Sorry, took a while again but I think ten days are a major improvement from six weeks or so.
Here is the first part of chapter 23.
Part 2 under ========
Completed under ++++++++
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“What does he want?” Rhonkar did not like being disturbed. The meeting with Cromancketal had lasted three stazuras. Not that there were many important things to negotiate. However, after a short while the two started to tell tales of their lives, trying to impress the other. It was a close competition and both of them obviously enjoyed it, as their laughter sounded through the halls.
“Your highness, we have reports of a fight in orbit of the planet.”
“A fight? Who would dare disturbing my peace?”
“It is unconfirmed who started the battle but the ship of your esteemed guest and another corvette engaged in a fight.”
“And who won?” Rhonkar cut to the chase. No longer was the disturbed peace an issue.
“His lordship’s ship was victorious.” The vassal responded pointing at Cromancketal. “Sector police reported his corvette out-manoeuvred its opponent skilfully and had hardly been hit. The other ship has been captured.”
“Captured? How does one capture a corvette? It is the first time that I hear such thing!”
“Err, there was an incident in Argon space some mazuras ago.”
Turning towards him, Rhonkar slapped Cromancketal at the shoulder and said: “Well, congratulations my friend. It appears you have a new ship. You must introduce your crew that managed such victory.”
“Your highness,” the messenger interjected, “the ship showed no life signs, which we believe to be the reason why it had been attacked.”
“No life signs? So who flew it then?”
“We don’t know.” Turning towards Cromancketal, the messenger continued. “Perhaps your esteemed lordship has an answer to that question.”
Now Rhonkar also turned his attention back to the Paranid warrior. Cromancketal slowly shook his head but said nothing. The Split emperor was visibly displeased by this reaction. Knowing that Rhonkar was better as a friend, Cromancketal spoke up.
“Ship controlled by prototype of combat computer. Tests still in early stages but it already quite efficient.”
“Is this your ship?” Rhonkar’s eyes narrowed when he asked this question. As negligible as the change in facial expression was, the tall Paranid did not fail to notice it.
“No, Dragon owned by foster daughter. Ship of Paranid malfunctioned in one of unregulated sectors, crashing into asteroid. She came to assist and lent corvette.”
“Foster daughter? So she is Paranid, too?”
“No, she Argon but grew up in Paranid custody.”
“Very well. We have spent enough …”
“Your highness.”
“What?!”
“One of our agents reports a Boron heavy fighter has just entered the sector through the South gate and is heading towards the two corvettes.”
“Your foster daughter, I assume?” Rhonkar asked Cromancketal who simply nodded.
“Well, why not invite her to join us?”
“Too late, highness. The heavy fighter and the captured corvette have just jumped out of the sector.”
“Now that is efficient.” The Split emperor’s face showed a wide grin. “It appears she does not trust us.”
“After attack from Split corvette, I not surprised she not waste much time.” A point Rhonkar considered plausible.
*
“Welcome back. How did it go? Did you achieve what you intended to?”
“Paranid had good talk with Rhonkar. Split making many jokes, very different to other Split. Very interested in meeting you and crew of corvette.”
Val chuckled. “Maybe later, I don’t really fancy visiting the cave of the lion just yet.”
“Cave of lion? What is lion?”
“Just some wild animal described in old Goner books. You should know, you got them for me to read!”
“Getting books and reading them very different things are. Thought you learnt by now.”
Val laughed.
“There smelly creatures in cargo hold, two Split, four Teladi. What do with them?”
“Oh no, not more prisoners. This station is soon going to turn into a prison in. Who is it?”
“They are the crew of the captured corvette. The Argon government has put a rather large bounty on the heads of four of them.” Arox responded. “Perhaps you want to contact Ban Dana?”
“Sounds like a plan. Can you see if he is available?”
After a brief moment Arox reported back. “It appears he is in a meeting but will contact you once it has finished.”
“Thanks. So what …”
The door opened and Bola Ti entered the room.
“Hello Bola, don’t tell me you couldn’t sleep either.”
