In Times of War, Part Two

By Marius A Smith

Having failed to conquer Earth, the Tarein prepare for a second assault that will determine the fate of the human race.

After regrouping on Eris, the rogue ships depart on separate missions to enlist allies to support Earth in the upcoming decisive battle, do whatever they can to hinder the Tarein war effort, and investigate the impacts on Earth's war history caused by the presence of the Vihl.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marius A Smith
• Release date: Jan 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798201408671

Marius A Smith

Marius Augustus Smith was born in 1981 in Adelaide, Australia, and is a life-long fan of science fiction. He has travelled to many places around the world, with many more he has yet to visit, although some destinations can only be travelled to in the mind (at least until the invention of warp drive!). Also having an interest in history, especially ancient cultures, and Egypt in particular, Marius has incorporated these interests into his books. His favourite authors include Alexandre Dumas, Kevin J. Anderson, Drew Karpyshyn, Anne Rice and J. K. Rowling. Some of his not-so-common experiences include shovelling coal in a 1920s locomotive, and being an extra in a police line-up. Marius currently lives in Australia with his wife.

Book preview

In Times of War

Part Two

The Course of Time

BOOK TEN

Marius A. Smith

The Course of Time:

Larissa

Cerah

From Time to Time

The Time of Humanity

Time and Time Again

The Time of Sacrifice

Mysteries of Time

From the Depths of Time: Part One

From the Depths of Time: Part Two

Time’s Curse

In Times of War: Part One

In Times of War: Part Two

Copyright © 2024 Marius A. Smith

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

Published by Marius A. Smith at Smashwords

All historical individuals or places mentioned or referred to in this book are portrayed in a purely fictitious sense. All other characters are purely fictitious, and no resemblance to individuals living or dead is intended.

No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Across History

Time goes on, with or without us...

At 0525 hours on the 10th of June in the year 1941, Jai Biedermann stepped out of his time shuttle onto the damp soil of a hillside in the Polish countryside. After taking a breath of the cool, fresh morning air, he paused at the sound of heavy artillery being fired, but being in the middle of World War Two it was only to be expected, and it was too distant to concern his mission. As he awaited the arrival of the Karathi ship that would be forced down in this time, he wondered about the significance that the ship had to the Tarein military.

It wasn’t long before the Karathi prototype materialised with a blue flash as it arrived from the future. It passed overhead and impacted the hill further up, gouging a trail up the side of the hill until it came to a stop.

Scanner and pistol at the ready, Biedermann started to run towards it, but stopped at the sudden appearance of an upright luminous white shimmering mist that appeared, forming a near circle, and only a matter of metres from the Karathi ship. A quick look at his scanner showed it to be a dimensional disruption of some sort, though the readings were not entirely conclusive. He immediately suspected that it had something to do with the Karathi ship, that its dimensional engine must have been damaged in the crash and was malfunctioning. His conclusion was broken when a shining humanoid being dressed in white stepped through it. Other than its luminescence, it looked essentially like an attractive human woman. Her gaze immediately found his, though she didn’t move or speak. She appeared to be waiting, though for what was anyone’s guess. Biedermann took it as a good sign that she didn’t appear to be armed, which presumably meant that she hadn’t come with hostile intent. Knowing that the Tarein would shortly arrive to claim the Karathi ship and its technology, he felt as though he ought to warn her of the imminent danger she was in, and was about to do so when six Tarein soldiers materialised on the hillside halfway between him and her.

Quickly assessing the situation, half of the soldiers raised their weapons towards Biedermann while the others aimed at the shining woman. Before any of their weapons were even fully raised, the woman reached out with her hand, and all six of the Tarein suddenly collapsed, writhing on the ground in inexplicable agony. Within seconds they all lay motionless.

Biedermann quickly scanned them and found that all but one of them were dead, the last being unconscious in an advanced state of neural shock. He quickly looked up at the woman, wondering if he would be her next victim, but with a smile she simply started walking towards him. Keeping a firm grip on his pistol, ready to do his best to use it if she attacked him the same way she had the Tarein, despite none of them having managed to get a shot off under the mental assault, he started walking towards her as well, keeping his gaze fixed on her, while at the same time being aware that she’d probably just saved his life.

The woman reached the bodies of the Tarein first, and Biedermann watched as she picked up the one who was only unconscious, doing so with no apparent exertion. Holding the body before her, she said to Biedermann, Come, I will give you the answers that you’re seeking, and started walking back towards the dimensional portal.

Unwilling to pass up the opportunity to gather additional information that could be useful, and seeing that as far as he could tell the woman was on his side, and he was only getting an unaccountable sense of peace and friendship from her, he decided to follow her, even though it was something that he normally wouldn’t do without taking every possible precaution. After carefully stepping over and around the Tarein corpses, he went up to the portal where she was waiting, stopping a few metres short of it. With a kindly smile, she stepped through the shimmering mist, and he found himself following.

*

Before he’d even fully materialised in one of Epoch’s dimly lit maintenance passages, Talamayn was already looking around to make sure no one had witnessed his arrival, and that there weren’t any surveillance cameras in that section. Convinced that he was in the clear, he activated his scanner and silently followed the passage until he was close to the station’s time drive.

