Chapter 19: ITHEAMN



Chapter 19: Itheamh

Still almost a day out, Elfi reported that we could now send and receive Galnet. She established a secure GalCom connection to Fleet command and to the Admiral of the Fleet directly. He took the call right away. This time he appeared to be on the bridge of a battleship. I could partially see a large view screen and the duty stations on a asemi dark bridge. He actually gave me smile."Glad you are able to call, girl.I am on the bridge of the newest Union Super Dreadnought, the USS Xiahou Dun, we just completed a life fire exercise, but enough of me. Go ahead and report from your end." I did and after I was finished he nodded."Yes we got the message regarding the crew of the Whispering Vengeance. We told them to approach the Sin system and from there we can take them to core space. I send Captain Sposhtrah to purchase that ship of theirs, it is always good to analyze other societies tech solutions. I make sure Cherubim and NAVINT will broadcast the capture of Curtis Swift and make the fact of the White Furred Togar a news issue. From what I understand you have a life hand grenade in terms of Togar politics aboard. I will try to get a Chimera unit to Itheamh. We have overdue mail for you, supplies and in return we take what you want to send Union side. Technically we could sent regular fleet units, but there is nothing close and you and fleet should not be seen together anyway." He started to stuff a pipe. I will see if we can not use some diplomatic muscle to get that murderous pirate Sodex out of the mines and into our custody, but like you I don't mind him scraping some ore out of frozen dirt for a while." After he lit is pipe he said."Actually that was a very normal report for once. You and your crew makes us very proud. Oh and there should be GalNet from Itheamh. We are about to attack the USS Devastator in an exercise of course. We got eight of these new ships and Richard only that old tub of his. I am going to rip him a new one and have years of bragging rights. Carry on and keep playing it by ear, Captain Olafson." “Aye Sir, I think we can do that. Good luck with your wargames.” "I don't need luck.I have been an Admiral longer than him, you'll see." Before the Admiral disconnected. I could hear alarms going off and orders being yelled. Someone yelled, "Admiral, the Devastator just..." The connection was interrupted. Har-Hi had of course heard the conversation as he was sitting in his XO chair to my left. "If you would ask me, Captain. Admiral McElligott will need all the luck in the Universe." SHIP chimed in."We are in GalCom range. We have the clearances to monitor the exercise and it seems McElligott flew into a trap. Apparently Admiral Stahl split the Devastator in its four attack segments and hid the now smaller ships on three different planets. He had a few platoons of marines already in space, low emission then taking McElligott's fleet under TL sniper fire, with exo loads. According to a very recent report, five of McElligott's Super Dreadnoughts are listed as complete casualties,two have been boarded and the Flagship has just been breached by Marines, led by Stahl." Krabbel said."I don't think the Admiral of the Fleet will do much bragging the next time we call."

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It was just a few hours after the call. We were close to Itheamh when Mao reported the familiar signatures of the Red Dragon and the Intruder on our scanners. They were not in Quasi but drifted in space Elfi held up her hand. “Captain, the Red Dragon is hailing.” Har-Hi handed me my mask. "Ah the venerable Black Velvet." "Ah the Red Dragon and his friend with the flying piece of garbage. What is it this time, the Sankar something drive didn't last or has he run out of stick and glue to keep the thing airtight?" "It appears the device was not installed properly and he once more can not establish FTL conditions. we wait for an associate. See you in five days at the mentioned tavern." He disconnected and I said.“I guess we can stick around for a while, maybe something develops and we can take Meateater out of the equation.” I got up with the intend to return some of the coffee I had earlier to the recycling system or in other words I intended to use the bathroom. I noticed Tyron Suit standing with his robot body next to Hans by the security console that was like engineering, computronic control, a so called secondary bridge stations and located in the back area of the bridge. This back area had various names. On the Devi it was called Administration. On the USS Hyperion they called it Tank room. It seemed we weren't long enough in space to have our on name for it. Officially it was called Secondary command and control. This area behind the command isle also featured the Nav-tank. On the Devi and other large ships, it was where the Flight boss and Auxiliary craft command had their stations as well. Even if the Tigershark would have had all her auxiliary craft, she did not have a separate flight boss or aux craft control stations. These tasks were split between XO and OPS on ships of our class and size. The bridge of the Tigershark was hexagonal in shape and slightly wider than deep. The very center of it featured the command isle, a raised platform with my command chair at its center, flanked to the left by the seat of the XO and to the right by the OPS station. Sobody always used the usually never used observer seat,meant for a visiting admiral or someone similar was sitting next to the XO. Up front, the entire wall was occupied by our main viewer, it could be raised and reveal a real view