“No, I already had a sufficient amount of sleep because I rested early. The queen wishes to speak to me and requests that I go on a journey to Kingdom End.
The door opened again and Tagor looked around the room. “Meeting of insomniacs or are you throwing a party without inviting me?”
“We felt you could under no circumstances miss out on your beauty sleep.” Arox responded.
“Well thank you for that. You are lucky that you don’t have to see yourself in the mirror every tazura. Cheeky git.” Tagor laughed. “So what is happening?”
“Oh just the usual.” Val started. “Arox got herself in trouble.”
“I didn’t start it.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Did not.”
“You never accept that when I make such a claim.”
“That is because I am always there but you weren’t.”
“Exactly, you could tell us anything. So why did you attack them again?”
“I did not attack. They shot first.”
“Now girls, I really enjoy this, but would somebody please enlighten me?”
Arox switched on one of the lights focussing the beam on Tagor. “Better now?”
“Very funny.” Tagor joined the laughter of the others.
“Well, as you can see, Arox is pretty proud of her achievement. She captured the corvette of Ra t’Knk and captured the crew.”
“Wow.”
“Oh, he has lost his ability to communicate again.” Arox commented.
“So where is it now? What are you going to do with it?”
“The ship is parked outside the station. We will repair it and use it for sector defence. Together with Ashoka it should make a very fast and efficient unit.”
“Exactly, that means you won’t get one.”
“You are a spoil sport, Arox.”
“Yes, and good at it, too.”
“Anyway, now that we are all here, might as well make plans for the next few tazuras.” Val said and, seeing Tagor’s quizzical glance, she continued. “The Queen of Boron has requested Bola Ti’s presence in Kingdom End. So I am going to take him there. You guys are free to tag along or stay here, or do you have other plans?”
“What with the prisoners?”
“Arox’ latest ‘acquisition’ is going to be taken to your dad. There is a nice bounty on some of these chaps and we believe they are more securely kept in Argon prisons than in those of the Boron or any other race for that matter.”
“Sounds about right. And the three pilots?”
“Hmm, we should talk to them. Bola, you go and get ready. We just quickly take care of this.”
“But Bola is ready, all packed and ready to go.” The Boron scientist responded.
“Oh, you are further than we are then. Alright, then give us five mizuras to sort this out.”
========
When they entered the room that served as a prison, the three pilots sat at a table and played cards. Val could not help but notice how much their appearance had changed. Nothing was left of the confidence they eradiated when she had seen them for the first time. Despite being provided with sufficient food, all of them had lost weight. Surprise reflected n in their eyes. After all these wozuras, they had already given up hope seeing anybody ever again. Slowly they turned to face Val and her friends.
“Hey guys. Sorry for the long isolation. It was not my intention to leave you in this room for so many wozuras but unfortunately your friends would not leave us in peace. Needless to say that all attempts on our lives have failed.” Val began.
Jasso looked from one to the other. “What do you want from us? Are you going to kill us or hand us over to sector security? Whatever it is, just get on with it, nothing can be worse than spending a life in boredom, as we do right now.”
“Well, that is why we are here. Handing you over to the authorities was an option we considered. However, if it had been my intention to see you dead I’d not gone through the hassles of capturing you.”
The three pilots just looked at her. Per twitched slightly.
“You guys are no doubt among the best pilots I have ever seen. I wondered if you didn’t want to work for me.”
“What makes you believe that we would not run first chance we get? Or what would stop us trying again to blast you out of space?”
“Obviously that is a risk that I’d have to live with. But then again, Jasso, I have seen your file and know that you are a man with integrity. As far as I can see, for you the reason to leave the military were difficulties with the command structure and obviously bad pay.”
“Military? You have been at the military?” Reg asked? “You never told us that!”
Jasso just shrugged.
“Hasn’t he? Well, Jasso was the best pilot the Argon Navy had in the Xenon wars and could have pretty much chosen which post he wanted to take next. Instead he decided to fake his death and went into hiding.” Val explained. “In fact, the Argon military did not find out until you decided to attack me. Ok, let me rephrase that, until our paths crossed.”
