Anyway, here is the first part of ch 20.UPDATE:
Right, been a bit more productive this past weekend. The chapter is a bit shorter than usual. Here is the conclusion of it.
Finished below ====
-------------------
Val looked out of the view port of the restaurant-to-be aboard her Bliss Place. The two Dream Farms had commenced production after a few tazuras of test samples. It’d be a long way to exceed the quality of the previously purchased Swamp plants but at some point she’d manage. At least now she no longer depended on the ever-changing prices of these lizards.
The lizards, she really found it difficult to like them. Motivation of every single one of their moves appeared to be credits. No doubt, Teladi were incredibly successful in business but often at the expense of good long-term business relationships. Milk an Argnu while it is still alive.
No doubt, Val was glad to see the Phoenix arrive at the battlefield. There was no telling if they had been able to dispose of those almost three dozens Orinocos on their own. They had fought in a very controlled fashion and not provided an opportunity to single out one or two fighters. The large destroyer, on the other hand, simply ploughed through them. But again, they only did it after Val had transferred 150.000 credits. A hefty sum but probably significantly cheaper than potential repairs and replacement of gear. Why could these reptiles not just see it as their duty to keep their sectors free of pirates? The answer to that was simple. Unlike the other races, Teladi did not have government-run military forces. Everything was in private hands, or claws, to be precise. The Teladi Company formed merely a framework for diplomatic interaction with other races and to control the major market directives. On the other hand, how much was that different to the Argon Federation? Not much, really. An Argon president was also more of a representative of the people, a person to blame if things went wrong, or to hail when great things had been achieved during their legislative period. Argons paid taxes to not only pay their representatives but also for protection in the form of the Argon Navy. Teladi did not think highly of taxes. The CEO was selected by commercial success. It was an honorary position. For the race of the lizards it worked very well having a very successful businessperson as their leader, as the majority of their daily job comprised of making sure the Teladi kept an edge in universal trade.
Those 150.000 credits have made something painfully obvious that Val so far had not spent a lot of time worrying about: station protection. In Lucky Planets she could count on the support of the Royal Navy but here in Company Pride? Sure, there was a Phoenix lurking around the North gate. But how much would it be to hire their services when she needed them? Certainly too much. Unlike the destroyer captain in Mines of Fortune, here it’d be a well-known fact that factories were at stake and the price adjusted accordingly.
For the time being Ashoka could remain in Company Pride but in the long run Val needed ships and pilots, good pilots. She left the restaurant and went to her office. A look at the balance sheets indicated a healthy credit flow but it would take quite some time to save up enough for a well-equipped fighter. It was time to make …
“Come in.”
“So here you are hiding!” Tagor smiled.
“What is happening? Did you get yourself into trouble again and need somebody to bail you out?”
“No, for a change not. I did a systems check on both ships and would suggest we head for a wharf or shipyard and deplete our savings accounts.”
“Hmm … and I thought these ships would repair themselves by now. We should look at something like that, any suggestions?”
“Nope. Anyway, I had a chat with Arox and looks like she scooped up quite some missiles from the battle field, enough to pay for the repairs of one ship.”
“Excellent, you have got enough credits to pay for yours?”
Val’s comment had Tagor baffled for a moment but then he recognised the subtle smirk playing around her lips.
“What do you mean, my ship? Last time I checked it was yours so I assume you will also have to maintain it.”
“That’s true. Guess I need to look around for a better pilot, one that doesn’t wreck it all the time then. Talking of which, I think I have a hold full of first class pilots. That is,” Val pondered, “if they haven’t starved to death yet. We should check up on them.”
“They are well fed. Their cleanliness is something you should concern yourself with.” Arox joined in the conversation. “They have been in their flight suits now for how many tazuras?”
“Too long. Let’s jump back to Lucky Planets, get them off the ship, have a family re-union and get our fighters repaired.” With these words Val packed her gear and motioned Tagor to follow her to the docking bay, as for now there was nothing left to do aboard this station.
