Eric Olafson, Captain Black Velvet 08

Chapter 8

White Fur

The USS Shadowrunner was another Chimera unit, a disguised ship. On the outside, a fairly old Oghar Ulmgar cruiser operated by an independent privateer named Kekotraa and on the inside, a state of the art Union ship. Kekotraa was a genuine Diechsen. A 350 centimeter tall Reptilioid of the Sauro kind. Warm blooded, fast and strong, a former GC species.

Just like a regular Ulmgar, this Oghar cruiser was well armed and shielded but had bigger cargo holds. Captain Kekotraa explained that he was mostly resupplying Chimera units and secret NAVINT stations in and beyond Freespace.

We transferred the pirate crews and much of the loot of the Swift Profit, as we hoped it could be returned to the families of the victims.

As we wanted to transfer the alien key device, the Captain of the Shadowrunner refused to take it.”Command changed their mind on that one. The Admiral wanted me to inform you, that the Golden made an identical device available to Union science and the one you discovered might become useful to you, detecting secret gates.”

He handed me code verified orders as well.

We transferred what needed to go Union side. In return we received our first real Wolfcraft fighter, not another Gazelle. It was the first and so far only one equipped with a smaller version of the Janus Device.

Along with the Wolfcraft came a few containers of fresh food supplies.

Not that we were anywhere near running out. We weren’t gone all that long and just restocked pretty much everything at the secret NAVINT base. Of course we also had Molecular reconstitution systems that recycled 99.99% of our waste, but it was nice to have fresh things and a larger variety.

I was in our main Cargo hold where I had been talking to the Captain of the Shadowrunner who was, so I learned from Holstein planet, despite being Diechsen.

Holstein was in the same neighborhood as Nilfeheim and it was nice to exchange some non-important local gossip. He had sent over a crate of Holstein Pilsner, my favorite beer, and to the delight of our chef, a supply of Holstein butter.

While I was standing there, a large battle robot, bigger than a Fenris and more massive than a Cerberus, came over the freight tunnel that connected our ships and stomped towards me. The machine saluted and remained in that position.

Then a hatch on it’s chest opened and three hand sized men appeared, and they saluted again. I noticed they wore Union Black and I recognized them as Mini Terrans.

A magnifying field screen established between me and one of the men said.

“Lieutenant Charles Bergdorf and two specialist of the New World Commonwealth reporting for duty, Ma’am. Admiral Rutherford personally sends this Terror Mech. He thinks you might be able to use it and us.”

“Welcome aboard then. I am delighted to have you. Your machine looks impressive.”

“Yes Ma’am it is the pinnacle of NWC technology and rivals one of our battleships fire power. It was conceived to answer possible invasions by large enemies and the Terror-Machine-Suit series is the latest. We have been briefed about the Tigershark’s true mission and volunteered.”

Har-Hi walked around the towering machine and said. “If this thing equals the fire power of one of these spheres, then it exceeds a regular Cerberus for sure.”

Lt. Bergdorf said. “It is also a full functioning space ship, capable of reaching destinations of over 1500 light years. It maneuvers almost as good as a Wolfcraft and can operate in full robotic mode, but when I am connected to it, it can move like a human, picking up feathers, or crush steel.”

I said. “I think you will be a nice addition to our Marine detachment and Lt. Pure will get you situated.”

Pure came running, as SHIP had heard me and summoned him. I filled him in and the three Mini Terrans returned inside their machine and followed the Attikan Marine.

While I watched the battle robot thing stomp away I noticed Sobody talking to Har-Hi and he repeated that strange move he had done in the Tavern killing one of the pirates.

I could tell my Dai friend was deeply impressed.

I joined them and asked. “How did you actually cut that Thauran?”

Sobody pushed back the sleeve of his robe and revealed a metal wrist band with a little hump and said. “This is a Monofilament whip. It shoots a strand of a metal wire only a few molecules thick and invisible to the naked eye. The thing is highly flexible and there is a little weight ball at the end. It is so thin it cuts through nearly everything and it can be electrified or heated to 4000 degrees if the cutting alone doesn’t do the trick. It isn’t useful against a fully armored person in a Union battlesuit, or against shields, but in close quarter or hand to hand situations it is deadly. It takes quite a bit of practice as it can be very dangerous to the user. It’s a very old Golden weapon and I have this one now for a very long time and it turned out I am still good with it, I haven’t used it in anger in almost 500 years, you know.”

Har-Hi said. “Can you get me one of those?. I think I could fit one above my dart launcher and below the bomb pellet dispenser.”

Sobody smiled proudly. “This is a great compliment coming from a Dai. I have a spare one for sure and I’ll show you how to use it, too.”

I said: “Above the dart launcher and below the bomb pellet dispenser. Are we talking about the arsenal you carry on just one arm?”

Har-Hi shook his head. “No, only what I carry between wrist and elbow, I’ve got a bigger list if we talk about the whole arm.”

