He could see the occasional small,
bright pop of light that he assumed were maneuvering thrusters,
firing to keep the station in an orbit around the planet.
Blake could see antennas and other items protruding from the cylindrical hull as well as the distant gleam of the tachyon transmission station which was orbiting further out in the system.
The transmitter was probably the most valuable thing there since it was Drazari’s communication hub,
designed to send and receive messages across the galaxy instantly.
Blake wasn’t exactly sure about the science,
but the way it was explained was that all the transmitters had a set of particles,
and every transmitter had a match to a particle in the other stations in other galaxies.
This particle, when activated,
would also activate its matching particle instantaneously in another transmitter.
Thus, using something similar to an advanced Morse code,
they were able to send complex data and messages to systems anywhere,
as long as it also had a transmitter.
The Empire had created the transmitters and seeded the galaxy with them.
Some systems that were not part of the Empire had gleaned the technology and standardized the ability to send messages via ship and system transmission relays.
Morgan told him about how many larger vessels also carried these relays,
but since they were massive units,
most smaller vessels would rely on the in-system transmission platforms to relay messages.
The big issue was that they were now in a system with one,
even though Morgan couldn’t stop the transmitter from emitting its signal to the relay,
she had been able to slice into the relay itself, causing a power overload.
It would be down for about a day while they went over the system and brought it back up,
they were now on a clock,
once that relay rebooted,
whoever was looking for this ship would know in an instant where it was,
so if they were discovered,
it would be game over.
The clock was ticking, and Blake was feeling the pressure.
“Rom, have you ever been here?”
Blake said into the communication system.
Rom was training with Shira, but he responded quickly.
“No, I have not, Captain.
But looking at those bays,
I have seen those configurations before,
once we land a lot of people are going to get a good look at the ship,
but I am not so sure that an accurate enough description of the ship was given.
This design was new and state of the art at the time of its creation so that it would have stood out and been easily identified.
Now, this is a common design for Empire vessels, so the chances that they will recognize this ship as the Nismel is low.”
Blake thought about this for a moment and agreed that Rom’s theory had merit.
It was like looking for a Chevy pickup in Arkansas…
they’re Easy enough to find,
but what are the odds you would find the exact one you were looking for?
Blake was trying to give them every advantage he could think of, but there wasn’t a lot.
The station was a giant cylinder that orbited the world.
It was basically a large docking ring because of the way the station was built.
Ships could pretty much dock along the entire outside of the station.
Blake had been monitoring the traffic.
The sensor cameras could zoom in,
allowing them not only to see the station but also read the names of the ships painted along the hulls. It was an amazing technology,
but it did have its limitations.
Depth perception was almost nonexistent,
and you couldn’t necessarily tell where a ship was going unless it was passing from one side of the camera angle to the other.
Getting in closer would alert the station to their presence, but at the same time,
they would eventually be found if they sat here for too long.
Okay, it’s time to shit or get off the pot dammit
Blake thought to himself.
He toggled the voice message system.
“Shira and Rom to the bridge,”
he said and clicked it off.
He could have had Morgan relay them in,
but he was trusting her less and less.
Besides, he still liked to keep a personal touch.
No matter how he looked at it,
they were going in hot and announcing themselves along the way.
Once they crossed into the bordered area of that station,
The station would scan the ship,
and everyone would know that an original Nismel class destroyer was docking,
that was bound to bring some curious beings.
It was time to suit up.
Blake left the bridge.
If someone down there wanted a fight,
damned if he wasn’t going to give them one!
He had no particular love or loyalty to Morgan or the ship,
but that ship had been to earth’s solar system and knew where it was.
If this Empire got Morgan back,
they could quite probably glean the information out of her and the ship.
That brought up a second unpleasant truth;
if this ship was about to be captured,
how would Blake be able to destroy it?
Davi wouldn’t help,
that was for sure.
He thought for a second about Cortez burning his ships to motivate his people when he got to the new world.
Well, that would definitely light a fire under his ass, that was for damn sure.
“Don’t worry Blake, if it appears that I am to be captured, I will self-destruct and ensure I take the ship and all the data with me,
They will not learn the location of Earth,”
Morgan spoke up in his head.
Dammit, he had forgotten she could literally read his thoughts.
Sometimes that was damn inconvenient! Thankfully, she could only read those he projected, or ones when he was not paying attention and they were tied to overwhelming emotion.