Turning a corner, he saw a more brightly illuminated area ahead, which his scanner indicated was the chamber that housed the time drive. There were five life signs present around it, so evidently repair work had already begun since it’d been disabled. The massive drive was in a chamber that was three floors high, and his maintenance passage opened onto the chamber at the uppermost level. Ahead he could see that it continued across the chamber as a walkway that passed right by the upper part of the drive, allowing access to a control station built into that part of its housing, and then connected to another maintenance passage on the far side. The life signs were all on the lowest level, but there was still a high risk that someone would spot him if he attempted to go across to access the drive’s systems from there. He crept as close to the end of the passage as he dared and looked down into the chamber to see if he could get some idea of how well their repair work was progressing. Everyone was too focussed on what they were doing to notice him. Housing panels had been removed, as well as large sections of the conduits, circuitry and even one of the huge chrono-phasic induction coils that had been burned out and blackened from the overload. Thick overhead conduits leading from the drive to other areas of the station, which would normally be illuminated by arrays of indicator lights to display their level of functionality and current activity, were dark and dead. It would certainly be a while before the repairs would be even close to complete, and it did indeed appear as though the system would have to be pretty much rebuilt from scratch.

Ducking back deeper into his maintenance passage and doing a more detailed scan of how the drive interconnected with the station’s other systems, he located an auxiliary diagnostic terminal in an adjacent maintenance passage through which he figured he should be able to access the core system settings. He made his way there, constantly keeping an eye on his scanner for approaching life signs as well as keeping his vampire senses sharp for any indication of someone becoming aware of his activities. When he reached it he released the catches that held the terminal’s covering in place, removed it, and placed it on the floor so that it was leaning against the wall. Placing his scanner in the alcove beside the display screen so that he could easily check the readings as he worked, he removed a small device from his pocket that was essentially the size and shape of a playing card and inserted it into an empty port in the side of the screen. When an access request appeared on the screen, he typed in the password ‘Hatshepsut’ and was then able to access the system.

It didn’t take him long to locate the time drive’s core subroutines. After going through them for several minutes he located the ones that controlled the drive’s initialisation protocols. He made some careful adjustments, programming it so that upon its first successful activation when the repairs were complete, it would enshroud the station in a time field with an extreme level of inverted temporal dilation, which wouldn’t create an absolute time freeze, but would reduce the passage of time within the station to an infinitesimal rate, so that seconds would take many hours to pass. His reasoning was that there needed to be a prolonged way for his handiwork to eventually still be undone if anything happened to him. There was also the fact that when he did come back, pressing buttons in a total time freeze would otherwise have no effect. This way he could revert the subroutines to their default settings simply by retyping ‘Hatshepsut’ into this or any other connected terminal, and be gone before the effective time freeze had collapsed.

He breathed a sigh of relief when his work was done. He’d managed to sabotage one time station without being discovered, now there was just Jidai and every other time ship to go. Retrieving his card device and scanner, he replaced the terminal’s cover panel and secured it back into place, and then used the sapphire to travel across to Jidai to do the same thing there.

*

Lieutenant Grant, how long until we reach 2570? Armand asked, forcing himself to remain seated in his command chair on Dynasty’s bridge to prevent himself from pacing about, his thoughts heavy with both the responsibility of his mission and the risk that it entailed for his ship and crew.

Three minutes and twenty seconds, Captain, the helmsman responded immediately, constantly tracking their progress across time and space.

Set our materialisation point fifty metres above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, not too close to any landmasses, because we don’t want to be spotted, and then reduce our speed to a near stop. Armand couldn’t be sure that the displacement field of their materialisation would be strong enough to withstand the pressure of the water if they materialised inside the ocean itself, so this was the safest option. He’d chosen the Atlantic because it was the closest body of deep water to the places where it all seemed to be happening, such as Somerset, Poland and Geneva. Although the Mediterranean would have been closer, being a much more populous area it would carry a greater risk of being spotted before submerging the ship. Arriving so close to the water’s surface would also help to hide their arrival from sensors. As soon as we’ve fully materialised and slowed to a safe enough speed to do so, take Dynasty below the surface.

A few minutes later Dynasty materialised fifty metres above the surface of the Atlantic, and immediately Grant began their deceleration. There was no land anywhere within sight, and the rising sun cast an amber glow on the rippling surface of the water. They all watched through the bridge’s circular window as the ship slowed down and descended towards the water’s surface. As the ship’s underside brushed against the water there was a jolt of sudden deceleration, and within moments the water’s level had risen to the height of the window as Dynasty slowly sank, still maintaining some forward movement. Seconds later their view was entirely one of the ocean’s depths, the glow of dawn still visible through the water’s surface above them. The glow faded as Dynasty sank deeper.

We’re now one hundred metres below the surface, Grant reported.

Superbly executed, Grant, Armand said.

Thank you, sir.

As I recall, Dynasty’s maximum pressure rating is 130 atmospheres, which would be a depth of little more than a kilometre and a quarter, so take us to a spot on the sea floor somewhere along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where we can set down at a depth of eight hundred metres, to be well and truly on the safe side but also well out of sight from above. And keep our time field active.

The water became increasingly darker as Dynasty continued to plunge deeper into the ocean’s depths, the streamlined contours of its shape helping it to glide through the water. Before they’d even reached the specified depth there was next to no light, the ocean outside seeming ominously dark. Grant expertly brought them down to the sea floor using sensors, with almost no sensation as the ship touched down.

Activate the exterior lamps. Let’s have a look what’s out there, Miyu ordered.

When the powerful lamps came on, all there was to see was an expanse of sand stretching as far as the light reached, beyond which was the endless expanse of the ocean.

No sign of the Titanic, or anything else, Armand remarked.

That’s in a much deeper part of the Atlantic, Miyu said. Heyla, begin scanning for any further temporal incursions, including any updates on the situation that we detected before.

Yes, Commander, Heyla responded, quickly setting to work.

Actually, it might pay to hack into Earth’s historical database to cross reference what they now consider to be established history with our own database, to look for more precise details of any discrepancies, Armand suggested.

I’ll see what I can do, Miyu said, leaving her seat and going to a vacant station at the back of the upper bridge. Before her promotion to commander, she’d supervised the large team that was primarily in charge of managing Jidai’s database and maintaining both the hardware and the software, and was highly knowledgeable when it came to computer systems, hence Armand’s request for her to hack into Earth’s main database, because she was the only one on board who could do so without it being detected.