I rolled my eyes and said: “Thor’s Hammer, I had to ask!”

The Captain of the Shadowrunner handed me a PDD in clipboard mode. “I think that is all. I got the sleeping beauties and the loot and you got the walking dollhouse complete with real life action figures.”

I checked the list just flying over it with my eyes just because it was nice to do something that was fleet routine. Something normal captains would do every day. I loved our current mission, but once in a while I wished we could be a Union ship openly. I stopped and read over the list more carefully and then said to Har-Hi who was still next to me and said: “Say the Togar female isn’t on this list. Aren’t we transferring her too?”

“She is still at sick bay. Cateria hasn’t released her.”

I thanked the captain and wished him a good trip home. After our ships had separated and we were back on course to Sin 4, I went to our sickbay.

I found it strange that the Togar female was still here; she didn’t look that badly wounded and as far as I knew, Togar were biologically similar to many mammalian species. I also remembered Narth’s ominous thoughts and wondered why he hadn’t come back to me about it.

Out of thin air, Narth appeared next to me as I turned into the corridor of sickbay and he said. “Apologies, Captain. I have not updated you as I am still missing certain information I am not sure how to obtain.”

I stopped and said. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I am morally hampered to proceed. It has partially to do with your sense of fairness and as I said the Hugavh share goes both ways.”

“Narth, I am not complaining or expecting you to have all the answers for me all the time. I just think we are not the right environment for these human flesh eaters, and sending her along with the Shadowrunner would have been a good idea. However I am curious what my sense of fairness has to do with all of this.”

“You bought her, acting out of that very sense, and I must tell you that the Togar female was tortured and raped in the most horrible ways aboard that Pirate ship. Her psychological condition is fragile and very difficult and Cateria is trying her best with old fashioned counseling and medication to help her. She didn’t think having her treated like an enemy by uncaring Union authorities would be good.”

What he said touched me somewhere deep. I remembered as Egill had transferred me somehow into the body of a female to teach me what hell could mean, and I had almost been raped by Harkun. I had not thought about this for a long time but now it returned as a vivid memory.

Narth nodded. “You see, all your past experiences have formed your personality and we shared this with the Hugavh. Now the Togar female has a mental shield, preventing me from probing deeper and finding out more details. I could easily break it of course, but I would basically commit the same crime on her again as these men did,” He lowered his head. “With my increased understanding of human emotions, my own approach to things changes. I would have broken her shield without hesitation only a year ago. I will of course proceed if you order me to do so.”

“Narth, this is not a bad thing, it is what we call a conscience, and it tells us what is right and what is wrong above any laws or any rules. We humans can differentiate between good and evil, and this opens a whole can of worms on such subjects as ethics and religion.”

“I am still at the beginning trying to understand all this, but I fail to see why opening a can of worms is of any significance to this discussion? I am certain we have no can of worms in our freight manifest.”

“Go ask Shea about that one later. Let us check on the Togar and see if we can get her home somehow.”

“That is the problem I mentioned earlier.”

I went through the double doors of our sickbay. It had the symbol of Aesculapius over a six pointed star etched into semi transparent material. The lobby behind was white and blue and everything looked brand new and sparkling clean. Cateria wore a light blue coat over white pants. Her usually short cropped hair was now a little longer and gave her a more feminine appearance. Her slight smile also helped.

“Hello Captain, what can I do for you? Is it an inspection, or are my services required? Back issues perhaps, walking day in and out in these murderous heels or carrying that rack you decided to have must do a number on your back.”

“No Cateria, my back is fine and I am not here for an inspection either. I am here to inquire about the Togar female.”

Cateria lost her smile and said. “Her name is Jolaj Grotha and physically she is as good as new. She comes from a matriarchal society and has been raped not once but many times and not by members of her own kind but by aliens to her, which makes it even worse. She is young, barely adult in her society, and she is also perhaps the most wanted person in the Togar Empire.”

Narth said. “That is what I meant, if the Togar Empire becomes aware that she is alive and aboard our ship, they will try to capture us and kill her.”

I said gloomily: “I didn’t make a big secret out of buying her either. In a Tavern of all places. Chances are the Togar already know we have her. What has she done?”

Narth said. “That is the information I was unable to obtain.”

Cateria said. “All I know about the Togar society is what I could find on GalNet. I am trying to win her trust so she opens up on her own. Captain I simply could not release her. What would they have done to her on Union side? She doesn’t belong there, they know as much about the Togar as I do, and she belongs to a society that eats humans. I asked Narth and the others not to mention her and I hoped you would forget her for a while.”

She looked at me intensely. “I know why you bought her. To impregnate her with a virus or something and make her the instrument of her own species demise, and half the ship agrees with your idea.The Seenian in me applauds you, but I am a physician and I just recently swore the Union physician’s oath, with full understanding of every word.”

