Eric Olafson, Captain Black Velvet 21

Chapter 21

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.

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!”

Kaliment

CH 17: KALIMENT

The Giga Load Translocator bomb detonated right in the command center of the Togarship engulfing it in a sun like sphere of bright expanding energies. I was well aware that this explosion would show on every advanced sensor in the region and that we had not much time.

“Elfi did he send his message?”

“No, he just started sending his ID sequence as their communication systems are much slower than ours. It will take over twenty two hours before this code sequence is received. He was unable to add more.”

“However someone noticed the explosion.” Shea said. “Two long range scanner contacts a Dai and two Togar have changed course and they will be here in less than five minutes.”

“We need get out of here. If we keep using Translocators they get wise to the fact that we are not Pirates.”

Har-Hi warned me. “Captain if we accelerate too fast, all patina of our disguise is gone. They are close enough for their sensors to detect us. An antimatter explosion could have other reasons than a Translocator bomb, a ship accelerating with TL 8 speeds however screams Union.”

I yielded to my XOs experience and opinion. “Shaka, get us going Silver Streak maximum.”

It was not fast enough for us to reach threshold speed before they arrived.

A Dai ship dropped out of Quasi Space, followed moments later by two Togar units.

The Togar almost immediately fired upon the Dai Joth-Yi destroyer, only to receive a salvo of the Dai destroyer raking their shields with nuclear plasma.

I felt as if there were needles in the upholstering of my command seat and I sat on its utmost edge, “Guys it is about time we take our leave.”

“Two minutes and six second to Threshold.” Shaka said.

The other Togar fired at us, and while the shields held, the kinetic energy of the missiles hitting us, knocked us out of the acceleration path and Shaka had to recommit.”

We had to show the world that we had only Karthanian shields, but they were fed and simulated by the Narth designed Janus projectors of our disguise and it would take a lot more than that to make our simulated shields buckle, but a straight and uninterrupted acceleration was still crucial.

I decided to let them worry why their blasts did not drain our shields as they should have.

Shaka was taking us to the maximum acceleration our disguise permitted.

The second Togar fired at us again and that gave the battered Dai an opening it did not waste and it hit the first Togar with a concentrated volley of all its main weapons, breaking the already strained shields of that Togar Destroyer.

A secondary onslaught of Dai weapon fire sliced through the tough Togar mineral foamed composite armor and sun bright beams of destruction perforated the Togar’s Engineering section.

That ship was done for. Greenish plasma fire leaked a heartbeat later out of the still bright glowing holes the Dai weapons had left behind.

Har-Hi had his fist clenched and slammed it on his knee. “She’ll go any second now.”

We watched as s handful of escape pods detached from the doomed Togar ship, the rest of its crew didn’t make it, the ship exploded violently.

The remaining Togar changed course and fired three Vagroorr Missile. Now, these weren’t Loki Torpedoes but the Togar were almost at par with the Kermac and our Tactical systems instructor aboard the Devi once said that 20 of these hitting simultaneously could ruin the day of a Union Battleship.

One was intercepted by the Dai gunners; one exploded with force in the Joth-Yi destroyer shields and tore them down. The third was on our tail, we were committed to Threshold speed, and could not evade. Mao fired the Nul Froth caster and destroyed it before it could reach our aft but to escape the graviton shock wave from our own weapon no less, Shaka had to maneuver and change course and that meant he had to interrupt threshold acceleration once again and commit the ship to a new run. In all this I realized what a gigantic difference just a Tech level made. The Tigershark easily maneuvered at twenty times the speed and it would have taken us seconds and not minutes to threshold speed.

“Shaka stop acceleration and go to zero thrust, take us around as soon as they are past us. Mao target the Togar and fire when in range.”

Mao fired our simulated Nul Froth Casters and chaotic oscillating graviton waves pulled and pushed the matter of the war cat’s ship in every conceivable direction, developing gravitational whirlpools and pulverizing much of the warships engineering.