port. In space there was little reason to do so, but it was a nice feature planetside. Right before the screen was the Helm station, and usually like now occupied by Shaka. A little further back and to his left was Tactical with Mao and on the same line to his right Navigation, which was configured right now to Krabbel’s needs. A few meters back but still before the command isle were Science on the left and Communications on the right. Between the Navigations and the Communications position the access door to a multi species bathroom facility. The one I contemplated using soon. There was hardly a place I loved more than my bridge, this was my real home. After I had taken care of my imminent need and stepped back out, I watched Three-Four talking to Shea, Prince Xon the immense Nul watching Elfi. Mehedi sitting on an extra chair next to Shaka, being very serious about his wish to learn Helm operations. The main viewer focused on the two pirate ships, waiting for a tow from Itheamh. The Red Dragon of course remaining to protect his associate. While it was a quiet moment my ship and its crew still working together like a well maintained machine. Whenever I reflected on this I felt very proud of them. I walked up the ramp that led to the back of the bridge. The opposite side of the main viewer featured the two IST shafts and the main bridge doors. Flanked by two marines, one of them the always quiet Attikan Fective and the other one of our Pertharians. Checking the chrono display above the main viewer, I noticed there we were already well into Second dog watch, of course the situation at hand had kept me and my senior officers on the bridge, but the marines should have been rotated almost 20 minutes ago. “Say, Mr. Fective I noticed you are past your shift.” “Aye, Captain but you are here.” He said that as if it explained it all. Hans turned from his panel. “Our marines take the task of protecting you even more serious than any other duty and that is saying something, Ma’am. Union marines take anything duty related more serious than life.” Tyron Suit snapped in attention as I looked at him. “Mr. Suit, we don’t salute on the bridge. Have Hans give you instructions on bridge etiquette.” “Yes, Captain ma,am. I consumed the entire volume of Union fleet regulations and hope by adhering to all of them, meeting your approval. One has observed that every being in this ship is motivated by the same focus.” “Relax, Mr. Suit, so far I heard nothing that would make me think negative of you, but since you are here let me ask you a question. According to our enemy, the man who found you also owns a suit similar to you. He claims he was informed about an active and operational Seenian materials depot. You would not have similar information?” The suit said. “I am sorry, Captain, I have no such information. Such vital information was never revealed to a suit and if such knowledge was ever present it has been erased from our memory so the enemy could not obtain it by capturing a suit." He looked at the screen. “I know of the other suit but it has been almost completely destroyed. It never was a command type like I am, just a general troop unit and its brain center is damaged and deteriorated and thus unable to affect self-repair. I am detecting the presence of an independent data device within the remnants of the suit, but not a part of the suit itself. I can attempt to activate it.” “Would the wearer not notice if you are communicating with his suit?” "A command suit can communicate and remotely access troop suits without the knowledge of the wearer. However I am unable to access the independent data device, it is not part of the suit and code locked.I can attempt to overwrite it with senior command codes." “It might save us a lot of time if you can try and see what information his suit is storing.” “Yes Captain. Communication established. Download of all stored data in progress and completed. The other Suit is, as I suspected a Drago Model issued to standard troops. It has no information about any Depot locations. The independent storage device however might have held such information. It has been deleted and reset.” I mused while looking at the suit “He did find you and he does have the Seenian weapon and shields. He somehow managed to access that data device, obtained the information and hid it somewhere else.” The suit answered. “Lt Circuit suggested to make sure this enemy of ours will not be able to make use of even the most basic functions of the damaged suit and also disable the Seenian hardware he has installed in his ship. Do you wish me to commence?” “What would you do?” “I can instruct all his Seenian equipment to self-destruct in two ways: Forceful release of all energies on atomic level or molecular decay causing it to turn to molecular dust.” “That would be a neat trick. But we need to wait with that. If he thinks Seenian things are worthless he will abandon the quest. You could not simply deactivate them in a way he can not turn them on.?” “Yes that is possible too.” “Go for it, him not having a Seenian cannon and shields will make me feel better.” “Deactivating command sent, Captain. All Seenian equipment aboard the enemy ship is now worthless scrap.” “Thank you.” Narth looked over his sensors. “Indeed it worked, the Red Dragon’s Seenian equipment just shut down.” Mao interrupted. “Captain contact approaching coming from the Itheamh direction. Sensor data and energy signature match it to the Celestial Nightmare." Hans used the scanning data and confirmed Mao's readings."Yes it is the Celestial Nightmare of Captain Carrhrh, he is a Togar and has a bad rep."

