Eric Olafson, Captain Black Velvet 05

Chapter 5

The Tavern was called the Mother Lode and had been chiseled and burned directly into the rock of the asteroid. The floor was made of metal grating placed in metal frames over more rough rock, Something small skittered between the pieces of waste and garbage that had fallen through the slots in the floor.

The bar of the tavern occupied much of the left side of the tavern while a viewport with a good view at one of the Asteroid bases’ mooring arms was on the other side. The shabby looking Tullerman brand 25 meter Dinghy we had used to come here was now moored there next to two much bigger ships and two ugly banged up looking miner tugs. The tavern was filled about to half its capacity with the roughest looking bunch of humans and non humans I had ever seen.

The air was putrid not just because of the strong and alien drinks served and consumed but also of rancid body odors of unwashed and unkempt individuals of a dozen species or more.

As per Har-Hi’s suggestion we had taken the Tullerman ahead of the disguised Tigershark to get a feel of the situation before I made our official entrance.

This would be the first official appearance of Black Velvet and her crew after all. I wanted to see and feel how other Pirate captains talked and acted.

For this Har-Hi and I had disguised ourselves as Freespace Scavengers, a disguise suggested by Sobody. Scavengers were mostly ignored and at the bottom of the feeding order of the galactic space faring community and so it was we were pretty much ignored here on Brhama Port. We had settled down on a quiet table in a corner and nursed our drinks while keeping our eyes and ears open.

Shea and Elfi had done a great job as Har-Hi looked now like a dark red furred Jooltar, a canine species believed to be distantly related to the Attikans.

Unlike the Attikans however they did not live in the Large Magellanic Cloud, but were a small independent species that made their home somewhere in a small sphere of influence beyond the Karthanian Conglomerate. The Jooltar were only briefly mentioned in Xeno Class but as I understood it was generally accepted knowledge that they have stolen most of their technology instead of inventing it. To complete his fur covered body costume complete with an animated bioflex mask, he also wore an outfit that was diced together from several questionable sources and none of the armor and clothing pieces looked new or in good repair. That the costume he chose had to be red was something he insisted upon.

I was made up to look like a black Nogoll wearing a similar set of clothing and equipment pieces over the black fur that covered me from head to toe. Since Nogoll space was not far from here and the black Nogoll had not fared too well in the still very recent Union Nogoll conflict; Sobody said it was a good choice for a costume, as encountering a black Nogoll in Freespace wasn’t unusual.

Har-Hi had dropped a few small Polo coins into a slot next to the table and selected a simple battle strategy game that was now displayed on the table surface. We played it and apparently paid no attention to the surroundings, but we both carried Nano fiber periscope optics and directional microphones. My Nogoll horns carried the optics and the large Nogoll ears the directional audio sensors. Har-Hi was similar equipped and that allowed us to focus in on any conversation and watch without appearing to watch at all. The barkeeper was a three armed Pertharian.

Either his business was not very good or he had other problems saving money for a cybernetic replacement or a re-grow therapy but he tried his best to keep at least the glasses and the bar counter reasonably clean, as he kept polishing glasses whenever he did not serve drinks.

Two more Pertharians came in and sat down at the other end of the taverns guest room. I was around those giants long enough to notice the barkeep was not too pleased to see them and he didn’t speak to them. The atmosphere of the taverns was not very cheerful or very lively, everyone kept to their business and while there was a constant din of voices no conversation was held loud enough to carry far. On a table not far from us were three Oghr, I was not sure of what subspecies, playing a game with dice. They appeared to be miners from one of the asteroid mines in the system.

It wasn’t long after the arrival of the Pertharians when a man with distinctive Dai features appeared. He even wore Dai armor, however his was not red but black and adorned with purple panels. His harness did not carry a clan glyph. He looked around and went straight to the table of the Pertharians. I zoomed in on that table using a sub dermal sensor track on the side of my index finger and rubbing my thumb over it. The other Horn of my bio flex mask contained the latest in NAVINT communication technology, a picto-burst GalCom transmitter and with it I was connected with the Tigershark. So they could see and hear what we did. The images were directly sent to my visual nerve.

