Galaxy of Empires- Space Pirates Episode #1

by Bruce Marcom

  Galaxy of Empires

  Space Pirates—Episode #1

  Copyright ©2015 by Bruce Marcom

  United States Publishing

  All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.

  Bruce Marcom, United States Publishing, LLC,

  Houston, Texas, 77449, USA

  IBSN: 978-1-943917-04-4

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Prologue

  It is a busy day at the Consortium Consulate on Hosan, the home world and capital of the Reptilian Conglomerate Empire. The Consortium—also known as the Society of Machine People—is comprised mostly of androids and other artificial intelligence, but it also has citizens of other races as well. There are lines of people waiting to get travel documents to and from Consortium space and, like for most government jobs, one can sense the tediousness of routine in the air.

  Down below on the lower levels of the Consulate are the private and classified areas where only government employees with the correct clearance can roam about. On the lowest level, there is a big chamber where only a few androids and special guests who have been given clearance can have an audience with the leader of the Consortium. The leader is an entity of unknown origin but is believed to be some sort of energy being who is vast in size and usually inhabits many androids at once spanning over many galaxies in the universe. It is speculated that this entity created the machine people and perhaps even telepaths as well. The entity appears to have godlike telepathic abilities and does show an interest in telepaths and androids. The entity goes by many names, but calls herself Dracabardillous. The androids address their leader as The Creator, while others or outsiders call her Empress Draca. The androids she inhabits always have a humanoid female shape, while all other androids have no sex distinction.

  Evella Noctu, a half-breed human-reptilian, is walking down the corridor to the audience chamber. There are android warrior guards in pairs all the way down the hall. She is wearing a brown leather outfit with matching boots and belt. She has just turned 31 years old in the previous week, and she has her own reptilian merchant clan. It is a small merchant clan, but she has earned her six-ship fleet through hard work. She recently lost a ship on a quest that revealed many things about her life. She learned she was created in a secret illegal laboratory that was funded by the Elemental Empire in an attempt to create powerful telepaths that could be controlled to combat the Undead Empire. In the Elemental Empire, telepaths are illegal because sorcerers control the government and they feel that the telepaths could threaten their authority.

  This laboratory was discovered and attacked by the Undead Empire, but the vampires unwittingly released some of the experiments, two of which were the daughters of Evella Noctu, named Xaqu and Chaca. These two daughters carry a very contagious undead disease that can kill an undead in less than 30 minutes and the virus remains active indefinitely in an undead corpse. The disease, in addition to the daughters’ extremely powerful telepathic abilities, killed everyone in the laboratory station.

  Eve walks up to the two giant doors as they open up into a large room with a wall-size computer monitor on every side of the room, except the side with the doors. The room has a marble floor with a huge Consortium symbol in the center. The symbol opens up as a female android appears on a floor airlift, which closes after she steps off. The android is almost an exact replica of Evella in appearance.

  “I see one of my daughters has been working on improvements on the new model,” Eve observes.

  “Yes. I have been testing it thoroughly. Does it feel awkward looking at yourself?” Draka asks out of curiosity.

  “It is a little strange, but I feel honored she made the shell look like me. It looks very well-designed.”

  “It is. Your daughters are both very gifted. I am glad I could assist you in rescuing them from that horrible place. Your other daughter is designing a new battle station for the Consortium. They both have incredible engineering talents.”

  “Thank you for educating them and me, too. Our telepathic abilities have progressed in leaps and bounds.”

  “I sense fear in you about this.... Is because you are changing and morphing into something else?”

  “Yes, my body is changing every time I use my telepathic abilities, especially in a major capacity. My skin is changing to a metallic color and hardening. I am getting bone spikes from my forehead all the way down my spine. “

  Draca waves her hand over Evella’s body and a 3D image of her insides appears next to them. Draca pulls out a 3D DNA strand from the 3D body image and enlarges it.

  “Hmm...interesting. We have always assumed your reptilian half was Snakekin.”

  “It isn’t?”

  “No. Something considerably larger.”

  “Larger? Croc?”

  “Try serpent dragon,” Draca says bluntly.

  “WHAT!” Eve shrieks,” How is that even possible? I am part human.”

  “Your DNA was spliced with not just human, but 12 different parts of a variety of Space Dragons. That would explain many things. You have telepathic abilities that no other telepath in the universe has because you were artificially created. You probably have dragon abilities as well. You must discover how to use them once you find it what they are. That would explain your appearance changing. You have only used your telepath abilities in small quantities for most of your life, so it has not had much of an impact on your genetic mutation. Now you are using them on a grand scale, including ones that you have not previously used. This is good and bad. You will become more powerful as you use your abilities, but you will be mutating more and more into a Space Dragon every time you do. Eventually, you will become a full Space Dragon with your human DNA gone, except for your PSI because some dragon species have PSI enzymes. Serpent dragons have the most PSI that is probably why your creators used the largest percentage of DNA fusion with that species.”

