by Saxon Andrew
Leo stood up and began pulling his sword out and putting it back in the scabbard, “Thanks, Em.”
“Sir, I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you.”
Leo paused with the sword being held at waist level and shook his head, “Embree, I respect your opinion more than you know. Even if you disagree with me, I never want you to withhold your views. I need the members of my team to be honest and forthcoming in their dealings with me. No man can see it all and I depend on you to tell me when you disagree with me more than when you do.”
Embree stood up, “Thank you, Sir. Maybe no man can see it all, but you don’t miss much. That’s why all of us are still alive today.”
Embree left the training room and Leo blew out a breath as he sat down in the chair. He put the sword instantly into the scabbard and raised his left hand to rub the back of his neck. He closed his eyes and slowly began shaking his head. Embree was right. He was going to capture this Pirate Fleet Commander, who actually did have many traits he admired, and send him to a man he detested. And what was the only motivation to do this…wealth. He was acting just like Serge Romanov. But he was too deep into it now to back out. He stood up and began pulling the sword at a faster and faster pace. His mind was elsewhere and his body was released. He took off the plastic covering from the blade and continued at a speed too fast to follow. He didn’t really care if he did cause himself harm; at the moment, he didn’t really like himself.
• • •
Leonidas led his crew off the large transport and looked at the giant building directly in front of him. It was four stories tall and covered more than a hundred acres. It was possibly the biggest structure he had ever seen and he had seen some large ones during his travels. He smiled and said, “Let’s go meet the Council gentlemen.” He walked up to the main entrance and noticed that many of the pirates moving toward the building grew silent as they passed. He wondered what was going on. They arrived at the entrance and a tall Graman said, “May I see your pass?”
“I didn’t know I needed one.”
“What is the name of your vessel?”
“The Thermopylae.”
The Graman looked at a screen he was holding, looked up and smiled, “You’re the new residents. Captain Alexander, you have a chair reserved on the main floor directly in front of the Councilors. Your crew has a section set aside for them on the second floor.” The Graman motioned to two other aliens standing a few feet away and said, “One of you please take Captain Alexander to his chair and the other take his crew to their section.”
The strange looking alien said in perfect Cartian, “Captain, if you will follow me.”
Leo looked over his shoulder, “Embree, you’re in command.” Barney’s eyes narrowed and Leo said, “He knows all the rules and regulations governing this planet.” Barney’s eyes opened wide and he nodded. Putting Embree in command made perfect sense. Leo followed the alien into the building and his crew followed the other alien to their roped off section on the second floor.
• • •
Leo sat between two high ranking pirates that had fleets under their command. One was a Graman and the other was human named Geoffrey. They were very friendly and personable and Leo felt a sense of brotherhood between them. They were obviously proud of being a part of the Fellowship community. Leo looked around and saw that most of the pirates sitting around him were fleet commanders. The human saw him and said, “You’re wondering why you’re sitting here among the highest ranking pirates.” Leo nodded. “The seating is not arranged by the number of ships we have but by our financial status. Your being here with us tells everyone present that you are quite wealthy.”
“Thank you for sharing that information with me.”
“No problem, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Leo smiled and turned around. He finally found his crew sitting directly above him on the second floor. He focused his vision and scanned the upper floor close to his crew and immediately saw the Beligeese who commanded the pirate ship that survived the attack on his ship. He noticed that the entire section was filled with multiple crews and all of them were staring at his crew with a clear hatred on their faces. The ship commander only had eyes for him and when he saw Leonidas staring toward him he lowered his eyes and frowned. Leo saw the pattern clearly, something was going on and it involved him and his crew. A loud tone erupted from the huge speakers scattered around the building and Leo turned around as the Pirate Council moved up to the raised dais in front of him. The five Council Members were dressed extravagantly and it was clear they were quite wealthy. They also clearly gave the impression that they were impressed with themselves. Leo figured it was part of maintaining a public image. One thing was certain, these five Pirate Commanders represented the real power here and you didn’t want to get on their bad side. Blakely was the last to step up and he remained standing until the room became silent. He looked around the room with a stern expression and it only took a moment for the huge building to become absolutely silent.
Geoffrey leaned over and whispered to him, “No one is allowed to break the silence unless the Council directs a question to them.” Leo nodded understanding and continued to stare at Blakely. He looked exactly like he did on the Starliner, except for the audacious clothing he was wearing. He wore a tri-cornered hat similar to his own in shape but that’s as far as the similarity went. The feather coming out above it had to be six feet long. His shirt was open to the middle of his chest with wide brilliant gold and purple vertical stripes were something to behold. The other four Councilors sat back in their padded chairs and left it to Blakely to handle the agenda.
• • •
The first hour of the meeting was handing out disciplinary punishments to pirates that were accused of breaking the peace. If two pirates got into a fight, a shouting match throwing insults at each other and their ships, or disrupted the peace by drunken behavior, the punishment was consistent. Usually both parties were given between five and ten lashes with the cat of nine electric tails. It was very rare that only one received punishment and that only happened when it was proven that one of the accused pirates displayed incredible patience in not taking part in the altercation. The punishment was immediately delivered outside the front entrance.