Har-Hi whispered and said without moving the jaws of his fierce canine predator mask. “That is a ancient assassins armor suit, the long extinct Mar-Do tribe was famous for those. He wears it in a way that I am certain he knows how to use it, but he is no pure blood Dai from the looks of it.”

Through the crisp optics I saw him placing a complicated folded small piece of paper on the table and one of the Pertharians produced one that matched it.

Hans, who was of course watching the scene back on the Tigershark said to me. “This is a Narly Angularity. The Nul are known to use these complicated three dimensional shapes to identify themselves as members of their intelligence services.”

While I silently acknowledged the half Dai spoke and I could hear every word.

He said to the two giants. “It is quite foolish to dress up like Pertharians. There is hardly a more loyal species to the Union and only a handful ever went astray. There is already one tending the bar and he carries the price of his betrayal openly. His family most likely ripped out that arm and he has enough honor left not to replace it, seeing you with all four arms is not sitting well with him I can tell.”

As it turned out we weren’t the only ones pretending to be someone else. I mused and wondered if there were even more like us and them in this room.

One of the giants spoke. “We are aware of this but our size restricts us to few species we can portray. It is however pleasant to meet you once again, Dimon Honsu. We would not agree to meet anyone else.”

So the Half Dai had a name.

Shea flashed a message over my retina display and it read. “Intel report on Damon Honsu is very sparse, but biometric analysis suggests he is half Dai and half Asian Human. According to our files. He is a Freelancer and occasional assassin. He supposedly has good connections to the Nul.”

I whispered back.”That he has those connections can be confirmed, I’d say.”

Shea agreed and added.”SHIP is certain to 98.99 percent that the voice is created and not natural. Chances are he is not what he appears either.Lt. Senhadjii is analyzing his body language as we speak. Visual Data Analysis on the false Pertharians is more revealing and we are certain these are Nul Agents.”

I acknowledged her report with a blink and focused on the dialog on that table that turned out to be much more than a chance meeting of pirates or freelancers.

The man named Honsu said. “This is Brhama Port, Guys. You could be all yourself, two Nul be less suspicious than two Pertharians. No one around here is a particular fan of the Union and Pertharians are as Union as Terrans.

We could have met in a far nicer venue. Only want to be professionals, amateurs and agents in the cheap Holo novels met in dark bars on some remote Miner Asteroid. Well Brhama is a Miners port, but it has much nicer restaurants and lounges.

“Let us not dwell on our choice of disguise or meeting venue, Mr. Honsu. We are certain you are not always Dimon Honsu to the world either. You do business with us long enough to know that we are no fools.”

The Half Dai sat down, folded his hands on the table and said. “Indeed I know and I am glad you have agreed to meet with me.”

“Because you have been a valuable and quite reliable asset, especially for Union intel, we heeded your invitation and agreed to meet as we too have an agenda we must discuss with you, but for now tell us why you wanted to meet us.”

“I am here to see what the chances are for you to meet with my Kermac contacts.”

The same disguised Nul answered. “We are not interested in meeting the Kermac. For it disgusts us to deal with these squealing, self important, meddling dwarfs. It is true we don’t like the Union but we much prefer them over the Kermac and if the Union ever decides to move against them, we won’t stop them.”

Now the second disguised Nul spoke for the first time. “However there are two recent developments of great concern to us and believe you can help us with the first and we might consider information exchange with the Kermac regarding the other event.”

I had to remind myself to move my piece and keep pretending to play as the conversation went on.

Honsu said. “Can you be more specific?”

The second Nul answered. “The First Gray born Nul in decades has disappeared. Grays, you must know are of tremendous importance to us. Decades can pass without one being born, and sometimes even centuries. Whenever a Gray is born an important event is about to take place, it always has been so. Sixteen Nul cycles ago a Gray One was born and not just to any family pod but he was the first offspring come to the plane of life from the loins and line of our Wise Leader. This event was hailed as tremendous omen. The Gray One was to be our next leader and he was trained in all things. The Gray One exceeded all expectations. He was stronger and easily learned all that was put before him and all Nul rejoiced as he would be our second ruler in all Nul history that is an All Gray.

