Version 2006 - Ch 70

INTERLUDE

The Dragon stood in his cargo bay and his eyes glowed as his Pirates dumped loads of Iridium and other highly valuable goods only to return to get more. He cursed himself for not remembering the right planet. He was so sure he had been here before and now he could not remember any details. He was so certain the suit told him these coordinates. Of course he had not kept any files on the coordinates but his suit knew where it was and now it was silent and did not respond to anything. All there was were ghosts! Taking over his men and defying all shields and weapon fire went right through them but then the green things left and attacked the Silver Streak. He had not wasted this opportunity and left in a hurry leaving even the refinery behind. But Crimson still had one and they would make it back. This armada of primitives loaded with treasures was a sheer stroke of luck. Enough to fill the holds of all three ships and return very wealthy. Then the alarm went off and he hurried to the IST, waiting for the next car. Cursing the slowness of the system and yelled. "Computronic get me the Bridge!" He stomped into the IST car and dialed for the Bridge. To-nac-dri his second in Command responded." There is a Union ship Captain!" He made on his bridge and felt weak for a moment, and he plunged in his seat." What are you talking about? There are no Union ships out here!" But then he saw the ship his main screen had centered on. He had spend twenty nine years in the Union Navy making a nice profit on the side shipping Drugs and Mil Tec for his friend Admiral Swybar. But when Swybar got caught he knew it would take them no time to find him and so he had used the profit he had made to buy this ship at Sin 4 and start a nice Pirate career. He had seen or knew about every Union Ship Class, what he saw somehow looked Union but like nothing he had ever seen. No ISAH pods, the shape was all wrong and not Uni standard. But the Exo load Cannon on top of the Hull he recognized instantly. The ship was almost black not Union white or gray, but it had the name USS Tigershark, the Union typical Hull number and the Union flag painted on the sides. That strange ship also was surrounded by a barely visible purplish cocoon, TransDim shields! the Tonga Scanner operator gnarled in his guttural cat voice." This ship replaced the Silverstreak! One moment the Silverstreak was there the next moment this thing! But it has Union Transponder signature, is under full TransDim Shields." Again he felt Dizzy and his throat felt thick. He saw his hands and noticed the same brown spots he had seen on the Aliens from the primitive ships. He needed to think about that later." Where did the Silverstreak go?" "I can't find her within scanner range!" "They just hailed the Crimson and demanded him to surrender. No word to us yet!" Crimson was confused but he was a Union Captain and trained to cope with the most unusual situations." Call the Akulook and the Crimson . If we combine our fire and concentrate it we crack those shields. that ship is no Match for three of us!" The Tonga said." They wait on your signal. I have relayed target coordinates so we hit the same spot" "Give that Union scum hell! Fire!" ________________________________________ Muhammad immediately took action and went into evasive maneuvers. All three Pirate ships fired at the same time. Especially the Akulook peppered us from several Kermac Faster than Light High Energy cannons. Har-Hi said. Primary shields at 80% secondary shields not affected. No Damage no Casualties!" "Mao target the all enemy ships drives and take them out. then pull their teeth!" The Translocator Gatlings rotated . Small Anti matter loads at the point of explosion were instantly transferred into the Engine rooms of the three ships. The Akulooks shields flickered and went out and a gaping hole in her aft section. The Crimson Hunter was rocked by a secondary explosion and both ISAH pods turned to clouds of twisted metal. Most damage was done to the Red Dragon, her secondary hull was ripped to shreds and opened to the vacuum of space. "Elfi hail them all." She nodded and I said." You are identified Pirates. Standing warrants permit you immediate destruction. You have five seconds to completely surrender. No second call will be made!" Before he could answer. Har-Hi interrupted:" Captain 20 alien space ships approaching fast. Tech level at least TL Seven." Still in the Tactical View I saw them too. " Twenty ships in shape very similar to the primitive rocket ships. Long cylindrical, with cone shaped bows, but with smaller Drive Pods, powerful looking shields and studded with weapon towers. Each about 800 meters long. "Elfi hail them and start first contact procedures!" "I am on it Captain! They established similar procedures and it won't take long!" Shea nodded to her." Communications possible now!" I waited for Elfi's signal and said." this is the United Stars Ship Tigershark. I am Captain Olafson and we are engaged in bringing Pirate criminals we followed to justice." An Ape like being appeared, it looked brutish, covered with brownish hair, pronounced eye brows and a very ape like mouth. He wore a brownish leather like uniform with copper colored metal shoulders." I am the A of this Strike force . You will address me as A the Mighty. You are in our space. this is the Dominion of the Furze. Do not aide or contact the outcasts in any way. Those pirates you are