Finally, Blakely looked down at a screen in front of his chair and said, “Captain Leonidas Alexander, please step forward and stand in the green circle in front of the Council.” Leo stood up and walked forward across a large clear section directly in front of the Council. He noticed that there was a larger red circle surrounding the area as he walked to the small green circle. He stood in the green circle and Blakely sat down. He looked at Leonidas and said into the microphone in front of him, “Normally, the Council would take this moment to welcome a new ship into our Fellowship; however, before that can take place, there is a grievance against you that must be handled.” Leo saw the four other Councilors were glaring at him as he heard Blakely say, “The crew of the Thermopylae will come down and stand behind their captain. The captain of the Argyan Fleet will come down with his crews and stand beside the other crew.”
Leo stood there and began focusing on the pattern he was seeing. The five Councilors believed he had done something wrong and their loyalty appeared to be with the Argyans. He forced himself to calm as his crew arrived and stood behind him. The Argyans arrived and gathered to the left. Everyone was finally in place and Blakely said to the Argyans, “State your grievance.”
The Beligeese stepped forward and said, “I was present when it took place and have been ordered by my captain to give the Council a report on what happened.”
Blakely nodded, “Go ahead.”
“I was tracking a freighter to take it and this Captain’s ship moved in and threatened to attack if we didn’t leave. I offered to share the takings and he refused. My former captain arrived and he still refused to leave and allow us to take the freighter. He then turned on us and attacked our ships. He caught us by surprise a
nd damaged my vessel forcing it into normal space. He then destroyed the Captain’s ship. We demand the Captain of the Thermopylae be punished for his actions and pay for the damages he caused.”
Leonidas stared at the Beligeese during his report and saw he was nervous. The gathering of pirates were glaring at Leonidas and his crew and even Geoffrey was angry at what he heard. The five members of the Council openly showed their rage at what happened.
Blakely looked at Leonidas, “Do you have a response to the Argyan’s accusations?”
Leonidas looked at the Argyans and saw their smug expressions. He looked at the Council and said, “I have to assume that if it comes down to my word against members of the Fellowship, you will be forced to side with current members.”
The Councilor sitting next to Blakely snarled, “They are part of the brotherhood and would not lie.”
Blakely jerked his head around and glared at the Councilor and he quickly said, “I apologize, Council Leader. This just makes my blood boil.”
Blakely turned back to Leonidas, “You are right about whose word we will take on this matter.”
Leo saw the Argyans all smiling until he said, “Is that monitor on the back wall operational?”
Blakely’s eyes narrowed and he said, “Every monitor in this building is functional!”
Leo took out his communicator and began pressing buttons. He stepped forward and handed it to Blakely, “Will you please connect my communicator to your monitors?”
“Why would I want to do that, Captain?”
“I would hope you’d want to do it to find out the truth.” Blakely stared at Leonidas and looked over his shoulder. An assistant came forward and took the communicator. He held it next to a communication panel and then handed it back to Leo. A few moments later, every monitor in the building activated. Everyone present saw the tall human standing directly behind Leonidas appear sitting in a chair on a ship’s bridge. Everyone in the building heard the tall human say on the monitors:
“What are you going to do, Captain?”
“Tell them that the freighter is our bone and not theirs to chew on.” Leo looked at Carl, “Put the contact frequency on my panel.” The frequency appeared in the communicator display and Leonidas pressed it as the crew rushed to Battlestations, “Attention Braxel, I notice that you are now following a freighter that I’ve been trailing for more than three days. I would appreciate your backing off and leaving.”
The alien that accused him appeared on Leo’s display and snarled, “You would be well advised to go elsewhere. What I do is none of your concern and I do not tolerate interference in my actions.”
Leo looked at Carl, “What kind of species is he?”
“Beligeese, Sir.”
He turned back to the display as a printout appeared next to the alien’s image with information about its home world. “Unfortunately, I claimed this freighter before you showed up today. I’ve already claimed it.”
“THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN IT!!”
“Finding the proper place to do that is what’s caused my delay. You know how it is, too many witnesses. That’s why you’ve not moved in on it yet as well. I will tell you that if you attempt to take my freighter, I will be forced to stop you.”
Leo muted the frequency and looked at Carl, “Weapons?”
“Similar to our own; four blasters, however, I see no missile ports, Sir.”
The monitors went dark and Leo said loudly, “The next recording took place six hours later.” The monitors activated again and everyone in the building turned to them.
• • •
The Thermopylae accelerated and moved in close behind the freighter. They followed the freighter for six hours as the pirate maintained position behind them. Leonidas’ display illuminated and the alien appeared, “You’ve had plenty of opportunities to take that freighter!”
Leo smiled, “And the only reason I haven’t is because you are waiting for me to do just that. Any idiot knows that attacking a ship leaves you wide open to be attacked while your crew is on the other ship. You should leave, now!”
“We could agree to share in the takings from the freighter and take it together.”