The other Nul chimed in and explained further. “We are a very violent race and made ourselves almost extinct in seven great wars. Seven wars that destroyed our civilization and reduced our home world to a lifeless planet covered in ashes. Out of these ashes rose the first Gray one, the greatest leader and ruler. He prevented us from doing that again.Now a new one is born to us and all Nul-Nul knows there will be a great chance and challenge for us on the horizon.”

The other disguised Nul grunted in agreement. “The path to Nul leadership has many stations and elements. The most important one is the Purification Bath in the Holy Ashes of Narl Gatu, the ashes of our first Civilization. To do so, the Gray prince entered the purification sleep and was sent aboard the Narl Tompe Barge on his way to Narl Gatu. The prince never arrived.”

The first Nul spoke with agitation in his voice.

“The Nul Realm left no trace unchecked and we came to the conclusion he had been abducted, captured by pirates or freelancers daring enough to infiltrate Nul space. We know he is still alive and somewhere in Freespace and we will pay you whatever price you demand if you find our Prince. You have six month to find him. After that we will search for him and no planet and no asteroid will be spared in our search. Of course that would mean the end of the Freespace treaty and war.”

I held my breath under the warm fur mask and for a moment forgot to play the game. There was the potential of Intergalactic war discussed on a shabby table inside a low class tavern somewhere deep in Freespace.

The man in the dark Dai armor said. “I will do my best to find him. If he is alive and in Freespace I am sure I can find him.Captured Nul are always news.”

The Half Dai played with the folded paper thing and added. “Could he not been taken by the Shiss or the Union?”

“The possibility that it was the Shiss is still considered and if we find evidence it is so, then we will increase our efforts to unprecedented levels to annihilate all that is Shiss.”

Again the second Nul participated in the conversation saying: “While it is not completely impossible that it had been done by the Union, it is not how they operate usually. As they much rather test our resolve with entire fleets and probing our strength by provoking large scale skirmishes. The Union respects us, we know. They however do not fear us. Agitating us by abducting the prince is simply not their style.”

“I will keep my eyes and ears open, if there is a Nul warrior kept prisoner or sold in Freespace I should be able to hear about it. Can I ask how you know he is still alive and in Freespace?”

“It must be so. The Seer of Narl Gatu said we have six month before our Prince, who according to the Seer is in a strange land will transform forever. The seer was brought to the last position we knew the prince was and the Seer pointed towards Freespace”

Now the first Nul spoke again. “Our leader believes that the Prince is transformed from being alive to being dead.”

The Half-Dai snorted and made an amused facial expression as he said. “I thought your investigation was done with sensors and tracing engine trails. You place too much trust in a Seer. I know a thing or two about Psionicsand no Psionic gift can predict the future. Maybe he simply went off course and burnt up exiting Quasi Space too close to a sun?”

The first Nul in his disguise said raising his voice. “The Seer of Narl Gatu is not a Psionic user. We Nul have no talent or use for Psionics. But the Seer is no mere Nul and he has been with us since we Nul rose from the Ashes of Narl Gatu. The Seer has always been correct, always!”

If he Nul was correct, then this Seer was among the oldest living beings, perhaps older than even Deepa.

Honsu did not respond to that but waved to the Barkeeper and ordered Thil. I knew Thil was a watery, weak beer like drink and I moved a game piece not even knowing if it was my turn and kept listening.

The Half Dai said to the disguised Nul agents. “Let us talk about the second event then. The one you mentioned could make you consider a meeting with the Kermac.”

“We like to make it clear that we only agree to an information exchange, nothing more. I personally would rather join the Union than deal with these meddlers.”

Honsu shrugged and said. “I am only the enabler, I make the connection. The Kermac have asked me to make contact with the Eye of Narl. What you then discuss or agree upon concerns me not.”

The first Nul said. “The Golden are no longer neutral. As small as this civilization appears to be, they have considerable technology, immense knowledge and contacts to species and civilizations none of us have heard off. Their resources might even equal those of any of the Big Four.”