“I said what I said as I stood in a cargo hold with thousands of dead humans, slaughtered and butchered like Fangsnappers. I saw humans herded and separated in slave pens destined for the spits of Togar grills while I was in a slave pen on Alvor’s Cove myself. So my general opinion of the Togar society isn’t very favorable, but I don’t buy sentient beings for any purpose whatsoever. I bought her to get her out of the situation she was in. I wonder what what kind of monster you think I am?”

“I don’t know you as well as the others do. I know you are fair and straightforward. I know I can trust you with my life and I am here because you showed me mercy, but I also remember how it is to be your enemy.”

I didn’t have any real response to that and said. “Well I am not going to kill her or kick her out, but I’d still like to know what we are going to do with her. She isn’t a prisoner. Can I talk to her?”

Cateria shrugged. “I am not the best psychiatric expert and know next to nothing about Togar, so I guess you can.”

I followed her into a well lit room with a bed with curtains on a window that simulated the view onto a green sun drenched meadow. There was a desk and a chair as well. The white Togar female was on the bed and she was restrained.

Cateria answered my unspoken question. “Partially to prevent her from harming herself and partially because she is a Togar with very sharp claws and teeth. Neither I nor my staff have the desire to become patients in our own sickbay.”

The Togar was really pretty, looking almost like a human woman with a skintight white fur suit, if it wasn’t for the four toed, claw like feet, the catlike face, pointed triangular ears and the long tail. I wondered if the Pree or the UNI who supposedly seeded human life all across the galaxy also seeded the Togar. She looked straight at the ceiling and did not move or react as we came in.

I said to Cateria. “Deactivate her restraints.”

“You think that is wise Captain?”

“Deactivate her restraints and leave me alone with her. I don’t think I am in danger.”

She did and the restraints holding the Togar disappeared into the bed frame.

“Hi Jolaj, I am Erica and I am the Captain of this ship.”

She did not move or look at me as she said.

“You bought me!”

“Only to get you out of the situation you were in. We are on our way to Sin 4. I can even make a little side trip to Kaliment and you are free to go. You are not my property and you are not a prisoner.”

“You can kill me if you want and you can use me.”

“I killed the man named Bloom and his men are all going to be hanged for acts of Piracy.”

She moved her head for the first time and looked at me.

“You do not show your face, yet you are not pirates. The ship is old on the outside but inside it is like no ship I ever knew. So bright and new. Why should I believe you?”

“You do not have to believe me. I am sorry for what happened to you, but I have a mission and the ship that comes first. I will instruct my Ship’s surgeon to do Psycho Surgery on you. Afterward you will remember nothing. My ship’s secret is safe, you will not remember any of the bad things and we let you go on Kaliment where you can reach the Togar side easily.”

“Then you are a coward and let others do your killing for you. Why not kill me right away? Any Togar that helps me is automatically sentenced to death. Any Togar that kills me will gain great fortune with the Queen.”

“What could you have done that is so terrible?”

She turned her head away and said. “I was born.”

“I can understand that you don’t trust me or anyone for that matter and frankly, I don’t trust you. I don’t particularly like Togars, and I am not too fond of any species that buys and hunts my kind for food. But I hate unfair situations and yours is very unfair. So I am asking you, what is it you want?”

“Kill me, please, simply kill me and all the problems are gone. The pain I feel, the trouble I cause everything will be gone and you are rid of me as well.”

Why I sat down and touched her hand. I was not sure, but her pain and sorrow I could almost physically feel. “Death comes to us all sooner or later; there is no need to seek it out.”

She turned her head and I could see the pain and the shame she felt in her big green cat eyes. Her whiskers quivered and I saw the fine fur underneath her big eyes was wet.

“Just kill me, please.”

I touched her cheeks and said. “No worries Jolaj, I give you my word I will find a solution and, while this is a ship of war and we will be in dangerous situations, I promise you no one will ever hurt you again while you aboard this ship and under my care.” I took her paw like hand in mine and squeezed it saying: “Do you believe that?”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and she nodded. “Yes, I believe you.”

Again I was surprised by my own actions as I pulled the dangerous alien cat close and hugged her and she started sobbing in a strange mix of animalistic and human noises.

“I am sorry for everything. I didn’t ask to be born you know. I didn’t ask for white fur, I am sorry for being Togar and that I have eaten human. I am sorry for being female and making them...”

Her fur was at least as soft as that of the little Holdian commander. I did not understand everything she said as she switched between native Togar and Frees-zone Squawk. Many of her words were swallowed between deep sobs, but I could feel her pain and hopelessness while I was holding her. I was once again reminded of Egill and could almost see him nodding with approval. I was certain I heard another voice say: “As long as he can feel compassion so strongly through the female persona I have given him, all hope is not lost.”

For a brief moment I wondered about my own imagination but then was distracted by the white furred Togar I was still holding. She was crying in strange meowing sounds softer now and I patted her back. I don’t know how long I sat there holding the alien female, but then I noticed she had fallen asleep and I let her down, covered her and quietly left.

