CH 16: Onward

CH 16: Onward

The Minerva arrived only two days and made planetfall in the early evening. That I had a connection to the slave trader was established on Sin 4. So I was not concerned about our cover as the golden gleaming ship sat down next to us and cargo bridge was established between the ships. Sposhtrah and his crew took possession of the stasis box with the Worm and also took the simple paper document that made whoever held it the owner of the planet. We exchanged a little small talk and I was a little disappointed that Stahl wasn’t there this time. Of course I knew he was far away and busy at the Corridor but I still would have loved to talk with the Old Warrior face to face for a little bit. Captain Sposhtrah suggested that I was seen with him, to further cement my reputation as a ruthless pirate and legitimize our connection, showing others that I was a close associate. So I accompanied him to the slave market. On our way he said. “It is a devil’s circle. I am out here to secretly rescue primarily Union citizens from this cruel fate, but by doing it this way I am also causing demand. I am very glad you bought this hell hole. Now if we could do something to put the Mulwhur Trading Company out of business, that would reduce this vile trade at least in this region significantly.” “I seen their posters and I heard of them while I was here as a slave myself, but I know nothing about them. Would they not have to close doors after the slave markets are no more? I mean NAVINT and eventually the Union is going to run the planet.” “They are from N’Ger and all they lose is one profitable outlet. I hate to tell you but Alvor’s Cove is not the only such place.” Alvor’s Cove slave market was not like the colorful fair like atmosphere of the pirate,s market we had visited on Sin 4. There were no stalls or vendors. It was a dusty, open area with steel cages lining the perimeter, an elevated platform and a small crowd of buyers standing before that platform. Despite the paper dry air, a foul stench hung over it all. The lack of colors, everything in shades of brown and dusty gray somehow underlined the misery and the sad reality of it all. The cages were filled with every kind of sentient beings, again there were many I could not identify and I was certain some of them never had any contact to the Union. It appeared however that almost all of them were of the NiOx breathing kind and carbon based, at least from what I could see. Captain Sposhtrah was greeted like a GalNet celebrity. A group of Togar greeted him respectfully and so did a group of Karthanians. There were human customers as well. One of the Togar said after greeting Sposhtrah. “Are you teaching a new associate the ins and outs of the business? I have not seen this human female before. ” “This is Captain Black Velvet, she is doing business with me for quite a while now.” “Captain Velvet, you say? Our authorities have great interest in meeting you. It is about that Togar female criminal you purchased at Brhama Port.” I made a dismissive gesture. “As you can tell I am purchase and sell merchandise all the time. I remember telling one of your commanders that I long sold that female to someone else.” “Yes, we know of your statement and claim that you sold her to a pirate known as Bloom.” “No, I did not. I am certain it was Captain Swift. He offered a tidy sum as his appetites are well known. Bloom auctioned that slave on that asteroid base, but he never left Brhama Port, at least not in one piece or alive.” “Ah yes of course, my mistake. You haven’t seen him or heard of Swift? It appears he never made it to Kaliment or has been seen lately despite the substantial reward. Could he not have been to the Pirate’s market at Sin 4 after all?” “I am not his keeper and he did not share his detailed plans as to what ports he might chose to frequent. People in his line of business do tend to change their minds, especially when certain opportunities arise.” Captain Sposhtrah tongue flickered out of his rigid mouth hole and said. “I never meet this Swift, but I do know the cursed Union descended on Sin 4 and hundreds of freelancing shipmasters fell prey to their heavy handed attack. If Swift was anywhere near that system he most certainly found his fate at the end of a rope. Union justice knows only one sentence when it comes to pirates.” The Togar squinted his eyes and looked down at the Karthanian. “And the same punishment is given when they apprehend those dealing with sentient life. Togar and Karthanians might one day face that terrible enemy and have to stand against this demon of war.” The cat being turned to face the slave pens and cages.“Should this Swift surface and be seen by any of you, keep in mind that we will award great riches and favors to you.” With those words he left us and joined his group. Moments later the sales event and auction begun. The representative of the Mulwhur Trading Company was, as Sposhtrah informed me, a Turotonk. In had seen one of them before, during the time I had been on Netlor with Deepa. The being did resemble a smaller version of a Shiss and had distinct reptilian features. It had larger wings than the flightless Shiss but only one pair of arms.I also knew they were a Thrall species of the Kermac and hostile to the Union. My Karthanian companion pointed out that this was one of the owners of the Mulwhur company and with the business for over thirty years. Sposhtrah ended up buying almost all the slaves leaving the Togar only with about twenty they managed to buy in deals they had done before the actual auction. The other slave merchants left empty handed, openly complaining about the deep pockets of the Karthanian. It galled me, as I saw the sum of money Sposhtrah paid the Turotonk. He was right, buying almost every slave that was available and thus creating more demand. He told me, that he was instructed to buy them all by NAVINT command. Normally he only bought captured Union citizens, but he informed me that NAVINT already had a plan how to end this practice and business on Alvor’s Cove, but he did not know any details. Late that day the Minerva lifted off with her holds filled with slaves and most of the Seenian artifacts. I wondered if Vargas the Worm would really receive his due. I trusted Stahl, but I still had reservations to do so the same way with McElligott.