Honsu put down the mug he had just received and waved his hand. “Are you sure this is correct information? The Golden are synonymous with neutrality and have been so for eons. Have they decided to join and side with the Kermac?”

“We are surprised you have not heard of it, Damon Honsu. The Golden have applied for Union membership and it has been granted just a few days ago much faster than this process usually takes, they are full members of the Union. We just received message from our envoys at Pluribus the message traveled per GalNet to Bokta World a Union outpost where we maintain a trading post and was then transmitted via Myon Corresponder to Natu Tothour throne world. Since we do not have the benefit of instantaneous messaging as the cursed Union all this it happened about four to five weeks ago.”

The voice of the Half-Dai was no longer sounding as certain as he had before as he said. “Could it be a trick, propaganda or false information? Sobody the First Merchant would never agree to something like that.”

“Would we be here and consider a meeting with the Kermac if it was a trick? Sobody the First Merchant never made a secret of his admiration for the Terrans and according to our source he has retired. A delegation of Golden Elders is still on Pluribus. We try to gather more details, but we know the entire Golden fleet has already been turned over to Union Fleet control and we know from reliable sources that the first Golden Spheres have been seen on their way to Ross 128 to be fitted with Translocator Cannons, no doubt.”

Honsu cursed. “Violent gravitons, Gantoor’s ghost be damned, Golden Spheres are not far behind their battleships and Golden sensors are second to none.”

“This is not just a one planet society joining the Union. This is as historic as the Klack making that decision.”

The second Nul spread his upper arm pair. “Not to mention that we have information that the Narth are now active Union members and even sharing some of their technology. With all this they might listen to their Warrior Admiraland attack and be done with all Kermac and perhaps all that is Nul once and for all.”

Honsu leaned back. “It is true, the Narth are suddenly an active member. They have strengthened that cursed PSI Corps, and no spy, mole or traitor is safe from their powers.”

The first Nul sounded just as concerned as his partner. “With the Union that strong, and getting stronger by the day, all it takes is a spark of an incident and their Assembly will call for war. I have been a diplomatic guest during their last Union Week celebrations and I have seen their parade. It takes a lot to frighten a Nul, but I won’t forget the sight of Union battle groups and there were Dai Mothers filled with Dai Fighters in Union gray”

The first agreed with his colleague and said. “Find our prince and if he is alive and returned to us we will agree to meet the Kermac and discuss what options we might have to address these developments. If he is not found, Nul will go to war and all diplomacy and subterfuge will end. The Nul will perish we know but until that day, the Galaxy will be a place of death and destruction never seen since the days of the Dark Ones, that is the word of our First Nul.”

The Half Dai got up and said. “I will search for your prince with all haste and all efforts. Such a war must be prevented.”

With these words he left. I wished I could follow him and find out more about this character, but something else happened and prevented me even contemplating how to do accomplish that. The Barkeep stomped from behind his bar to the table of the two disguised Nul and pointed all three of his arms at them and said with a loud voice.

“I don’t like anyone mocking me or my species. I paid the price of looking to the Arcane Order and I live here in exile but you are not Pertharian; you are something else in disguise. Now why would anyone come to this station pretending to be Pertharians? I think you are spies of some sort!”

Now everyone in the Tavern was paying attention and almost everyone was pulling weapons. Both disguised Nul got up, toppling the table doing it and the first raised his hands. “We are not Union. And we know nothing of an Arcane Order.”

The Barkeeper growled with anger saying “You are also not Pertharian! Every Pertharian knows the Arcane Order, ever single one!”

“We are Nul. We had no intention to insult you, but we will not be threatened.”

“This is Freespace and since there are no Nul merchants, no Nul travellers or Nul Freelancers, you are Government Spies.

No real Pertharian would ever sit in a bar where a Tark like me serves drinks.”

“I am Pertharian and I just threatened you, Nul. I kill you both!”

Before the situation escalated, three men in Karthanian Battle suits stomped in, they looked exactly how I imagined half Kermac half Shiss would look.

Their leader holding a genuine SII Fafnir, enough firepower to roast everyone in the tavern and said. “We are the Bassetts and we welcome everyone on our rock, except spies of any kind. Be it Nul, Union, Kermac or from wherever else.

