Echo of the stars

[Sukie]

Ich habe bei www.fanfiction.net meine angefangene Voyagerstory online gestellt... den Link gibts hier: Echo of the stars

Es wuerde mich interessieren, was ihr davon haltet. Ich habe lange nicht geupdated, aber will mich jetzt mal wieder ransetzen.

Die Geschichte ist auf Englisch, by the way

Ich poste mal den Prolog hier:

Echo of the stars

Proloque

A Melidian prayer:

EiLodRia -
TaKaTis PurTok GheNes -
YaRia KarGes GheNes -
Heob EiLod ZenTu GheNat -
Heob MiYanLos FanTu -
Châk GhuLak YamPu GheNat -
SeabTir BeNes WaGhit TurGu GheNat -
MiLit Yan SeabTir Yun.

Translation:

EiLodRia,
Protector of our people
Source of our wisdom
Give us your holy water
Share your wisdom
Take us by the hands
And lead us on the right way
To Unity and Constancy

A red leaf was whirling through the air, carried by a fresh wind that smelled like fall. It rose up high in the sky, got blown over rich colored trees, green meadows and small creeks.

If it had not been for the group of people sitting in the shadow of a rock, the leaf would have probably continued it’s journey as long as the wind caressed the landscape.

“ The joy of nature…” said an old man to a group of teenagers, who were sitting around him on the grass. He plucked the leave out of his frizzy gray hair and held it up to them. “ Remember, wisdom begins with the understanding of our surroundings. We are one with our nature, as the nature is one with EiLodRia.”

The students were looking at the leaf and then back to their teacher. One raised his hand.

“ Yes, DaLien?” The old man threw the leaf back into the air, where the wind took hold of it again and carried it away.

“ I’ve got a question, ERon.” Said a boy who could have not been older than 16.His hair was still very short and he was wearing a white robe just like his classmates. “ You said that we would learn about the Dark Age and about the legend of the off worlders. Is it true that you knew them? Please tell us… How did they look like? Is it true that they had magic powers?”

ERon smiled gently at the boy’s curiosity.
“ It is true. I knew them. We were friends.”

The kids looked at him in awe and unconsciously moved closer.
“ You were friends?” asked a girl excitedly. “ What about the magic powers?”

“ Yes, we were friends. And no – they did not have any magic powers, but they were in the possession of a gift much greater than that….”

He smiled again as their mouths hang wide open.
“… The gift of bravery and compassion.”

“ Oh – and that is supposed to be greater than magic?” DaLien said disappointedly.

“ Yes, especially at that time. As you all know from our history classes, Melidian was on the height of the great Civil War at that time. Instead of following the way of unity, as EiLodRia had foreseen it for us, we had turned against each other. Back to back, going different directions, drifting farther apart. War does not only destroy friendship and unity, it also dries out the well of religion. There is no time left to open your heart in the middle of fighting. EiLoadRia’s spirit had drifted farther and farther away from our hearts, which were only filled with the thought of revenge.
It is a rare miracle to find real bravery and compassion in the midst of destruction and hate. I do not speak about the bravery of winning a battle or the compassion for friends who lost their families. I talk about the bravery of risking your own life for people you don’t know and the compassion for both sides in a war, that is not your own.
If you listen closely now with your eyes open to the past and your hearts open to the future, I will tell you about my friends. I will tell you about how they helped Melidian re-unite and how EiLoadRia regained its powers. And I hope afterwards you will come to understand the importance of bravery and compassion.”

The kids nodded and moved closer together.

ERon grew quiet for a second, his mind wandering back to the old times. To his friends. To the four off-worlders, who had fallen from the stars. A smile formed on his lips as he looked up to the sky. He didn’t know if they were still alive and if they ever made it back home. There was nothing he could do, besides telling the next generations of Melidians about their legend. So they would not only remember their names, which were know a firm component of the Melidian history, but also learn about their morals and sacrifices.

He took a deep breath and then began to tell his tale.