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SLAVE DEALER

It was near midnight on this side of Alvor’s Cove. The canyon city was busier than usual. The pirates and low lives that managed to escape the purge by Union hand at Sin 4 and those who could no longer go there now flocked to Alvor’s Cove. Not knowing that the days of this place were counted as well. There were brawls spilling out the various bars and taverns onto the paths that winded through these canyon corridors. Brothels and the local Sojonit temple did brisk business. The news that the ownership of the planet had changed was spreading, but most did not care, expecting much to remain the same. The Local lord guards, kept collecting the water tax and intervened in the more violent fights, but only to collect a brawling fine. Either by intimidation or by more hands on convincing. All in all it was of course business as usual. The Turotonk slave merchant was more than pleased. He had an exceptional good day of business. He had reached his home and office far up Brennan’s bent where the canyon split into Magi’s and Gobdro’s Arm. It was here where the more upscale businesses and residences were located. The offices of the Mulwhur Trading Company were far up on the left side of the canyon and could be reached by elevator. Up here he had a great view down the canyon arm and could partially see past Dagmul’s fortress, a island like rock formation, and to the widening canyon arm where the Slave market was located. Due to the nature of this planet and of course the business he was in, he relied on very good security. His was provided by state of the art Karthaninan tech and four expensive professionals with a stellar reputation. But as he walked past the heavy copper colored doors that gave access to the company's facilities and his personal apartement, he had the distinct feeling something was not as it should be. Neither one of his security guards were present. At least two of them should have been on duty. He wanted to turn and leave the offices, as his instincts told him to check out the reason for their absence via communicator and from safe distant. Yet the heavy doors had silently closed behind him and did not open for him. The Turotonk was not only a slave dealer for many decades but also a deep cover agent for the Ministry of Information for the Kermac. It was him who supplied his masters with the occasional Saresii or Union slave for their research and other sinister purposes. His clawed hand fell on the handle of the modern Kermac line blaster he carried openly in a fast ejector holster, only to find it was deactivated and the ready indicator dark. He was a true cold blooded lizard by nature and liked the heat of the day and well heated premises. But he felt the coldness of fear rise in him and he said loud. “Who is there?” He did see the flash of a movement and knew there was someone behind him, but before he could turn someone pulled a sack over his head, blocking his sight. At the same time, an irresistible force had taken control over his arms and twisted them on his back. This was more than painful, as his kind still sported the wings nature had given the Turotonk. While none of his kind was still able to fly, the wings prevented his arms to reach his back, at least not in the way this force were bending them. He screamed in pain and could hear a voice say. “It appears his anatomy is not suited for this position.” Another voice he was certain belonged to a human female said.“Do it anyway.” With tendons stretched past their natural reach and throbbing pain, his hands were bound together. He cursed past his painful groans and managed to say. “You don’t know who you are dealing with. I will find out who you are and you will...” “We know who you are, Nurg the Slave dealer.” The female voice responded. “Your business partner and your guards told us all we needed to know.” Then it became silent and he felt a strange pulling sensation and he passed out. As he came to, he saw the first light of the local sun, the blindfolding hood was gone and he found himself lying on the rough floor of a slave cage. His arms now shackled to a collar around his neck. Outside the cage, two Togar cats. One of them said to the other just as he realized where he was. “Did you buy this Turotonk?” The other Togar slave merchant looked at Nurg, “No, I thought you did. I guess we got one extra being this time. He will make a great gift to the queen’s hunting party. She loves tearing them apart.” Nurg tried to protest and identify himself for who he was, only to find out there were several layers of tape around his reptilian snout. Moments later he and other slaves were loaded into the Togar ship.

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ERICA

Narth looked at me as we returned to the ship and said. “This is technically a crime you know. Selling and purchasing sentient beings is against our highest laws.” I said. “We didn’t sell him. It was a gift.” Har-Hi coughed, “You will need some creative writing to phrase that in the logbook.”