The Dai was damaged and without shields but it still fired at the Togar. With its shields gone and a shredded aft, the Togar finished of the Dai destroyer, with another missile,

Shea looking over her sensor readings. “The Togar won’t go far either. The Froth effect did a number on these old fashioned reactors and without the necessary systems they are overheating and whoever isn’t killed by the radiation will suffocate as life support is no longer active.”

I rubbed my hands. “Good news then, Krabbel plot a course to Kaliment.”

Elfi reported. “Captain, the Togar hailing us.”

I signaled her to put them on.

A singed Togar commander appeared, his bridge was damaged and I could see the distinctive flicker of open fire in the smoke filled background.

The Togar coughed. “Pirate, I am Roghor, commanding the Vighrr, I should command you know to stop your engines and tell you we will board you, but we lost life support and my engineers are dead so I don’t know if we are to loose containment. I appeal to you from ship commander to ship commander to give me the honor of death and to take my surviving crew to Kaliment, don’t sell them as slaves; my lead cats will make sure you receive a reward on Kaliment.”

Shea said. “Circuit thinks they have about 12 minutes before containment goes.”

They were Togar, I didn’t like Togar. The less of these human eating cats the better, but he was a Captain knowing his doom was imminent and he asked me to help his crew.

“Commander Roghor, you have about ten minutes before your containment fails. Tell your crew to suit up and evacuate. I give you my word I will not sell you as slaves, but we will treat your wounded and take you to Kaliment. You have my word on that. You too must leave, Commander.”

“I will give the order, pirate.”

“Any tricks or subterfuge and you will wish we were slavers.”

“No tricks pirate.”

Narth said. “There are survivors aboard the Dai wreck as well, four of them have survived but are injured.”

I threw my hands in the air. “Maybe we make it to Kaliment by the time the Red Dragon retires of old age.” I turned to Har-Hi. “Take a few marines and see if you can get them alive. Hans take a team and collect the cats and make sure they are unarmed and kept in one of the empty hangars.”

Har-Hi gave me a thankful look before he left.

We spend much longer drifting in space than I hoped. We ended up collecting the few escape pods of the other Togar as well. The hangar across our Pirate Den was the last room we had left and it was now filled with almost 200 Togar cats.

Not all of them, so Narth told me were happy about the Commander’s decision to accept help, but Hans and his marines had stripped them one by one and even the formidable warrior cats were quite terrified and docile as they saw Hans, our Nul prince and TheOther telling them what would happen if the did not fully cooperate.

Har-Hi had no problems evacuating the Dai, they were more dead than alive and in no shape to fight or resist.

Cateria and her team was busy saving their lives.

I went down to see if the Togar Commander made it and stepped through the force field curtain that was transparent for crew of my ship only and also projected the image of an old Karthanian ship corridor as I stepped onto the Togar filled Starboard Hangar B.

Most of them sat on the floor and one of my Petharian marines in pirate costume of course, was serving soup or something similar in plastic cups while our Takkian pushed a hover-cart with the bowl and more cups behind him.

The Petharian despite his Pirate costume could not switch of being a Marine and as he saw me went into attention. “Captain Black Velvet on deck.”

I cringed and wondered just how thin our disguise was at that point and I was certain it would take little to convince even the densest Togar that we weren’t really pirates.

TheOther immediately moved from his spot next to the door like tremendous shadow behind me.

It was a reassuring feeling to have a real Y’All warrior watching my back. Not that I felt threatened but I disliked Togar and now I was in a closed room with a lot of them.

While they weren’t armed, they still had claws and jaws filled with dagger like teeth just like a Fangsnapper.

One of them got up and even though he had nothing on but his own fur, he wore his rank like an invisible aura and I knew he was Roghor the Commander, that he had singed fur was not a distinguishing feature as it appeared many of them had burn and obvious radiation injuries. He was at least two heads taller than me and covered with short deep golden fur, except around his muscular neck and all the way to his round ears where it was dark brown and longer. It framed his head like a massive halo of longer coarse hair, almost like a hood around his wild looking face. He had a broad triangular nose and the sides of his muzzle were grey, making him look older than most of the other cats present. His eyes were bright yellow and his tail was thick and whisked the air in a somewhat nervous and independent fashion. It reminded me of my costume I wore as was with Deepa.