-TBC-

[Sukie]

Und noch das erste Kapitel

Chapter 1 – Fallen from the Stars

The air was hot and humid as a much younger version of ERon made his way through PoKiTasz YanNes, the Forest of Unity.

A humourless laugh left his lips as he thought about the name, that just did not fit to an area, which devided two races, who shared one planet and once shared one culture. But those days were long ago, even his great-grandfather had not lived at that time.

ERon himself belonged to the people of Desz. The people of the ‘East’. Those who lived on the Eastern side of the forest. Sometimes, when his mind drifted away from everything that happened around him, he wondered how life would be if he had been born on the other side. Friends would have been enemies. His thoughts always stopped at that point. It was just too hard to imagine hating your own people. On the other hand….why wasn’t it hard then to hate the people of KeAt?

The two suns burned his skin. He stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from his face and the ridge, that parted his forehead and nose. It was dangerous to cross most areas of the forest nowadays. He always had to take unused routes just in case some of the KeAts were crossing his way.

After drinking a few sips of his water, he took out his machete again and bushwhacked through the branches and lianas. He had only planned four hours on this trip and more than half of that time had already passed just for making his way to the hunting area.

It was not only the wildness that slowed him down but also the traps, which his own people had set out for the KeAts. He had no desire to dangle upside down from a tree until the suns dried him out or animals attacked him. Nope, that was not a good idea. He knew most of the hidden traps, since his father had often taken him out here as a boy.

LuRiel would be mad at him for being late, but still – rather late then dead.

A sudden loud noise shook him from his thoughts and made him jump right behind one of the bushes he was trying to cut through.
“ What the…?”

It was a strange alien sound, he had never heard before. Something was sizzling down from the skies. He put his hands over his ears and moved farther into the shadows.

Whoosh, that something was flying over the treetops. It couldn’t be a bird and it could definitely not be a meteorite. He had seen one of those crashing to the ground when he was a boy and they sounded different.

The whooshing stopped with a scratching and crashing noise, not far away from him.
Just behind the huge GheShâk trees.

Smoke filled the air. It had a strange, unfamiliar smell.

ERon got up quietly and peaked over the bush. He could not see anything but smoke and trees, so he decided to move a little closer. Carefully not to make any suspicious noise, he tiptoed behind the big trees and finally had a clear view.

His eyes grew big at the sight of a big and metallic object, that had carved itself into the soft ground. He had no idea what it was, but it looked like some sort of machine. An alien machine. And it looked broken. Well, of course it would be broken, wouldn’t it, after crushing down from the sky!

He was about to sneak closer, when he heard voices. Somebody was inside of that thing! ERon thought about running away, but at the same time he couldn’t help but being curious.

Who could possess the power of building machines like that?

A picture formed up in his mind. And it was not a comforting one.
They must be really big, he thought, they probably had to wear something protective, since the machine looked really dangerous. Maybe they were some sort of monsters. His heart started to race. Maybe they were here to hunt? But then – why wouldn’t they just appear silently and sneak up from behind or something. Even though ERons sanity and reason told him to get the hell out of this place, his legs were stuck to the ground.

Something opened, it looked like a door kind of thing. He braced himself for a dreadful sight and let out a surprised gasp as a rather small and fragile being made it’s way out of the machine. It had two arms and two legs, just like him, but very light skin and strangely light colored, straight hair. He didn’t know any Melidian with that kind of appearance.

He moved a little closer and hid behind a large bush, where he could peak through the branches. He was even close enough to hear that fragile being speak:
“ I have had more pleasant landings than that one, Mr. Paris, but thank you for asking.”

It was speaking his language! ERon looked confused. It could not be from this planet, could it? On the other hand…he didn’t know what was hidden beyond the great seas. Was that how people looked like over there?

Another individual was coming out of the machine, it was walking around it, looking at the damage.

“Dammit! It will take forever to fix this thing. I’m going to kill him.”

