“You do not have to believe me. I am sorry for what happened to you, but I have a mission and the ship that comes first. I will instruct my Ship’s surgeon to do Psycho Surgery on you. Afterward you will remember nothing. My ship’s secret is safe, you will not remember any of the bad things and we let you go on Kaliment where you can reach the Togar side easily.”
“Then you are a coward and let others do your killing for you. Why not kill me right away? Any Togar that helps me is automatically sentenced to death. Any Togar that kills me will gain great fortune with the Queen.”
“What could you have done that is so terrible?”
She turned her head away and said. “I was born.”
“I can understand that you don’t trust me or anyone for that matter and frankly, I don’t trust you. I don’t particularly like Togars, and I am not too fond of any species that buys and hunts my kind for food. But I hate unfair situations and yours is very unfair. So I am asking you, what is it you want?”
“Kill me, please, simply kill me and all the problems are gone. The pain I feel, the trouble I cause everything will be gone and you are rid of me as well.”
Why I sat down and touched her hand. I was not sure, but her pain and sorrow I could almost physically feel. “Death comes to us all sooner or later; there is no need to seek it out.”
She turned her head and I could see the pain and the shame she felt in her big green cat eyes. Her fine whiskers quivered and I saw the fine fur underneath her big eyes was wet.
“Just kill me, please!”
I touched her cheeks and said. “No worries Jolaj, I give you my word I will find a solution and, while this is a war ship and we will be in dangerous situations , I promise you no one will ever hurt you again while you aboard this ship and under my care.”
I took her paw like hand in mine and squeezed it saying: “Do you believe that?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she nodded. “Yes, I believe you.”
Again I was surprised by my own actions as I pulled the dangerous alien cat close and hugged her and she started sobbing in a strange mix of animalistic and human noises.
“I am sorry for everything. I didn’t ask to be born you know. I didn’t ask for white fur, I am sorry for being Togar and that I have eaten human. I am sorry for being female and making them…”
Her fur was at least as soft as that of the little Holdian commander. I did not understand everything she said as she switched between native Togar and Frees-zone Squawk. Many of her words were swallowed between deep sobs, but I could feel her pain and hopelessness while I was holding her. I was once again reminded of Egill and could almost see him nodding with approval. I was certain I heard another voice say: “As long as he can feel compassion so strongly through the female persona I have given him, all hope is not lost.”
For a brief moment I wondered about my own imagination but then was distracted by the white furred Togar I was still holding. She was crying softer now and I patted her back. I don’t know how long I sat there holding the alien female, but then I noticed she had fallen asleep and I let her down, covered her and quietly left.
Cateria and Narth were there outside the door, it was the Seenian CMO that spoke first: “She hasn’t been able to sleep without sedation...I’m sorry for having misjudged you, Captain.”
“Don’t restrain her any more and if she wants to get up and wander around, let her. SHIP will keep an eye on her so she isn’t wandering in restricted areas.”
Cateria looked back through the door window and said: “I’ll see to it, Captain.”
Narth said: “I will attempt to learn more about the Togar and maybe I can find out why white fur would be of significance.”
Chapter 10: Sin 4
We had reached the Sin system and as always, I had us drop out of Quasi-space in the outmost regions of the star system. I said: “Maintain course to Sin 4, and steady as she goes. Mr. Shaka.”
“Aye Captain, keeping it all well within the limits for a Karthanian.”
“Elfi keep your ears open and record all comm traffic. SHIP, help her please.”
“Already on it, Captain, search patterns for Pirate name activity and transmissions that offer Union Mil tech are in effect.”
I acknowledged with a nod and said. “Narth and Shea, make sure you don’t use any active scanner beams we are not supposed to have.”
“We adjusted our active Sensors to match our Disguise.”
Har-Hi handed me a PDD in clipboard mode and said: “Arrival at Sin 4 or not, it is 0900 Union time and that means you got to sign the daily order sheet, Moi Captain. Only with your signature can I process them.”
“Where is Ms. O’Connell’s? Is that not her duty?”
“Her duty yes, but since you decided to pull two shifts and throw my carefully arranged shift schedule in chaos, I have to do it. She is sleeping most likely. ”
I blinked guilty and said: “I just wanted to be on the bridge myself when we arrived. I somehow hoped never to set foot on Sin 4 again and yet here we are.”
Shea sighed at that and said: “I can’t help but think the same way, and this dirt ball is supposed to be my home.”
I said. “Your home is where you make it and not where fate put you when you were born. At least we arrive in a nice ship this time, and I am not bound and can go to the bathroom anytime I want.”
Everyone looked at me and I added: “Well the first time I arrived here I was tied up and I needed to go to the bathroom real bad. It’s not a story I should tell you all, but not being able to go can be real painful.”
Har-Hi said: “No one is laughing, Captain. This makes your accomplishment to escape barefoot and without any resources even more amazing. You didn’t go into great details when you told us how you escaped your tormentor, but I can imagine it was much more difficult than you let on.”