Fortunately, he had been able to hide the thoughts he had about her manipulations, at least he hoped he had.
He passed Shira and Rom on their way to the bridge.
Shira basked in sweat with her hair tied back,
and Rom looked to have a few new bruises. Apparently, they had been training.
"It looks like you two have been at it for a bit. Damn Rom, you are looking worse for wear there, son," Blake said looking him up and down.
“Shira is getting quite proficient at her attacks. Even with my augmentations,
it is getting harder to fend her off,”
Romulax said,
passing a hand over his face where a nice shiner was starting to show.
That was saying something for his species.
They had all learned quite a bit about martial combat,
both with weapons and with their hands,
these last few weeks.
Morgan had been patient as she put them through the paces.
“Shira let’s bring the ship in and prep for landing. Ensure we are transmitting the agreed ship codes and names.”
Shira Nodded,
"Roger that. Private Battle Cruiser Derenge is going to be paying a visit to Drazari.”
The name and title had been agreed upon at an earlier meeting.
Morgan was able to mask the signature of the ship, to a limited degree so it would become muddy when queried by the space dock.
The standard procedure would be for the dock to request manual information.
“Rom, let’s ensure that as we come in,
no
thing out there gets excited and powers up weapons or shields.
I don’t want to be caught by surprise If we get jumped,”
Blake said turning his head in Romulax’s direction. Rom nodded,
“I will be vigilant, Captain.”
So, they had come up with a name and a story to satisfy security before they docked.
At least if someone was looking for them,
they were going to make them work for it.
Morgan, patch me through to Davi,
he thought. One of the benefits of the entire crew having nanites connected to Morgan was with a thought,
he could contact any crew member.
He usually didn’t like to do it,
as he thought of it as an invasion of privacy,
but time was limited.
“Davi, are the internal security measures active and working?”
It took a second before Davi answered.
It sounded like he was out of breath.
“Morgan, where is Davi in the ship?”
Morgan answered immediately,
“Davi is currently in training bay two.
He has been there for over 2 hours, working through hand-to-hand martial combat.
He is up to level 3 and doing well,
I might add. Blake shook his head
“Davi, you know you’re staying on the ship right, at least this time?”
Davi’s huffed response came a second later.
“Yes, yes, I know. No blue skies and sunshine for me, but if someone comes on the ship,
I wanted to be sure I could properly communicate my desire to have them remove themselves.
If that happens,
I might have to insist because they might hurt Eloise,
and that is not acceptable.
“Blake, do you think that all dirt is brown?”
Asked Davi with wonder evident in his thoughts. “Tell you what, Fruit Loops, I will bring you back a whole can of it, and you can decide for yourself.” It took a second, then Davi chuckled his reply.
“Well now, Captain, that would be silly as you will not be planet-side and I don’t think dirt is a commodity that is worth transporting to a station.”
Davi chuckled and continued,
“If you come across alien hair or feces,
can you bring some back for me?”
he asked hopefully.
Blake looked at Shira,
Shira just shrugged and shook her head,
but he caught the smile on her face.
Blake sat for a second,
gathering his thoughts.
He did this back when he was in combat,
just a second before the storm,
before the death and the screaming.
This was his time to reflect before having to take a life. He had taken lives,
and no matter what anyone told you,
it was never easy.
He still saw faces in his sleep.
The training would allow him not to hesitate,
but at night when he was alone,
the faces returned. Now,
he might have to add more alien faces to them.
He may have to slaughter new creatures,
who would have filled anyone on earth with wonder,
and add them to his death toll.
He hoped if there were a god,
he would forgive him for what he might have to do. Then, Blake went cold.
It was time to be the soldier.
Regret would come later.
He grabbed his rifle,
tucked it up under his coat and motioned for the other two to follow.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTYFIVE
Baggage Claim
The giant ship slowly pulled into the birthing dock,
its massive dark hull a contrast to the gleaming steel of the docking arms as they secured themselves to the side of the ship
pulling it gently into the docking birth.
Work lights that adorned the dock played over the ship highlighting the missile ports and gun batteries,
to any Passersby it would be evident this was no cargo ship.
“Derenge entering dock 12, please stand by”
the automated system announced over the intercom.
Pallets lined the birthing area and had been set to be loaded onto the ship,
all manifests and payments had been expedited by Morgan prior to the vessel making orbit with the station.
As soon as the side of the vessel made contact with the grav-tethers the loading ramp began to extend revealing three figures in dark trench coats.
