The Red Dragon said. “I am not forcing anyone to come along. I know where to go and I know the Depot is real. The path is long and not without risks, but no riskier than what we all do every day anyway. I will go there even if I have to go alone, but mark my word. I won’t know you when I come back.”
Meateater fumbled with his gold covered tusks and said with a rough mumbling sound. “That cursed wench, Black Velvet, had us over a barrel just recently and demanded millions of Polos. She settled for a single Celtest artifact as payment. I have seen her treasury and I know she is a sly business woman dealing with slaves and planets. Go tell them Velvet, tell them what Celtest artifacts, even bits and pieces are worth.”
I did not need to say anything. Carrhrh the Togar sat down and grunted. “I see it too; you are right, even a single piece of Celtest artifact would pay for the trip with enough profit to buy a new ship.”
The human deserter and traitor next to me held up a PDD. “We are in range for public GalNet and there is even an Xchange right here as the Golden enclave is now Union.”
He wiped his finger over the display and a three dimensional Holo appeared of a busted helmet like object.
He said. “This is a non-working broken helmet of Celtest origin. It was offered four weeks ago at the Xchange and sold for 75 Million Credits. Nine months ago, a set of confirmed Celtest eating utensils, was sold for 4 million credits.”
He said alien artifacts of long gone civilizations are the hottest commodity on the Xchange and if you can say it is Pree, UNI or Celtest, it doesn’t matter if it is a scrap piece of metal, it sells for enormous amounts of money.”
This demonstration was most likely the deciding factor and everyone agreed to come along. The human with the cyber eye said: “I am a somewhat strapped on funds. I just refurbished my ship and paid you a lot of money to go in on those refineries. I want to come along but I can’t afford four complete sets of engine parts and I actually should take at least eight. How long do we have till we leave?”
Red Dragon said.“I know there is lot of preparation to do, and some of us might have to do a little work to gather the necessary funds. While there is no set date we have to leave I would like to be ready with everything and get on our way the latest in sixty days
We will then meet on the third planet in this system and go on our quest.Anyone missing is going to be left behind. Perhaps one of us could extend you a loan or something; there are those among us quite wealthy.”
He did look into my direction as he said that.
The man shook his head. “That would be the last option, I don’t like owing anyone, but all that talk about artifacts gave me an idea. Isn’t there a planet full of ruins just an orbit closer to this sun and as I understand, you control it. Maybe my crew and I could go digging there for something to sell?”
Dragon raised his arms.
“Yes and it was the headquarters of my Sinister Alliance. The civilization that was there once killed themselves with a nuclear war. It not very old and whatever you might find is TechleveI five at best. I doubt you’ll find anything valuable, but you are of course welcome to try. It is there where we meet the next time anyway.”
The Red Dragon leaned forward. “Just keep all this for yourselves. I don’t want anyone getting ideas and following us, a Celtest depot would be a nice find for the Kermac or the Karthanians too.”
Road Crimson asked. “What happened to the Sinister Alliance? Wasn’t that your big project?”
“What is left of that Alliance is right here at this table. I am tired of peddling, this opportunity fell into my lap and this is the only project I am interested in. I intend to get me a Devastator like ship and fly it right to the Assembly and pulverize the whole lot. Let us all meet again in one in sixty days and then we get under way.”
The meeting had ended. I and several others immediately got up, while Meateater and a few others ordered drinks and from the looks of it intended to use the opportunity party and drink.
I was just leaving, Har-Hi and I had already gone through the door. The air was bitter cold and the lights of the big city and the huge space port painted golden halo into the sky above.
Before us to the south was a vast desert valley with a low mountain range in the distance. Two big bright moons illuminated endless rows of space ship hulks in various states of disassembly. It was one of the many junk yard fields Sobody had told us about. The tavern was one of several free standing buildings along a paved road that led to the city on one end and into the desert and perhaps to another town or city on the other.
Red Dragon and the woman Pirate called Nocturna had followed us and he stopped me saying “Black Velvet, wait a moment.”
I turned and he said. ”I know we started on the wrong foot and I wanted to say that I am very glad you decided to come along after all. I think you and I are not so different. We both know what we want and go after it regardless of the challenges that try to prevent us from reaching that goal.”
I said, “Knowing you, you didn’t just come out here to compliment me.”
He laughed and said, “You are one suspicious wench and I do like that, but I actually wanted to ask if you would stay awhile. We all need to get to know each other a little better. I am aware we’re never going to be a close knit group and we all have our secrets, but I think we need to establish some base of understanding among us.”
Har-Hi interrupted and pulled his weapon pointing to a shadow and said. “Someone did listen in on this meeting of yours.”
Now I saw it too, two shadowy shapes had emerged from a basement door of the tavernansds were running in a hunkered fashion across the road and towards the junk yard.
Red Dragon cursed pulled his blaster and flanked over the hand rail that was part of the five step stairs leading to the tavern’s main entrance.
Why I flung myself over the same railing, pulling my own weapon, I could not really say. I did hear Har-Hi making a sighing, groaning sound as he followed as well. The Dragon said while we crossed the road.