Cateria and Narth were there outside the door, it was the Seenian CMO that spoke first: “She hasn’t been able to sleep without sedation ... I’m sorry for having misjudged you, Captain.”

“Don’t restrain her any more and if she wants to get up and wander around, let her. SHIP will keep an eye on her so she isn’t wandering in restricted areas, right SHIP?”

“Of course captain.”

Cateria looked back through the door window and said: “I’ll see to it, Captain.”

Narth said: “I will attempt to learn more about the Togar and maybe I can find out why white fur would be of significance.”

Dimon landed on a private island, the enclave of the Rico syndicate. The old Baro syndicate was in business because of the worm and received a coded message from the Purple Worm himself, to accommodate the half Dai, Dimon Honsu.

The Baro syndicate was one of the four big players that more or less controlled Sin 4. The leader and undisputed boss of the outfit, Ludor Baro was waiting for him right at the boarding ramp as he stepped on the landing field. Ludor did look very much like a human sized, strong looking chimpanzee. But his face was anything but dull or animalistic. There was a persistent rumor that Ludor was a Level 7 intellect. Two levels above the average and on the same level as Dimon. The man pretending to be Dimon had no doubt the rumor was true. He had dealt with the old Baro before.

Ludor placed his long arms on each sides of his hips.”Don’t be surprised to find me out here, greeting you in person, but our mutual friend made it quite clear how important your visit is.”

Dimon greeted the Simian.”Good afternoon, mighty Ludor. Yes I have important business, Freespace and peace hinge on me being successful, but I do have a crate of Union Marine Issue SITKUs and twenty H&K missile carabines, plus crates of missile canisters and Power-mags for the SITKUs. Just in case you might want to update the personal hardware of your guards.”

The grim face of Ludor changed for a short moment and displayed a toothy grin. “I hate the Union with a passion, especially Terrans as you know, but I love Union Mil Tech. It is going to be very hard getting hands on the genuine stuff. I am sure you know of the increasing troubles of our friend the worm.”

Dimon nodded and waved a few of Ludor’s stooges so they could unload the gifts.”Yes there won’t be any big stuff anymore for sure, but unless the cursed Admiral McElligott finds a cure for greed and opportunism there always will be some stuff coming this way.”

Dimon knew, the hatred towards Union and Earth was strong and deep in the syndicate boss. It had to with the fact that he was a direct descendant of one of the Chimpanzees sent into space by human scientists long before Earth ascendet. If the story was true, one of the monkeys were rescued by an alien society and eventually brought to Dyne, where they developed. Dimon did not know if the sentient part was genetically engineered or developed on its own, but Ludor was technically a Terran or at least had roots to that planet.

Ludor and Dimon walked side by side into the main building of the immense villa. Dimon didn’t want to waste time and said.”Did you hear about a captured Nul being sold on Sin 4?”

“There is only one Nul on Sin 4 right now. A Gray one no less, abducted by Shiss raiders and given to Duke Donheer, the syndicate boss of the Donheer clan and proprietor of the Death Arenas. I am sure this is where the Nul will end up.”

“The Nul is important to the Nul and they will go to war if I can’t manage to get him back.”

“Good luck with that one, but then the Duke can be bought if the price is right.”

“I will make him an offer. Any other news that I should know about?”

“The Togar apparently also lost one of their own. In their case it seems to be a criminal or terrorist of sorts.”

“A Togar female by any chance?”

“Yes, there is a significant reward from the Queen herself anyone capturing and turning over a Togar female with all white fur.”

“She was sold by Dentar Bloom at Bhrama port to a mysterious female pirate called Black Velvet.”

“I never seen the Togar as serious and determined about anything like that before, but then there is a legend about an All White Togar who is the daughter of their highest god.”

The Half Dai nodded.”The Togar are still very religious and superstitious. Doesn’t’ that religious legend say that this white fur Togar replaces the Queen and the High priestess and brings justice to all Togar, male and female?”

“Exactly, now can you imagine what the Queen and the High Priestess will do if there is indeed an All White Fur?”

“She makes them obsolete and that’s the reason for all that. I seen the female, she is indeed all white, but that should not be that rare. Albinos exist in all species.”

“I am neither an expert on Togar furs nor genetics. I do know the Togar Queen declared the All White an impostor and put a big bounty on her head, preferably dead by the way.”

“She has the potential to rip apart the Togar empire, just as they are aiming to become a big player.”

“You squandered a big chance at getting very rich and on the good side of the Togar queen.”

Dimon sighed.”I realize that too. Well maybe that Black Velvet pirate makes it to Sin 4 and I can buy the Togar.”

Sin 4

We had reached the Sin system and as always, I had us drop out of Quasi-space in the outmost regions of the star system. I said: “Maintain course to Sin 4, and steady as she goes. Mr. Shaka.”

“Aye Captain, keeping it all well within the limits for a Karthanian.”