After four hours of dedicated hacking and scanning, Miyu and Heyla were able to provide the captain with a detailed summary of the changes that had taken place since Temporal Security was shut down, which they brought up on a large holographic screen in front of the main window. The three of them went and stood in front of it to review the results together. The disruption to World War Two history had become more extensive, though the main events of the war itself remained for the most part unchanged. The casualty rate was a bit higher for each major battle, but not as drastically as they expected from historical interference. There had now also been noticeable alterations to the history of World War One and also the American Civil War.

It’s strange that the changes to these two preceding wars occurred after the changes in World War Two in terms of when they came into effect, Miyu pointed out.

Then it’s possible that the changes that took place during the Civil War and World War One further affected the events of World War Two. So it’s in a retrograde sequence then? Armand asked.

Actually, after the initial changes to World War Two, the changes further back were in order; the Civil War and then World War One, Miyu said.

Such a sequence of changes would seem to imply that it was done intentionally, though I couldn’t even speculate as to the reason behind it, Heyla said.

I’d have to agree, Armand said as he continued to look over the results.

We have reason to believe that the Vihl had more of a hand in these changes than the Tarein, Miyu said. The most significant difference between this new version of events and ours is that throughout the history of each of these wars there are reports of soldiers who were near death being taken by either angels, spirits, or some other form of shining, luminous beings, who took them through seemingly magical doorways to the afterlife, doorways that shone with the light of heaven, according to some recorded accounts. And these reports have come from all over the world where these wars took place, regardless of faction, so it doesn’t seem as though their efforts are in any way designed to favour one faction over another to alter the outcomes of the wars.

From the updated reports that we were forwarded by my father, it would certainly seem that the Vihl were responsible for it all. No sign of a Tarein presence in any of this? Armand asked.

None whatsoever.

So either they’re getting the Vihl to do their dirty work, or they’ve just left them to it and it’s all their doing, but what’s their purpose?

I noticed earlier that while there are more casualties during all of those wars, seemingly based on a higher level of aggression on all sides, which would seem to have been prompted by the Vihl, they didn’t actually prompt a more advanced or accelerated development of weaponry, Heyla said.

Armand thought about that. So the intention wasn’t simply to wipe out a larger percentage of humanity’s population, as a greater advancement of weaponry in those periods would have achieved that. It was just to get them fighting more. But to what end? What do the Vihl get out of it?

Or the Tarein, for that matter? Miyu asked. As far as historical changes go, all of this is relatively minor, especially against some of the more determined efforts that we’ve seen over the years to undermine human history.

I didn’t think the Vihl possessed time travel, Armand said. But the fact that their efforts moved backwards in time implies that the Tarein have given it to them.

That doesn’t sound like the Tarein, to give anyone a significant advantage like time travel that could potentially be used against them later, Miyu said thoughtfully.

I wonder what the Vihl do with the dying people that they take, Heyla said. The more I think about it the more that seems to be their objective; to collect more of the dying. That also explains why the impact on history isn’t all that extreme. The people who are taken would have died on the battlefields anyway, so in that regard their absence is of almost the same effect as their deaths.

If we could figure out what they want with the dying we might be able to figure out how to stop them, or at least hinder their operation, Miyu speculated.

We’d do better to figure out where they’re taking them, then we might be able to figure out why, Armand said. One thing I can’t help noticing is the fact that they seem to have skipped over the Spanish-American War completely. As far as I can tell, the history of that one is more or less unchanged.

Maybe just some subtle changes caused by the impact of the alterations during the Civil War, Miyu agreed.

That would seem to support my theory that all they’re interested in is large numbers of the dying. That war had too few casualties to be worth their effort, Heyla said.

It certainly does support your theory, Armand concurred. We’d better get in touch with Valkyrie and update them with our findings before they begin their mission.

*

Valkyrie was on course to the Second World War time period, having stopped off in the Sirius system for a supply of rockworm blood, when Uuna-Xor announced that they were receiving a communication from Dynasty in 2570, coming from the 3rd of February, a fortnight after the battle against the Tarein and the Excalden. She brought it up and a hologram showing Armand and Miyu sitting in their command chairs appeared in front of the window.

Long time, William said.

We’re in position on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, and our initial scans show that more alterations to history have occurred, Armand said. It appears the Vihl have been busy.

And the Tarein?

As yet we haven’t detected their hand in things, Armand said, and went on to explain what Miyu and Heyla had turned up. Once he’d done that, he said, We’re sending you all of our findings, and we’ll keep you updated if anything more turns up.

Very much appreciated, William said. And it certainly does sound like the Vihl are up to their old tricks. We actually visited their World of the Dead through a dimensional portal that we found on Varna Sei.

Intriguing. What was it like? Miyu asked, her curiosity piqued.

It was actually a parallel version of Varna Sei, but completely isolated from everything else in existence. It didn’t even seem to be part of a star system or anything, just a dark rogue planet in its own pocket dimension. The place was littered with the bones of the deceased as far as the eye could see, William replied in grim recollection of the tragic sight.

But why would they want to fill their world with dead bodies? How does that benefit them?

It can’t be a coincidence that every skull we saw had four small holes in the top of it. But what they did to their victims that caused such wounds I couldn’t say for sure. I doubt it was some sort of post-humus procedure, otherwise they’d simply gather the bodies of the dead from battlefields, rather than taking those who’ve not yet passed on.

As far as we can ascertain, none of their victims’ bodies were ever brought back afterwards, so chances are that the final resting place for all of them is on that World of the Dead, Armand said.

Do the Vihl ever take any healthy living people? Luke asked.