He crossed his broad paw like hands before his muzzle and bowed slightly then he took his long tail with one hand and held it like that.

“It is not common for my kind to ask for help and especially not from other species. Now that I survived the demise of my ship, I will face death by the hands of my superiors once we reach Kaliment, but it is a price we pay when we take command, is that something a pirate can understand?”

I had to admit he kept surprising me. Why would such a commander only be in charge of a destroyer and not a battleship?

Instead of answering his question I said, “I have seen a ship full of human body parts not so long ago, Togar. I haven’t forgotten this and I most likely won’t ever forget it. I know some of your warriors right now don’t feel very thankful or cooperative, so there won’t be zero tolerance on my side. If one of your cats even so much as twitched a muscle in a way I find aggressive or makes any kind of trouble, I space the lot of you.”

I was unable to read his face or sense his emotions out of his voice as it sounded like an angry growl no matter what he said.

“You will be rewarded for your decision on Kaliment, you will receive much Polonium which will make this a profitable venue.”

“I came to find out why you were chasing a Dai ship.” I looked him straight in his eyes even if I had to look up to do so. “This region is awash with rumors about a huge Dai fleet. You would not have information on that?”

He said very loud. “No pirate I am not in the habit of sharing any Togar reasons with you.”

He really tried to whisper as he growled silently. “My life is over no matter what happens, but I am not a traitor or share Togar intelligence. However I am willing to share with you whatever I know that is not classified, but I cannot do so right here, there are those who have ears and eyes for others than the fleet.”

I said as loud as him, well almost as loud. “Then I have no use for you.”

I turned and said to TheOther. “Paralyze the whole bunch, stack them in Stasis boxes if we have enough left, but keep them asleep until we know what to do with them. Then bring that Commander into the Den, but have Cateria and Shea check him out for any real or artificial bugs or any other surprises.” TheOther declined his entire upper body as he had no neck to mimic the human nod. “Aye Captain!”

While the ship was finally in Quasi space and traveling towards Kaliment. I left Krabbel in charge of the Conn and took a detour to sick bay before I made my way to our Den.

The rescued Dai warriors so I learned had been critically wounded and two of them were still in the ReGen tank where nanites and tissue weavers replaced and restored the Dai warriors.

Har -Hi stood next to our recent crew addition, the white Togar female and our med tech turned Garbini. My red skinned friend stared inside the greenish goo filled tank where two still partially maimed and crippled Dai warriors hung suspended by hoses looking alien, pitiful and fragile at the same time.

“All four are of the Vun trine.” He said in a toneless voice.

“I only see two.”

“Cateria managed to saved both of the ones you see, literally in the last moment. The other two perished before we could them in stasis. We Dai never developed the same marvellous space suits where the well being of the wearer was the paramount core of the design. No auto docs and no space suits equipped with stasis capability.”

“Do you know them?”

“I know the Vun tribe. The Dai floating in the left tank, is Rur-Vun, he is the oldest son of the tribal leader Tar Laf-Vun. I fought him the last time I was on Thana Shoo, fighting him for the title of Champion of Thana Shoo. He was very good.”

He turned to look at me. “The Vun tribe was second in size only to ours. I am certain Tar Laf-Vun decided not to follow my father back then, because I had beaten his son. I am a Union Citizen now, I am an officer but have the feeling I am witnessing the demise of the Dai culture. Why did the Togar chase their destroyer, where is the rest of the Vun tribe?”

“I am on my way to the Den to ask that very question to the Togar commander. I am sure these two will recuperate and maybe give you the answers you seek.”

Jolai had her hands folded before her short white skirt. She too seemed troubled. “I am the reason the Togar have attacked you and I put everyone in danger.”

“It was my decision to purchase you so openly at the Asteroid base, not you. What I said to you when we met holds true now and in the future. You are part of this crew now and not the entire Togar empire could make me sell you out.”