“Maybe I’ll tell you one day. Right now we’ve got a job to do and, as we are the first federation ship ,at least as far as we know,entering this system, we might as well collect some data and upgrade our catalogs and information on this system.”
The Golden One came onto the bridge and SHIP said to me: “I asked Sobody to the bridge to help Elfi with the Comm traffic analysis.”
“It’s all good SHIP. I think we have thrown regulation 563.43 B out the window quite a while ago regarding proper bridge conduct. Besides you are not just the AI. You do carry rank and you are an Officer.”
Har-Hi could not help himself.“That regulation with many of the other regulations. Not that I am complaining or anything.”
Sobody looked over to the busy science console and said: “Captain, we are supposed to be pirates! Pirates don’t survey, measure and explore.”
I smiled, answering: “Not to worry, Ancient Merchant. We won’t launch any probes or send survey teams to the other planets.”
Har Hi, who stood with crossed arms next to my seat , instead of sitting in his designated chair, also watching the science crew do their job, turned to the Golden and said: “Even you might be surprised at the data we can collect just with our sensors. I doubt there is another species that elevated scientific sensor analysis to such a level as the Union.”
Sobody agreed saying: “This is one of the reasons I am such a fan of the Terrans and the Union, Mr. Hi.”
Shea looked at her readouts and reported: “None of the other planets are used or occupied as far as I can tell; there are no energy signatures or material concentrations that would suggest artificial manipulation or presence. Yet it appears that there are several candidates with promising mineral and metal riches.”
Har-Hi said. “Crooks don’t mine and those who do want to mine have the fruits of their labor stolen or taken away. So I guess that is the reason no one is mining out here,”
She nodded and returned to looking at her read outs. I knew her well enough that I could tell by her body language she found something, so I asked: “Lt. Schwartz is there anything I should know about?”
&nb
sp; “No Capitan it is not anything that would affect us or the mission in any way. The Sun is a Spectral Type O2 and...” She stopped in mid sentence and kept looking at her read outs. She turned: ” It is my home system Captain but I never had the chance to scan our sun before. This star is unstable and I am running a simulation through SHIP right now, and a Nova eruption is likely to occur within the next two or three hundred years. I am certain it is caused by natural effects.”
I responded saying. “It won’t affect our mission then because I hope we all will be somewhere else by then. Maybe the situation will have changed by then and the Wurgus Solar Engineers could stabilize that sun.”
Narth was also busy on his console and said: “Captain, there is a lot of traffic in this system, and I am detecting weapon fire at nine different locations within the system. Mao analyzed the conflicts and concluded that none of the fights are connected.”
Mao did not take his eyes off his readouts and confirmed what Narth had said: “Narth send me the scanner data but I can’t see any correlation between any of these shoot outs. It also appears no capital ships are involved. Weapon energies exchanged are consistent with armed system shuttles and the like.”
Shea said: “That is normal. There is only one law here, the law of the stronger. There are always quarrels and fights anywhere on or around Sin 4”
I leaned back.”Har Hi sound Battle stations anyway. I like to be ready.”
“Aye Captain! General Quarters!”
We reached the Planet without any incidents and Shaka took us into a standard orbit around the Garden world that was known as SIN 4.
It had only two continents and several large islands. The rest was Ocean. Even from space the upper continent didn’t look very inviting. Most of it seemed gray and looked dirty. There was visible pollution oozing from one of the large islands in a gray smear across the greenish oceans.
“So how do we land?” I asked. “Did anyone hail us?” This question I directed to Elfi.
The beautiful Saran woman answered: “There is lots of activity on all channels, but no one is taking any interest in us, Sir.”
Narth checked his scanners and said: “No one has even noticed us.”
Shea said: “We simply land. There are a few spaceports but there is no active landing control. I suggest we land at the Gorotolah. It is the largest spaceport on the southernmost edge of the Continent.”
She waved her hands over the main viewer and magnified a section of the planet below and pointed at an area. I was certain it was the same spaceport I had been before, as it had the Ocean close by.
Shaka was under his Virtu Helmet but unlike most other Virtu Helmsmen he always paid attention to what happened on the bridge and participated in our conversations.
He said: “I am on Ship vision and can see it and there are other ships as well.”
I smiled at Shea and then said: “Shaka, take us down there and put us as far away from the other ships as possible. Mao, keep our shields active and Narth, double check the Janus system.”
We landed on the same cracked and crumbling, Duro-Crete field I had been on before. I recognized the tall Duro-crete wall in the distance, but most of the Skeleton hand spider infested terminal was gone, and there was still a crater where the SII ship had blasted one of the Spaceports turrets away.
To my utter surprise I recognized the now completely salvaged and butchered hulk of the Karthanian courier ship that I had arrived with on Sin 4 not so long ago. It was nothing more than a twisted wreck, but I recognized its hull shape,
Nothing much had changed; there were the same garbage fires, piles of waste and filth.
Shaka took off his helmet and shook his head looking at the main viewer saying: “Good lord, what a dump. If this is such a lawless place, who actually build this spaceport? It looks it had been a well planned facility once.”
I looked into the direction of our geek squad and said:“Good question.”