That being looked different than the other one. Its skin color was a darker shade, almost Melidian. And it had ridges on its forehead. He compared both beings. They looked female to him, their voices definitely didn’t sound male. But maybe they weren’t. He had no idea.

“Killing him won’t help us, we’ll have to hold off on that one until we fix the shuttle or Voyager gets us.”

“ Well…” a third being came out of the machine, or shuttle, or however they called it. That person had yellowish hair and was taller than the other two. “ That will give me one week to live. Time enough to rethink my last will. Oh come on, it’s not that bad. It’s sunny, it’s warm and it looks uninhabited.”

“ I don’t think so, Mr. Paris.” How much more people were coming of this shuttle, ERon wondered. Must have been really crowded in there. This one looked tall and strong and had a funny painting on the right side of the forehead. It looked male. And it had a weird, blinking tool in his hand.

“ The tricoder is detecting several humanoid life signs and oh – “ It held the tool out in different directions and stopped right in front of ERon, whose eyes were fixed on the scene in front of him. ‘Run away, you damn fool!’ his mind was screaming, but before he could do so, the tall, painted guy started to speak loud and clearly.

“ We don’t mean any harm. Please. Our shuttle had a malfunction…”

“ Not just the shuttle…” whispered the dark one with the ridges and got a funny look from the Mr. Paris-person.

“ We got stranded on your planet.” The guy with the painting continued in a calm voice. “Can you help us?”

ERon considered these words. They didn’t look dangerous, did they? They rather looked funny in their weird clothing and way too small to do any harm. He slowly rose up and exposed himself to the strangers.
The guy with the painting took a step forward and ERon jumped back. He didn’t like the blinking tool, maybe it was a weapon. The stranger seemed to understand, put the tool down to the ground and instead held out the inside of his hand.

“ Please – I did not mean to frighten you. My name is Chakotay and these are my friends. We are peaceful people.”

ERon nodded. They really seemed harmless. He decided to come closer. They looked even more fragile at close range. This Chakotay didn’t even reach up to his nose. He looked up to him and asked:

“ What is your name? And what is the name of this planet? We had no time to check things out, everything happened so fast. System overloaded and…” he just stopped talking as he saw the confused look on ERons face, who actually had no idea what he was talking about. But he decided to answer the first two questions.

“ My name is ERon. ERon of the Desz. We call this planet Melidian.” His thoughts from earlier crossed his minds and he asked: “ So you are not from here? You are not from beyond the Seas? Did you come from the stars?”

Chakotay nodded. “ Yes, we were flying through space. This is our shuttle. We had not intended on landing on this planet.”

ERon looked at him in awe.
“ You are able to fly through space? Did you pass Yun and Yan? Did you see our neighboring planets?”

“ What are Yun and Yan?” asked the person, that had gotten out of the shuttle first.

“ Excuse me, I forgot to introduce my friends.” said Chakotay apologetically. “ This is Kathryn Janeway, she is our Captain.”
Janeway gave ERon a smile.

“ And that is B’Elanna Torres, our Enginieer. She’s the one, who can fix our shuttle.”

B’Elanna nodded at him and grumbled. “ Yeah, extra work for me, because of …”

“ Tom Paris!” interrupted the yellow-haired guy and waved to ERon “ I’m the pilot and responsible for all this mess. I only have one week left to live, so we might have to hurry with that conversation.” He grinned and ERon grinned back. He liked that guy.

“ So – “ Janeway said “ What are Yun and Yan? The two moons?”

ERon nodded.

“The night brothers of our two suns. My people actually don’t know a lot about space. We have never been there, we don’t have machines like yours. But I bet everyone would be delighted to hear stories about the stars and planets. We have telescopes to look up to the sky and we know that there must be more planets like ours, tell me….is your planet near Melidian?”

Janeway shook her head.

” No, actually….our planet is so far away that it will take us many years to reach it.”

ERon was stunned.