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Itheamh was the fourth planet in an eleven planet system around a K spectrum star locally called Pernac, meaning light in the Draak language according to our Golden friend. It was just as Sobody described it. The system was busy with incoming, outgoing and interplanetary traffic. We passed a convoy of eleven heavy freighters. Seven of them bore the logo of SII and the rest had the Enroe E on their hulls. The convoy was escorted by a dozen frigates and forty destroyers, all flying under corporate flags. Har Hi said. “This is how the big boys do it, big convoys heavily protected; only fools would try to attack them.” Our destination, the fourth planet was, as it turned out, a cold almost waterless dust ball, and it turned out we did not have to land. Sobody guided us to one of the orbiting space docks and we were immediately hailed by a Karthanian. “This is Fantlemo Brthail, proprietor and owner of the Brthail Orbital shipyard, calling the Silver Streak.” I identified myself and the alien with the seahorse like face said. “Please switch to a scrambled secure channel.” Elfi established a secure connection and the Alien said. “Welcome to Itheamh, I was called by a friend from the Golden Bazaar and I am expecting you. There is a do-it-yourself repair dock at the end of the third mooring arm; you are welcome to use it. It is well equipped and shielded from prying eyes and sensors.” I thanked him and the Karthanian said. “It is a pleasure to assist friends of my friend.” Sobody said, “I’ve known him for many years and he is trustworthy. He does not know any details and will not ask any questions, but it might be a good idea to meet with him. He knows much about what is going on around these parts.” Just then the Red Dragon called and said. “I see you know your way around here, but then that isn’t a big surprise, you fly a Karthanian ship after all. Meateater and I will land on the planet. He is getting new engines and will have them installed by experts. I too are in need of professional maintenance As soon as all my associates are here. Again I like to invite you to a meeting at the Rifafh Tavern where we will discuss the future of our proposed cooperation and our little expedition.” I said. “When will that be? Are we going to be here a long time?” “No my impatient friend, I am as eager as you to get started. I am waiting on two more ships that are already on their way. We’ll have our meeting two days. Will that suit you?" “It does, I just don’t like to stay idle for too long without knowing if we are really going on that trip or not.” He waved with his hands. “You would not be here and we would not be talking right now if I hadn’t made up my mind already. Of course you will be part of it, see you at the meeting.” With these words he disconnected.

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I humored Sobody and we went to see the Karthanian who owned this impressive and quite big space dock facility that could easily service fifty ships even larger than the Silver Streak. To me, every Karthanian looked exactly like Captain Sposhtrah and I wondered what method they used to recognize each other. He greeted us in a luxurious and spacious office that was located on top of his space dock, featuring large view ports, showing the planet below and the three long mooring arms. We had accessed the office via a lift platform and, besides Sobody who wore his golden robes and the attached hood pulled up and draped before his face, Har-Hi and Narth accompanied me. Brthail, the Karthanian wore a dark red pant suit like garment, with golden seams and extended both his spidery fingers that began where humans had their elbow. “Thank you for honoring me with a visit, Captain Velvet. Please make yourself comfortable while I set the ambiance.” I wondered what he meant, but we sat down on three Vari form chairs he had grouped before his kidney shaped floating glass desk. One of his spidery fingers touched a lighted sensor and it changed from red to green and then he said.” I just activated a Union tech privacy field; it ensures that we can talk uninhibited.” Narth said in my mind, “Sobody is correct; he is trustworthy and does not know who we really are. As he is about to explain why he feels this is necessary, I let him do that.” Sobody pulled back his hood and said. “I am sorry for deceiving you old friend. I am not on the Bazaar, I am right here and I would not miss the opportunity to see you in person and introduce you to very dear friends of mine.” The bony rigid head of the Karthanian somehow managed to show surprise and I had no idea how I managed to see that. He came around his desk, wrapped his long fingers around the Golden and said, “It is so good to see you; it is over nineteen years now since we last met in person.” Then he said to us. “Anything you need, name it and I will attempt to get it. I owe this Golden my life and I’ve never had the chance to do anything for him.” I said. “It would be good if you keep the fact that the Great Merchant travels with us a secret.” The Karthanian said: “I spent eighteen long years on a smelter moon and I learned how to keep my mouth shut the hard way. I would rather die than divulge anything that is said in here to anyone. Besides I am Psi shielded.” Har-Hi gestured around the room. “If this is your place why the security field?” The Karthanian went to a Serv-Matic, I noticed it too was a Union model and said. “I do not know what humans drink, but this machine is of Union origin and has several refreshment options stored. I am sure you might like one of them. I personally can’t get enough of a liquid substance called Coke; it is better than any Karthanian Slobber and is so stimulating too.” I asked for a Coke and Har-Hi for water, Narth abstained. While he served the drinks he answered Har-Hi’s question. “Because the guild has ears everywhere. Almost thirty years ago I openly criticized the chamber and ended up as a slave on a smelter moon. Technically this is a free world and not Karthanian, but our main world is not far from here