“I think you should have a look at this first.” With these words Arox displayed news footage on the main screen of the office.
Val and Tagor stood there, disbelief written all over their faces.
“So they have found us.” These words, more thoughts than a comment, formed on her lips.
“You know them?”
Val did not respond to Tagor’s question, instead she turned around and headed to the hangar.
====
“So are you going to tell me what is going on? You appear to know a lot more about what happened there than you anybody else I know.”
During the time it took Tagor and Val to reach the solar power plant in Lucky Planets Val had ignored all questions and not spoken a word. Since she had entered her office she had done nothing but pacing up and down the room, breathing heavily every now and again. Tagor had tried several times to get information out of her, now he resigned and took a seat on one of the couches. It was obvious that he had to give Val time, never before had Tagor seen her as disturbed as that, not even when facing sixty enemies a few tazuras ago.
The view screen lit up and the face of Ban Danna’s appeared.
“Ah, there you are, it appears you have seen the news.” Concern was recognisable in his voice.
“Always a pleasure seeing you, too, Admiral.”
“Sorry, Val. I heard the news of your fight in Mines of Fortune and am glad you got out of it in one piece. While I’d like to hear more about it, we both know that another issue is more pressing.”
There was a brief pause and when Val did not react Ban Danna continued. “We have lost many ships and stations. Presidents End is a graveyard, to put it blunt. The attacking fleet jumped in, wreaked havoc and, with the exception of a dozen small and medium-sized ships, vanished again. What the news broadcast did not show, they did not come through the gates but jumped to a number of apparently random locations in the system. Quite a few of them came from the far reaches of the sector, which was fortunate, as it meant a few TP’s could evacuate some people from a number of stations.”
“I guess the lesson to be learnt from this is: we need stronger weapons and shields.”
“Indeed, we are currently in negotiations with the Paranid for a few of their heavy fighters and destroyers. Nobody has seen it in action but our agents reported a few mazuras back that the Paranid had completed development of a shockwave-based weapon.”
“How come you don’t know any more detail about it? Thanks to their arrogance, Paranid are not known for their ability to keep their secrets concealed for too long.”
“This time it is different, Teladi involvement. It appears the Teladi have made sure means are in place to protect the necessary information. Anyway, the weapon is not particularly applicable in an environment with many friendly ships nearby. Collateral damage is devastating. But against these deadly pyramids, oh, we decided to call them Khaak, it may just be the way to go.”
“Kha’ak? Have you guys a Split enthusiast in your services?”
“Not really, Ion Battler from the order of the Goners used it. Lack of anything more appropriate made it stick.”
“Fair enough. So did you just want to say hello or what gives us the honour of your call?”
“Well, right, how did you guess?” Ban Danna grinned sheepishly. “Would it be asking to much for you to go back to that sector and get us an update? We would like to know if the number of ships there has changed. As it is the only sector of theirs we know of, it is as much information as we can hope to get.”
“Phew.” Val took at deep breath.
“Hello, can anybody fill me in? I still don’t understand what you guys are talking about.” Tagor had listened quietly until now. There was a lot to digest and nothing did make a lot of sense to him.
“Sorry my son. I thought Val had gotten you up to speed.”
“”Oh she has, just the really important information appears to be something that is somehow omitted.” His frustration was audible.
“Val?” Ban Danna looked at her.
“Alright, a while back I discovered a sector of these … Khaak. In fact, I wasn’t the first one. It appears Kyle Brennan, according to your farther, has been there first. Well, he must have, otherwise I’d not found it. Anyway, I saw the wreckage of a Split corvette in that sector being dissected by these creatures.”
Her words also caught the attention of Ban Danna’s. “The message drone?”
Val nodded.
“You know that you should have told me. We could have …”
“You could have what?” Val interrupted the admiral. “The gate is too small for any larger ships and providing the location would be like opening the legendary Pandora’s box; for all those familiar with Earth fairy tales. What you guys should have focussed on, and I hope you did, is tuning the jumpdrive to lock on to certain coordinates, and those I gave you together with the video footage.”