We also don’t allow fights with power weapons, so we want you to leave now and don’t you ever come back.”

The Pertharian eyes the Fafnir and was obviously contemplating to vent his rage anyway, while the Nul scrambled to the Tavern exit.

I had the strong feeling that this was a staged show, pre-arranged in case the Nul would be discovered. The Barkeep grunted and seemed to calm down. He jelled.”You come back and I personally start a war against the Nul!”

He was satisfied and so were the patrons. This locomotion however also served the Half Dai to slip away.

I gave Narth the mental signal to approach officially with the Tigershark.

It didn’t take long and one of the station’s owners, a male humanoid with distinctive Shiss features walked over to a big central located table where two beings sat and drank.

One of the men at that table was revealed as Captain Swift while he turned to the Shiss bastard. I recognized his face well from the recordings of the Danny Houston.

My audio pick up overheard the Half Kermac say. “It might be of interest to you, we just received the docking request of a ship called the Silver Streak, commanded by Black Velvet and she is towing in the Mighty Nine as a prize to sell.”

Captain Swift was human no doubt, but I believed he too had some non human genetics in his DNA as he appeared unusually tall, even sitting down and his skin had yellowish waxen hue. He looked up and said with surprise in his voice.

“Are you sure it is the ship of that cut throat Volting?”

An Oghar with elaborate decorated lower jar tusks and rough scaled skin sharing that big round table with Swift, touched one of his gold and jewel encrusted teeth and said.

“I have heard much rumors and stories about Black Velvet, but nothing really substantial. No one has really seen her, no one knows if she is the same one that supposed to be active 500 years ago, or just someone using the same name.”

Swift shrugged. “I haven’t met her so far either, but I know she is on the top ten wanted list of the Union and that takes some serious crime and they don’t put ghosts on that list.”

Shea informed me silently.

“The Oghar is Crimson Curse and his ship is the Bloody Mary. He is one of the most successful and experienced pirates of Freespace as he is in business for over 40 years.”

Now my disguised ship became visible in the bright flood lights of the mooring arm and despite the crudely added oversized ISAH pods and the shoddy welded armor plates around its nose cone, it looked quite dangerous. I loved the modern sleek and foreboding look of its true form as it was my ship, but even in its disguise as Silver Streak it looked very dangerous and like a ship that had been at least twice from one end of the Galaxy to the other.

Right behind her the Mighty Nine slipped onto another mooring point. Hans and Mao were aboard the captured pirate ship and maneuvered it into the parking position. Everyone in the Tavern was watching and the Oghar said.

“It is the Mighty Nine alright, looks like she’s missing one drive pod and someone clipped her claws real good, two turrets gone and the third damaged, but leaving everything essential intact, looks like the Silver Streak has an excellent gunner.”

The Captain of the Swift pointed at my ship and said.

“That old Karthanian has some serious fire power. Look at the size of those Nul froth casters. Those aren’t easy to come by and even harder to install.”

The Oghar kept fiddling with his tusks and grunted.

“Them ISAH pods look like the old Three-Ninety B series. State of the art 500 years ago and I bet my left tusk they are Type XI and with four of those I think she is likely to make 350 to 400 klicks to the square second.”

“I’d take genuine old ISAH Pods over that new Karthanian Scrap I got anytime. “Swift added.

Har-Hi and I used the distraction to silently leave our table and enter the ghastly washroom of the Tavern.

Har-Hi covered the false muzzle of his mask and said. “By the lords, this stinks worse than the Enviro tanks we had to clean.”

We watched a burly Oghr leave one of the open stalls, trailing a gagging cloud of stench and I said while trying to keep it down. “Can you imagine the Enviro Tank on an Oghr ship?”

Narth popped out of thin air after we were certain we were alone, touched us both and teleportet us back to the ship.

Shea who was dressed in my usual Black Velvet leather outfit to pose as me for the initial contact with Brhama Port greeted us on the bridge and said.

“There were no problems at all, they granted us mooring permit, but requested that we pay a mooring fee of 500 [Polo each ship.”