The Garbini wiggled her and said. “That holds true for everyone aboard and in extend for the entire Union. Now let us check on the bioprinter, I am sure the liver for our Dai patient is ready.”

While our Togar girl left with the Garbini, I was moved by my own feelings about the Togar and remembered my recent apology

The Togar Commander sat across me on our big table in our Den. He looked clean and his singed fur was gone, replaced by patches of almost white fur. Cateria looked at her PDD and said. “Our feline guest has been treated and is as healthy as I can make him. I fixed his burns and treated him for a nasty worm infestation of his stomach and intestines. I guess to much raw meat from an unclean source. He had nothing in terms of bugs or spyware, neither biological, psionic or technological.”

He looked smaller now, sitting down and across the massive table.He blinked by closing his black lined eyelids and I assume that was how Togar acknowledged something. He kept looking around at all our treasure Sobody, Mr. Warner and my crew had piled up and the colorful decoration with bits and pieces from perhaps every corner of the galaxy. Of course he also noticed Hans and TheOther flanking him, while Xon stood behind me, giving no reason to doubt what he would do if our new guest decided to become aggressive.

Cateria moved, leaned closer to me and whispered in Seenian. “He is also under a lot of stress and while we don’t have much data on Togar psych conditions, I think he is close to a nervous breakdown.”

The Togar Commander wrought his hands nervously and then said. “You have an amazing ship and a truly formidable crew.”

“Yes Commander, I think I do. I gave you my word and you are not a prisoner. I will take you and your crew to Kaliment, but I don’t have the resources to deal with a potential Togar riot so I think they are better off sleeping.”

“I understand captain Black Velvet. The ship must always come first. It makes no difference to my fate if I arrive at Kaliment or not, but I thank you for my crew.”

“Tell me Commander, this is an unusual move calling us for help, could you not have waited for Togar aid. We are not that far from Togar space and I noticed you chasing a Dai warship, perhaps all that was left after your fleet dealt with the tribe it belonged to? There isn’t perhaps someone important in your crew that needed saving?”

“Yes your conclusions are quite correct Captain, normally we were just an Attack destroyer with no concerns about our own safety, but both of my children, my son and my daughter are among the crew. As a Togar I am proud they have chosen to become space warriors and follow my lead. As a Commander I was worried to have my own off spring among my crew, affecting my command decisions and as a father I had no second thoughts to do anything for their survival. I broke all traditions and rules. I lost my honor, forfeit my life to save their lives.”

“Alright Commander let us believe that for the moment and pretend I buy your story, tell me more about your mission and the violent end of a chase we witnessed. I have other things to do than to sit here and talk to a human trading, man eating Togar commander.”

While I spoke to him I had to admit he was a magnificent looking member of his kind, but I also vividly remembered the ship full of stacked human body parts and whimpering slaves and wondered just how many humans had to witness other humans being butchered and eaten, knowing they were next. I wondered how many times he had sunk his formidable teeth into a human thigh or laughed as they tortured a human prisoner just for entertainment. Ever since we had found that ship of horrors, I had collected other reports of GalNet and knew they loved to play with their victims before they did the actual kill. There were many stories about the hunt parties on Togar worlds. Naked slaves released into fenced parks only to be chased and killed by Togar hunters. I also remembered the slave pens of Alvor’s Cove and the Togar buyers picking human slaves like groceries for their meat pots.

“Captain Velvet, I am guilty of being Togar, I have been demoted from section Commander to be the shipmaster of a simple destroyer, because I am male and dared to question the queen and I have been guilty of thinking and voicing my critical opposition too much. I am thankful for what you did and I know I have no honor left but I won’t sell you the last shards of whatever dignity I have left.”

I said, while getting up, “I tried to be civil. You haven’t told me what I wanted to know...”

Cateria still standing close said. “Maybe we should simply drag him over glowing steel rakes and then have TheOther beat a confession out of him before we do a brain dump and just to make sure he knows you hate Togar, we then have him skinned alive and add his pelt to our trophies.”

