Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War

by Seth Libby

  January 26th, 2014 12:16am EST

  Cathergon freighter, Farrow, Shenkar Federation space

  Upon entering Liam immediately noticed that the passageways were roughly seven feet in height, something he had not expected since the owners were on average five feet in height. Then another thought occurred to him, if the race is subject to Shenkar rule then it stands to reason they would need to accommodate their taller rulers.

  The next thing Liam noticed was the temperature within the spacecraft. It was evident that Cathergons were from a world with a tropical climate. The deck of the passageway was slick with moisture from the humidity level within the ship.

  As they walked he inspected his surroundings, while the light was low, his nanite enhanced vision augmented the light. Several occasions he spotted other Cathergons, hiding down side passages or behind crates, all wanting to get a look at the visitors who could defeat the Shenkar. On one occasion he spotted several small multi legged creatures roughly the size of a large rat scurry across a side passage and into a nearby duct.

  “Turrin,” Cryta said from his side.

  “What?” asked Liam, puzzled.

  “That creature you spotted. It is called a Turrin. They are scavengers commonly found on Cathergon freighters. A severe nuisance as they get into everything, they can be particularly harmful to freighters hauling perishables. The Cathergons usually keep small creatures, called Gurdes, that hunt and kill them.”

  Liam again looked towards the duct opening but did not see anything further.

  The trio continued walking in silence, following the captain, before Steve spoke up.

  “It is awful quiet, too quiet in fact.”

  “What do you mean?” Liam asked.

  “We should hear activity from their fusion drives, a small hum or something but it is too quiet for that. I had detected an unusual spike in their engines before, do you think they killed their drives?”

  Liam listened, but did not hear anything, Steve was correct. It also occurred to Liam that if another Shenkar ship came by seeking the destroyer then the Cathergons would be dead in space if their engines were severely damaged.

  “Captain Frozt, we detected you were pushing your engines pretty hard before we intervened. Did you damage your engines? If so, Lieutenant Barrow is excellent with mechanics and would be able to help correct the issue if possible,” Liam explained as waved a hand towards Steve.

  Captain Frozt halted and turned his head slightly to look sidelong at Liam.

  “We did suffer some damage but my technicians are working to correct the issue,” Frozt explained.

  Liam had the impression the damage was greater that the captain was really telling him.

  “Captain Frozt, I understand we just met so naturally you would be hesitant in divulging just how vulnerable you and your crew are at this moment but if another Shenkar warship were to come looking for that destroyer we might not be able to defend you…especially if it is a battlecruiser.”

  Captain Frozt seemed to think over what Liam had said before he waved for one of the guards to come forward.

  “Please escort this human to our engine compartment. Inform the drive technicians they are to give him anything he needs.”

  With that said the guard made a gesture, which Liam could only interpret as a salute, as he touched a clawed hand to the side of his own face about a half an inch from his right eye. The captain returned the gesture and the guard moved off towards a side passage, hesitating only long enough to confirm Steve was following.

  Captain Frozt watched for a few moments before turning back to Liam.

  “I thank you for your offer of assistance and I apologize for my hesitance. I am not accustomed to other races offering to help just to help.”

  Liam nodded his head in understanding but otherwise did not say anything.

  “Shall we continue?” Captain Frozt asked, indicating, with one of his clawed hands, the passageway they had been traveling.

  Again Liam nodded an affirmative but otherwise did not say anymore.

  “Please follow me, we are almost there,” Captain Frozt stated before turning and once again headed off down the passageway.

  January 26th, 2014 12:22am EST

  Cathergon freighter, Farrow, Shenkar Federation space

  Steve entered the engine room behind the guard and immediately spotted where the problem seemed to be located. Four Cathergon technicians were gathered around an opening where a panel had been removed off what looked to be one of the fusion drives. Two were quiet but one seemed to be sharply gesturing at the open panel while the other was shaking his head in a negative motion. It was only when Steve and his escort were almost upon them did they notice the newcomers.

  All four Cathergons stared openly at Steve without saying a word before the guard stepped forward to speak.

  “The humans wish to help with repairs to our drive engines. This is Lieutenant Barrows from their warship and he feels he could help with the problem.”

  All four Cathergons looked at Steve before huddling into a group and quietly discussing the newcomer, occasionally one would peek over to him before shifting his gaze back to the group. Finally after several minutes had passed did they return their attention to Steve as the Cathergon had been shaking his head stepped forward.

  “We have agreed you may help.”

  “Excellent, so what do you know so far?” Steve inquired.

  At this question the Cathergon seemed puzzled before he spoke.

  “I know many things but it would take too long to cover as we have the more pressing matter of fixing our drive engines at hand.”

  Steve just stared at the Cathergon for a moment, unsure if he was being sarcastic or serious.

  “I did not mean what you know as a whole but if you knew of what could be the possible reasons for the drive engine problems.”

  “Then why did you not ask this instead?” the Cathergon asked, a perplexed look upon his face.