I pulled the Nogoll mask and she waved her hand before her nose. “Say was the costume not enough, did you have to adapt the smell too?”

I glared at her. “You should have seen or smelled what they called a washroom.”

Har- Hi was already halfway to the Elevators and I followed him adding. “After Har-Hi and I changed we will make our official entrance and then stay as long as the Swift Profit. That ship will be our next target.”

Dimon made sure the Nul were safely back aboard the Jooltar freelancer who provided them with transport before he went back to the lower levels of this asteroid base. It didn’t take him long to find the sales stall of a Bitllor. This particular one, named Korko-Ju-Olpat had been here for many decades buying and selling the more uncommon ore types, gems and crystals.

Dimon was not really in the market for gems or Lithium ore, but Korko had his ears everywhere and a handful beings knew he was a Kermac spy. Simply here to keep an eye on things for the MOI.

Dimon did pick a particular beautiful fist sized Smaragd of the main sales display.

The somewhat humanoid proportioned Bitlor came around his sales counter.”Ah good Honsu, after meeting with the Nul, you find your way to me. I can let you have that Green rock for five Full weights. I take Kerms, Union Credits, Kathris and Crwals too.”

“It is actually quite a fair price, this rock is particular nice. You would not know what this gem would bring on a Golden Bazaar?”

“I doubt they will accept Kerms now. Someone there might offer you a thousand Union credits.”

“So it is true? The Golden did apply for Union membership?”

“It’s the biggest news from here to the other side of the Scutum arm. The Golden have applied and have been accepted in record time. This I might add makes a lot of people quite nervous, including of course your big friends. What did the Bennetts charge you for that little sharade?”

“Those fools decided to wear disguises, pretending to be Pertharinas of all species. Not knowing a Tark tending the bar. The Bennetts made a nice little profit stomping around for a moment and enjoying their latest gifts of mine, including a genuine SII-Fafnir.”

“For a gift like that I would dom lots of things.The move of the Golden is old news my friend. The fact that the Takkians discovered their god is real and occupies a moon in the Auriga Xi system is the latest. Some say the Kermac lost control over one of their most ambitious projects. Making the wizards of the Tower quite upset.”

Behind his mask and the Honsu identity he cursed himself for taking too much time as Purple Worm trying to limit the damage, Nelson II and the PSI Corps is doing. He had apparently missed quite a few important developments. “Will they do something about it?”

“I am not privileged to things that are discussed in the Tower of Wizards on Kermac Prime, but one would be a fool to think they ignore it. The very recent debacle with the Dolbarians added to the woes.”

Dimon had to think for a moment. “Dolbarians, small rodent like. Related to the Union’s Holdians?”

“Indeed, in itself perhaps a less important species but their location is anything but unimportant. A faulty mind shield is blamed, as it exposed the true nature of apparent assistants and aides. But no one can explain why the psionic abilities of these Kermac suddenly increased by substantial margins.” The Bitlor merchant released air through his face folds in a whistling manner.”The Dolbarians and a previously unknown species, the Xundriansapplied jointly for Union membership, just very recently.”

Dimon placed an Union Credit box on the sales counter, displaying 50,000 credits.”This little thing is yours, but if you know anything about a captured Nul, I add another one.”

“I know of only one Nul, a gray one and he is on its way to Sin 4.”

BRHAMA PORT

The Half Kermac sitting behind his desk eyed us suspiciously as I placed a heavy plastic bag with the 1000 Polo Coins before him. He had the same paper white skin and the characteristic small nose and mouth of a Kermac, but unlike them, he did have black hair and eyebrows. His eyes, I noticed, were neither Kermac nor Human and looked more like the reptilian eyes of a Shiss.

He took the coins without counting and placed them in a drawer behind him, and then he said: “You have never been here, Captain Velvet, but you have a reputation that precedes you. The rules here are simple. We like the business your kind brings, but not the trouble. Fighting is allowed but not with any energy weapons or similar destructive devices. I don’t think you are interested in mining, but I tell this to all newcomers to Brhama Port. Don’t raid mining camps or ships around here and don’t start rouge mining on your own. If you need fuel we sell that for 140 Polo Full weights per standard 1023 Nogto Bulb. That is about 500 Nul Roos or 992 Union Kilos.” He spread his arms.”That is about all there is, welcome to the Shattered Star System of the Bassett family.”