hunting already made contact and are doomed! Have you made any attempts to contact the Cursed?" "Not yet." "Then you may live. Now leave this space as it is now ours. The Cursed Outcasts cannot be allowed to reach any other civilization. They carry a disease that caused wars and mayhem." "How far does your sphere of influence reach?" "As far as we want it!" "We might be able to assist and see if there is a way we can help!" "If you remain you will be destroyed. No help no contact!" Narth said." There is another fleet of ships approaching from the other direction. Also armed and at least TL 7." The other ships, were elegant almost birdlike and white. There were 26 of them and of similar size. They interrupted the Conversation by hailing us all. the being was beautiful and had the grace and some characteristics of a swan. It was white, thin and had long feathers. It only wore a golden sash across his body." We are the Down. Stand down brutish Furze. Your own kind seeks help and we will not deny it. Mercy and compassion must be rendered. Now we will not hesitate to defend those who are helpless!" Mao said." Both sides energizing weapons!"´ "Muhammad get us out of the middle. The apes responded." We will not fight for this scum. You may have them. But be assured all contact to the Down ends today and we will shoot at any Down ship we see in our sphere!" With this the twenty ships of the Furze reversed course and left. The Dawn now addressed us:" We heard your exchange with the Furze. We will not allow you to commence violence and disperse your law. Those who you call Pirates might just been misguided by the Furze to attack these poor sick outcasts! We will invite you all to a nearby planet of ours. You avoided destruction by offering help to the afflicted, that shows you have a concept of mercy! Now proof it to us you do!" "Let me get this straight. You Down want us to help these sick ones?" "No we require you to help! You offered it first. By our holy laws you are now required to do so and we will only interfere if you do not, if you flee or if you fail to help." "You are forcing us to help?" "Indeed! I see our communication works well!" I cut them off." Tactical analysis?" Mao responded." tactical analysis shows we would destroy seventy percent of their force but sustain battle damage from the remaining 30 percent before we can destroy the rest. And that is only an estimate since we do not know all their weapon capability. If we add Suits shields and cloaking ability to the equation we will be able to emerge victorious and escape at any time." "I don't want to start a shooting war and open fire first. This is a first contact and who knows if they have allies or how big their fleets are. They can reach Union space just as we can reach theirs." Narth raised his head and said." Their Ethics are very complicated and appear to be the base of their entire culture and religious believes." Elfi said." The Red Dragon is hailing the Down!" "Put it on!" "Mighty Down I am Red Dragon and it is true we are pirates and we have attacked the afflicted Furze but we infected ourselves and show the same symptoms of the disease. We too need your help!" "And whoever asks for help due to pain, suffering or disease shall receive it! You all are also to follow us." This surprised me but Narth nodded."It is quite true. Whatever inflicts the Cast Outs has now spread on all three Pirate ships and they do not know what it is." More Down ships appeared and towed the slow rocket shaped ships and damaged pirate ships. Six ships escorted us to a G III solar system nearby and went straight for the second planet in the system. ________________________________________ They made us land. The Planet turned out to be uninhabited. This World hat tropical character and was blessed with large oceans and green luscious continents. We landed on a wide plane with only a few trees and lots of dry grass far from the inviting oceans. The Rocket ships of the inflicted Furze were set down in a neat circle all around us. The damaged Pirate ships in a little distance with four Down ships settling nearby. I addressed my crew:" I went along to show good will and as long as they don't shoot we don't. This is a first contact with a new species and we still need to return to Peppermint after that to check on the Celtest depot there before we can go home." Har-Hi said." No one really wants to go home. Sure some R&R on a friendly port be nice but the crew morale could not be better." "That is good to hear! Now I think it is high time we contact our patients and see what the trouble is and maybe find a solution." As we established normal Radio wave contact with the other sips, Elfi worked on something she called a UHF Video signal whatever that was and managed to get a grainy two dimensional image on the main screen. I almost jumped out of my seat. There on the screen was something like a rotting corpse! It clearly showed similarities to the Ape like furze but half of his face was swollen the other eaten to the bone. While he spoke his breath rattled labored and only one eye was halfway open. He oozed from sores and I wondered what kept it alive." We are at the end." He spoke ."The disease came and we invited it. Now we are outcasts and die in exile. Our last hope to reach the Down is ended, Stranger we want your help but be warned nothing we tried could isolate or prevent us from be infected. We know it our brothers at home do not but they are