  “To be frank, the only reason you survived, according to the lab notes you downloaded from the secret lab, is your human mother’s DNA had an unusual anomaly because of her high PSI that would allow it to be fused with the magical DNA of Space Dragons. Since that was the only sample they had of your mother, they could not reproduce the affect, as you can see in the 400 or so attempts. Your daughters have more human DNA and were designed differently so they cannot mutate into dragons because it is only a very small portion of their DNA.”

  “I do not want to be a Space Dragon! Is there any way to stop this from happening?”

  “I am afraid not. However, some of the higher-intelligence Space Dragons can shape shift into humanoid form and back to dragon at will. Your IQ is definitely high enough to do that. The PSI test only goes to 20, and your daughters are both 19. I suspect that your PSI will go far beyond 20 as you develop, maybe even higher than mine, if that is possible.”

  “I doubt it will go higher than yours.”

  “Anything is possible,” Draca says in a serious tone.

  “You need to go to a region of space where there are many species of Space Dragons and learn from them and their culture. They are a dying race because of poor leadership and warfare. Their domain used to cover a large area and contained thousands of Space Dragons. Today, they is only a few hundred scattered herds across a small area. Their domain has been overrun by the Undead Empire, the Hive, the Wolfkin, and other species.”


  Draca creates a 3D space map and points to an area: “This is where the bulk of what is left of the Space Dragon territory. This is the Dragon World, a planet where the chief leader council is based and where the largest population of Space Dragons lives. This reddish planet is Ferna, home world of the Serpent Dragons as well as the Lava Dragons, and it is a volcanic planet. Go there and seek out Grimace, an ancient female Lava Dragon. She will advise you about dragon culture and politics. This will give you the experience in politics you’ll need when you return.”

  “How do you know so much about Space Dragons?” Eve inquires.

  “I was not always an energy being. I was mortal once.”

  “Really, wow! Were you a Space Dragon?” Eve asks in an uncertain tone.

  “With a name like Dracabardillous, what do you think? But that is another tale for another time.”

  “Uh, okay. Thanks for the information. What about my daughters?”

  “They can stay here while you are on your ‘walkabout.’ I do suggest using black-market transportation as you have to go through Elemental and Undead space or through Wolfkin space to get to Ferna. Elementals are searching all Consortium and other races’ ships going through their territory. As for the Undead, well, they kill everyone.

  “Holy crap! I wish I could turn myself in and collect the bounty. I guess they are mad about me blowing up their secret lab facility and destroying their main flagship. They are probably the wankers who got my boyfriend shot. They will get what is coming to them someday soon.”

  Back-story crossover from Merchant Wars #1 (takes place before this episode) and Rise of the Space Dragons #1 (takes place after this episode).

  Chapter 1

  It is a nice day on Hoshan, the home world of the Reptilian Conglomerate Empire. Business is booming all across the planet as this is the center of commerce in this area of space. Merchants from every government region are busily conducting transactions. In the seeder part of the planet, there is an area known as Whitecap where all the undesirables come to deal in the black market and such. Whitecap is known as a place for smugglers, bounty hunters, assassins, prostitutes, and other “fine” services. On this particular day, a small group of people are walking down the street and look up at a sign—”The finest ships in the galaxy for sale here”—attached to a big hangar that was obviously for spaceships.

  “The sign should say the hottest ships for sale here, implying how freshly stolen they are,” Captain Abel Meek comments.

  Captain Abel “The Rod” Meek is a human male in his late forties who was about 5’ 10” and 280 pounds. He has grayish black hair and a full beard with a mustache, both of which are black and gray. He is known for his famous “The Rod” salute, which is his middle finger shot in the direction of those that offend him. In the past, he was a professor of ancient earth history from 1700 to 2200 before being fired for scamming students and faculty with the various schemes he concocted. He owns 1,000 or so TV/movie videos from that time period and some books as well. Of course, he stole them all. He wears flamboyant, brightly colored pirate clothes from the 1700 era complete with a pirate hat, big belt, and big boots. Today, he is wearing a bright-red-velvet outfit with fluffy white cuffs and a matching fluffy button line. He carries two blasters. He once had a bird on his shoulder most of the time but got tired of the bird crapping on him.

  Capt. Meek is currently wanted for piracy, murders, scamming, kidnapping, extortion, and violating (when he was drunk) a prize sheep belonging to a planet governor in the Elemental Empire. The captain claims he thought the sheep was a hairy prostitute and even gave the sheep a tip. One of the pirate lords named Cos, heard of Capt. Meek’s impressive scams and decided to hire him as a freelance pirate. His crew is called “The Smoking Aces,” which has nothing to do with their piloting skills; instead, it refers to their ability to cheat at cards.

  “Okay, let’s go inside,” Meek states, wondering if they can afford anything inside. At least this time, they will complete the scam without his arachnid first officer eating their kidnapped victim before they get the money. The four go inside.