  At this point Steve just stood opened mouthed at the Cathergon trying to think of something to say to this. Finally deciding it would be pointless to try and explain he figured it would be best to address the matter of the drive engine.

  “Okay, so do you know what is wrong or have any ideas on what could possibly be wrong with your drives?”

  “Ah yes, I believe we have a damaged relay.”

  As soon as the Cathergon finished the other technician who had been sharply gesturing made a noise in his throat that could only be interpreted as negative.

  “You do not agree?” inquired Steve.

  “No, I do not, all of the relays have passed the diagnostic tests. If it was a damaged relay then we would get a notification of it when the scan had been conducted.”

  “What do you think is the problem then?” Steve asked.

  “I believe we have burned out the main drive capacitor.”

  “Okay, well then let’s check that first,” stated Steve.

  At this point all of the Cathergons began to shake their heads negatively before the one that had been gesturing sharply spoke up.

  “It is located through that open panel, but I would not recommend going in there,” the Cathergon explained as he gestured towards the open panel.

  “Why? Is it out of reach?”

  “No, there is pack of Turrin who have set up a nest in there.”

  Steve, clearly not understanding what the problem was, turned to look at his escort.

  “Turrin are scavengers by nature and are little more than a nuisance except when they are nesting. When nesting they are very territorially and will attack anyone who enters their nesting area,” the guard explained.

  “Okay, so they are dangerous then?”

  “Not particularly, their bite however is slightly poisonous and multiple bites can cause severe nausea and loss of bowel control.”

  Steve just stared at the Cathergon, not knowing what to say, wondering if he was being serious. Somehow he doubted it and the next thing he w
ondered was how harmful would this poison be to humans. Steve knew his nanites would attack any potentially harmful compounds that entered his body but he didn’t really want to test this out on an unknown poison.

  “Don’t you have those creatures onboard that hunt these Turrin?”

  “Do you mean Gurdes?” the Cathergon guard inquired.

  “Yes, that would be them, don’t you have any?”

  “We did but not anymore,” the guard explained but it was clear he was leaving something out.

  “What happened to them?” Steve inquired, his voice slightly annoyed that he had to keep prying to get all the information.

  “They died,” the guard said simply.

  At this point Steve was getting severely annoyed when one of the Cathergon technicians spoke up.

  “The Turrin ate them.”

  Steve’s eyebrows rose at hearing this news.

  “They ate them? I thought the Gurdes hunted Turrin, not the other way around.”

  “Typically they do but this particular nest seems to be led by a very large Turrin, a very large and vicious Turrin,” the technician explained as he held his clawed hands apart by about two feet.

  “It also has long fangs,” said another technician as he held a clawed hand to his mouth and pointed two fingers downward to mimic fangs.

  Steve almost laughed at the memory of one of his favorite Monty Python movies popped into his mind of a John Cleese trying to explain the dangers of a rabbit.

  “Now only if I had a holy hand grenade,” Steve mumbled to himself as he studied the opening that led into the side of the drive engine.

  “I am sorry but we are not allowed to carry grenades per order of the Shenkar Federation,” explained the guard.

  Steve couldn’t help stare at the Cathergon guard at his seriousness.

  “I was being sarcastic, I don’t really want to throw a grenade in there.”

  “Then why wish for one?”

  “Are you serious or are you just trying to drive me crazy?” Steve asked incredulously.

  “Why would we seek to drive you crazy when we need your help to repair our drive engines?” the guard asked with perfect seriousness.

  Steve opened his mouth to retort but then clamped it shut, threw up his hands and looked at the ceiling as he spoke out loud.

  “If I was a religious man this definitely would be a test of faith.”

  At this point all the technicians and the guard stepped forward closer to Steve and looked up to the ceiling.

  “Is there someone up there you are speaking too?” one of the technicians asked.

  “What? No…I was just…it is….oh nevermind, right now we need to figure out how to get rid of those Turrin. I think someone is going to have to go in there and clear them out,” Steve explained as he looked around at his audience.

  Neither the guard nor the technicians volunteered for this duty but instead looked up at Steve expectantly. A sour taste filled the back of Steve’s mouth, knowing he was the one that was going to have to go in there. Sighing heavily he walked to the spot where the panel had been removed and crouched down to peek in. Nothing moved inside the small corridor that he could see but he could have sworn he heard something scurrying around inside.

  “All in the name of building bridges,” Steve muttered to himself as he crawled inside.

  As he was crawling deeper into the corridor he heard one of the technicians speak up.

  “Doesn’t he know we are not building a bridge?”

  January 26th, 2013 12:22am EST

  Cathergon freighter, Farrow, Shenkar Federation space

  Captain Frozt sat down on what looked to be a stool while indicating for the others to do the same. Liam and Cryta took two stools opposite the Captain, a heavy dark metal table between them. However, Liam did notice that the guard remained by the doorway, directly behind them. This was beginning to annoy him as he knew for their two races to work together there must be complete trust…..something he needed to rectify now.