It was Sobody who had the answer, as neither Shea nor Narth seemed to know.
He said: “It is a little known side note of Galactic History. After the first signing of the Accord for Universal peace, the Nioban who hostged the conference and were known as the most peaceful and neutral society did not want to have any more meetings on their world. The Nioban homeworld had become known as the Planet of Peace and had been the meeting place of choice even long before the rise of the Union.
So without having a meeting place anyone could agree on, the Big Four looked for another place.
This world was considered and the Karthanian, smelling the opportunity to do business with the Big Four, build this space port, the terminal and the original city. It never happened. The Nioban changed their mind and openly invited everyone to use their world for such purposes again.
The Karthanian abandoned the world and since it was now in Freespace and had a city and space port for the taking, it didn’t take long for pirates and similar vermin to find this place. Syndicate Families developed and it all turned into the Sin 4 we all know today.”
Shea said: “Not that anyone had the right to take this world, as it has a sentient native population.”
Elfi said: “Someone did notice us and we are being hailed.”
I settled back down in my seat and put on my mask then said: “I am ready, put it on.”
The being appeared to have features of both the Oghar and the Shiss like and looked quite frightening. “We are calling the Silver Streak.”
I said: “Looks like you got our attention. Speak up, what is it you want?”
“We know who you are, Captain Velvet, your reputation travels faster than your ship.”
“This is indeed Captain Black Velvet of the Silver Streak. Whom do I have the dubious honor to talk with?”
The answer came right away. His voice sounded rough and somewhat high pitched and I could hear other voices in the background. “Captain Velvet, you are talking to the Gorotolah Spaceport Protection Agency. We heard of you and your ship and we know you are a successful pirate. We are very happy you choose to land on our port. However this is a dangerous place and we can only guarantee your safety for 20,000 Polo coins, or goods of similar value. If you decide not to pay or to leave we are forced to use our big DE guns on you. We have two large DE turrets aimed directly at you. You have exactly 20 minutes to comply. A group of our associates will approach in a floater and expect payment to be transferred.”
Mao manipulated the main viewer and magnified a set of buildings across the landing field. Indeed there was a bunker like building with a force field surrounding it and a set of DE turrets on top aiming at us. Mao said. “Captain, those pea shooters won’t even dent our armor without shields. They don’t have anything big enough to put us in any real danger.”
Har Hi agreed: “They are bluffing and hope we don’t know, but there aren’t any weapons big enough that can be used on a planet and seriously harm a ship of our size, even if we really were a Karthanian Freighter with original shields. Any weapon big enough to crack our shields would seriously damage a huge area around us.Not to mention the possible loss of contamination to the Anti matter pat of our fuel. Half the contient would be liquified. This isn’t a Poodle.”
I nodded and said: “Elfi can you pinpoint the location of the transmission?”
She moved her hands over her console and responded: “Yes Captain I have localized it to that transmitter array over there.”
I pointed at the turrets and said: “Mao, fire our simulated Froth Caster and place a 5 gram TL bomb right where that transmission originates. That should do as payment.”
From the outside it looked as if our Nul turret fired, the Translocator load was invisible and undetectable.
The result was more than I expected. The 5 gram antimatter exploded and obliterated not only the bunker and the building with the transmitter but the entire building complex with a tremendous fire cloud.
Har-Hi coughed into his fist and rubbed his fingernails on his jacket. “I
don’t think this is what they had in mind when they asked for goods of similar value, Captain.”
Shea shrugged. “I doubt anyone will notice and I expect others will take their place and try a similar scam in a few month”
I got up from the seat, and said: “Let’s have a conference in the Den to figure out what we need to do and how we are going to do it.”
--“”--
Har-Hi once again standing rather than sitting like most of us said: “There are three reasons why we came here. Number one is to find the Terran weapons dealer and shut him down. Number two is to find out where the Sinister Alliance is meeting and what they are planning and number three on our list of things to do is to identify all pirates and freelancers that are on the wanted list of Union Police, with special focus on the Red Dragon.”
“To accomplish this I would like to deploy one of our Intel specialist, If that is permitted. He was added to our crew while we were at the NAVINT sun base. His skills and abilities are especially suited for this.”
“I guess I should read your daily reports more closely. Who is it?”
"Lieutenant Senhadjii. he is attached to our S-2 department and yes it might be a good thing if you read my reports in more detail."
"I will do that in the future and since I trust your judgement, I approve the deployment of this specialist. Keep me informed please."
He nodded and I turned to the big Saturnian. "Mr. Neugruber you wanted to be next."
Hans expanded the size of high resolution pictures “These are the ships that share the landing area with us right now. All three are operated by notorious outlaws and pirates. I prepared dossiers on each of them from the data we have available. As for the Mil-Tech dealer I would like to go into the city and gather some intel on that.”
Hans managed to look embarrassed and said: “I am not on Sin 4 for the first time either and I have some contacts and a reputation here, even though I am supposed to be dead.”
I said: “Not that I want to sound nosy or anything like that, but could you be a tad more specific?”
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 109