It was on the fourth day, just as I had breakfast, the Dragon called and told us that Meateater had patched up his engines good enough to make it to Kaliment. Only twenty minutes later we lifted off and followed the Red Dragon and the Intruder while accelerating to Trans light speed. It felt physically good to notice the fine vibration of our engines working and seeing the endless darkness of interstellar space on the main viewer once again. Circuit who was on the bridge standing behind Shea looked at her sensor readouts and said, “They didn’t do a very good job on the Intruder’s engines, she’s leaking plasma and the pods are very badly aligned.” I leaned forward and asked, “Will they make it?“ “It looks like they have the leak under control for now, and if he doesn’t accelerate any faster he should be able to reach Quasi Space. But at that rate he’s leaking plasma, he will be out of fuel before we reach Kaliment; one of us will have to tow him for the rest of the way.” Everyone but Har-Hi was on the bridge.I sat in the Command seat watching the main viewer and had a hankering for coffee. As usual and as if she could read my mind, Yeoman O’Connors appeared silently next to me. I could smell the strong Union Navy Blend that was unlike any other coffee in my opinion, I was already reaching for the usual mug with the Union Fleet logo, but my hand froze midway as I saw what she carried. “Yeoman what in Odin’s name is that?” She carried something that looked like a small humanoid skull with fangs, set into a gothic lattice of black steel with an attached handle. “That, Captain is a proper Pirate captain coffee mug. Specialist Warner purchased it at the pirate’s market and wanted you to have it.” “Uh, is this thing real?” “Yes we think so. Lt. Schwartz identified it as the skull of a Narwuk. Nasty semi intelligent hominids often used by the Yotenen as mindless, bloodthirsty shock troops.” “I wonder what other surprises you guys bought, ah well I really appreciate the sentiment, but who knows where it had been.” Shea giggled and the Yeoman also had a mischievous glitter in her green eyes. “No worries captain, this is a ceramo-plast copy of the real thing. Circuit made it only a few minutes ago. The real thing now sits on a shelf in our den.” “I sure have a respectful and thoughtful crew.” I took the monstrosity from her. “Ceramo-plast, right?” Elfi tried to make a serious face and nodded approvingly. “Yes, that cup fits you well. I mean your Black Velvet persona of course.” Even Narth chimed in. “Did you not once drink fresh warm fish blood out of a real skull cup, fashioned from a slain enemies cranium? I don’t see much difference.” Mao shuddered. “Warm fish blood, and they call us savages.” I glared at them. “It is an old tradition and when it comes to those, Neo Vikings are very serious. I was just twelve and I did what I was told.” I pointed with my new and terribly ugly cup towards the main screen. “Let’s get back to the job at hand.” I leaned back. “I still need to call the Admiral before we get out of GalNet range. Elfi keep an eye on that please.” “Captain we have reached GalNet limit now and won’t be able to receive at all. but we should be able to pick it up again once we get closer to Itheamh.” Har-Hi came from the IST and said. “I lost the connection but I was able to talk to my father” Then he approached his chair, but stopped in his track and pointed at my new mug. “You sure take the Pirate thing very serious, I must say.” “Don’t you get started too. This Cerami-plast abomination was a well planned assault of my loving crew.” I eyed the thing and gave the Yeoman a side glance. “Cerami-plast right?” “Of course, Captain.” Har-Hi plopped into his chair and said. “I am sorry Captain, it took a little longer than planned I simply had to talk to my father about the Dai situation and the attack on the Corridor.” “Being the XO means you can be a little late, not that you really were. So what did he had to say?” “Father is very concerned about this, but it wasn’t completely surprising to him. The news that Cam Elf-Na has united a large number of Clans has already reached the Union public, father was on his way to the Assembly already. My lord thinks Cam Elf-Na is mad enough to try to attack the Union, but he is also not a fool and will it do in a way that causes the most destruction and terror. Attacking at the Corridor however is foolish, with the Klack on one side and the rest of the Union on the other.” I said. “I wish we had some better intel for him.” Har-Hi nodded. “I am sure Fleet Command would love to know as well. Countering such a massive force needs lots of fleet movement.” “If Cam Elf Na simply picks a few border colonies he could do that for month without fleet able to catch up. “ I said while I called up a strategic map of the region with a finger gesture, SHIP knew what I wanted and enhanced the view focused onto the right region, highlighting the known civilizations and spheres of influence. Har-Hi also stared at the projection. “Father thinks he is not ready yet and believes there is still a lot of internal squabbling going on before the clans he supposedly has under his command, become a unified group ready to fight. The seemingly mad action at the Corridor, involved only a few clans. Perhaps a diversion tactic, or somehow meant to show the Shiss, that Dai can be reliable