  “Just make sure the clunker runs before you give him the money this time,” Che Chizital insists. Che is a female arachnid sorceress who is also the main pilot and first officer for this crew. She has been with Capt. Meek for couple of years now. She is also wanted for piracy, murder, and a list of other things in several empires. She was a full-time professional assassin, but only does hits on a part-time basis now. She has green skin, red hair and fingernails, four arms, and a big red hourglass on her stomach. She is wears a yellow silk bikini-type outfit with a matching cloak and knee-high boots. She usually carries a few daggers laced with her own poison. She is an expert all forms of dagger or knife techniques and can hit a target up to 25 feet away with pinpoint accuracy. She never carries any other weapons, except a magically enchanted staff, as she prefers to use magic in combat. Most arachnids come from the insect empire called The Hive.

  “Well, yeah, duh!” Meek remarks with a hint annoyance.

  Caleb Cogg, a male Katin, which is a feline race, is also with them. He is the ship’s engineer. He usually wears a jumpsuit with a tool belt and welding goggles. He carries a blaster when he is outside the ship. He is a good fix-it guy. He is an expert cat burglar…no pun intended. He is good with all kinds of security systems, vaults, safes, jail cells, traps, and similar items. He is a well-known computer hacker, is wanted for information theft, illegally selling pirated information, murder, piracy, and other crimes in several empires.

  They walk into a huge hangar filled with many different types of ships for sale. As they enter, a well-dressed, smooth-talking male Snakekin comes up to them and says, “Greetings. I am Counselor Fartan Balltail, and I am here to assist you.”

  Meek says, “A lawyer selling ships?”

  Fartan responds, “Yes. I handle all the documentation to make sure that you have all the correct papers on your purchase.”

  Meek says, “Well, I never had a ship with actual documents on it before... hee-hee.”

  “Well, they are nice to have if you are boarded for searches by patrols, not that you would let anyone board your ship. But you can’t always outrun patrols, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, makes sense.”

  “So, what price range and type of ship are you looking for?”

  “Fifty thousand platinum bar range; something fast with some cargo area. Must have some weapons and shields.”

  “Oh, my. I don’t have much in that price range. Well, I do have this transport ship that just came up for sale. Come down to the other end of the hangar.”

  “Okay,”

  “Yes, this is a transport with a lot of cargo space, can fit 30 people in the suites or just fill them up with cargo. Takes a seven-man crew to operate.”

  A couple of workers come out the shuttle’s exit ramp carrying a few bags with some feet and hands sticking out of them. Meek lifts his eyebrow up with some concern as they pass by. They enter the ship and walk down the corridor. The ship does look rather new for this price. They go up to the next deck and see rows of rooms on both sides. They see a work crew cleaning up what appears to be blood stains in various parts to the hallway. They also see some painters trying to paint over the words “Cell Block” in the corridor.

  “Um, this was a prison ship, wasn’t it? Looks like it’s an Elemental Empire design,” Meek deducts.

  “Well, I don’t like to put labels on ships as they can be used for many things.”

  “Just how hot is this ship?”

  “Don’t worry. I assure you all the identification transponders have been replaced with new ones.”

  “I don’t know, Boss. I think something is fishy about this one,” Cogg says.

  Python agrees, “Yeah. I got a bad feeling about this one.”

  “Hmmm.... What kind of weapons and shields does it have? Let’s go to the bridge,” Meek inquires.

  “Sure, no problem. It has coup
le of light cannons in front and back and a light shield. This ship is usually escorted by a military ship, so it doesn’t have much in the way of weapons and shields,” Fartan explains.

  They enter the bridge, which looks like it just came off the factory line: six console stations and a captain’s chair. There is a worker wiping up the bloodstains and brain matter off the captain’s chair.

  “Yes, it is slightly used. I did say that right,” Fartan adds.

  Che says, “Yeah. I would say so. Well, it has awesome cargo space, good for smuggling, but sucks for pirating other ships with its lame weapons and shields—not to mention we can’t dogfight in this fat pig that has no maneuverability.”

  “Very good points. Pirating other ships is a hit or miss on the profitability after all the repairs are done. I think there is more money in smuggling and transporting people. This is basically a new ship, and we can attach better weapons on it later along with better shields,” Meek says.

  Cogg suggests, “I can make modifications to the maneuvering thrusters to make it more maneuverable. Could add a cloaking device, as this ship is small enough to cloak and has modern electronics.”

  “Cloaking device? Now there is an idea. How much do those run?” Meek asks with curiosity.

  Fartan says, “I have a used one in that Katin fighter over there I could sell you. Not sure how compatible it is with this ship. We can try to hook it up. Will need about an hour. I can let it go for...5,000 bars.”

  “Five thousand! Wholly crap! I only have 50,000 for the ship,” Meek shrieks.

  “Tell you what I can do for you. Your old ship is good for scrap metal, so I will take it off your hands and toss in the cloaking device as an even trade.”

  Che, “I think we can get more than five thousand for our piece of Swiss cheese.”

  “Do you seriously want to be hanging around this place until we can find someone who would give us more for that piece of crap? Or we could be making some money smuggling right now,” Python tries to reason.