Tobath: Heroes of the League, #3

By Frank Carey

Fate reunites two young lovers. Can they stop a war and survive what the future has in store?

Tobath has found a family with a group of musicians, but his past keeps catching up with him. Helping his friends pull the League back from the brink of war and helping restore harmony between old enemies aren’t the biggest problems he’s facing.

Tobath is the third book in Frank Carey’s Heroes of the League series. 132 pages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Carey
• Release date: Apr 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386434443

Frank Carey

Frank Carey has been formally writing and publishing works of science fiction since late 2013. Over the years prior, he had dabbled in various forms of writing including haiku poetry, but that all changed when he and his wife, Jo, decided to try their hand at writing and self-publishing. Since then, he has written and published a collection of flash fiction and short stories, two anthologies, a pentalogy, and a trilogy. All his work, to date, has been in the science fiction genre. Most of his stories take place about two centuries in the future when Earth joins the League of Planetary Systems. Many of his protagonists are strong females. He is an inveterate pantser who believes the story will go where the story wants to go. Frank’s background includes degrees in physics and extensive work as a scientific programmer and technologist.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

It was late evening aboard the LTV Melete, and its owner sat at her desk with a cup of tea next to her as she went over a minor glitch in her bookkeeping.

Nersa Musae was puzzled by a pile of invoices sitting in front of her. Each one was from a company called Elven Industries, Ltd. for an incomprehensible piece of equipment with descriptions which spanned several pages, yet all of them were for zero credits and all signed-for by Tobath. Curious, she asked the computer for Tobath's current location.

Tobath is in Engineering, Room E-3, mistress, the computer replied.

Grabbing the pile, she headed aft to find out what was going on in Engineering.

When she walked in, she found the room transformed with the deck and consoles scrubbed spotless while every light fixture was functional. On her last visit she had to tiptoe through a dark labyrinth of lubricant puddles, half-fixed equipment, and packing boxes strewn about the floor. Now, it looked like a well-lit showroom at a space ship dealership. Nersa walked over to one of the control consoles and marveled at the complete lack of coffee rings on its surface. She noticed one of the instruments—a transtator monitor—labeled Elven Industries, Ltd. She checked and saw its invoice in her pile. Nersa looked around and found other pieces of equipment from the same manufacturer, each with an invoice in her pile. After a short search, she had found every item on her invoices except one—something called an AI NAVComp 001.

Hearing voices, Nersa walked over to a small room marked E-3 and poked her head into the doorway. She found Tobath talking to a large device in the center of the room.

Nersa! I was just going to call you, the young Martok engineer said as he wiped his hands on a rag. I would like you to meet Silvestri, the newest member of the crew.

Nersa looked at the device Tobath was standing next to and marveled at its beauty. It was ten-foot square with odd-shaped metal boxes surrounding a three-foot diameter transparent sphere filled with swirling streamers of plasma. The rest of the room was bare. She remembered a Navigation computer had once filled this space.

Greetings, Mistress Nersa. I am Silvestri, your new Navigation Computer System.

Excuse me? was all she could say as she stood there mesmerized by the dance of the streamers within the sphere.

He's our new NAVComp. Our old one was getting a little long in tooth.

How, how can we afford this? she asked, stunned.

We got it as part of a testing program. Elven Industries needs real-world data and we're in a unique position to provide it. Our travels from gig to gig are perfect for generating the data they need, so we get to keep everything in return for data. Pretty neat, huh?

She looked at him in shock. She estimated the invoices covered at least fifty million credits in value.

Oh, and Elven industries is picking up the tab for insurance and licenses. Our rating has been bumped up two grades, so we can now visit twenty more stations and outposts.

Nersa found a chair and sat in it, hard.

Hey, mom, you okay? Tobath asked, running over with a glass of water.

How? was all she could ask between swallows.

Yeah, about that. I know you don't want to have anything to do with the League types, especially OffSec and the Cube, but I owe them everything. If it hadn't been for them, my head would be hanging on the Martok Queens chamber wall, so Gloria and I put our heads together and created Elven Industries, Ltd. to make it possible for us to test this stuff without hurting you.

Gloria? As in Gloria the mysterious AI who runs around in a synthetic body?

Yes, that Gloria. I hope you aren't angry with me, but we really need a new NAVComp. On the flipside, Gloria and John have a backlog of stuff that needs testing, so I was happy to oblige.

John, as in John Taggart, the head of Biocybernetics Division at the Cube? That John?