doomed and so are you. You are already to close!" I responded :" We still going to try to help!" To Mao I said." We are under full shields right?" "Full shields and not the crappy kind but our real ones. We had to make the shields transparent to radio waves but we are back up full now." "I guess someone has to go over there and check the situation and do some close up scans, before we allow anyone to come back in." Cateria said." My new med team member Starman Dusty volunteered to go over there. It is confident nothing organic could possibly harm him! And it is taking a Med Bot along!" "It works for you now?" "Yes and I never had anyone more eager to learn and study. it doesn't sleep and is quite intelligent. Not a second goes by it is not working or learning and studying." "What do you know we got a walking sand pile for a nurse! Well I tend to agree I doubt stellar dust could get a cold. So if you think it is up for it go ahead send it!" A little later we saw Dusty appear on the screen as it appeared from under the Tigershark and walked accompanied by a Med Bot towards the closest alien ship. It was wearing a modified Quasimodo. It was white and had the logo of the Medical service on it. the Medic version was unarmed but had a large variety of medical tools and first aid options available. We heard him say." This is a small step for a human but a giant leap for a Dust cloud! I am boldly going where no Dust cloud has ever gone before!" I raised my arms."What is it talking about?" Cateria's eyes fixed on her readouts. "I told you Dusty likes to read and it watches Historical Virtus all the time." Narth said." First statement was a reference to a Terran historical event. It altered the quote of the first Human who ever stepped foot on another world. The second reference is to a popular.." Cateria interrupted." Sorry Narth but I think it is at the airlock now. Can you magnify?" "Yes and your console is connected to his helmet sensor. You can see what it sees there!" "Of course I am just a bit nervous. It should be fine but it is still his first mission." Narth voice in my mind."Teachers pride. She likes Dusty very much." We heard Dusty over the speakers." Greetings I am Medic Dusty of the USS Tigershark. I represent the United Stars of the Galaxy and we come in peace. Please be not alarmed about my appearance. It is only a technical precaution." I was impressed and Cateria smiled proud." It has come a long way from being a lonely energy and dust cloud in deep space. Dusty is also very caring and medicine and patient care gives him greatest pleasure." We saw Dusty greet the gruesome looking crew of the alien ship. Most were lying in cods, some appeared to be dead already. I saw a several inch long white maggot crawl from the body of a afflicted and out of sight just before Dusty's helmet light reached the spot. Dusty spoke gentle and warm to the aliens. Administered first aid and scanned and took samples. then he called." Doctor Cateria, it is most certainly a very infectious disease but I cannot determine the exact cause of it. It seems to be a combination of bacteria, poisons and Viruses in some sort of symbiosis. Except I do not know where the poison comes from. Until I am able to determine how the disease spreads I recommend Quarantine Procedure Alpha." She nodded." I must agree." She turned to me." Captain all data indicates a very unusual and never before seen disease that combines bacterial and viral organisms. Dusty cannot return to the ship until we know with certainty we can decontaminate against it. I also would like to request a LEGO III Nanite factory to built an external isolation ward on the planet surface. The Tigershark is way too small to tread the crews of 150 ships." "Granted. Cirruit have your robots take a Lego III outside. And give the doctor the Control unit." Shea got up and so did Narth. I nodded." Go assist Cateria." then I leaned back dialed up the magnification and watched the Robots built a Field Hospital. Elfi said:" Captain the Down are hailing!" "Put them on then." "On the screen appeared one of the White Birds, this one had brown spots all over his feathers and he said." It seems you are very experienced in such cases. It turned out we are not. We are affected by the disease as well and still unable to determine the cause. What are your recommendations?" "Issue a strict quarantine. No ship that has landed may leave this planet under any circumstance until the cause and a countermeasure has been determined. If you love your own culture you must prevent an uncontrolled spreading even at the point shooting at your own kind!" "How can we ignore a plea for help?" "You are helping by isolating and ignoring it! You are helping all those not yet sick!" "I will do as you say." I cut him off and said "It seems that the only thing preventing us from being infected are the TransDim shields." SHIP responded on her own as usual."Naturally I am not a very good doctor but I have all the theoretical knowledge and if I analyze the speed how the disease spreads. The Crimson Hunter for example was not in actual contact with the aliens and yet the Crew shows the same symptoms. The Down so I read from their minds were affected all the way to the bridge crew and never went near the sick. It seems the disease spreads by other means than virus or bacteria." "Does Shea know that?" "Yes that is why she got up to do some research too." Nothing else developed so I had a quiet meal.