We don’t know. Maybe people in good health are able to put up too much of a fight, Armand said.

The weakened state of the dying might make them easier to manipulate, Miyu speculated. After all, if they know they’re about to expire, their minds will be more on things of the afterlife, and a seeming manifestation of such might draw their attention more easily, or more convincingly.

Are there still ongoing changes in progress? William asked.

From what we can tell it appears as though the differences in events have stabilised, but of course that’s always subject to other potential changes, Armand said.

I was thinking that it might be more efficient for us to send teams to multiple time zones at once to make a start on their investigations, with the system on standby to automatically retrieve everyone if a potential timeline change is detected, William said.

Bear in mind that the actions of anyone in an earlier time zone might impact the events of a later one, Armand reminded him.

We’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Our objective at present will be gathering information rather than attempting rectification.

If you need our help at any point, just let us know.

I appreciate that. Best of luck, to all of us, William said, and nodded to Uuna-Xor to end the call.

So what’s the plan then? Cerah asked him.

I’ll split us into smaller groups, and do a few drop offs into the various time periods. For the moment our focus will simply be to find out as much as we can. We need to know how and where the Vihl have been making their moves. I’ll lead the team in 1941 and see if we can find out more about what happened to Jai Biedermann while we’re there.

Since Valkyrie can only be in one place at a time on active standby in case there are any more timeline changes, I’d like to offer my ship to also serve as an emergency life raft in one of the time zones, just in case, Zahlmann said. Naturally I’d like it to be in whatever time zone I’m assigned to.

Of course, it goes without saying, William agreed, grateful for the offer.

So what are the assignments? Larissa asked him. Needless to say, I’m going to 1941 if that’s where you’ll be.

The only trouble is that in World War Two a beautiful blonde Asian woman is sure to draw all kinds of attention, William said, putting it as diplomatically as possible.

Don’t forget, I can change my appearance however I please. I can come up with any illusion I might need to blend in. I could even pose as a German general if the occasion calls for it.

William winced. Oh, don’t do that.

Don’t worry, it would still be me on the inside.

But it wouldn’t be you on the outside. William certainly didn’t want to be separated from her for the entire mission, and her talents as a hologram would certainly be useful, so he had to acknowledge that if she were to come she’d have to alter her appearance. With a sigh of resignation, he asked almost reluctantly, What did you have in mind?

Well, in preparation for this, I’ve already been working on a few disguise options, since wherever we go it’ll be necessary for me to be able to blend in, Larissa said. See which one you like the best, or rather, which one you think will be most suitable.

They all watched with interest as she suddenly transformed into a Caucasian blonde with blue eyes, then a redhead with a faint scattering of freckles, a brunette with brown eyes, and a grey-haired woman with a stern expression, before reverting to her normal appearance, still with her blonde look.

Definitely not the old lady, Cerah said at once.

No, definitely not, Luke agreed.

I’d probably suggest going with the brunette style, as the brown eyes still more closely resembled your own, William said. That way I’ll still be able to see you behind the look.

Larissa was moved by the sentiment. The brunette it is then. And I can do it without changing my eye colour at all.

So how about if you come with me, along with Zahlmann and Delilah, and we’ll keep their holographic ship with us in that time with Ainsley to man it, since he’d stand out even more than a blonde Asian, and be much harder to disguise. Valkyrie can then drop Josephine, Peter and Vaanya off in the American Civil War period before making its way to World War One. I figure that with the Civil War being the earliest period where changes have occurred, it’s less likely that that group will need an emergency retrieval because of disruptions to the past. In World War One I’d have to ask Jeuls’e and Uuna-Xor to remain with the ship, while Luke, Cerah and Jeff go down to investigate. William then looked to Jeuls’e and Uuna-Xor. Do the two of you feel confident in having the run of the ship on your own?

Both women were flattered by the level of trust that William was showing in them by putting his ship into their hands. Even being an older vampire who would have been able to sense by now if they’d intended anything underhanded if the opportunity arose, his trust still meant a lot to them.

I’m confident in manning the tactical system, and Uuna-Xor is proficient with the communication system, and we’ve both received some training in helm operations since we’ve been here, so come what may, I’m sure we can handle ourselves if anything unexpected happens, Jeuls’e said.

Excellent. And you’ll be able to keep in touch with us in 1941 through our ships’ temporal communication systems, William said.

We could even attempt to decrypt that Thalshük datacore that Ainsley brought back from Seinarüdth while we await word from any of you. Ainsley said that he’s managed to get it working and has been able to establish an interface program to access it from Valkyrie’s computer system, Jeuls’e said.

I look forward to hearing about anything you find in it, William said. He then asked Zahlmann, I assume Genius One is programmed with a temporal communications array?

Of course it is. It’s equipped with everything, Zahlmann said as though that should have been obvious.

So is everyone happy with that arrangement? William asked, to which there were several nods and acknowledgements, and no objections, though Jeff did look a little worried about stepping into World War One, even though it was going to be in the company of a pair of vampires with centuries of strength and development behind them. Alright then, set our course for the 24th of June, 1941, sometime before dawn so no one sees our descent. That’ll put us a fortnight after Biedermann went there, so hopefully word will have gotten around about whatever happened to him so we can find out more about what he was doing.

Certainly, Josephine responded, adjusting their temporal heading slightly.

Assuming he survived, which he probably didn’t, since someone would’ve heard from him otherwise, I doubt a lone pilot wandering the countryside will generate that many stories around the country, Luke said.

Biedermann was black, William informed him.

Oh? Well in this era, word of that would certainly get around, even if someone just found his body with his ship.

So why don’t we just scan for his ship? Cerah asked.