“Elfi keep your ears open and record all comm traffic. SHIP, help her please.”

“Already on it, Captain, search patterns for Pirate name activity and transmissions that offer Union Mil tech are in effect. There is an awful lot about the White Fur Togar”

I sighed and acknowledged with a nod and said. “Narth and Shea, make sure you don’t use any active scanner beams we are not supposed to have.”

“We adjusted our active Sensors to match our Disguise.”

Har-Hi handed me a PDD in clipboard mode and said: “Arrival at Sin 4 or not, it is 0900 Union time and that means you got to sign the daily order sheet, Moi Captain. Only with your signature can I process them.”

“Where is Ms. O’Connell’s? Is that not her duty?”

“Her duty yes, but since you decided to pull two shifts and throw my carefully arranged shift schedule in chaos, I have to do it. She is sleeping most likely.”

I blinked guilty and said: “I just wanted to be on the bridge myself when we arrived. I somehow hoped never to set foot on Sin 4 again and yet here we are.”

“And when you are on the bridge, so is your senior staff.” Narth added.

“I should pay more attention to that, I suppose.”

Har-Hi watched me read the general order for the day.”No worries, Captain. No one’s complaining.”

Shea sighed at that and said: “About Sin 4, I can’t help but think the same way, and this dirt ball is supposed to be my home.”

I said. “Your home is where you make it and not where fate put you when you were born. At least we arrive in a nice ship this time, and I am not bound and can go to the bathroom anytime I want.”

Everyone looked at me and I added. “Well the first time I arrived here I was tied up and I needed to go to the bathroom real bad. It’s not a story I should tell you all, but not being able to go can be real painful.”

Har-Hi said: “No one is laughing, Captain. This makes your accomplishment to escape barefoot and without any resources even more amazing. We just went to a similar ordeal ourselves and it only lasted a few hours. You didn’t go into great details when you told us how you escaped your tormentor, but I can imagine it was much more difficult than you let on.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you one day. Right now we’ve got a job to do and, as we are the first federation ship, at least as far as we know, entering this system, we might as well collect some data and upgrade our catalogs and information on this system.”

The Golden One came onto the bridge and SHIP said to me: “I asked Sobody to the bridge to help Elfi with the Comm traffic analysis.”

“It’s all good SHIP. I think we have thrown regulation 563.43 B out the window quite a while ago regarding proper bridge conduct. Besides you are not just the AI. You do carry rank and you are an Officer.”

Har-Hi could not help himself.”That regulation with many of the other regulations. Not that I am complaining or anything.”

Sobody looked over to the busy science console and said: “Captain, we are supposed to be pirates. Pirates don’t survey, measure and explore.”

I smiled, answering: “Not to worry, Ancient Merchant. We won’t launch any probes or send survey teams to the other planets.”

Har Hi, who stood with crossed arms next to my seat, instead of sitting in his designated chair, also watching the science crew do their job, turned to the Golden and said: “Even a Golden with your excellent scanner tech might be surprised at the data we can collect just with our sensors. I doubt there is another species that elevated scientific sensor analysis to such a level as the Union.”

Sobody agreed saying. “This is one of the reasons I am such a fan of the Terrans and the Union, Mr. Hi. I can’t wait what Terrans do with Golden tech.”

Har-Hi coughed.”I bet they find a way to weaponize your cash registers.”

That earned him a stern gaze of mine.

Shea looked at her readouts and reported. “None of the other planets are used or occupied as far as I can tell; there are no energy signatures or material concentrations that would suggest artificial manipulation or presence. Yet it appears that there are several candidates with promising mineral and metal riches.”

Har-Hi said. “Crooks don’t mine and those who do want to mine have the fruits of their labor stolen or taken away. So I guess that is the reason no one is mining out here,”

She nodded and returned to looking at her readouts. I knew her well enough that I could tell by her body language she found something, so I asked. “Lt. Schwartz is there anything I should know about?”

“No Capitan it is not anything that would affect us or the mission in any way. The Sun is a Spectral Type O2 and...” She stopped in mid sentence and kept looking at her readouts. She turned: “ It is my home system Captain but I never had the chance to scan our sun before. This star is unstable and I am running a simulation through SHIP right now, and a Nova eruption is likely to occur within the next two or three hundred thousand years, mere moments in a stars live. I am certain by natural causes.”

I responded saying. “It won’t affect our mission then because I hope we all will be somewhere else by then. Maybe the situation will have changed by then and the Wurgus Solar Engineers could stabilize that sun, but you could consult Three-Four.”

The Non-Corp appeared on a Comm-screen and said.”She already did, Captain.I am going over the star data as we speak.”

Narth was also busy on his console and said: “Captain, there is a lot of traffic in this system, and I am detecting weapon fire at nine different locations within the system. Mao analyzed the conflicts and concluded that none of the fights are connected.”