and they don’t like that I run a ship yard that is not controlled by the Chamber.” He dipped his long black tongue into his Coke. I said. “I know very little of the inner politics of the Karthanian, but I have heard of the Smelter Moons. Since I am here, I am curious how you managed to build a business like this.” The Karthanian said. “I will tell you, and since you have Sobody’s trust, I will trust you too. What you asked of me, I would like to ask of you. What I tell you must not leave this room as not only my life but the lives of many depend on that.” “I give you my word.” The Owner of the ship yard gestured towards the Golden. “Eighteen years ago, he and a delegation of Golden Merchants were part of a grand tour. The Chamber, knowing of their far reaching connections and high level of technology, hoped to improve relations with the Golden. As they toured the Smelter Moon, he witnessed me being beaten for stealing an extra portion of slobber. He talked to me in an unobserved moment and smuggled me disguised in a Golden Guard uniform into his ship. It was Sobody who financed this space dock. The Chamber and its agents suspect that I am an escaped slave; they do not know that Fantlemo Brthail is Grtonner Icylemh. However if they ever find out, they will try to silence me forever as I know too many of their secrets. They fear that I will use my knowledge to unite the opposition and sweep that corrupt Chamber clean. Unfortunately we can’t unite without the First Engineer being awake.” His voice had changed and gained a hard edge as he finished his explanation. Sobody sighed. “I wish we could help you, but from what I hear, the Chamber rules the Karthanian masses with an iron fist.” The Karthanian put down his glass. “Yes and they have to send more and more to the Smelter Moons. They have even begun to sell Karthanian citizens into slavery to other civilizations, just to silence the voices that demand changes. Right now there is not much that can be done, but there is hope. One day someone will manage to infiltrate the Chamber tower and wake the First Engineer. That is the day their spell will be broken and the Karthanian people will be free again.” He made a sweeping gesture. “Enough of me and this sad story of my people; you are pirates and have little interest or use for such information, but I saw you fly a Karthanian Norgat class armed freighter. It is a good class and solid design, but it is old. I have a brand new Romther Class with much better armor and eight dedicated weapon turrets. It is fast, has good engines and my engineers could transfer those magnificent ISAH pods you have. Professionally installed, much better than they appear to be installed right now on your current ship. Of course the ship would be a gift.” I looked to Narth and he nodded. I said. “This is a generous offer and any pirate would be a fool to say no, but we must decline. We will, however, make substantial repairs and improvements to our ship while we can use the Dock facilities. You might find out we are not just pirates, we are representatives of a certain association on a very secretive mission and your insight and information about the Karthanian situation is of interest to us.” He got up and opened a wooden cabinet, revealing a GalNet terminal. “This came with the last supply ship from the Bazaar. I am a Union Citizen as I am a naturalized member of the Golden. I already planned to take a trip to the Bazaar, take the citizen class and get my CITI. One day I am going to take a trip on these mysterious, marvellous space trains I hear you have and visit the Bridge and perhaps even the Andromeda Galaxy.” His voice had an almost dreamy tone. “We are a race of engineers you know, and there isn’t a Karthanian who doesn’t openly or secretly admire that engineering feat. To built a string of space stations to reach another galaxy, the Galaxy has not seen such an achievement ever before.” He closed the cabinet and said. “For now I remain here to be the eyes and the ears of the Golden and and in extension for the Union, but perhaps and even in my life time the Chamber of the Guilds will be cleansed and Karthania will take a seat among the Representatives of the Assembly.” Har-Hi coughed into his fist and gave me a warning look as if to say, ‘This is not our business.’ Sobody said,“Do you know anything about the Red Dragon and the Sinister Alliance? They are supposed to have a base around these parts.” The Karthanian sat back down. “Officially they call themselves a Free Trader Association and they don’t use the term ‘pirate’ of course. They want to stay on good terms with us on this world as they all need parts and ships, but I have heard they use an old ghost town on the third planet as a base of operations. The third planet used to be the home of a sentient species that bombed itself into oblivion, and most of the surface is still radioactive waste land, but there is a city on the northern continent that is free of radiation. I think that is the secret base. That Red Dragon you talk about has a personal connection to the Lord Mechanic of the Hull Builder Guild and traded some Union technology secrets for supplies, repairs.”

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I was still thinking about that meeting with the Karthanian as I sat at the table in our Den and had dinner the next day. Har-Hi took a plate and sat next to me. He forked himself several slices of roast beef on an open bun he gave me a side look and said. “If I see you stare at your food that way I would almost suspect you are contemplating doing something about that Karthanian situation.” I pushed a pea around with my fork and said. “Of course not, there is nothing we can do anyway. We are about to go on a trip to find some long lost Seenian Depot and end the reign of the Red Dragon at the same time. Besides, even if we had the time, we know nothing about that situation or any details. If done at all, that would be a job for a Ghost Recon Marine Unit and only after month of careful planning. Not that we have any business sticking our nose into Karthanian internal