allies.” Mao was listening and said. “What about logistics and supplies? Every fool can raise and army but will run into trouble at dinner time. From what I gather and learned from you, it is already difficult to get the supplies and raw materials needed to maintain one clan. If I was Cam Elf-Na, I would want some sort of success action that cemented my position as leader and something that feeds and supplies them all." Har-Hi looked towards Mao. "That is my guess for the reason of this skirmish. The Shiss have almost unlimited supplies at least compared to the space born Dai.” SHIP our AI chimed in. “The most logical approach would be to raid a few Karthanian worlds. Unlike the Togar they don’t have a huge fleet ready to move at any moment and rely mostly on hiring Ogh Oghr to do their fighting. The Kartanians have tremendous stockpiles of raw materials and supplies. Even more than the Shiss and better Tech. There are advanced shipyards around any world they control. It would take the Karthanian month to muster enough assets, Assets they then use to defend what they still have instead of attacking the Dai. The Togar sensing their chance might take on the rest of the Karthanian Guilds ending a few thousand years of status quo that existed between Karthania and the Togar. This is certainly not lost to the Xenophobes of Kartha and will make sure the Bone faces of Karthania have other things to worry about than trying to take back the worlds the Dai raided and occupied. Two major players locked in all out war will also benefit the Shiss.” As always when addressing SHIP I looked up to the ceiling. “That sounds real enough to be true. You are quite the analyst.” “Well that is part of what a computronic does. I mean analyzing things, but this prediction and choice of colorful descriptive words does not originate from me. It was part of the briefing Admiral Stahl just gave to the Military Council of the Assembly thirty nine minutes ago. Sadly we lost GalNet before I could hear the rest.” “You can listen to that?” I asked. “Yes, I usually listen to everything on GalNet, it is a hobby of mine and I always learn something. The briefing is on Channel one. It was not a closed briefing. Everyone could listen to it.” Har-Hi slowly shook his head. “Not to second guess the Eternal Warrior, but I am not convinced that this is what Cam Elf-Na is going to do, he is a maniac and he is mad and wants revenge for what happened three years ago. He is not known to act on logic. Like my father said, it will take time to make them really follow him. Dai Than  leaders are a stubborn lot and don’t easily follow a single leader. It is much like on your world Nilfeheim. There are old alliances and also old feuds, and they need to stay spread out to sustain their clans until such a grand plan could be realized. Don’t forget we do not have planetary bases and we do not have GalNet. Communication is a crucial factor in this.” He also looked to the ceiling addressing SHIP. “As powerful he feels right now, the Karthanians are not as easy a target as you made it sound. The Karthanians do have strong contracts with the Oghr-Ogrs and they tend to honor their commitments. Neither are the Karthanians fools and Oghr fleets are most likely already deployed and on their way to protect Karthanian worlds and systems.” I said while glancing at the main viewer. “You got a point, frontier colonies don’t have enough resources for one clan. The Karthanians might be a tad too big for him right now. However the Admiral thinks it is a possible scenario." I watched the Red Dragon jumping to Translight, while the Intruder struggled to build up threshold speed. Har-Hi agreed. “Father believes that once he has sufficient control he might move against one of the smaller independents, such as the Jooltar or perhaps even one of the weaker Oghr Kingdoms. The other Oghr species won’t lift a finger to help their brethren.” Mao interrupted us with urgency in his voice. “Fast approaching contact on our scanners. Captain, a Togar Womptar Battle Cruiser has just dropped out of Quasi and they are under shields and weapons charged. Elfi said. “They are hailing us.” “Alright, SHIP sound Battlestations. Mao, stand by on shields but don’t raise them yet. Elfi put them on.” A magnificent strong looking cat warrior became visible and he growled. “Pirate you are identified as one of the ships and individuals involved in a transaction involving a Togar fugitive and criminal of the highest order, we demand that you stand down and be boarded and searched for evidence and details." Do that and we will consider to let you live. Do it not and we will have no mercy.” “I have no Togar Criminal aboard. I sold that cat.” “We will search your vessel now.” “I don’t let just anyone come aboard.” “You have no choice; your little Freighter has sharp claws but not enough to prevent your doom. Your Froth Casters do not have the range.” I cut him off. “Narth turn on our real sensors and check if he is alone, Mao full Giga Load as soon as I give the signal” Our real sensors reached light years beyond the ones a Karthanian freighter would have and also showed Quasi Space traffic. There were quite a few signals both Karthanian and Dai but only one Dai Signal was coming this way as well. Narth said. “He is about to call for back up and tell his Superiors about us.” “Mao, fire!”