  “Captain Frozt, I can assure you that we have no intention to harm you or any of your crew, so the need to place a guard directly behind us is irrelevant. In fact, if I wanted to hurt you this one guard could not stop me,” Liam stated as he lifted a hand above him.

  As he said this, he focused his mind on the energy that surrounded the weapon and tugged forcibly. Not expecting for something like this to happen, the weapon flew free of the guard’s loose grip, through the air to land in Liam’s outstretched hand. The captain’s face shown with complete surprise and disbelief at Liam’s demonstration.

  Calmly, Liam set the weapon on the table, then slowly slid it across the table to the captain, withdrew his hand and calmly folded them one across the other upon the table.

  The captain looked down at the weapon then back up at Liam and Cryta before nodding to the guard. Liam heard the sound of the retreating footsteps as the guard left the room.

  “You humans are quite full of surprises.”

  “Thank you,” Liam said with a smile.

  “I would like to know more about your people, I cannot think of a time when a Shenkar warship was destroyed…at least not in one on one combat. What are your intentions for the Shenkar Federation? Also you stated this Shenkar is working with you to eliminate the Shenkar Shelecore, I apologize but this I find very hard to believe.”

  Before Liam could answer, Cryta spoke up, the slight sound of irritation within his voice.

  “Not all of my people agree with the way our government rules over other races. Many believe every race deserves to rule over their own people and diplomatic channels should be established. The military forces you typically encounter are mindless clones that follow orders without question led by those that are loyal to the Shelecore,” Cryta explained.

  “If, as you say is correct, then why have we never heard any rumors of Shenkar dissent within their own population? Or better yet, why have your people not risen up and overthrown the Shelecore?”

  Liam couldn’t help but notice the defiance this Cathergon showed, clearly the submissive race they had first presented themselves as was more of a ruse than truth.

  “Let me ask you something before I answer those questions. Any time any of your people protest the Shenkar policies, what happened to them?” Cryta asked firmly.

  “You know the answer to that. Your people drag the dissidents into the center of the cities and publicaly execute them.”

  “Exactly, so if the military can root out any dissidents within another race then how close do you think they watch their own people? Believe me, many have questioned the Shelecore rule but when they do they are not executed publically, instead they disappear in the night…along with their entire family. Our group is not large enough to overthrow the current military but with these humans help I believe we can end the current Shenkar regime.”

  Captain Frozt studied Cryta, his expression clear that he was not sure whether to believe Cryta but Liam could also see there was also a hint of hope there as well. Finally he turned his attention back to Liam.

  “Am I to assume your intentions are to help the Shenkar overthrow the current regime?”

  “You would be correct in that.”

  Frozta sat back slightly looking between the two before he spoke again.

  “How many warships did you bring with you?”

  Liam sighed as he knew his answer would not satisfy the captain.

  “We have four warships currently present in or near Shenkar controlled space.”

  Captain Frozt made a hissing sound that could only be interpreted as laughing as he shook his head negatively side to side for a moment.

  “You cannot be serious? Four warships would not even scratch the Shenkar fleet.”

  “I can assure you those four warships could do more damage than you could possibly imagine. One of those ships is responsible for the destruction of two Shenkar command bases. The man sitting next to me is responsible for single handedly killing the entire crew of
a Shenkar battle cruiser. These humans have defeated a Shenkar Dread fleet and another fleet that your entire planet could not defeat. I can assure you, these humans are a serious concern for the Shelecore,” Cryta said, his voice daring the captain to challenge him.

  This statement clearly was not what the Cathergon captain had expected to hear as the look of surprised and a bit of awe shown upon his face as if seeing Liam in a new light.

  “What do you need from my people?” Frozt asked.

  “Well, I would not be the one to negotiate with but offhand I would say we could use your freighters to move about the Shenkar Federation in secret to contact others who might wish to join with us. I will not lie too you, our fleet took serious damage in the last battle with the Shenkar. We are currently working to repair and rebuild our fleet but it will take time. Also, we are only one planet, which means we are limited to what we can bring to bare against the Shenkar Federation. I can assure you that what we can bring will give the Shenkar serious trouble but we cannot do this alone.”

  Frozt sat back at Liam’s explanation, clearly hoping to hear something better.

  “I would like to help you but my people are not warriors, we do not possess warships like yours.”

  At this Cryta leaned forward, puzzlement clearly upon his face.

  “Perhaps I misheard but what do you mean you do not possess warships like the humans? That would indicate you did possess warships…just not like theirs.”

  At this point the Cathergon captain looked uncomfortable, clearly realizing he had said something he hadn’t meant to.

  “You must have misheard me or I misspoke, we are traders and do not possess the means to go to war.”

  This made Liam realize something, if the Cathergons were not supposed to possess the means go to war then why did they have energy weapons.

  “If this were true then what is that?” Liam said, indicating the weapon on the table.

  At this point the Cathergon captain looked to be very uncomfortable, clearly trying to think of what to say but at a loss. Several moments passed before the captain’s shoulders slumped in defeat.