politics in the first place.” He added onions to his sandwich and said. “I am glad you think that way, as it is exactly the point. It is not our business; it is not Union business. You heard the bone face, it will eventually happen anyway. Totalitarian governments suppressing their people with force never last forever. We should concentrate on what we are going to do about the Sinister Alliance and their base first and then finding that Seenian depot. Remember what trouble we had defeating a little one man ship? Imagine the Red Dragon having the use of a Devastator like ship filled with Seenian robots. It would not be good for anyone else finding that depot either.” I pushed the plate away. “I don’t even like peas, I wonder why I put them on my plate.” Then I said. “No worries I was just thinking, that’s all. I just don’t like an unfair situation. There aren’t just Karthanians working those Smelters you know. I have been in those slave pens and heard that the Karthanians buy human slaves for that purpose as well. They operate mines on Kaliment and who knows where else. I despise slavery like nothing else. It is the ultimate unfair situation in my opinion." Har-Hi bit with gusto in his sandwich and chewing around his mouthful of food he said. “I don’t like the Shiss sending Dai to do their dirty work and I would love to find out what Cam Elf Na really plans, but there isn’t anything I can do either. Besides if you don’t like peas then eat a Roast beef sandwich, it is delicious. I just discovered something called mayonnaise and it makes a sandwich even better.” There was no sense in me mulling over that anymore and said with a grin. “I can tell! You’ve got the stuff all over your face and a big glob of it on your armor.” Mao joined us while Har-Hi used a napkin to clean himself. He too helped himself of the roast beef and started to fabricate something that looked more like a tower than a sandwich. While he added slices of cheese he said. “Captain I was thinking about that Red Dragon, why don’t we simply capture the guy, do a brain dump and be done with it?” Narth who had silently appeared, watched Mao piling up things on his sandwich. Narth had a plate float to him while several slices of the meat zipped through the air and placed themselves on a bread bun that split itself in the middle. While he was doing all that he answered Mao’s question for me. “Now that his Seenian suit interference is gone I was able to probe a little into his mind. He was a Union Admiral and has excellent psionic shielding like they all do. All Union Officers of Captain rank and higher are conditioned against mind dumps. Even the most effective interrogation method would yield no results. In addition to that he seems to rely on a very strong Kermac psi-damper. The Kermac are primitive about most aspects of technology, compared to the Union, but they have built a society on fear and mistrust and developed very complex methods to shield and hide knowledge and thoughts, mostly to be protected from the probing minds of their Thought Police.” Mao pressed with all his strength down on the sandwich, compacting and reducing its size into a barely manageable size and sighed. “It was just an idea. Besides there are other interrogation methods, you can get all sorts of information if you start pulling teeth or start skinning.” Narth turned his shrouded head."This is barbaric and primitive!" "But not without its merits." I said. “I never was conditioned against mind dumps.” Narth turned to face me. “Captain, no force known to Narth could make you reveal any information you do not want to reveal. We also shared the Huhgavh, you are connected to me and all that s Narth including the Narth Supreme. Besides I am certain you did receive the finest Union tech conditioning at Pauli station. You do have Red-Red-Blue clearance after all.” As he mentioned it I remembered and said. “If I was almost like you, I could do all those neat things you can, like making a sandwich without touching anything.” He sounded amused. “I am touching it, just not with my hands and you could do all these things as well, but you do not do to the training exercises I have given you. Your abilities are dormant and not active and that is a good thing. Releasing them uneducated could be fatal to you and your surroundings. Alice is a good example for that and with all her strength she is but a spark compared to a sun once you realize your true power.” “I don’t think so. My HPI index is below 50 and that is just as well. I got used to that Psionic stuff somewhat, but my opinion about it hasn’t really changed. I don’t like it all that much and if I have it I am glad it is switched off.” The sandwich Narth made started to disappear in small segments and I could see him chewing underneath his hood. “One agrees with Har-Hi. Mayonnaise is very good.” To me he said in his silent mental way. ”Your stubborn refusal to accept that you do have psionic abilities does not alter the fact and besides, your Heidelberg Psi Index was last measured when you entered the Academy, you have shared the Huhgavh with me and you are already able to sense the moods and feelings of beings alien to you. I do not believe your HPI is still 50, but knowing you I am sure you won’t go to our CMO and be retested.” He knew me better than I knew myself, because deep down I was afraid of what I would release if I tried, so the longer I could keep whatever it was suppressed the better. Narth returned his attention to Mao and added to his explanation saying. “The Red Dragon, however, has no intentions to share it with us or anyone. He needs us and the others to get there and that is when our usefulness to him ends. This comes from Mehedi’s deductions by the way and not Psionic probing, but I agree.” Seeing my friends eat I got hungry after all and reaching for a bread bun said. “I was certain he would think that way, just using my gut instinct.” Har-Hi took another bite and his cleaning efforts were made obsolete as another dollop of mayo dropped on his harness. “Looks like we have to follow him half across the galaxy after all.”