“I might have accepted your offer six hours ago but it’s clear your intentions were to attack my ship when I moved on the freighter. I don’t like that and will not share anything with you!”
“You have no proof that was my intention!”
“You’re wearing a space suit, now. You don’t have the helmet on but I can see the suit below your face. You don’t need a space suit against an unarmed freighter. Oh, your intentions are quite clear.”
“If you wait much longer, that freighter will arrive at its destination and you will lose it.”
“There will be others,” Leonidas replied as the display went dark.
“Sir, I detect power being directed to their blasters,” Carl said. Suddenly, Carl’s head went back, “Sir, I have another ship moving at high speed toward us on the filament.”
“Where is it flagged, Carl?”
“Tortuga, Sir.”
“Barney, slow the ship so the freighter moves out of scanning range.” The Thermopylae slowed and the Pirate behind it slowed as well maintaining its distance. The second ship arrived twenty minutes later and pulled up alongside the first pirate. Leonidas looked at the ship on the tactical display and said, “Weapons, Carl?”
“The second ship has six blasters on its hull. It doesn’t appear to have missile ports.”
Leonidas nodded, “That must be the Captain and he’s coming to support one of his vessels.” He pressed his intercom button, “Blaster Teams, I want you to target the four blasters on the first ship and nothing else. I don’t want to destroy either ship if it can be avoided.”
The monitors showed the tactical monitor on the Thermopylae and everyone in the room saw the two ships with blasters activated flying at high speed toward the single ship.
• • •
The monitors went dark again and Leonidas said loudly, “I am not going to show the tactics I used to meet these two ships; I might have to use them again in the future. We managed to damage one ship but we hit the other ship with a lucky blaster beam in its reactor exploding it into vapor. The next recording takes place after the battle was over.
• • •
“Take us to the pirate’s exit point!” Leonidas commanded. The Thermopylae turned back across the filament and stopped at the debris of the destroyed pirate ship. Barney shut down the stardrive and the ship entered normal space. Five hundred miles away they saw the second pirate ship smoking from the blaster hits it had taken.
Gold looked at the ship on the monitor and tilted his head, “It appears you missed one of the blasters on the bottom.”
Leo nodded, “I can see that we hit it to the left side. I think we disabled it.”
“Don’t get close enough to find out,” Barney quickly said.
Leo nodded and lifted his communicator. He pressed a button and the pirate commanding the Braxel appeared, “I didn’t destroy your vessel but I was unable to avoid the destruction of your second ship.”
The Pirate stared at him and his rage was clear. Leonidas shrugged, “I think you’re going to need another Fleet Captain.”
• • •
The monitors went dark and Leonidas said, “I could have destroyed that damaged ship but chose not to do it. All I did was defend myself against two attacking ships and the thanks I get for not killing the second ship is to have the Ship Commander deliberately lie about what happened. Ask them to bring their recording of the event and see for yourselves that I’ve been falsely accused.”
The five Councilors were staring at the Argyans and the entire building was deathly silent. Blakely stared at the Beligeese who made the accusation and finally said, “I wish to see your recording of what happened.”
The Beligeese looked at the other crewmembers and said, “I’m sorry, Lead Councilor, I can’t provide the recording?”
> “Why not!?” Blakely demanded.
“I was ordered by my captain to turn it over to him.”
Blakely looked at the Argyans and said, “Bring me the recording.” No one moved and Blakely lowered his eyes, “I really don’t need it do I? It would only confirm what Captain Alexander has shown us, right?”
The Beligeese said, “Yes, Lead Councilor, it would.”
Blakely’s anger was clear, “Then why did you deliberately lie about the confrontation?”
“I was ordered by my Fleet Commander to tell it like I reported, Lead Councilor.”
“Well I’m ordering you to tell the truth!!”
“What you saw on the monitor is what happened.”
The Argyans standing around the Beligeese moved away from him and their hatred was evident. The Beligeese looked at them and said, “I told you it was foolish to do this.”
Suddenly the room heard an Argyan shout, “I demand a Possession Duel!!”
Blakely sneered at the Argyans, “You’re in no position to call for a duel!!”
The Argyan Fleet Commander stepped forward, “It has already been paid for and the Tortugan Authority has sanctioned it!”
Blakely jerked his head to the left and the Tortugan Official raised both hands and said, “The Argyans paid the fee earlier today, Lead Councilor. It is within their rights to do so. If we knew about this in advance, we would have not accepted it.”
“Then refund their payment!!”
The Tortugan was obviously distressed, “I’m sorry, Lead Councilor, but the Original Charter prohibits us from doing so.”
The five Councilors were livid. They had been deliberately lied to and now the Argyans were deliberately adding insult to injury. Leo looked up at Blakely, “What is a Possession Duel. I saw nothing about it in the laws and regulations governing behavior on Tortuga.”
Blakely tore his eyes away from the Argyans, “It only involves Captains of ships, Captain Alexander. Any Captain may pay a fee of two million credits to challenge any other captain to a duel for possession of their property. It appears the Argyans have paid for the duel and you have limited options.”