughts to Hechcanna and Khote. In a matter of seconds a telepathic connection is established.

“How may we be of assistance?” Khote inquires, knowing already what the topic of discussion is going to be.

Trevor begins explaining anyway, through telepathy. “We need your help obtaining intelligence from the Sieghy' Ma. They are starting to send ground troops over our eastern border. We need to know what they are up to. And we don’t even know where their outpost is.”

Hechcanna intervenes, “You know our policy regarding interference into other people’s lives. We cannot do this for you. You must use your abilities, as you have been doing, to gather the information you need.”

Kara speaks up insistently. “We don’t look like them, and we can’t communicate with them. You, on the other hand, are invisible. You could walk right into their base camp unnoticed, and without challenge. You could translate their language into a language we could understand and relay it back to us. You could see what they are doing and planning without risk. This is your war too.”

“You must find another way. They still have the means to detect our presence, and any incursion like that from us would only exacerbate the aggression.”

The Jahaterans and Sieghy' Ma are at a stalemate in the war, with neither side currently having the advantage. To escalate any aggression would not be in their best interest.

Hechcanna continues, “You have made so much progress in your evolution. You can do this. We have faith in you. Use your abilities.”

With that, the Jahaterans take their leave. Once again, the heroes find themselves in a challenging situation, which seems insurmountable at the moment.

Kara puts a hand on Trevor’s shoulder. “Looks like we’re on our own here. The Jahaterans seem to be very stubborn at times. But I guess we have to learn. We have to push ourselves harder.”

“Well, we have the CAI console. It has been invaluable in the past. We can look through there to see if we can come up with some ideas.”

Kara pulls out a CAI data-pad. As with the General’s, the data-pad wirelessly connects to CAI. She starts perusing the database, doing searches for anything that might be helpful. “We need a craft of some sort that has stealth capabilities,” she comments, thinking out loud. She continues her search.

The PRV1 (Procyon Rescue Vessel) is too large to be useful under the circumstances. They need something small, quick and agile. They also need a listening device for recording. Something like a parabolic microphone. As Kara whips through the database, she finds something similar to what she envisioned for the craft. It will only seat four people, but that’s good enough for their purpose. As with the other spacecraft they have built, it runs on Zero Point energy. It also has a cloaking feature. Perfect for their needs. She dissects the schematic, to isolate each particular component into it’s own diagram. She then enters a state of meditation, and envisions a parabolic microphone attached to the underneath part of the craft’s nose. An image appears on the screen of a similar device.

“That should be it,” Kara states. “Let’s head over to the old mountains where the ore is and put this thing together.”

They head out in the PEV to the old mountains to the west. The area still has a surplus of raw materials, which they have used to build the other space craft. They exit the PEV, and find an open spot to work in. They both assume a lotus pose and begin to meditate. They systematically go through each diagram of the schematic. As each piece is visualized, ores rise from the ground and begin to combine with each other, fusing at the molecular level, to form the raw material. Then, each piece is formed, shaped and constructed, one by one, and attached to the other pieces. The hull is the first piece, followed by the internal, and then the external components. After several hours, the craft is complete and floats silently in front of the couple.

“That’s it,” Kara remarks. “The SSS (Stealth Scout Shuttle). Let’s test this baby out.”

They both enter the craft. Kara takes a seat by the main control panel, and Trevor sits next to her. Kara studies the controls for a few minutes, noticing they are quite similar to the other spacecraft they have built.

“This should be a breeze,” Kara comments.

Trevor is just watching Kara go through her progression of primary and secondary systems initiation, ignition and acceleration. The controls seem to be a natural extension of her mind. She notices a screen with a small icon on it, a vapor image, suggesting stealth. She pushes the button. The engines get quieter and a light on the small panel shines green.

“I think we’re cloaked!” Kara exclaims. “Let’s test this out.” She turns the craft toward the home-base, and accelerates toward it. “Let’s see what kind of reaction we get from the people in the compound.”

As the craft moves around over the population, they notice people looking skyward, and all around. It’s like they know something is there, but they can’t see it.

“Seems to be functioning,” Trevor remarks, “although I think they hear the sound of the engines.”

“Yeah, I think we need to move at a slower rate of speed in order to stay cloaked. That’s probably why the engines went quieter when I activated the cloak. Harder to detect us with the engines so low. I also noticed that light on the panel starting to turn yellow when I sped up. Could be measuring the power input or the decibels of the engines. So we’ll have to be mindful of that.”

“I guess we should update your dad on our status. I’m sure he’ll be pleased and excited.”

“We’ll head over to his office right now. We’ll play a little trick on him.” She giggles.

They turn the craft toward the HQ and slowly drift to just above the main entrance. Kara is giddy at this point. She wants to surprise him.

In her mind, Kara focuses on her dad and calls out to him, “Dad.”

The General hears this in his mind, and is quite surprised. He doesn’t have a lot of experience with telepathy, and prefers to speak face to face with people. “Is that you Kara?”

“Yes dad,” Kara replies. “We have some good news for you. Why don’t you take a step outside.”

The General is a little confused, but plays into the game with his daughter. He walks out the main entrance and looks around for Kara. He looks skyward, “Where are you?” he says. He can obviously hear the engines.

“We’re just above you, in a shiny new ship,” Kara replies.

The General looks straight up, and then all around. “I don’t see you.”

A moment later, Kara hits the stealth button, and the craft emerges from it’s cloaked state, in all of it’s glory. “Can you see us now?”

“Holy Cow!” the General exclaims. “Did you build that?”

“Sure did. It’s our way into the Sieghy' Ma outpost. We call it the SSS. What do you think?”

The General shouts out, “That’s super Kara, I’m very proud of you!”

“We would like to test out the parabolic microphone, so keep talking dad.”

Kara watches a display, while the General continues to praise her accomplishment. “It’s working dad. We’re recording everything you say.”

“Great! Now go park it and meet me in my office. We’ll discuss our next steps.”

“Roger that, see you in a few.”

They park the SSS in a spot just outside and to the side of the HQ, where it’s out of the way. They both exit the craft and head to the main entrance. General Waquer is still outside.

Trevor speaks first. “General, with your permission, we would like to schedule some exploration with the SSS. Kara and I would like to do that ourselves.”

The General responds with full agreement, “Absolutely. You guys know the ship and it’s capabilities. We should start that ASAP. How about tomorrow morning?”

“Sounds great,” Kara replies. “There is enough room for two more people. We would like a couple of the security personnel to accompany us. Just in case.”

“Sure thing,” the General responds with a big grin. “You have a go then.”

End of Chapter 1