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The Tavern was located at the outskirts of a big, busy metropole of a star faring society on the surface of that cold and dry planet. The atmosphere was breathable but so dry it felt as if we were breathing invisible sandpaper. The Karthanian ship dealer had gifted us with two Karthanian shuttle craft similar to a D 20. We had used one to get down to the planet. Har-Hi and I had left the ship to attend the meeting the Red Dragon had invited us to. The building consisted of only one big guest room with a vaulted ceiling and several sturdy wooden tables and benches. A bar with stacked barrels on one side gave the whole place a very rustic and primitive atmosphere, and reminded me of a Nilfeheim tavern. In the center of the guest room was a big round table with fourteen chairs, ten were occupied. I recognized the Red Dragon, Meateater and the Puup, Captain Brathering. The other Oghar at the table was Crimson Curse, we had met on Brhama Port.The brown and black striped Togar was most likely Carrhrh I had heard of him in a briefing but the rest were strangers to me. Red Dragon got up and pointed me to an empty chair. “Everyone this is Captain Black Velvet. To me he said: “This table is for Captains only; your First Mate can of course sit with the others of our crews if he wants.” A human man with a rugged face, lantern jaw, long black hair and a scar from over his left eye to his right cheek got up, pulled the chair out for me and bowed. His left eye looked metallic underneath his scared eyelids. “What a pleasure to finally meet you Captain Velvet. I have heard so much about you. I am Alsun Sandovahl, Captain of the Killerbeast.” I sat down and he helped me pull the chair in and then he sat down. Har-Hi placed himself right behind me with crossed arms and his best sinister stoic facial expression. If he was not supposed to stand there, no one dared to tell him. The man who introduced himself as Sandovahl took his seat to my left and the big Oghr, Crimson Curse sat to my right. He actually gave me a brief nod of recognition. Just as I had taken my seat a yellow throat Shiss came in and took a seat. An Oghar waiter came around and took orders. I declined and looked around. I noticed two women other than me were part of this meeting. One of them was human, and she had her hair dyed in a bright purple color and tied in a ponytail. A five pointed, star shaped golden colored face painting or a tattoo covering her left temple and much of her cheek. She wore a white ruffled blouse that covered an almost flat chest. The other woman was completely bald and had the paper white skin of a Kermac, but her sharp pointed teeth and the fine scaled texture of her skin pointed towards Shiss heritage. She appeared to embrace her lizard origin and wore a tight suit made of the scaled skin of a snake or lizard that shimmered in rainbow colors when she moved, but appeared black if she remained still. Red Dragon banged the butt of his blaster on the table surface and said. “I wished I could have convinced a few more to take part in this extraordinary opportunity. Several who wanted, fell by the wayside, but you rough as they come, experienced freelancers, cut throats and renders should be more than enough to face down any danger or opposition we might encounter on our journey. Since not all of you know everyone in this circle let me begin with introducing everyone, beginning with Captain Meateater to my right. He is going to be the second in command of our Convoy. While I hope we all will be able to trust each other and at the end of this journey, it is he I trust the most. He is an Oghar and commands the Intruder. His ship will be completely refurbished and refitted. The Togar next to him is Captain Carrhrh and his ship is the Celestial Nightmare. Few of you will know of the Puup, but Captain Brathering has made himself quite a reputation and his ship the Uhui might just be the most powerful ship after the Red Dragon as it is the only purpose built warship and a genuine Kermac T cruiser.Then there is another Oghar, the famous Crimson Curse commanding the Bloody Mary, he has been longer in this business than any of us and I am glad he came around and decided to take part in this endeavour after all. I doubt many of you have ever seen her in person, but the leather clad mysterious masked lady is Captain Black Velvet, her reputation and legend is well earned I assure you, I have seen her in action. She commands a Karthanian Armed Freighter with a treasure chamber that puts the Crown Treasury of the Togar Queen to shame. The maimed gentleman with the piercing cyber eye is Captain Sandovahl, Union Academy graduate; former Union Officer and I can attest there is no better training in the Universe. He commands the Killerbeast a ship so heavily armed and armored one wonders how he even finds room for his crew. That shaggy Jooltar answers to the name Basoro, there isn’t anything in this universe he hasn’t stolen or tried to steal. His ship, the Hontu, is a big darn freighter with weapons bolted on it and, if you need it, chances are he has it somewhere in his freight bays.” Dragon paused to take a swig from his mug of beer and it looked eerie as his skull mask opened the jaws. After that he went on. “Having a Togar sit right next to a Jooltar is usually not a good idea and a recipe for disaster but Captain Lemakr is as cold blooded as a cat could be and kills only for one reason, if there is profit to be made, but then he considers half a credit profit. His ship is the well-kept Kalita." Next comes Captain Lia Bassett, sister and member of the Bassett clan that runs Brhama Port, she is the oddball of the family so she says, but her ship Jammer is excellently equipped, had been a Dai raider and has shields that allows her to go places others can’t. Our third female Captain is another enigma. She calls herself Nocturna and her ship, the Executor, was manufactured to her specs at SII shipyards and features real Ultronit armor and the best civilian shields SII sells. Why she has chosen this profession, she does not tell.” Again he took a draught of his mug and pointed to the lizard. “The Shiss next to her is Captain Rkkkz, he is a Yellow Throat Shiss, trained to be a Raider from when he was born. His ship the Shadoom has the latest in Shiss technology. He decided to go into business on his own.” Red Dragon pointed