“So what do you suggest?” Reg asked.
“I can provide you with fighters and a basic salary. For that, I’d like you to patrol a few sectors for me and keep them clear of pirates. All loot is yours. I understand that this will not get you the market rate you can expect as Kr’ta’s Fist but consider it probation time. To me the safety of these sectors is important.”
“What sort of ships are you intending to give us? Busters or Makos?” Reg said with a shrewd expression.
Val smiled. “Paranid Perseus.”
The three pilots looked at her with wide eyes. “You are kidding, right?”
“No, see it as down-payment. If you do a good job then the ships are all yours.”
“But why would you take the risk?”
“Quite frankly, I need good pilots, very good pilots, in fact. I also believe in giving people a second chance, this is yours.”
“Which sectors do you want us to patrol? Wouldn’t we be exposed to our previous employer?”
“I don’t think they have got much time to spare trying to find you at this point. Ra t’Knk is no longer part of Chin’s strike force. He will be on a prison mine in a short time. So Chin needs to restructure his militia before getting back at us. The sectors I need you to secure are Red Glow and Mi Ton’s Refuge and potentially Ceo’s Doubt.”
“Red Glow? But that is a death trap!”
“For most it is. For us it will act as a base of operations, other than this station. I have plans for the sector and for that I need a strong a reliable defence force. Are you in?”
They looked at each other and nodded. “I don’t think we have much of a choice.” Jasso said.
“Wrong answer.” Val responded. “You either want to work for me or you don’t. If you see it as a means of getting out of this room then you will be of no use for me. If you can see that this venture can be beneficial for all of us, then I want you to take the job. Think about it. We will be back in a few tazuras. Croma here,” Val pointed at the tall Paranid, “He will look after you, should you accept the proposal.”
With these words they left the room. Val did not completely comfortable. She needed these pilots, they were the best she could get at this point in time and probably among the very best the Universe had to offer. But was it worth the risk?
*
Bola Ti’s meeting with the Queen had taken a long time. Ever since he had been unusually quiet and now, back in Lucky Planets, Val had found out why.
“Aren’t you asking a bit much? A Chip Plant is not exactly the cheapest of all, neither to purchase nor to run. The prospect of just putting a lot of credits into it and not getting anything back is kind of disturbing. Who is going to pay for maintenance? Can’t we simply pick up the chips from your race’s plants?”
Val was aggravated at the thought of pulverising millions of credits by subsidising Boron research, which she may never see any benefits from. Bola Ti had only very hesitantly voiced his request. He was fully aware of the importance of this to his people but also of the huge expense it would mean for Val. But there was no real alternative. It was the only solution that kept them safe and free of potential tempering through outsiders.
“My Queen is prepared to reward you for your assistance.”
“So what, is she going to send some credits my way every mazura or what?”
“No, she offers a station transport ship for your use. As a sign of her gratitude she has put in an order of an Orca TL at the shipyard in Kingdom End. It will only be the basic model but the value of it is substantial. Even more so, you will be aware that independent traders usually find it rather difficult to acquire one to prevent uncontrolled deployment of stations. She made an exception for you.”
Bola Ti made a good effort to sell the generosity of his Queen but he lacked the necessary saurian genes. Still, Val could see the huge advantage of owning one of those ships. It was indeed next to impossible to get hold of one of those ships. Not only was the prohibitively high price a major hurdle, the large number of governmentally operated TL’s made it hard for anybody to justify the need to purchase one. Owning one would provide the opportunity to place stations wherever she felt like, a problem she could see herself facing in regards to her plans. In fact, it allowed her to build stations even in her newly discovered sector and in complete secrecy. All traces would end right where she entered hyperspace.
“Ok, when can we take possession of the Orca?”
“Assembly usually takes one wozura, so it should be complete in three tazuras time. Would you like to go and pick it up?”
“Tempting thought by I’ll pass. I am going to have a couple of TS’ fit with jumpdrives, stocked up with EC’s, Bofu and Silicon wafers and jump over to Kingdom’s End. That way we may be able to act in hiding for a bit longer. Thank goodness for the bounty Arox earned by capturing those pilots.”
