Lost in world depths (STAR COMMANDER 2)

By Jens Fitscher

Commander Tarik Connar, his closest friend Wayne-Zeno Uelisch as well as Dr. Markus Weidenreich, Albert Scheuning, Abigot Temmson, as well as Melani Klein and the rest of the 27-man former crew of the transport starship MERLIN meet the robot ruler Tart-prio on the planet Tartmos and try to harness an ancient but still active technology for their purposes when RAUMALARM is given. Will Connar and his crew be able to meet the new challenges? Plus, there's Connar's brain anomaly and a special ability takes hold.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Apr 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9783966745116

Jens Fitscher

Jens Fitscher war bereits als kleiner Junge begeisterter Leser von Science-Fiction und Fantasy Büchern. Insbesondere liebte er die gängigen Taschenbücher der 70er und 80er Jahre des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Ein starkes Interesse zeigte er dabei für die Protagonisten mit außergewöhnlichen Fähigkeiten. Seine Geschichten handeln immer von starken Persönlichkeiten, die durch ungewöhnliche Umstände über sich selbst hinauswachsen und dafür mit übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten belohnt werden.

Book preview

Jens Fitscher

STAR COMMANDER

Volume2

Lost in world depths

© 2022 Jens Fitscher

Illustration: S. Verlag JG

Publisher: S. Verlag JG, 35767 Breitscheid,

All rights reserved

1st edition

ISBN: 978-3-96674-511-6

E-Book Distribution: XinXii

www.xinxii.com

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The work, including its parts, is protected by copyright. Any exploitation without the consent of the publisher and the author is prohibited and will be prosecuted under both criminal and civil law. This applies to electronic or other reproduction, translation, distribution and making available to the public.

CONTENT: 

Star cruiser SORROW

Danger from space and time

The TOHIKUM

Space Station LIGHTNING STAR II

Star cruiser SORROW

There is little to see there. The machine blocks are very compact and absolutely tight. Whether they are sheathed or the sheathing merely serves some sort of cosmetic function, I can't say.

Samuel Rastall, former science engineer on the old MERLIN, looked over at Connar almost in exasperation.

The propulsion, the weapons control center, radio, etc. all the important machines belonging to the ship's function cannot be seen with our current means, which means we could try to crack the presumed outer hull with laser resolution, but whether the machine will then be able to work without interference later remains to be seen.

After all, leave it alone, who knows what will happen if we use force. Zeno seemed to have spoken Connar's thoughts.

No, I will request Tart-prio to provide us with translations of design documents.

Before Dr. Weidenreich could object, Connar added, "Of course, I also realize that such more theoretical information cannot substitute for real hands-on experience. But at least we would have something to discuss.

In any case, we will not really understand much of what falls into our hands every hour. I need only refer to the small, pointed device that you, Rastall, found this morning. It was only through tart-prio that we were able to discern its function, namely a temperature probe to measure the proper temperature of meat during roasting. They probably thought it was a particularly dangerous weapon and tried to trigger it while taking every possible precaution."

A loud burst of laughter made Rastall blush slightly.

No one could really know that either!

That's exactly the point. At first we should really only be able to do one thing, understand the effects of the devices and machines and know how to operate them. Then later we can do more advanced research.

We have been able to gain one insight from this, though.

Rastall seemed reluctant to give up. Connar looked at him questioningly.

Anyway, the Ellio'sh were meat eaters too, like us!

Zeno grinned, Weidenreich gasped, and Connar looked at Rastall like a being from another world.

The latter, more than stunned by their reaction, looked bashfully at the ground.

Just kidding! 

Aha! Before Zeno, for his part, could also utter another biting remark, a siren-like sound rang out at a deafening volume.

A wall surface, which had previously been a gloomy gray-blue, changed color and showed a section of space.

Connar's logcom sounded the voice of Tart-prio: SPACE ALERT! Alien starships are in transition from faster-than-light and are bumping into open space in close proximity to Tartmos.

Put communications on outside speakers! Connar wanted everyone present to listen in.

Tart-prio's voice now seemed to come from the screen wall that had just been activated.

Count of starships entering the solar system is still ongoing. Initial evaluation of ship types complete.

As if spellbound, Connar, Zeno, Dr. Weidenreich, and Samuel Rastall gazed at the central screen, which showed the appropriate section of space.

The transmission was not only razor sharp, but also had a sense of depth. The images of the ships were taken from multiple angles.

The Ellio'sh solar system had a high-quality infrastructure as far as homeland security was concerned. Many thousands of probes in stealth mode were chaotically distributed within the system, responding to the slightest indifference.

Tart-prio had activated them as passive protection after Commander Connar passed the legacy test.

Counting is ongoing. Ship types to be assigned to Talik people according to legacy data. Alert is set to temporarily inoperative. Defensive and offensive measures initiated remain in effect.

Meanwhile, a fleet of eight sailing space ships had formed. Connar immediately thought of this term because the Talik ships had a triangular shape that bore some resemblance to a sailing ship on Earth.

Starting from an elongated hull with a small superstructure, the Talik spaceship tapered toward the other side, like a sail.

A second, smaller screen was lowered from the ceiling and showed the typical body structure of a creature from the Talik people.

Connar could make out a hired body structure. It seemed to be human-like, at least it had two arms with hand-like grasping limbs, a torso, two legs and a head on powerful shoulders.

These were almost as broad as the creature was tall.

The eyes were deep in their sockets. What was further noticeable was that they had no body hair at all.

Tart-prio showed an animation of a naked Talik body. 

Guess the dwarf isn't one twenty tall! Zeno's remark seemed lanky. Connar looked at him reprovingly. He was about to reprimand him when SPACE ALERT was given for the second time.

Incoming alien ships. Identification in progress. Count in progress!

Zeno had jumped up and moved closer to the screen.

Look at this shape. If the shot is anything like reality, I'd say we're dealing with snakes.

Indeed, the newly arrived spacecraft resembled a snake, from the head to the thin end.

Identification complete. Ship types are unknown. The largest units of the five ships that have arrived so far is 500 meters long, head width 150 meters, tail width 82 meters.

Connar was now looking a little closer at the screen as well. A second later, it flashed on the newly arrived ships.

Serpent ships opening fire on Talik spacecraft. Count complete. The last Snake units to appear are 150 meters long, 50 meters head width, and 20 meters tail width. All twelve ships have just opened fire in succession.

What do you mean? Why are they just shooting at the Talik like that?

Dr. Weidereich didn't really seem to understand the whole thing. The Talik were trying to evade the Serpent ships, which seemed clearly superior to them from the start. They disbanded their initial formation after entering the solar system and apparently tried to escape in single flight.

Bright explosions repeatedly lit up the strong protective shields of the Talik ships, and the spontaneously released energies flowed off them in rainbow colors.

It could be observed, however, that where several serpent ships fired simultaneously at a Talik ship, the rainbow color changed more and more into a bright white.

A brief analysis of the Talik appeared in English on the smaller, lowered screen.

People of the Talik. A peaceful and peace-loving race, with no real fighting spirit. They were already indispensable in Ellio'sh times as an auxiliary people in matters of space transportation and logistics. However, they lacked any understanding of violence.

Connar had only glanced briefly at the writing, then he was again captivated by the orgies of attack and pursuit of the serpent ships, now broken down into several