Xch19



Chapter 18: New Horizons

Lia and her crew of outcasts, dropped out of Quasi space at a star system eighteen Light years from the trans-spatial gate. According to her admittingly outdated information, this was the homeworld of the Farnok. They were hailed almost immediately and after a few moments, Squack language communications were established, confirming the fact, that this was not the first trans galactic contact. The being appearing on the viewer was covered with a short brown fur and had general similarities with a Togar cat, but was much more massive and bulging with muscles. The being wore nothing in form of any clothing. The first words of greeting were a question. "You are visitors of the distant star spiral, are you not?" "Yes, we came from another galaxy, using the old gate. We are seeking new shores and a new life here." "We are the Farnok, we are the Guardians of the Ancient Gates. It is a holy and blessed duty to welcome travelers that use these sacred gates. Honor and respect the Holy Gates and you shall find a friendly reception. Come then and land your vessel, we will prepare a welcome and see if we can help you." Lia felt relieved, especially after the hostile encounter at the gate. She had just given the command to follow the guide signal to the Farnok Port, when another of these advanced vessels dropped into real space. It was quite similar to the one they encountered at the gate. It was under shields and weapons charged. The muscle buldging cat-like being still on the viewer loudly complained."Plostrak, these travelers are under Farnok protection now. Your vessel is targeted by our defenses and we will engage you should you commence violent action." A gruff voice that sounded amused answered."Ah the distant people language. The Farnok should have killed me when they had the chance. You still need to be punished for what you did."

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We dropped out of quasi about ten light minutes distant from the coordinates Sodoby was able to obtain. The thing was in deep space and if you didn't know the exact location, you'd never find it. "I wonder just how many of these gate things there are. There might be thousands within Union space, and I am not talking about those small ones, but these humongous ones." Shea responded first."There are several known ones, and none are made by the same civilization. The best-known one is, of course, the Ring of Algorm. It is inactive and partially broken." SHIP chimed in."It was damaged by the Devastator, or more precisely Centron, the big ship's artificial intelligence and long before it was found by Admiral Richard Stahl." "And you know that?" Shea said with big eyes. "Centron shared some of his history with me, we both have a special bond to our Captains and I wanted to learn as much as I can to be a good AI." "You are the best AI, I would not want to swap you for Mothermachine. No offense Circuit." "None taken, Captain. SHIP is my friend too." I raised my hand to interrupt the banter because I knew SHIP would now get all mushy and we'd spend twenty minutes on reaffirming our affection."Back to the subject at hand. Shea please scan and examine the one ahead of us in great detail." "We are already using any distance analytical tool we have, but I would recommend a physical examination of the artificial structure part of that gate. It appears to be quite large and has internal compartments, perhaps even quarters, control rooms and remnants and remains of whoever built it." "I am contemplating that, actually. I am not all too comfortable to simply pass through it. Can we assume Lia went this way?" Narth answered."With a probability of over eighty eight percent, Captain. There is a very recent engine trail, with the characteristics of late ISAH pods. The probability of ship coming this way with ISAH pods is very low, except the Togar ship of Lia which was upgraded with Union tech and ISAH propulsion." Har-Hi, as usual with his arms crossed said. "Are we going after her?" I nodded. "That is the general idea of us being here." "No I mean, are we going to follow her to another galaxy? Is that within the scope of our task? According to General Cherubim, we do have official business 75,000 light years from here." Mehdi who occupied a secondary bridge station behind the Nav-Tank said."It is unlikely she knows who orchestrated the escape. Neither she nor anyone with her apparently made any attempts to contact anyone. This would be a logical step if any of the escapees would be of interest to whoever financed the escape." "Are we still in GalNet range?" I asked. Elfi said."Sorry, Captain we are not. But we could pick it up, by traveling just 110 lightyears further. We then could link into the Tinkeheel GalNet cone." "Krabbel, plot a course to the closest GalNet connection and Shaka please take us there with all haste. I need to talk to command about all this, before we jump to whereever that gate leads." Har-Hi gave me a mockingly impressed look."What? Us not jumping into the unknown and then figure things out, but instead doing the sensible thing, Captain you are surprising me." "Oh shut up, Mr.Hi." I said with a grin. "We are still going, unless they tell us not to. I hate leaving things unfinished."

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Lia took the opportunity and said."Why are you attacking us?" "I am a big bad villian and take what I want and your vessel, as outdated it seems has some impressive teeth, I want them." "We are fugitives and have no home and seek a new future here. We were in a similar business as you. Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement. We are not opposed to share our tech in return for perhaps a chance of employment?" The Farnok objected."If you associate with this criminal then you are criminals and will not be welcome here." Plostrak was more than interested to replace the doomed commandant