I snapped at her. “Have you seen... ?”, but I stopped myself in mid sentence. She was right and truth to be told I didn’t want anyone to judge Neo Vikings on the actions of my father or the things we did during the so called pirate years.

The Y’All did much worse things and on an entire different scale than the Togar and I never blamed TheOther because I was not alive when they had invaded. I didn’t trust that Togar Commander but I was not even giving him a chance and again judged an individual by his association to a species. I realized that there was a dark unforgiving hateful spark deep inside myself. Part of my motivation coming down here and see him was indeed just to find an excuse to torture and mind dump him just as Cateria said. I wanted to kill him, best with my own hands and that was a dangerous slippery road my own emotions were leading me.

I took a breath and promised myself once again, to be as Egil wanted me to be, judge every situation and every being from all sides. Especially since I still hated unfair situations and he certainly was in an unfair situation right now.

He was a big cat and a strong individual, yet cared more for his crew and his offspring than I thought a Togar supposed to. He had lost his ship and was on his way to be prosecuted and executed by his own kind for accepting help.

I gave Cateria a long look, our CMO was not afraid to speak her mind and for that she rose quite a few notches in my personal opinion about her. After all I had treated her quite similar when I encountered her the first time. I gave her a thankful nod and then said. “Thank you for reminding me, who I am and who we are.”

The Seenian woman who had become my CMO had also disguised herself in civilian clothing and what she thought a Pirate would look like. Her always stern and cold face did no chance expression but her voice lost the usual edge. “You are welcome Captain...”

I returned my attention to the Togar. “Maybe we need to start over and before I ask you what I want to know, I would like to know what I can do for you. Maybe you can remain aboard and not leave on Kaliment. We will reach Itheamh later on and maybe you can find a new live and a new career away from the Togar Empire.”

He looked down on his big paws and they were shaking, so I got up walked around the table and took a seat next to him and without really thinking and following an impulse I put my hand on his arm. “Commander Roghor, some humans drink a hot cup of tea to calm their nerves, others like a shot of alcohol. I personally prefer coffee and a cigarette. Is there anything you Togar consume while collecting thoughts? I doubt one of my human crew-members will volunteer so you can have a snack, but is there anything else?”

He made a deep rasping sound that appeared to be the Togar equivalent of a sigh and he said looking at me and again I was taken aback by the intelligence and the humanity in those yellow non human eyes. “We don’t just eat humans, and most male Togar don’t ever have the chance to even try. There are over 900 Billion Togar and I doubt there are more than 5000 to 6000 humans reaching our markets during a standard year.” He spread his fur covered arms. “I am not defending our ways, I just wanted to illustrate how rare and how expensive human flesh on Togr markets is. Since it is so rare, it is reserved for the very rich and very important females.”

I actually believed him. “So what is it you want?”

He returned to stare at his paw like hands. “I don’t know, Pirate. When my ship was about to explode it seemed to be a good idea to ask and accept help. Now I am not sure if I doomed my son to live with his father’s shame.”

“How about your daughter?”

“She is female and already on her way to the upper echelon of command; her father’s deeds or name mean nothing in our society.”

“So if it isn’t humans what do you eat?”

“We eat any kind of meat and we usually drink only water. Alcohol is dangerous to us; even a little makes us very drunk and can be lethal.” He added.”We Togar don’t share much of our culture with others and what others know about us is only a shadow of the truth. There is a human, his name is Alex Enroe and he managed to become friends with the queen herself. He sells bacon and pork meat, but it too is very expensive and rare. Besides he is from the Union and not Freespace.”

Cateria said. “I check the galley and see what we got in terms of bacon.”

The Commander rattled his Togar sigh again. “You are an enigma, Captain Velvet, you hide your face behind a mask and even we Togar have heard rumors of you.

Your ship is an old Karthanian, yet it sports the finest Nul weapons and genuine Union Isah Pods, your crew includes a Y’All. They say you are a ruthless pirate, dealing with slaves yourself and we know you captured another known pirate vessel, yet your Crew acts like professionals not like the throat cutting dreg usually to be found on pirate ships.”