“The Tavern is run by a former pirate and is a sanctuary for the likes of us, but it looks like he sold out after all. Those could be Kermac, Togar, Kartanian heck these could be anyone’s spies. I want to know who listened in!”
What looked like even ground from the Tavern was actually some sort of tall very dry and coarse grass that reached all the way to my chest. The actual Junkyard itself, dark ragged shadowy shapes still a good two thousand meters away.
I said to the Dragon. “Running openly after two unidentified individuals isn’t such a good idea, by that bright moon light we present good targets. I stopped and went to my knees to examine the ground and the tracks, just then a bright blaster shot cracked over where I had just been standing.
Har-Hi the Dragon and the silent Pirate woman ducked as well. Har-Hi grunted.” I didn’t see anyone shooting at us, tell me Captain what exactly we are doing here anyway?”
That was a good question and cursing my own impulsive behavior I said. “I don’t like to be spied on either and I like to know all the players involved in this game as much as possible.”
The Dragon hissed. “That sums it up; I really want to know who they are.”
I was always able to see well in low light conditions and examined the ground. ”There are two of them; from the shape of the tracks at last one could be Karthanian. The other might be Togar, a big one at that, most likely male.”
The woman who had not said a word until now let out a silent whistle. “That is impressive, they might already have reached the Junk yard and it will be impossible to find anyone in that maze.”
The Dragon said. “Yes, I am more and more impressed with you, Velvet. You are a woman of many talents.”
I hushed at him and said: “And you are making more noise than a gaggle of preschoolers at lunch break.”
I closed my eyes and extended that new sense I was developing and the tall grass like carpet surrounding us, disappeared and I could feel armed beings
all around us, twelve of them, my mind still was going to get used to this electro sonar sense and I could not distinguish details but I could feel their heartbeats and make out their approximate shapes.
I whispered. “There are twelve of them, armed with blaster weapons waiting for us to do something.”
The Dragon said. “I am going to call my crew for reinforcement, even though I am nearly invincible even in this thanks to you damaged suit. I want to catch them alive."
Then his voice suddenly fell silent and I turned to see, an all-black dressed humanoid shape was standing right behind him pressing a weapon at the Dragon’s temple and it whispered. “I don’t know if your fancy suit is capable of preventing me from making a new hole in your skull, pirate.”
Three more all black shapes shimmered into view aiming alien looking energy weapons at us.
Chapter 22: Shogotrz
One of the armed men brushed the face plate of his tight fitting helmet up and revealed, to my great dismay, the light blue face of a Thauran and he said: “You are all under arrest for conspiracy and for aiding and hiding known terrorists.”
He motioned us to get up and now we could see two modern armed flyers hovering back near the tavern. We could also see more heavily armed troops as they were herding out the other pirates.
The Red Dragon complained. “What is this all about? None of us have broken any local laws. We are nothing but Freelancing merchants.”
The Thauran laughed. “I know what you are. You are the worst pirate scum. We followed two leaders of the local rebels to that tavern and lord and behold what do we find there? A real convention of the most wanted space raiders this side of Sagittarius.”
The one who was still pressing his weapon against the Red Dragon’s temple said.” What is your business with the Rebels? Trying to sell weapons perhaps?”
The Red Dragon did not move as he still had an alien and dangerous looking weapon aimed at him. “I am a personal friend of the First Hull Builder and closely associated with the Hull Maker Guild. You must stand down and let us conduct whatever business we decide to engage in. I doubt the local magistrate wants Karthanian difficulties.”
Har-Hi gave me a barely noticeable nod and I knew he was ready to take the two on his side.
I said. “I am not in a very good mood Thauran, and despite a recent promise of mine,you being Thauran isn’t helping. So get your goons of our backs and go back from wherever you came from. While you still can.
He looked me up and down. “I think you’re the infamous Black Velvet, are you not? Even if you have nothing to do with the rebels, the bounty I get for…” Just then a small official looking air speeder arrived, with two humanoid shaped beings sitting in the open passenger compartment.
I decided to wait with any action and gave Har-Hi a wink. He nodded only noticeably by me, that he understood. Har-Hi was not telepathically linked with me as was Narth, but we had become a very good team and able to read each other very well. I was almost certain the newcomers had more answers and I wanted to hear what they had to say.
The speeder landed only a few meters away and the two beings riding it stepped out and joined this strange meeting of ours in the middle of the night on a field of dry, chest high Ithe Grass. Both of them wore military style uniforms consisting of long, leather like grey coats, adorned with gold and brass insignia. During my briefing with Sobody, I knew these were Drak, the local authority.
Both of them were about the same size and I estimated them to be not more than maybe 170 centimeters tall. More or less humanoid proportioned, bipedal, two arms with two stubby fingers and an opposing thumb on each hand. Their heads had the shape of a Terran pear fruit with the thinner part on top. The locals most striking feature was a set of stalk eyes, one laterally protruding from each side of their head. The lower part of the head featured a wide, toothless maw.
The one to the left had only one single but very large golden medal on his chest while the other featured a jingling array of at least two dozen smaller ones.