Shira, Rom, and Blake scanned the dock area assessing any possible threats.
However, the two humans could not help but stand in awe at the incredible sight before them.
Shira could barely breathe,
the views were overwhelming,
since being out in space they could count on one hand the number of aliens races they had encountered and here was an entire city in space full of such diversity that neither herself nor Blake could wrap their head around it.
All around there were new and different species, some with scales,
some with fur and hell,
some even had feathers.
They saw something that looked like a giant chicken with a small green man riding it.
He seemed to be in charge of a procession of these chickens,
moving out of the dock area.
Though the term person could hardly apply,
they looked like tadpoles with arms and legs,
and the head seemed to be bent down so they could see forward instead of straight up.
“These are the Twiloriz”
Morgan said in their comms.
“They are from a planet where gravity is a bit lighter, they use their mounts called Polikes to travel off planet as most planets with heavier gravity would render them unable to walk.” She finished.
As they scanned the berth,
lanky grey looking people with large black eyes were arguing with each other as they passed the loading dock,
they were truly androgynous, which was very easy to point out as they were naked except for a ton of gaudy jewelry and a severe air of superiority.
Shira took a double take,
she knew these aliens,
had actually seen pictures of them,
well drawings at least, on Earth and looking out of the corner of her eye she could see the recognition on Blake’s face as well.
Morgan sensing the question even before it was uttered by either of them spoke
“These are the Lekins,
they are parts dealers,
only the parts they deal in are exotic and usually attached to a living being,
and before you ask, yes they also sometimes sell humanoid organs and parts on the market as they can sometimes be loosely compatible,
and some creatures treat humanoid meat as a rare delicacy.”
Shira shuddered,
and Blake muttered something unintelligible under his breath. No matter how amazing and beautiful the universe was,
there was always darkness in every corner threatening to rear its ugly head.
On a bench across from the dock was a mother and child, they were about the same height as a human. But these creatures had what appeared to be soft white fur across their bodies,
they wore nondescript jumpsuits,
all sporting the same patch, probably from one of the ships,
they looked oddly like the ones that Morgan had made, just a different cut and color.
Their faces were more snake-like if snakes had fur that is.
There were no fangs, and the eyes were larger than what you would typically find on a human.
Shira looked on as the mother comforted the child who was apparently upset about something,
she smiled,
even in this strange a place something as simple as ma
ternal instinct could help one species identify with another.
She shook herself out of her thoughts,
they had a job to do,
and there was still a potential for danger.
The Soldier in her scolded her for being so easily distracted. Shira focused on the docks,
the floor of grey metal that seemed to have been treated with some type of texture that would prevent slipping.
The dock itself was the size of an indoor football stadium with stacks and stacks of crates where large machines with legs and arms moved cargo to staging areas prior to it being loaded on ships. Various species worked the docks,
she saw some of the walrus men that they had seen on the freighters as well as some insect looking races and other animal and even one plant looking race.
On the opposite wall to where the ship was docked was a bank of elevators.
She marked them in her mind as they would quite probably take them to the markets and other areas, where they would need to find a slicer to assist with the beacon.
Every 500 feet was a building that looked to be a squat square structure with an observation post on top,
this was also made of the same metal as the walls a grey-green metal that Shira could not identify. There was only a door with no windows on the building,
the balcony was lit up with a series of hologram windows floating near the edges of the railings depicting what she thought was cargo manifests and ship positions.
As Shira watched the beings managed the screens moving cargo and marking rosters with checks or x’s.
This would be the dock masters, Shira thought.
She and Blake visibly tensed when workers began making their way towards their ship and grabbing up cargo as they headed for the docking ramp. Davi stood behind the trio jumping up and down giggling as he saw the menagerie of creatures working around the dock.
“Oh Blake, this is FUN,”
he said loud enough for the crew to hear.
“it’s like the ZOOOOO.”
Blake shook his head and said to Davi,
“Calm down their crazy train or someone might notice you’re not from around here”
he said with his best southern drawl.
Davi stopped bouncing,
but the smile would not leave his face,
hell, Blake thought
I don’t think a direct nuclear detonation would remove that damn smile.
Blake’s head never stopped moving,
and he had a tight grip on his rifle.
He looked over out of the corner of his eye and could see Shira doing the same at the center of the ramp and Rom as well on the far side, all of them seemed to be keeping an equal distance and watching for any possible threats.
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