I shrugged. “We all have our own styles I guess. I prefer professionals running my ship over the dreg kind you mentioned.”

He returned to answer my original question saying. “Maybe I can make my way into the Union region somehow. There is a rumor Alex Enroe helps Togar. But Union space is far and I am without any means.” He licked his chaps in a nervous, unconscious way. “The empire is still looking for you and a pirate by the name of Curtis Profit. It is about the white furred Togrie you purchased at the Bennett’s rock.

“Why would a single female Togar justify all this effort?”

“I am male and do not know all the details, but White fur is sacred to us, and this particular one was white as snow. Not only was she the most beautiful of all, she was temple born under the magnificent spirit Malmoru. This birth was foretold in our most holy scrolls.

She was to reunite all Togar. Our distant brothers far on the other side of the galactic buldge, restore a balance for male and female and prevent the Darkest from devouring our society.”

He wiped his eyes and kept speaking. “In a very public trial she was accused of bleaching her fur and obscuring the real story of her birth. She was charged with high treason, crimes against the spirit and plotting to kill the queen by acting as an agent to the Dark Spirit.

Narth who had silently joined us moments ago said.”I am often amazed by the amount of superstition and illogical religious reasoning that motivates societies that advanced technologically so much they opened the door to the stars.”

I said to the Togar.”But that still does not explain why the Togar Queen puts so much effort finding her. She was sold as a slave and from my experience, slaves sadly don’t survive for long in captivity.”

“Because all Togr is at the brink of revolt. That she escaped hiding on a slave transport is not believed by the public. Many believe she has been rescued by the spirits. Some say it was Marmou himself who took his daughter only to return her one day with great powers and to take her rightful place as the true queen. The queen knows that if the White fur returns, the revolt will tear the empire asunder and certainly doom her and the reigning families. She and the priestesses know they become obsolete. The news that a white Togar was sold on Brhama port caused deep concern in the ruling families and of course for the queen.”

Suddenly changing the subject the Togar commander said. “The reason why our Queen protects the Bennetts and the Dai want control over the system you might know as Bennett’s filed is the secret Backdoor.”

“The backdoor?”

He blinked his eyes again by squeezing them. “There is a stable wormhole nearby. We Togar believe it has been created artificially by a long gone civilization, perhaps the Celtest. It can be turned on and off, but we are certain it was the reason for the system’s destruction, planets move, the wormhole doesn’t.”

I listened closely and now believed what the key was for, Mikesh had found.

He still spoke and said. “It is called the Backdoor, because it leads deep into Union Space and is used by the Bennetts to smuggle Union Mil Tech, slaves and other restricted Union wares out, and drugs and other illegal things in. The old Bennett owns an ancient alien device that controls that worm hole. They kept it secret for many decades, but our Queen knows about it and in return for restricted Union tech, she made a pact with the Bennetts to protect them. Our high command believes the Vun Dai tribe has known this secret for a long time as well and also possesses such a control device and this is why we have standing orders to engage the Vun tribe. We can’t allow the Dai to gain a foothold in that system.”

I could not contain myself, cursed and said. “So Union fleet built up at the border won’t do any good. How big is that worm hole?”

He made a wide gesture and said. “Big enough for the largest Dai Mother, and perhaps even for that tremendous Demon ship the Union has. It is strong enough to rip planets appart.”

“Do you know where it terminates?”

“I never went through and its existence is supposed to be a tight guarded secret.”

“And now the Dai fight the Togar over it?”

“We are not sure if all the Dai know about it, but once they do, we are certain open hostilities will follow. The Queen is certain that all the Dai will eventually learn about it and discover the exact location, we are to hunt any Dai around the Shattered System. All Togar ships have alo standing orders to find the white fur demon. The Queen herself has decreed that we search any pirate ships, slave traders and slave markets for the white furred Togar female. She is to be destroyed on sight.”

His triangular nose started twitching quite violently and his tongue became visible as it licked his chaps.