Mao did not take his eyes off his readouts and confirmed what Narth had said: “Narth send me the scanner data but I can’t see any correlation between any of these shoot outs. It also appears no capital ships are involved. Weapon energies exchanged are consistent with armed system shuttles and the like.”

Shea said. “That is normal. There is only one law here, the law of the stronger. There are always quarrels and fights anywhere on or around Sin 4”

I leaned back.”Har Hi sound battle stations anyway. I like to be ready.”

“Aye Captain. General Quarters!”

We reached the planet without any incidents and Shaka took us into a standard orbit around the garden world that was known as SIN 4.

It had only two continents and several large islands. The rest was Ocean. Even from space the upper continent didn’t look very inviting. Most of it seemed gray and looked dirty. There was visible pollution oozing from one of the large islands in a gray smear across the greenish oceans.

“So how do we land?” I asked. “Did anyone hail us?” This question I directed to Elfi.

The beautiful Saran woman answered: “There is lots of activity on all channels, but no one is taking any interest in us, Sir.”

Narth checked his scanners and said: “No one has even noticed us.There isn’t anything in terms of scanner arrays.”

Shea said. “We simply land. There are a few spaceports but there is no active landing control. I suggest we land at the Gorotolah. It is the largest spaceport on the southernmost edge of the Continent.”

She waved her hands over the main viewer and magnified a section of the planet below and pointed at an area. I was certain it was the same spaceport I had been before, as it had the Ocean close by.

Shaka was under his Virtu Helmet but unlike most other Virtu Helmsmen he always paid attention to what happened on the bridge and participated in our conversations.

He said: “I am on Ship vision and can see it and there are other ships as well.”

I smiled at Shea and then said. “Shaka, take us down there and put us as far away from the other ships as possible. Mao, keep our shields active and Narth, double check the Janus system.”

We landed on the same cracked and crumbling, Duro-Crete field I had been on before. I recognized the tall Duro-crete wall in the distance, but most of the Skeleton hand spider infested terminal was gone, and there was still a crater where the SII ship had blasted one of the Spaceports turrets away.

To my utter surprise I recognized the now completely salvaged and butchered hulk of the Karthanian courier ship that I had arrived with on Sin 4 not so long ago. It was nothing more than a twisted wreck, but I recognized its hull shape.

Nothing much had changed; there were the same garbage fires, piles of waste and filth.

Shaka took off his helmet and shook his head looking at the main viewer saying. “Good lord, what a dump. If this is such a lawless place, who actually build this spaceport? It looks it had been a well planned facility once.”

I looked into the direction of our geek squad and said:”Good question.”

It was Sobody who had the answer, as neither Shea nor Narth seemed to know.

He said: “It is a little known side note of galactic history. After the first signing of the Accord for Universal peace, the Poho who hosted the conference and were known as the most peaceful and neutral society did not want to have any more meetings on their world. The Poho homeworld had become known as the Planet of Universal Peace and had been the meeting place of choice even long before the rise of the Union.

So without having a meeting place anyone could agree on, the Big Four looked for another place.

This world was considered and the Karthanian, smelling the opportunity to do business with the Big Four, build this space port, the terminal and the original city. It never happened. The Poho changed their mind and openly invited everyone to use their world for such purposes again.

The Karthanian abandoned the world and since it was now in Freespace and had a city and space port for the taking, it didn’t take long for pirates and similar vermin to find this place. Syndicate Families developed and it all turned into the Sin 4 we all know today.”

Shea said. “Not that anyone had the right to take this world, as it has a sentient native population.”

Elfi signaled me and interrupted. “Someone did notice us and we are being hailed.”

I settled back down in my seat and put on my mask then said. “I am ready, put it on.”

The being appeared to have features of both the Oghar and the Shiss like and looked quite frightening. “We are calling the Silver Streak.”

“That is an original Ohgr by the way.” Har-Hi whispered.

I acknowledged Har-Hi with a nod and said aloud. “Looks like you got our attention. Speak up, what is it you want?”

“We know who you are, Captain Velvet, your reputation travels faster than your ship.”

“This is indeed Captain Black Velvet of the Silver Streak. Whom do I have the dubious honor to talk with?”

The answer came right away. His voice sounded rough and somewhat high pitched and I could hear other voices in the background. “Captain Velvet, you are talking to the Gorotolah Spaceport Protection Agency. We heard of you and your ship and we know you are a successful pirate. We are very happy you choose to land on our port. However this is a dangerous place and we can only guarantee your safety for 20,000 Polo coins, or goods of similar value. If you decide not to pay or to leave we are forced to use our big DE guns on you. We have two large DE turrets aimed directly at you. You have exactly 20 minutes to comply. A group of our associates will approach in a floater and expect payment to be transferred.”

Mao manipulated the main viewer and magnified a set of buildings across the landing field. Indeed there was a bunker like building with a force field surrounding it and a set of DE turrets on top aiming at us. Mao said. “Captain, those pea shooters won’t even dent our armor without shields. They don’t have anything big enough to put us in any real danger.”