Ban Danna pondered quietly for a few sezuras. “Perhaps you are right, perhaps not. We would have had the chance to test their firepower and start developing counter measures earlier.”
“I beg to differ. As quickly as my shields went down in that sector, all you’d have provided them with is objects for target practice. Their beams reach further than our conventional weapons and they are also more destructive. The idea with the Paranid weapons sounds promising, though, every fight will be a high-risk job because you can only send one or two ships in at any given time or they kill each other more efficiently than the Khaak ever could. Mind you, looking at Presidents End, perhaps I am wrong there.”
“So will you go back and give us an update or would you mind providing the coordinates so we can send somebody else?”
After a short moment Val agreed. “Ok, I’ll do it. Anything in particular you are looking for?”
“Fleet numbers mostly. If you still happen to have the numbers from your last visit so we can do a reasonable comparison they’d be appreciated, too.”
“Thanks and … be careful.” With these words Ban Danna closed the communication link and the screen returned to displaying a landscape image.
“So much to my plans of letting Ashoka guard Company Pride. Arox, can you get the corvette over here please? I have a feeling we’ll need the fastest ship we have available. Since Brennan made it through, I assume the gate will be just wide enough.”
*
There was a light clonking sound when the corvette entered the gate.
“Did we just lose something?”
“Negative. The ship only just fits through the gate. At the widest point is briefly touched. No hull damage noticeable.”
“That is comfor… cripes. Fire at will and get some distance between us and our reception committee.” Val shouted the last words, hit pull the stick back and hit the boost. Their arrival had been expected and met by a destroyer, several large fighters and myriads of scout ships, all of which unleashed the destructive force of their beams as soon as the corvette had materialised.
“Shields 23%.”
“Docking computer damaged.”
“Trading System extension damaged.”
“Manoeuvring thrusters seven and nine damaged.”
“Shields 19% … 13% … 6% … 8% … 10%.”
“Thank god for that, I wondered how much longer you were going to count down.”
“Only a few more counts, there wasn’t really a lot left.”
“Thanks for pointing that out. Somehow I should have figured that they would pick up where ships materialise when going through that gate. Darn, that was close.” And turning to Tagor, Val asked, “Are you alright there? You look a bit green around the nose.”
“Uhm … what? Oh, yes, I am fine, thanks. I just can’t get used to these near-death experiences. You need to show me your technique at some point. Well, congratulations to your choice of ship. It seems you were right, pointing out that ships sent in by my farther would be nothing more than target practice for the Khaak. Not that they appear to need any, if you ask me.”
“If you need a change of suit, there are a couple in the locker behind you.”
“Very funny. So what now? The way I see it, if we get closer again they’ll shred us to bits. Do we have enough information or do we need to get more?”
A look at the gravidar indicated that they would indeed find it difficult getting closer to the centre of the sector. In a long chain Khaak ships if varying top speed were on their heels. The turrets disposed of the fast scout ships that came into range. Once a larger gap opened up, Val switch on the cloak and changed the ship’s bearing to head in a wide circle towards the centre of the sector.
“Don’t you think dropping speed is not exactly a good choice right now?”
Val smiled. “Under the circumstances, I think it’ll be just perfect. Watch and learn.”
To Tagor’s surprise the alien ships appeared to no longer take notice of the corvette. Despite the relative safety, Val tried to avoid close contacts as good as possible. After two stazuras of nerve-wrecking reconnaissance they charged the jumpdrive to leave the sector.
“Jumpdrive charging 90% … 80% …”
When Arox reached 10% smoke came from one of the floor panels.
“Attention, jumpdrive failure. Lock to target gate lost.”
“Abort, abort!”
“Negative, jumpdrive control not responding … jumping.”
Superb read Kiwi. Didn't make any spots other than what's already been posted above. 
Not worry about the typos, MM. I meant who had found Val? 
)
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