I already tried that, but got no results, Larissa said. And I don’t want to scan back for a Tarein presence around the 10th, as they might detect the temporal sensor beam. The last thing we want to do is alert them to our presence.

For a mission like his, I expect the admiral would have made sure his ship was equipped with the latest in sensor stealth like Valkyrie, William said. I’m afraid we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way, by asking around. But with some discretion.

That could take a while, Cerah said, trying very hard not to grumble about it too much, at least not out loud.

Once we have a specific time and place to investigate, we can then use time travel to better investigate events as they happened, William said.

Where do you want to start looking geographically? Josephine asked him.

Somewhere in the relative vicinity of Warsaw, but not too close, since by that time it was well and truly Nazi occupied. Perhaps somewhere a bit further out where there are generally fewer people about, near a smaller town or city, just not one too remote to have up-to-date information.

Josephine brought up a map of Poland on her display with 1941 parameters, and suggested, How about near one of the smaller cities further up the Vistula River, such as Płock? Or Schröttersburg, as the Germans would rename it during their occupation. You might be able to find out if it’s worth taking the risk of going on to Warsaw, or some other direction.

I guess that’s as good a place to start as any, William agreed, and then left the bridge.

A couple of minutes later Valkyrie materialised in 1941 above Poland, descending towards an empty patch of the countryside to the north of Płock. The time was 0330 hours, so the only visibility was though sensors, but even so, Josephine touched the ship down with barely a bump.

William returned to the bridge carrying a handful of identical devices that weren’t much larger than a box of matches. These are telepathic inhibitors, provided by Cephra’s people for our mission. He then proceeded to pass them out, one to each person, including Jeuls’e and Uuna-Xor even though they were going to remain with the ship, and Larissa and Delilah, since despite having holographic bodies, they still had living minds that might be susceptible to Vihl influence. The only two that he didn’t give one to were Ainsley and Josephine, since they didn’t have living minds for telepathy to work on.

How do they work? Cerah asked, turning hers over in her hand and not finding any controls.

They activate automatically when activity is detected on a telepathic wavelength, and emit a matching counter signal. They can still be turned on and off manually by a tiny switch underneath. Assuming they work, they should block out hallucinations, mental attacks, or even the sensing of our minds so that they Vihl won’t know that we’re there or what we’re up to by reading our thoughts.

They can do that? Luke asked, pocketing his device, as did the others.

I recall reports from my own people that they were known to do all of those things, and that they didn’t even need to be standing close by to do so, Jeuls’e said.

William, Larissa, Ainsley, Zahlmann and Delilah made their farewells, wished the others the best, and left the bridge. William grabbed a couple of canvas satchel bags from a pile of them that had already been packed earlier before descending the ramp. Outside it was quite cold and almost completely dark, with only a little moonlight filtering through the clouds. They turned and watched as the ramp retracted and the hatch closed, and a moment later Valkyrie lifted off and ascended into the sky. The teal ripple of its dematerialisation was briefly visible as it shifted across time.

I guess I’ll be needing that ship of yours, Ainsley said.

Zahlmann retrieved the blue crystal sphere from his pocket and touched a glowing symbol on the top. It shot from his hand and stopped in mid-air a couple of dozen metres away. It started to expand, forming into the fifteen-metre-long spearhead-shaped starship made of blue crystal that was its default design.

Whenever you’re in proximity to other life signs I’ll maintain radio silence as much as possible and wait for you to contact me when it’s safe for you to do so, Ainsley said.

We’ll keep our multi-com rings on stealth mode, so we’ll know if you try to contact us without any locals being aware of it, William said.

Ainsley nodded and went over to Genius One. Before entering the ship, he turned back to them and said, Good luck with it, and went inside, sealing it behind him.

The other four watched as that ship also ascended out of sight.

William handed Zahlmann one of the satchels. There’s a pistol and a scanner in there for you. I figured that with history already being a bit messed up it’s not going to make all the difference if we’re carrying technology with us. He turned to Delilah. I’m guessing you already have the parameters in your holographic matrix to produce a scanner and a weapon?

Yes, Larissa was kind enough to upload them into my matrix earlier, Delilah replied.

So what else is in the bags? Zahlmann asked, slinging the strap over his shoulder.

Just some basic supplies for me and you, being the only two organic beings in this party, William replied. Well, Płock should be to the south of here. He started leading the way.

Are you sure this way’s south? Zahlmann asked.

Absolutely, William replied with confidence.

Let me guess, you figured it out from the positions of the stars? Delilah asked sceptically, glancing up at the cloud cover that obscured most of them.

I looked at the ship’s geographical alignment before I left the bridge, William said with a hint of cheeky smugness.

Always prepared for any opportunity to make yourself look a bit clever, Larissa muttered. Here’s a thought; wouldn’t those anti-telepathy devices from Cephra also block out your own psychokinetic abilities?

There’s a thought, William said, a little worried about the idea. He paused for a moment and focussed on a fallen tree branch and tried to raise it with his mind. Nothing happened. Well that’s a bit of a worry. I can’t even reach out to sense the matter that it’s made from, let alone move it. Still, better to find out now than in the middle of a situation.

They made their way down the gentle decline of a forested hillside, and had only been doing so for a matter of minutes when Zahlmann muttered, Biedermann couldn’t have landed in a country a bit further south, could he, where it’s a bit warmer?

Good thing it’s Poland’s summer or we’d probably be trudging through a layer of snow, William said.

You call this summer? Zahlmann asked with a raised eyebrow. It’s barely ten degrees. I guess that’s because it’s the middle of the night, still a long way from breakfast time, if you know what I mean?

We probably shouldn’t get stuck into our supplies too soon, William advised. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here.

A matter of minutes, if the Nazis find us.