Yep. He was working on a high-density computer design when Silvestri appeared in the system. He thinks he hit some minimum complexity level needed to spawn an AI. Right, Silvestri?

Yes, Tobath. Dr. Taggart hit the mark the first time. Very impressive.

Nersa looked at him and just ran her palm down his cheek, unable to even say thank you. He smiled, understanding how difficult this had to be for her. The Storen were a proud people, not ones to ask for handouts. Tobath was a refugee Martok, a race at war with the League. He had a price on his head, put there by his once-future mother-in-law, he had little pride left.

Composing herself, Nersa handed him back the water glass and said, Show me this wonderful device.

He held out his hand and had Silvestri tell her about himself.

Mistress, I am a true artificial intelligence conceived and created at the OffSec Biocybernetics Research Facility located in the Cube by Dr. John Taggart, Dr. Serena Markle, and Dr. Gloria. I'm recognized as a sapient being by the League of Planetary Systems, the Goranthi Empire, and the Erdexi Empire. He went on to describe his computational power and storage capacity. I'm responsible for all ship's systems and can fly this ship in an emergency. I know all League, Goranthi, Erdexi, and Martok languages fluently. I am at your service, Mistress Nersa.

Nersa, Tobath said as he remembered one last detail. He needs to access the library computer system. Can you give him permission?

Of course, she said as she pulled out a hand terminal and tapped in a code. Done. Silvestri, you are now officially part of the family.

Thank you, mistress.

She looked at the young Martok and saw someone beaten up by life, yet willing to do wondrous things for people he'd only met a year ago. Her adopted son Relay—a Space Marine assigned to the Cube—told her Tobath's story when she first met him, and she was dumbfounded that any race could be that callous toward sapient life, but then she saw the news feed of the execution of the Tralaskan and Erdexi prisoners. It was at that moment she believed the Martok's life was in danger, and she and the family would protect him. She wondered if it weighed as heavy on his narrow shoulders as it did on hers.

Tobath, never be afraid to tell me anything. Okay?

Yes mistress, he said with a small smile.

The others should be returning from their show soon. Is the lounge ready for them?

Yes, mistress.

She patted Tobath on the shoulder as she turned and left the heart of the ship to return to her duties, leaving him with the NAVComp and his thoughts.

CHAPTER TWO

Tobath was waiting in the lounge when the others returned from their gig.

First up was Kaylon, their Tyen lead singer and guitarist. She stormed in, her blue eyes glowing more than usual. She threw him her guitar while running to get a drink from the fridge. Tobath connected her axe to the diagnostics system of its storage cylinder as she plopped down in a chair where she sat and simmered, taking gulps of the cold beverage.

Rough set? he asked as he set the guitar's cylinder to clean and tune. Its door rotated closed as it started its cycle.

We sounded like shit, I tell you. Erik was off tempo and Glit had as much finesse as a glyptar wearing rubber gloves, she said between gulps.

Tobath said nothing. He knew they sounded fine and Kaylon was just being Kaylon. He also had no idea what a glyptar was, so he made a mental note to look it up on the InterWeb.

Next was Muusta, their Storen drummer. He lofted his stack of e-drums into the air as he ran over and started pulling ingredients for a sandwich from the fridge and nearby cupboards. Tobath deftly caught them and connected each dinner plate-sized e-drum unit to diagnostics before placing them in a rack running the C and T cycle. Yo, brother. Missed a good set you did. The babies were purring tonight. A revelation which elicited an eye roll from Kaylon.

Next through the door were Erik, their human bassist, and Alby, their Venlanten rhythm guitarist. They were passing a new song back and forth while Erik recorded it on his commlink. Tobath deftly caught their axes in mid-air and set them into their cylinders, setting them to clean.

Right behind them was Glit, their Torsan keyboardist and ship's pilot. She carefully handed Tobath her keyboard, which he connected and placed into its own cylinder. With that, the system started all cylinders while diagnosing any problems, which he would fix after cleaning.

Anyone else? he asked. Before he could sit down, three more people walked in followed by Nersa.

"Tobath, could you set up three more rooms? This is Silk, Miriam, and Tolk; they're coming with us to our next gig. It seems they had problems with their ride.

Cool, Ms. Musae, thanks for the lift. Yoh, we go by RDF.

Hello. I'm Tobath and I go by Tobath. Welcome aboard, he said with a smile as he nodded to Nersa on his way out. Glit jumped out of her chair and ran out behind him.

Tobath, thanks for doing this for them. Isn't Silk kinda dreamy?

He turned and looked at her, a smile as wide as the rings