at himself. “Finally there is me. I am the Red Dragon and my Ship, the Red Dragon, could pulverize all your ships together as it is filled with Union and functional Celtest technology.” He sat down and gave everyone a moment to look around or drink and then he said. “We are planning to embark on a long journey into regions of this galaxy that not few of us has ever been. You all are experienced Captains and you know, as empty and desolate space can be, there are often dangerous and unexpected obstacles. There is also the challenge of fuel, supplies and engine maintenance. Therefore we will buy two portable refineries and I expect anyone who will need fuel to chip in on the purchase price as those things are not cheap. If you skip on that, you won’t get any of the fuel later or have to pay whatever we charge.” Crimson Curse declined and said. “I’ve had my own refinery for years, don’t need someone else’s.” “As the turn came to me I said. “I am also fuel independent and have my own refinery.” Red Dragon shook his head. “What a prize your ship would have made, I wonder what other surprises you have hidden in that rust bucket.” “Oh this, that and the other thing, and I am taking care of the rust right now.” After he had collected the pledges for the refineries he said. “Everyone must take at least four sets of replacement parts for their engines along and hire good engineers. Once we are there we will of course return with Celtest ships but most engines need maintenance and replacement coils after 5000 light years.” He looked at his PDD. “Make sure you take enough food and supplies along to feed your crews. So get rid of any junk you’ve got in your freight bays and stock up on essentials. Captain Basoro will take extra food and supplies but I bet he won’t be cheap so don’t say I haven’t warned you.” Sandovahl leaned over and said. “I guess this was the official part, now comes the social one. You wouldn’t show me what you got under that mask right?” “I just might, but then I would have to kill you.” Crimson on the other side of me said. “You better listen to her. I’ve seen her kill Captain Bloom and she did it in a time that takes you to blink your human eyes maybe twice.” The Dragon finished his beer and said. “Now is the time for you to tell me if you are committed and coming along or if you want to back out. If you back out or abandon us after you agreed to come along, I will personally hunt you down and destroy you.” Crimson Curse raised his hand. “Now before I commit myself to something I am not completely convinced about. I want to hear your plan, your intentions and do you know where to go?” The canine looking Jooltar named Basoro made a howling sound as he spoke. “It is true we heard a lot of what we are to do and to comply with all that will cost us a great deal of money. I have seen your suit, but it was not invincible as you said it would be and I know you have shields as good as a Union Battleship. You speak of invincible Celtest technology and yet a bunch of Wolfcrafts made you flee and ripped your ships stern in the process.” Carrhrh the Togar hissed and growled at the Jooltar. “It disgusts me to admit it, but the mangy Jooltar has a point.” Before the Red Dragon could respond, the Puup that really looked like a large teddy bear, with a maw full of inch long snake like fangs, said, ”We are not talking about some bits and pieces of Celtest technology, but entire ships. Do you know the secret of Translocator cannons stems from Celtest technology? Do you know that the famous Devastator is a Celtest ship? Can you even imagine what the Kermac would pay us for a single ship like that, or the secret of Translocator cannons? It will be more Polonium, more riches than we all together could earn in ten lifetimes.” The Red Dragon said. “I am not forcing anyone to come along. I know where to go and I know the depot is real. The path is long and not without risks, but no riskier than what we all do every day anyway. I will go there even if I have to go alone, but mark my word. I won’t know you when I come back.” Meateater fumbled with his gold covered tusks and said with a rough mumbling sound. “That cursed wench, Black Velvet, had us over a barrel just recently and demanded millions of Polos. She settled for a single Celtest artifact as payment. I have seen her treasury and I know she is a sly business woman dealing with slaves and planets. Go tell them Velvet, tell them what Celtest artifacts, even bits and pieces are worth.” I did not need to say anything. Carrhrh the Togar sat down and grunted. “I see it too; you are right, even a single working Celtest artifact would pay for the trip with enough profit to buy a new ship.” The human deserter and traitor next to me held up a PDD. “We are in range for public GalNet and there is even an Xchange right here as the Golden enclave is now Union.” He wiped his finger over the display and a three dimensional Holo appeared of a busted helmet like object. He said. “This is a non-working broken helmet of Celtest origin. It was offered four weeks ago at the Xchange and sold for 75 Million Credits. Nine months ago, a set of confirmed Celtest eating utensils, was sold for 4 million credits.” He said alien artifacts of long gone civilizations are the hottest commodity on the Xchange and if you can say it is Pree, UNI or Celtest, it doesn’t matter if it is a scrap piece of metal, it sells for enormous amounts of money.” This demonstration was most likely the deciding factor and everyone agreed to come along. The human with the cyber eye said: “I am a somewhat strapped on funds. I just refurbished my ship and paid you a lot of money to go in on those refineries. I want to come along but I can’t afford four complete sets of engine parts and I actually should take at least eight. How long do we have till we leave?” Red Dragon said.