William had noticed that a little of the professor’s old tetchiness was creeping back in, and realised that it was probably because in this era, when projectile weapons were in use, he was as mortally vulnerable as the next man, and was no doubt well aware of it. With that in mind, it meant even more to William that he had still volunteered to help them on this mission.

*

So what point in the Civil War would be best for us to have a look around in? Vaanya asked.

I would recommend somewhere of significance, and towards the end of the war, that way most historical changes will have already been made for us to find out about, and we’ll be close to where the Vihl will have been focussing their efforts, Peter suggested.

So right in the thick of it then.

Indeed.

I did some extensive reading about that period after finding out that I’d be assigned to this mission, so I’d like to suggest Virginia in 1865, Josephine said.

You were only assigned to this mission a matter of minutes ago, Vaanya said, perplexed.

Didn’t anyone tell you? Josephine’s an android, Luke said.

Vaanya was surprised, and couldn’t help herself from looking at Josephine’s face more closely. When she realised that she was staring, she said, Sorry, it’s just that you look so... perfect.

Thank you, Josephine said, figuring that there was no other way to take such a remark than as a compliment.

And no, during the whole time we were all on Eris, no one mentioned that you’re an android. Ainsley I guessed straight away, as it would be pretty hard to miss the fact in his case, but you’re completely indistinguishable from an organic human.

I was designed that way deliberately by an alien species called Centaurs in order to infiltrate human society.

Working on Eris, I have heard of them, and the watered down version of how things went in that timeline.

So, back to the Civil War, since we’ll be arriving there shortly, Peter prompted.

If we want to be pretty much in the thick of it, might I suggest somewhere in the region of the city of Richmond? It was a significant location throughout the war, and near the end the Confederate forces pulled out and the city was taken by the Union forces, Josephine suggested.

If there’s a chance we might be apprehended, I for one would much rather it be by the Union than the Confederacy, Vaanya commented.

If I remember my history accurately, April 2nd was when the Confederates started to withdraw, Peter said, receiving a confirmation nod from Josephine. If we want to be right in the middle of events, but when the Union has the upper hand, perhaps we should arrive on April 3rd?

That works for me, Josephine agreed.

But now that I think about it, that would put us less than a fortnight before Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Peter said sombrely.

One of the greatest American presidents of all time, which is no doubt why he was targeted by evil men, Vaanya said.

Despite the natural temptation to interfere and prevent the event, we have to remain objective, Josephine reminded them, sure that such thoughts had at least crossed their minds.

We know, Peter said regretfully. It’s a shame though; one can’t help but wonder how history might have played out if the life of such a great man hadn’t been cut short by a far lesser man. And not just for the black people living in those times and since, but how he might have affected society’s mindset in general over the following years and decades.

Still, Richmond will be dangerously close to where the assassination will take place, relatively speaking, Vaanya pointed out.

And President Lincoln will visit Richmond a week before the assassination, but I think it unlikely that the Vihl will take any interest in such an event. Based on what we know of them so far, their focus will be on events where there’s more regular bloodshed and in greater numbers, Josephine said.

True. But if we happen to cross paths with John Wilkes Booth, I am going to punch him in the face, Peter said.

Fair enough, Josephine said.

And I certainly won’t try to stop you, Vaanya said in full support of the idea. I fail to grasp how any cause can think itself just when it’s made up of men who would murder an unarmed man by shooting him from behind while he’s at the theatre.

No just cause is comprised of such men, Peter said adamantly.

I entirely agree, and I do wish we were in a position to do something about it, Josephine said.

I wonder if we’ll get to actually see President Lincoln while we’re in Richmond, or maybe even meet him, Vaanya said.

If we’re there for at least a few days it’d be a possibility, but I’d have to recommend against it, despite how much of an honour it would be. A thoughtless word out of place could drastically alter the course of history, Josephine said.

You’re right, Peter agreed reluctantly, having wondered over the idea himself. Even trying to catch a glimpse of him would take us dangerously close to crossing the line.

Like William’s group, they opted for a landing under the cover of darkness a couple of hours before dawn. As they passed high above Richmond they saw that much of the city was ablaze, the fires like a bright flare on the landscape.

By this time the Confederate leaders had already left, taking what they could that was of value. Before leaving, the Confederate troops burned as much warehouse stock as they could to deny the Union from claiming so much of a prize, Josephine said.

There was an explosion within the city that was large enough to be heard inside the ship, and an expanding fireball could be seen engulfing the surrounding buildings and spreading the inferno.

They continued beyond the city, and Josephine landed the ship some distance away, and then she, Peter and Vaanya made their way to the ramp, Peter and Vaanya each grabbing a satchel of supplies. Josephine took a pistol and a scanner from an equipment locker near the ramp since that was all she’d need.

They stepped out to be greeted by weather that was a little warmer than the Polish morning that William’s group had found themselves in, though being the early hours before dawn it was still quite cool. The smell of smoke hung heavily in the air even a dozen kilometres from the burning city. They watched as Valkyrie smoothly lifted off with Jeuls’e now at the helm.

It’s a pity Valkyrie doesn’t have a clothing room like Dynasty’s. We’re sure to stand out looking like this, Vaanya said, glancing at the modern clothes that they were all wearing.

There isn’t enough space anywhere to fit one, Josephine said.

It’s safe to say that people in this area haven’t heard a name like Vaanya before. It might be best for you to use an alias that won’t draw as much attention, Peter suggested.

I’ve always liked the name Carolina, Vaanya suggested.

I wouldn’t recommend that name, not when we’re about to enter an area that’s being claimed by the Union, Josephine said.

Oh, right, Vaanya realised, mentally kicking herself for not thinking of that before. How about Elisabeth?

Peter nodded. That should do just fine.

So what’s our story if someone asks us? Because it won’t look good if it seems like we’re making it up on the spot, Josephine said.

