Star Wolves - The Tribes of Yggdrasil: Book 1

Chapter 8

Hal woke to a knock at his door. He shook his head and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "Just a minute." He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked to the door. Siani was standing outside his door, smiling and holding a cup.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

Hal nodded. "Yeah, but that's ok, I needed to get up. C'mon in," he gestured for her to enter and walked back to his bed and sat down on the edge, "what's up?"

Siani handed him the cup. "Coffee."

"For me?" Hal asked.

"Indeed, I wouldn't drink that toxic brew," she teased with a smile.

"Thanks. Must be important if you're bringing me coffee."

"It is. Saeran wants you to meet her at the stellar-com when you're ready. We have a meeting this morning."

"Ok, give me half an hour to shower and drink this coffee and I'll be there. Hal stood up and the towel fluttered to the floor. "Damnit!" he said, as he hastily tried to grab the towel back up while balancing his cup of coffee.

Siani cocked her eyebrows, pursed her lips and smiled. "Hmm, no need to apologize, no need at all." She winked and left the room.

Hal might have been embarrassed if he wasn't only half awake. Hal shook his head and smiled. That flirty little minx.

Hal made his way to the stellar-comm building while nursing the cup of coffee Siani had delivered. He didn't rush. The morning smells and sounds in Llangernyw were intoxicating. Hal thought it was like walking through an arboretum and an apothecary at the same time; the thick scent of flowery perfume and a sweet musky moss, mixing in equal measure.

Upon arriving at the stellar-comm building, he noticed a huge increase in security. Security of any kind was extremely rare on Alfheim. Once he presented his ID, the guards let him into the building.

Once inside, he saw Siani, Saeran, his entire team, and Andras, Hilmir (Admiral) of the Alfar Stellar Fleet, all sitting in front of the viewing screen. On the screen, presented side by side, were the images of Governor Zelinski, President Rukundo and Prime Commander Archibald Lowe of the SID Stellar Armed Forces. Heady company! There were also many of Lowe's direct reports at the meeting: High Commander Clare Artman of Stellar Fleet, High Commander Augustine Birkey of Logistics, High Commander Loraine Stem of Engineering and High Commander Forest Gorneault of the Stellar Marines (Gina's ultimate boss). Hal wasn't exactly sure who his boss was at the moment.

Eva looked back at Hal, smiling at him with a small shrug.

Hal looked a bit taken back. "Good morning, all. My apologies for being late."

"No need to apologize, Hal," Saeran said, "this was a last minute conference. It is a challenge to get all of us on stellar-com at the same time, so we seized the opportunity. Thank you all for coming," Saeran said, looking at all those seated.

"May I ask what the topic of discussion is, Saeran?" Hal asked.

"Certainly. Actually, let me turn the introduction over to Governor Zelinski."

"Thanks, Saeran," the Governor said. "As you know, we've been looking for a ship for your team to use on the upcoming scouting mission. While this mission is important, it's just the tip of the iceberg. We've been discussing the security of our respective regions of space for some time now, and given this recent incursion by the Hrymar, we've had to re-think our strategy," he paused and took a drink of water from a glass on the table beside him, "Earth and Alfheim both have Stellar Fleets for local defense, but not New Midgard, which is now an immediate problem. Long term, we had planned to build a local fleet, but for now, Earth and Alfheim have agreed to deploy ships to serve our area. So that's a heads up on the local New Midgard defense situation. Any questions?" He looked out to the audience.