Har-Hi, Shea and Narth were with me, and all three stood behind me with crossed arms. Narth actually wore a black leather and steel armor over his shroud and even carried a Nul Gravitor long gun over his back. His face and head hidden, behind a black helmet with mirrored face plate, he had borrowed from Three Four. Har-Hi wore his red Dai Leather with all the knives, weapons and swords in place. He had covered the Glyph of his Clan.

Shea wore a shoulder free bodice of white leather, matching over knee boots and a fur cape that looked much like my old Fangsnapper coat. She had her hair tied in a pony tail and wore a white half mask up to her nose. Beside the long Attikan Sniper Blaster she carried her mysterious sword. In my opinion she looked dangerous and very sexy at the same time.

That there was plenty of human DNA left in the Half Kermac was evident as he had a hard time making eye contact with me and shifted his eyes to my chest.

I said to him: “Indeed I am not interested in mining but I have a spare ship I would like to sell and was told it could be done here.”

He nodded. “To be truthful, you will not get the same price you would get at Kaliment or Sin 4, but I am sending my brother Kooornt, and he will check the ship. I will contact you later today with the price we are willing to pay.”

I agreed that this would be acceptable and left the Asteroid Managers office.

The man currently known as Dimon Honsu entered the office of the Asteroid manager. He and Mooornt knew each other for some time now. While neither trusted the other after a certain point, they had developed a professional and friendly relationship. The men respected each other and when it served their interests they often helped each other out.

Mooornt was the oldest son of Bruuunt and the grandson of the Old Bird herself. He managed the asteroid for the family.

Mooornt had just filled himself a glass with chilled Kermiliq and he turned to the Half Dai.”Go right ahead, fill a glass for yourself. It’s the genuine kind, made with Laboduu milk.”

Dimon took a glass from the rack and held it under the dispenser and selected his Kermiliq with Golh fruit flavor, his favorite.

“I came to thank you helping me out with the Nul. Those fools came disguised as Pertharians of all species and decided to meet in a tavern that is operated by a Tark of al things.”

“I would have assisted even without your plea. Having the Nul agitated against us is not a wise thing under any circumstances. But those purple brutes appear to be even more aggressive and aggravated than usual. Something seemed to have happened to the Nul and they are on the brink of sweeping across Freespace, if my sources are correct.”

Dimon nodded.”Shockingly true. I have similar information and when they do, the big war is on.”

The asteroid manager sat down behind his desk.”Having agitated Nul fleets duking it out with Union battle groups isn’t something I like to see happening.”

“You are not concerned about the news that the remaining Dai have united under one leader?”

“Not as much. We have very strong ties to the Togar, and I doubt your friend Cam Ef-Na wants to agitate the Queen too much.”

Dimon sat in one of the comfortable visitor chairs. “Well the Nul are off the station. That shrewd Jooltar who brought them here, is experienced as they come and should be able to take them back form where ever they came from.”

Mooornt pointed with his almost empty glass towards the door.”One party gone, a new one arrived. You just missed Captain Black Velvet and some of her crew.”

Dimon leaned forward. “I heard quite a bit of her, but never actually met her. What are you thinking?”

“She is no nonsense, for sure. Didn’t haggle about the mooring fee and she did bring in the Mighty Nine for sale I might add.”

“She tackled with the Volting?”

“My brother Kooomt is checking her out as we speak.” Mooornt also leaned forward and snickered. “I am supposed to be sixty percent Shiss, thirty percent Kermac as my father claims, but there is supposed to be ten percent human in my genetic make up. I tell you, looking at that masked lady in skintight leather made me wish I would be one hundred percent human. Not to mention some of her senior officers.”

A comm device activated and a voice said. “The Roughnir has just docked, Dentar Bloom wants to discuss the possibility of putting the mooring fee on credit.”

Chapter 6 »