“Meateater's Intruder is in dock and it will take at least 4 weeks to get her ready. I know there is lot of preparation to do, and some of us might have to do a little work to gather the necessary funds. While there is no set date we have to leave I would like to be ready with everything and get on our way the latest in sixty days We will then meet on the third planet in this system and go on our quest.Anyone missing is going to be left behind. Perhaps one of us could extend you a loan or something; there are those among us quite wealthy.” He did look into my direction as he said that. The man shook his head. “That would be the last option, I don’t like owing anyone, but all that talk about artifacts gave me an idea. Isn’t there a planet full of ruins just an orbit closer to this sun and as I understand, you control it. Maybe my crew and I could go digging there for something to sell?” Dragon raised his arms. “Yes and it was the headquarters of my Sinister Alliance. The civilization that was there once killed themselves with a nuclear war. It not very old and whatever you might find is Tech Level five at best. I doubt you’ll find anything valuable, but you are of course welcome to try. It is there where we meet the next time anyway.” The Red Dragon leaned forward. “Just keep all this for yourselves. I don’t want anyone getting ideas and following us, a Celtest depot would be a nice find for the Kermac or the Karthanians too.” Crimson asked. “What happened to the Sinister Alliance? Wasn’t that your big project?” “What is left of that Alliance is right here at this table. I am tired of peddling, this opportunity fell into my lap and this is the only project I am interested in. I intend to get me a Devastator like ship and fly it right to the Assembly and pulverize the whole lot. Let us all meet again in one in sixty days and then we get under way.” The meeting had ended. I and several others immediately got up, while Meateater and a few others ordered drinks and from the looks of it intended to use the opportunity party and drink. I was just leaving, Har-Hi and I had already gone through the door. The air was bitter cold and the lights of the big city and the huge space port painted golden halo into the sky above. Before us to the south was a vast desert valley with a low mountain range in the distance. Two big bright moons illuminated endless rows of space ship hulks in various states of disassembly. It was one of the many junk yard fields Sobody had told us about. The tavern was one of several free standing buildings along a paved road that led to the city on one end and into the desert and perhaps to another town or city on the other. Red Dragon and the woman Pirate called Nocturna had followed us and he stopped me saying “Black Velvet, wait a moment.” I turned and he said. ”I know we started on the wrong foot and I wanted to say that I am very glad you decided to come along after all. I think you and I are not so different. We both know what we want and go after it regardless of the challenges that try to prevent us from reaching that goal.” I said. “Knowing you, you didn’t just come out here to compliment me.” He laughed and said, “You are one suspicious wench and I do like that, but I actually wanted to ask if you would stay awhile. We all need to get to know each other a little better. I am aware we’re never going to be a close knit group and we all have our secrets, but I think we need to establish some base of understanding among us.” Har-Hi interrupted and pulled his weapon pointing to a shadow and said. “Someone did listen in on this meeting of yours.” Now I saw it too, two shadowy shapes had emerged from a basement door of the tavern and were running in a hunkered fashion across the road and towards the junkyard. Red Dragon cursed pulled his blaster and flanked over the hand rail that was part of the five step stairs leading to the tavern’s main entrance. Why I flung myself over the same railing, pulling my own weapon, I could not really say. I did hear Har-Hi making a sighing, groaning sound as he followed as well. The Dragon said while we crossed the road. “The Tavern is run by a former pirate and is a sanctuary for the likes of us, but it looks like he sold out after all. Those could be Kermac, Togar, Kartanian heck these could be anyone’s spies. I want to know who listened in.” What looked like even ground from the Tavern was actually some sort of tall very dry and coarse grass that reached all the way to my chest. The actual Junkyard itself, dark ragged shadowy shapes still a good two thousand meters away. I said to the Dragon. “Running openly after two unidentified individuals isn’t such a good idea, by that bright moon light we present good targets. I stopped and went to my knees to examine the ground and the tracks, just then a bright blaster shot cracked over where I had just been standing. Har-Hi the Dragon and the silent Pirate woman ducked as well. Har-Hi grunted.” I didn’t see anyone shooting at us, tell me Captain what exactly we are doing here anyway?” That was a good question and cursing my own impulsive behavior I said. “I don’t like to be spied on either and I like to know all the players involved in this game as much as possible.” The Dragon hissed. “That sums it up; I really want to know who they are.” I was always able to see well in low light conditions and examined the ground. ”There are two of them; from the shape of the tracks at last one could be Karthanian. The other might be Togar, a big one at that, most likely male.” The woman who had not said a word until now let out a silent whistle. “That is impressive, they might already have reached the junkyard and it will be impossible to find anyone in that maze.” The Dragon said. “Yes, I am more and more impressed with you, Velvet. You are a woman of many talents.” I hushed at him and said: “And you are making more noise than a gaggle of preschoolers at lunch break.” I closed my eyes and extended that new sense I was developing and the tall grass like carpet surrounding us, disappeared and I could feel armed beings all around us, twelve of them, my mind still was going to get used to this electro sonar sense and I could not distinguish details but I could feel their heartbeats and make out their approximate shapes. I whispered. “There are twelve of them, armed with blaster weapons waiting for us to do something.” The Dragon said. “I am going to call my crew for reinforcement, even though I am nearly invincible even in this thanks to you damaged suit. I want to catch them alive." Then his voice suddenly fell silent and I turned to see, an all-black dressed humanoid shape was standing right behind him pressing a weapon at the Dragon’s temple and it whispered. “I don’t know if your fancy suit is capable of preventing me from making a new hole in your skull, pirate.” Three more all black shapes shimmered into view aiming alien looking energy weapons at us.

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