Cateria had returned with a big plate full of crisp bacon strips and placed it before the Togar. “The galley didn’t know what kind of bacon you prefer so they gave you a sample of all the kinds we had.”

He really tried to be dignified and polite restraining himself but his nose and tongue had a mind of their own. It seemed to have the same effect it had on Jolai and I said to him. “Go right ahead Commander, I leave you to it and I will have some suitable quarters arranged. Under guard and confined of course until we reach Kaliment, or we find a better solution.”

He sighed.”Thank you.”

I got up as he put the first piece of bacon in his mouth and his non-human beast like face clearly showed bliss as he chewed. “This is the real treasure of your ship.”

Before I had turned completely he said. “I have nothing left. No home and I am doomed to die at the hands of my own kind, yet I found mercy aboard a ship of outlaws and pirates. I am now an outcast myself. Will you allow me a knife or perhaps a moment in one of your airlocks”

He paused as I turned back to face him, having a good idea what he was contemplating. I also saw the conflict in the magnificent looking cat being. He had been a loyal officer all his life and I had to admit that this being would have been chosen to become a Captain if he had been born on a Union world and made the decision to join the Fleet.

He stood before the ruins of his life and had few options.

“I will of course honor your wish if that is the only option you see, but as I said to another Togar not so long ago, death comes to us all, and there is no need to seek it out. Death is not a solution, just an end. Maybe you should wait with that terminal decision. There is always hope and the day may come when you can return to your home. If there is a revolution looming, it might happen in your life time and in turn change the conditions that prevent your return home now.”

He got up, despite him not being human I was certain what went through his mind. He looked around and then back at me. “There are beings of all kind in your crew, even a Y’All and a Nul...”

I sighed and sat back down. “Yes, Commander and there are many more and there might be room for a Togar too. There are voices in me warning me, but I have more often than not disregarded them and acted on my instincts.”It was my turn to sigh. “This is a very special ship indeed and we are on a strange journey to say it mildly, but there might be a place for you in my crew.

He made a growling sound. “Yes, this we share. I have not many alternatives, being a hunted fugitive without means, perhaps ending up on a Karthanian smelter moon. Short of suicide asking you to accept me in your crew was indeed a glimmer of hope that grew in me. I do know little about what it means to be an outlaw, but an outcast I am. I have nowhere else to go.”

His paw like hands were trembling. “Captain Velvet, do you have room for a Togar among your crew?”

“I can’t guarantee you like it. Should you decide to accept my offer, you will not be able to return to Togr and your life will change forever.”

“It already has, to the realm I am already dead. I will follow you and accept you as my Captain, but despite what you think about Togar, I am not a coldblooded killer and might not be able to commit all the crimes you are accused of committing. However I will do any chores, nothing will be beneath me.”

I undid the laces of my mask and removed it. “What you just said Commander Roghor, is the reason I accept you as part of this crew. It also affirms that I can trust my instincts, at least most of the time.”

His non human face clearly expressed surprise.

Cateria’s stern face was again graced by a smile. “Mr. Roghor welcome aboard the USS Tigershark and meet Captain Erica Olafson.”

He inhaled sharply. “Union, you are Union ! But the crimes, the slaves you buy. The many reports...”

It was my turn to spread my arms and grin. “Well not all reports are exactly true and carefully fabricated and planted.”

I got up again. “I think I can trust you, Commander. However you understand that I must say this. We are Union and on a very secret mission. The mission and the ship comes first and before I can fully integrate you, there will be training and vetting to make sure that you are indeed aware of all the details this decision entails.”

“I understand, Captain Olafson. Perhaps the first step is to abandon calling me by my Togar rank. I am a Commander no more.”

“I have the distinct notion, Mr. Roghor you might regain that rank eventually, just perhaps not on Togar side.”

Har-Hi stepped through the curtains, wearing his Union uniform. “I am the XO of this ship, Mr. Roghor and it became one of my duties to integrate new members. I assure you this happens more than one would think, especially aboard a ship that operates deep undercover.”

“At least I was not involved this time.” SHIP chirped in.

Chapter 22 »