It was the one with the large single medal who spoke first saying, “I do not see the Ninety or the Galvanizer, instead I am seeing Off-World business people. Why are you harassing them? Have you not promised me the heads of these Instigators tonight? Where are they?”
The Thauran lost some of his arrogance at this harangue address of what must have been high ranking members of the government or military. He made a sweeping gesture towards us. “We followed the rebellion leaders to that tavern and found a regular ‘whose who’ of the worst space scum. These are the most wanted pirates in the known Galaxy, your Excellency. Sending them in chains to Union Authorities would not only immensely improve relations but fill your state coffers with lots of Union credits, enough to pay our fees and keep a tidy profit”
The Drak lowered his voice and said. “We have retained your services as you claimed you and your Mercenary outfit could solve the rebel and terrorist problem for us. What you present us with are not Terrorists and, unlike the Rebels, we do not care for Union relations, we are independent friends of the Karthanian Conglomerate. Release these business people at once and show us the captured or dead rebel leaders you claimed you followed. This is why I personally came out here tonight.”
The mercenaries slowly lowered their weapons and the Red Dragon said. “This is not enough, your Excellency, you can be certain the Hull Maker Guild will hear of this.”
The Drak leader said. “Is it not enough that I myself come out here in the middle of the night . I might just act on the mercenaries recommendation and the Hull builders guild will never heart… Something very fast was streaking through the cold night air and a thing that looked like a grey jelly fish with bat wings smacked into the face of the Thauran, making a wet sound.
Someone yelled. “Megdohrs! They are using Megdohrs, run!”
More of these flying creatures attacked the same way, hissing fast through the air and attaching themselves to the heads of their victims. Two more mercenaries and the the pirate woman went down.
Har-Hi saved my life as he, with incredible speed and skill, drew his swords and cut one of these creatures in half just before it reached me.
One of the things collided with the second metal jingling Drak, the one who had not spoken so far, and the stalk eyed alien dropped to the ground; the flying animal covering much of his head making sucking noises. Only now I drew my blaster, cursing my own slowness and burned several of the flying creatures to atomic ashes.
Before I could really find my bearings and make a decision not based on pure reflexes, I saw black plum sized bugs crawling all over the ground and now I noticed least a dozen of them were already crawling up my legs. The Seth gloves I wore proved to be the best defense against those crawling pests because as soon as I touched the insects they crumbled to dust. Everyone was stomping and trying to brush off the bugs. One of the mercenaries managed to activate his force field, it was too late as several bugs were already inside his field and one of them drew blood as it sunk its finger-long pincers into the flesh of the mercenary’s face.
I started to brush off the bugs that crawled on Har-Hi, but there were so many.
Har-Hi yelped in pain as he pulled one of the insects from his face, ripping a sizable piece of skin with it.
I too could feel their thin legs all over my back. I could not risk using the Seth gloves on Har-Hi higher up or on myself. I still didn’t know exactly how the gloves killed and the black mist they emitted was not controllable and would certainly kill him or me if it made contact with our skin. My mind was racing while I kept brushing more bugs off me.
A voice in the distance yelled with magnified volume, “Freedom for Ithe and death to the Oppressors and lackeys of the Kartanians!”
The voice came from somewhere outside this mad circle hidden in the tall grass.
As I looked around I saw someone’s head just above the tall grass against the darker back ground and I was almost certain this being was the source of the attack.
I took a whole second to aim, disregarding the crawling sensation of dozens of bugs all over me and fired.
The black bugs lost their determined aggressive behavior almost moment. Whoever I shot had somehow controlled these insects. My blaster shot had also started a a fast spreading fire , thankfully moving away from us. I heard and saw beings screaming and consumed by the roaring fire.
Only Har-Hi and I, one mercenary, the Red Dragon and one of the Drak remained alive.
Har-Hi was bleeding from dozens of small wounds in his face as he pulled the last bug from his neck. I noticed the thin leather of my suit was shredded in many places, revealing the fine Ultronit mesh underneath. The bugs were no longer crawling with determination to attack; they had quite clearly lost whatever controlled them before, and now it was easy to use the blasters to burn a wide section around us. It all had only lasted perhaps two or three minutes at the most but I had to admit the sudden attack had been overwhelming and confusing. I took a deep breath.
The remaining Drak, the one with the big medal, said, “That was the work of the Instigators. They use all kinds of modified and genetic altered alien horrors, like the Megdohrs, or that new black crawling bug horror, most likely also found in the holds of ancient wrecks and scrap ships.. You have saved my life and perhaps burned the leaders of this terror group themselves. I am the High magistrate. Defender of order and giver of law. “He turned without waiting for any response from me and said to the remaining mercenary. “You and your outfit however proved more of a nuisance than a help.” He raised his weapon and shot the man point blank in the head!”
I said to Har-Hi. “Let us go back to the shuttle so we can get you to sickbay.” Har-Hi did not have to be told twice, he started walking immediately.
The Red Dragon’s outer garments were as shredded as mine. It was apparent that the bugs were able to penetrate his suit where Shea had cut it , the tape he had used to make repairs was torn and he was bleeding from many small wounds, where the bugs had shredded his mask exposing his blue skin as well.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 139