“ And you are in space all by yourself?” He still thought the shuttle was big, but it seemed impossible to him that anybody could live in there for a longer period of time.

Janeway smiled at him and explained:
“ No, we live on a ship much bigger than that. We are 140 people who are trying to get back to our home planet.”

“ But why are you flying around in that shuttle thing then?”

“ We were looking for food and material which will help us run our ship. There were two planets, which actually both had some of the stuff we needed, so the four of us took the shuttle in one direction and our ship, Voyager, went the other way. We are supposed to meet in a week, but I guess we’ll come back with empty hands.” She sighed and looked around.

ERon had like a thousand thoughts that popped right up in his mind and found it hard to decide which one to ask first.
“ But how are they ever going to find you? Space is big, isn’t it?”

Janeway smiled again and ERon wondered if he sounded stupid asking all those questions.
“ Yeah, space is infinite. But don’t worry.” She bid back a laugh as she saw ERons shocked face.“ Our ship has sensors. That’s a technology which will help them detect us.”

“ May I have a closer look at your shuttle? I have never seen anything like that!” ERon asked politely.

“ Sure, please feel free to look at everything.” Janeway replied and as ERon left she sighed again and looked at her crew.

“ Pre-warp culture. No way they can help us with the shuttle.”

Paris nodded. “ Seems like we will be stuck here for at least a week. Tuvok will have a fit when we won’t meet at the arranged coordinates.”

“ I would like to see Tuvok having a fit.” B’Elanna laughed. “What would that look like? Will his ears cramp up?”

Janeway interrupted the conversation:
“ I don’t think this is a proper time to discuss Tuvok’s ears. We have to find out more about the culture of these people. Maybe they can give us a shelter. I don’t like the prospect of sleeping in the middle of a forest for seven nights.”

“That might also not be a wise decision.” ERon had just come from his inspection. “ This forest is filled with traps.”

“ Why?” Paris asked curiously.

“ Because we Melidians are in the middle of a civil war.” ERon’s eyes had lost their excited sparkling and hardened. It gave his young face a haunted expression. “But this is not the proper place to talk about that. I will explain everything to you once we arrive at my village. But first I’ll have to find a friend, LuRiel, we were supposed to meet for the hunt. But I guess he’s already on his way back. But I do know his usual route, we’ll just take that one.” When they didn’t respond, he looked at them questioningly. “ I’m inviting you to my village or do you wish to stay here?”

Janeway was surprised and at the same time suspicious. They had only known this person for a few minutes. She had no idea if this was a trap. But on the other hand…. What were their chances? If these Melidians were hostile, they might also find them in the forest. And they didn’t have the advantage of phasers. At least she hoped so.

“What about the shuttle, Captain?” Chakotay asked. “ Shall we just leave it here?”

“ I guess - since neither of us is able to carry it, we’ll just take everything out we need and then lock it up.“

She looked in ERons direction. He was pulling out his machete again and waited for them to follow him. Though he appeared to be friendly, he looked dangerous with his dark frizzy hair and his muscular figure. ‘Hopefully it’s the right decision’, she thought. They had to be on this planet for at least 7 more days. Time enough to get into trouble.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“ So, they took their personal belongings and followed me.” ERon said and looked at his class. They just stared back, their eyes glued to his mouth.

“ But you barely knew them!” A boy said excitedly.” How could you invite them to your village. They could have been villains after all!”

“ Yes, that’s true, MaTis. Let’s just call it a hunch. They seemed to be friendly and of course I also thought that they might be able to help us win the war.”

“ They eventually did, didn’t they?”

“ Yes and no. But I’ll come back to that question later on.” ERon smiled as many hands were raised up in the air. “ Now kids, I know you want to hear everything at once. But telling a story takes its time. You will have to be patient.”

They looked at him disappointedly, but put their hands down.

ERon nodded at them and then said:

“ Now, where was I? Yes, we made our way back through the forest. I was hoping to find my friend LuRiel, but instead we found someone else….”

-TBC-