How about I’m Peter’s wife, and you’re his sister? Vaanya suggested, probably a little too quickly. She cleared her throat, and added, Unless of course someone has a more plausible sounding story.

That works for me, Peter said with a smirk.

Josephine also had a smirk on her face as she watched the other two carefully avoiding meeting each others’ gaze as they started making their way through the woodland.

*

So what about our group? Luke asked. Where in World War One would we be likely to find out something about what the Vihl are up to?

Maybe we should ask our historian, Cerah suggested, directing everyone’s attention to Jeff.

Suddenly finding himself on the spot, Jeff cleared his throat and desperately tried to think of something quickly before he lost the moment to shine with a display of his abundant knowledge. Well pretty much any of the major battles throughout the war will have attracted the attention of the Vihl, he began vaguely to buy himself a few extra seconds of thinking time, like the Battle of Verdun, the Gallipoli campaign, the Battle of the Somme. The only trouble is that although all of these battles resulted in huge numbers of lives lost, and therefore also huge numbers of the dying, we don’t know exactly when and where during those lengthy battles the Vihl would make their appearances, since most of them spanned several months. What would really draw their attention are the instances when there are a larger number of casualties at once. He went silent as he went through the possibilities in his mind. Suddenly he looked up at them with an idea. I’ve got it! The detonation of the mines in the battle for the Messines Ridge. There’s no way the Vihl would miss taking advantage of that. The date for that one is June the 7th, 1917.

We should probably aim to arrive a couple of days before that then, Cerah said. Keeping the thought to herself, she couldn’t help but question if Jeff of all people should really be going into a situation like that, given that he’d pretty much get shell shocked if someone sneezed next to him abruptly. We can’t very well land a starship right in the middle of a battle. We’ll have to park some distance away from the action and go in on foot, which will take some time.

So June the 5th then? Jeuls’e asked, adjusting their temporal heading. What geographical location?

Belgium, to the south of the city of Ypres as I recall, Luke said. Now that I think about it, it’s not really all that far from Dunkirk.

Maybe we should let our historian decide on the landing coordinates, Cerah suggested.

By all means, Luke agreed.

Jeff went over to the helm and pointed out what he was pretty sure would be a good landing site on Jeuls’e’s navigation screen, very consciously aware of how close he was to her as he pointed over her shoulder. He was sure she was aware of him lingering there a little longer than was strictly necessary, but she didn’t say anything, or react in any way. Considering that she would have been more than capable of breaking his arm if she’d objected to his close proximity, he decided to take it as a good sign that she hadn’t done so. Glancing around as discreetly as he could, he noticed Uuna-Xor watching him with an unreadable expression, and quickly went over to a science station to do a little last minute historical revision. As he sat down he glanced up at Uuna-Xor again briefly; she was still watching him.

When Valkyrie landed in the early hours of the morning on the 5th of June, Luke, Cerah and Jeff were about to leave the bridge when Jeuls’e said, Take care of yourselves out there.

When Jeff looked at her to assure her that they would, he found that she was looking directly at him, as though she’d been speaking to him specifically. Momentarily speechless, when he did find his words he said clumsily, I’m sure we’re all planning to make it back alive. As they then retrieved a satchel each and made their way to the hatch, he muttered under his breath, As were the soldiers who fought in this war. The thought didn’t help his confidence about their chances.

*

In 1941, the city of Płock was visible in the distance. The sky was already beginning to lighten with the coming dawn. The large lights of several military vehicles could been seen moving about the city.

Safe to say that they’re vehicles of the Wehrmacht, the German military, Zahlmann said.

So how do you suggest we go about getting into town without being spotted? Delilah asked.

Waltz in and grace them with a winning smile? Zahlmann suggested dryly.

Sounds like a job for you, Professor, William said with a smirk.

Something tells me you won’t be making any jokes once we get into the city, Larissa said grimly.

William was forced to concede to that point.

So who are we most likely to get useful information from, the Nazis or the local civilians? Delilah asked.

I dare say the Polish underground resistance would have their ears to the ground regarding anything unusual, such as a black pilot of an unknown kind of aircraft, William suggested.

Good luck locating the resistance. If they were that easy to find, the Germans would have done it a long time ago. And among the Nazis, such an ‘aircraft’ will have been classified, known only to the higher ranks, Larissa said.

Given that it’s only a fortnight since Biedermann was expected to have arrived, it’s possible that if he landed in a secluded enough area no one will have found his ship yet, Zahlmann said.

Think we might have more luck if we split up and try to cover both bases? Delilah asked.

You mean try to infiltrate the Wehrmacht and the resistance? Larissa asked.

It could be done, Delilah insisted. Will and Z could pose as Germans, like an officer and a scientist, and you and I could try to win over some resistance operatives and get some information from them.

The two of us can make ourselves invisible, so that’s something in our favour, Larissa said thoughtfully.

I’d need to get hold of a German uniform, William said.

Can you still levitate? Larissa asked.

William gave it a shot, but wasn’t able to raise himself off of the ground. With this telepathic inhibitor I’m pretty much just an ordinary guy.

With vampire strength, Delilah reminded him.

How’s your vampire speed? Zahlmann asked.

It’s a physical attribute, so I don’t imagine that would be impaired any more than strength, William replied. Why do you ask?

There’s a vehicle on its way to Płock, still a few kilometres away from town.

William followed the direction that Zahlmann was looking and saw the lights of a road vehicle a good three kilometres away from the city, approaching along a road with a bend in it that for the moment kept it out of sight of anyone inside the town. Seizing the opportunity, William sprinted towards it as fast as he could, his determination granting him a speed that surprised even himself.