Har Hi agreed. “They are bluffing and hope we don’t know, but there aren’t any weapons big enough that can be used on a planet and seriously harm a ship of our size, even if we really were a Karthanian Freighter with original shields. Any weapon big enough to crack our shields would seriously damage a huge area around us.Not to mention the possible loss of contamination to the Anti matter part of our fuel. Half the continent would be liquified. This isn’t a Poodle.”

I nodded. “Elfi can you pinpoint the location of the transmission?”

She moved her hands over her console and responded. “Yes Captain I have localized it to that transmitter array over there.”

I pointed at the turrets and said: “Mao, fire our simulated Froth Caster and place a 5 gram TL bomb right where that transmission originates. That should do as payment.”

From the outside it looked as if our Nul turret fired, the Translocator load was invisible and undetectable.

The result was more than I expected. The 5 gram antimatter exploded and obliterated not only the bunker and the building with the transmitter but the entire building complex with a tremendous fire cloud.

Har-Hi coughed into his fist and rubbed his fingernails on his jacket. “I don’t think this is what they had in mind when they asked for goods of similar value, Captain.”

Shea shrugged. “I doubt anyone will care and I expect others will take their place and try a similar scam in a few month”

I got up from the seat, and said: “Let’s have a conference in the Den to figure out what we need to do and how we are going to do it.”

Har-Hi once again standing rather than sitting like most of us said: “There are three reasons why we came here. Number one is to find the Terran weapons dealer and shut him down. Number two is to find out where the Sinister Alliance is meeting and what they are planning and number three on our list of things to do is to identify all pirates and freelancers that are on the wanted list of Union Police, with special focus on the Red Dragon.”

“To accomplish this I would like to deploy one of our Intel specialist, If that is permitted. He was added to our crew while we were at the NAVINT sun base. His skills and abilities are especially suited for this.”

“I guess I should read your daily reports more closely. Who is it?”

“Lieutenant Senhadjii. he is attached to our S-2 department and yes it might be a good thing if you read my reports in more detail.”

“I will do that in the future and since I trust your judgement, I approve the deployment of this specialist. Keep me informed please. And I do remember his name, wasn’t he looking into the body language of that half Dai?”

Har-Hi nodded.”Indeed.”

I turned to the big Saturnian. “Mr. Neugruber you wanted to be next.”

Hans expanded the size of high resolution pictures “These are the ships that share the landing area with us right now. All three are operated by notorious outlaws and pirates. I prepared dossiers on each of them from the data we have available. As for the Mil-Tech dealer I would like to go into the city and gather some intel on that.”

Hans managed to look embarrassed and said. “I am not on Sin 4 for the first time either and I have some contacts and a reputation here, even though I am supposed to be dead.”

I said. “Not that I want to sound nosy or anything like that, but could you be a tad more specific?”

He looked down on the table surface and said. “Before I joined the Fleet I was fighting for money in one of the big arenas here. Nothing to be proud of, but back then I was a young punk with no brain and an expensive taste.”

“You?” Was all I could say. Hans was always so correct and straight.

He grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, me, I was known as the Terror Hammer and fought in the top league. I still have some connections here. Golden said he would come along as well.”

“I can’t simply allow you go outside Mr. Merchant. It is very dangerous out there and how would they react to the Merchant of Merchants being here?”

He smiled and said: “You worry too much, Captain, Cateria will do some plastic surgery again and add the ugly branding of the Expelled on my head and besides even we Golden have a hard time to tell us apart. To any stranger we look very much alike.” He then looked up to Hans and said: “I think I could help out there more than I can here. Sin 4 is a rotten place but it runs on money and business and that’s what I know best.”

I sighed. “You know how to make a point but be careful and stay with Hans.”

Shea said. “I would like to go to the temple and get a few things.”

“How will you get there safely?”

“I’ll call the temple and have them pick me up.”

Elfi was next. “SHIP and I decoded a message send from one of the pirate ships out there. The ship identified as the Merchants Sorrow, commanded by Sodex the Wild. He was contacted by the Red Dragon. The message tells Sodex that the Red Dragon will be here in seven days to participate in the semi-annual Pirates market.”

I acknowledged her report and said to Hans and Sobody. “Well we are here for at least that long, so you may go and do your intel-gathering, but keep in touch and report as often as you can.”

Sobody and Hans agreed to do that.

Now it was Narth who got up and I said to him. “Don’t tell me you, too, have been on Sin 4 before as well.”

He shook his shrouded head. “Not in a corporeal sense, no, but I did share some of your experiences while you were here.I changed from a sitting position to a sanding one got up as it seems that is what the others do when reporting.”

“All right then, what is it you want to report, Mr.Narth?”

I am addressing you in my capacity as OPS officer and it is part of my duty and my department to allocate resources and delegate projects. The OPS department is often called the XO’s...”