When he reached the road some distance ahead of the vehicle he could see that it was a covered jeep with small swastika flags flying on either side of its bonnet, which had a spare wheel mounted on it. Its canvas hood was up, so he couldn’t see how many people were inside, and because of the inhibitor he couldn’t even sense them. Thinking quickly, he went over to a relatively small tree that grew by the side of the road, and heaving against it with all of his strength, he actually made it move. The roots began to pull out of the ground, and with a final heave he managed to topple it across the road, blocking it across its entire length. He just hoped that it was still dark enough that the driver hadn’t seen it suddenly come down. Even if he hadn’t, William had to admit that a tree across a road was always a suspicious situation. If the driver decided to blast on his horn it would no doubt be heard by German troops in the city. William hid behind the trunk of a larger tree to watch the results of his handiwork.

He could tell the moment that the driver noticed the tree, as the high-beam lights suddenly came on so that he could better assess the obstruction. The jeep slowly came to a halt before it.

The driver, bleary-eyed from having to be out and about at such an early hour of the morning, got out of the vehicle to have a closer look at it, as did a soldier from the front passenger seat. The soldier was clad in the grey uniform of an infantryman, complete with a metal Stahlhelm helmet, and armed with an MP 40 submachine gun that he held at the ready. The driver wore a grey service uniform with a belted jacket, peaked service cap with a reichsadler imperial eagle on the front, and the legs of his trousers tucked neatly into his jackboots. His sidearm was holstered, so it seemed that he hadn’t yet determined the situation to be suspicious, though he did look around for any indications of it being a trap, as did the soldier with him. From the driver’s rank insignia, William was pretty certain that he was a staff sergeant, or something close.

The two men clearly realised that the tree would be much too heavy to shift by themselves, and the driver went back to the jeep to get some rope, doing so as quietly as possible, while the infantryman stood guard, vigilantly looking all around. It seemed they didn’t know how close they actually were to the city, as with a short walk further along the road they would’ve been able to signal or shout for assistance. William waited for the infantryman to look the other way, and then stealthily moved to a tree closer to the jeep, and saw why the driver was keeping so quiet about getting some rope; there was an officer of a significantly higher rank asleep in the back seat, possibly even Gestapo or SS, judging by his higher quality black uniform and cap. He was no doubt trying to get in a little extra rest before reaching the city. Beside him sat another officer of lower rank who was awake, but who obviously didn’t want to disturb his superior. He just quietly watched as the driver went over to the tree and began to lash the rope to it in preparation to use the jeep to pull it out of the way.

Waiting until the infantryman was again facing away from him, William burst forward and shoulder charged the man, snatching the submachine gun from his grasp in the moment of impact, knocking him several metres away. The driver turned and started to draw his sidearm. Not wanting to fire the gun he was holding, as it would be easily heard in Płock, William threw it at the driver, striking him in the face with such force that he staggered back and dropped his pistol. He turned back towards the jeep in time to see the junior officer aim a Luger out of the window at him. Although he was confident that he’d be able to move too quickly for the man to get a good aim, it didn’t look like he’d be able to prevent him from taking the shot, which would foil his plan by alerting the soldiers in Płock.

In a flash of movement Larissa and Delilah suddenly appeared. Delilah snatched the Luger from the officer before he had a chance to fire, while Larissa opened the rear door on the other side and pulled out the confused Gestapo officer who’d been napping, who quickly took stock of the situation and started going through all of the possible outcomes in his mind.

Whatever it is you are planning to do with us, I assure you, your plan will fail. If you wish to receive any sort of clemency you would do well to... the officer began to say, but was promptly cut off when Larissa knocked off his cap, to his incensed indignation, then planted her hand on the crown of his head and delivered a severe electric shock that knocked him out after a brief shudder as the charge coursed through his brain, which certainly came as a surprise to the officer who’d had the Luger as he watched it happen.

When Delilah looked at her with a raised eyebrow, Larissa said innocently, What? He’s Gestapo. He probably deserved it.

I agree with you entirely, it just hadn’t occurred to me before that we can do that sort of thing, Delilah said.

It’s essentially along the same lines as when I showed you how to produce an energy weapon that’s an extension of your matrix. Think of it as the stun setting by direct contact rather than a discharge across a distance, Larissa said.

Reaching in through the jeep’s window to the one that she’d disarmed, Delilah was about to do the same thing when the officer grabbed her arm out of fear, so instead she sent the energy through that arm, and the man convulsed with the electric shock. As soon as she ceased the electric flow and he was able to release her arm, she reached in, grabbed his head, and slammed it against the back of the seat in front of him, knocking him out with the force of the impact. You’re right, it is effective, Delilah said with satisfaction.

Both women looked over at William, who’d knocked out the infantryman with a single solid punch that left a trickle of blood dripping from the man’s open mouth, and was now holding the driver by his lapels. The man was clearly terrified, having witnessed what had happened to his fellows, though he attempted to hide it with a brave face.

What’s your purpose in going to Płock? William demanded of him.

I’m just a driver. My orders are simply to drive to Płock, the man stammered.

Who’s your Gestapo passenger?

The man remained obstinately silent.

Well? William asked, encouraging him by lifting him off the ground.

Despite his fear, the driver managed to dredge up a surge of defiance. I will answer you nothing, swine!

Then you’re no use to us alive, William said, putting him down. Delilah, gun, he said, not taking his gaze from that of the driver as he held out his hand.

Delilah came and handed him the Luger.

As William pointed the gun at him, the driver observed that it wasn’t aimed at his head or heart, which would have guaranteed a quick death, but at his lower abdomen. A shot there would leave him in a state of mortal agony that could last hours before the inevitable moment of demise. The thought was enough to make his convictions waver, and when William cocked it he quickly said, "His name’s Colonel Franz Schuster, he’s been sent by the war office to evaluate