I interrupted him. “Not that I mind a refresher course about what OPS is but I am sure you had another reason for getting up, right?”

“Oh yes, of course. I have a request from Ensign Dien Tallow.”

I actually remembered the name from some list I signed or maybe it was someone I greeted, so I said. “I think I heard the name and I believe it is someone in our science department. Is he from Sin 4?”

“No Captain, but as you correctly remembered, he is a member of our science department. He is quite a brilliant and talented scientist with particular interests in sociology, Xeno archeology and biology. While microbiology and Xeno entomology are his main fields of expertise. He had an interesting proposal and suggestion.”

Narth waved the man over. He was human and one of those who would not stand out in a crowd of one. He looked older than most ensigns but then he had gone the science corps route and they often tended to be older. He saluted me and he managed to make a military greeting look shy and weak. I told him that no one had to salute here in the Pirate’s Den and encouraged him to simply tell us his suggestion.”

He said. “Captain, we are the first Union ship on Sin 4 and I heard we might have a few days time, so I would like to propose we survey the planet. I am aware of our mission but I think we can do it while disguised and not be obvious. The southern continent and some of the islands, and especially Trash Island, are of particular interest to me.”

Yeoman O’Connell had appeared behind me in her usual quiet way and held a mug of coffee before me. I was so getting used to her punctuality that I grabbed the mug before I even acknowledged and thanked her.

To the scientist I said. “I am not opposed to your idea, but we do have a cover to maintain.”

He pointed to Circuit and said. “Ma’am, the Chief Engineer and his team has already modified one of our Armadillos to make it look old and non-Union. I studied as much about Sin 4 as I could find since it was a possibility that we would come here. Visiting Trash Island would be a highlight in my scientific career, Ma’am.”

I sipped at my coffee, giving Gwen a thankful smile and asked. “Why is this island of such interest to you?”

“Unrestricted transfer of goods and life forms for almost 1500 years from all regions of our galaxy must have created a very unique environment, especially in terms of vermin.”

Shea agreed: “It sure would be an interesting expedition and no one but Skaakh and Stiks live on Trash Island.”

I sipped at my coffee and said. “Alright, I approve it, but I better go along to make sure our science crew isn’t overdoing things. But first I like to hear proposals how to sabotage and if possible take those landed ships out. While I think we need to leave the Merchants Sorrow alone for now, the other two should never leave this place again.”

One of the Mini Terrans standing on the table said.”Lt. Bergdorf here, Captain.This is our specialty. Edwin and Gerd, I mean Ensign Sahlhof and Ensign Helle. We are not just Mech pilots but trained in clandestine demolition and sabotage.”

I leaned forward.”So what could you do?”

“Carry a load of Lt. Circuits nanites inside for one, set very small demolition charges that ruin their Computronic or their AM mix ratio.”

One of his colleagues, introduced himself as Edwin Sahlhof actually giggled. Captain, changing the AM mix ratio is always a favorite.”

A Leedei ensign I had seen a few times before and who had shown his talent by sensing the minds of the mercs almost a light hour distant apparently encouraged by Narth to speak said. “Captain, you do know we have a PSI lab and all kinds of Leedei tech? Leedei even decided to make several Gorrontha devices available to this ship and project.”

“Yes I know we do. Weren’t we using one of those things to mess with the Kermac on Dioba? But I guess it is a good time you guys tell me what those devices do.”

The Leedei explained. “It agitates and stimulates what we Leedei call the PSI Organ. It can increase or decrease the ability to channel. Even store psionic energies. It works on almost any life form and could increase the HPI by up to 500 percent. The device has been improved ever since and became the core of Leedei might.

The Gorrontha Device was first used in anger over 6,000 years ago to create something we call a Psi Blast and it was instrumental in winning the conflict.It has officially been outlawed, but we did continue to develop it. We have a big Gorrontha projector, the one we actually used to temporarily increase the abilities of the Kermac. And we have several hand held projectors.”

Narth in my mind said.”It is forbidden technology because it is perhaps dangerous to a Narth.”

The Leedei did not know Narth was sending his thoughts said.”It can be used the other way too, you know. Lowering the cognitive intelligence of a being even.”

To my friend I was thinking back.”This is very concerning indeed, and I wonder if there are other Union ships with that device.”

“No there is not, the Leedei leadership only made it available upon the Narth Supreme asking them to add it to this ships equipment.”

I acknowledged and said to the Minis.”An anti matter explosion might be a tad too much, but other than that, let me see what you can do.” I looked at the images Hans had provided.”Take care of that Oghr Combat freighter over there. Hans’ info identifies the ship as the Brazen Business of a Privateer and smuggler named Turdin Masab.”

I then turned to the Leedei. “And you do your thing to the Tight Squeeze, that Karthanian copy of a Union destroyer. But most of all stay as safe as possible and if at all possible do it stealthy. Don’t expose us.”

Chapter 9 »