Six tazuras later three Dolphins and the Barracuda jumped to Kingdom’s End to land on the newly fabricated Orca. Val had arranged for a Chip plant construction kit to be placed in the cargo hold. During those past tazuras Bola Ti had been busy packing his personal gear and research data. Although not much, it was enough to keep him occupied.
“Arox, can you somehow patch into the station in Red Glow and upload a fail save to three of the stationed Perseus fighters? I don’t want to expose any of us to being potentially ambushed by our three new chaps.”
“Unfortunately that is not possible, we will need to be in the sector, probably in close proximity to the respective ships to accomplish this. The interference in the sector is too great. You should also not forget to change the ship ID so the Paranid don’t know where they come from at first contact.”
“Good point. I am sure this wear off quickly once they realise that the fighters keep going back and forth to and from Red Glow. But it buys us some time. Let’s do that tomorrow. I have also written a program that we can upload to one of the Pegasus scouts. If we install a mineral scanner then this ship could scan all the asteroids in the sector, a job I wouldn’t want to assign any living being to.”
Val left her quarters and went to the main lounge to find Tagor and Croma. “Guys, are you ready to go?”
Both nodded.
“Ok, the shipyard folks have informed me that repairs on the second corvette have been completed. So I suggest you take the Jaguar to go over there, Croma and pick it up. In Red Glow you pick a Pegasus as support vessel of the corvette and the Jag returns to Ashoka, which you can take over there, Tagor. I’ll take the Barracuda and do a quick stop-over in Ianamus Zura to pick up a mineral scanner. You know the coordinates for the station. Start deployment as soon as possible.”
The two made their way to the door.
“Oh, almost forgot. Arox, can you transport Jasso, Per and Reg over to Ashoka? And don’t forget the clothes I bought for them. Thanks.”
*
“Where are we? Which sector is this? There are no stations here?” Bola Ti looked confused. In the distance they could see the Chip Plant being erected.
“This will be your new base, Red Glow.”
Bola let out a shocked scream. “But this sector is cursed. Don’t you know its history?”
“You mean the Boron fleet and all? Yes, see the wrecks over there? Those are the remains. Arox and I managed to contain the threat and by doing so have gained access to a pretty secure system.”
She could see that her words did only mildly console him. Petting Bola on the back, Val added. “Don’t worry, it’ll be as safe as can be. At least you won’t have to worry about assassins. Your station is equipped with top of the line scanners and you will decide which ship gets landing permissions. So chill.”
Bola Ti muttered a few words and then fell silent again.
When they approached the construction site, Val and Bola could see hundreds of little drones whizzing around the station frame. It was an impressive sight. Coordinating all these robots to work in with each other was ingenious. The person or persons who developed that routine should have been used writing the combat routines of fighter drones. Val was certain they could become a force to be reckoned if they could independently coordinate their fight strategy.
After watching for a while, Val turned the Barracuda towards the Paranid station.
*
“So chaps, you think you could spend some time here?”
Jasso, Per and Reg nodded grinning.
“Have you found yourselves some quarters?”
“Don’t think ‘found’ is the right word. Croma assigned three rooms for our use.” Reg gave a wry grin.
“Well, anything must be better than the three of you spending wozuras in the same room.” Val smiled back. Looking through the window of the mezzanine down to the hangar, she added. “I guess you’d like to get into one of these as soon as possible?”
Their faces brightened. “Certainly do.” Reg confirmed.
“Well, give me a few mizuras and you will be able to play with your new toys.” She turned around and walked over to the lift. Sezuras later the three pilots saw her in the hangar walking to one of the Perseus heavy fighters. Some mizuras later she moved to the next one, then the next. After she had finished with the third one she looked up to them and waved them down.
“Your new toys, guys.” Val pointed at the three fighters at her right when they left the lift. “Take them for a spin.” She did not have to repeat the last sentence. As soon as she had spoken the last word Reg started running towards the ship closest to him. The other two sprinted towards the other two fighters.
‘Boys and their toys.’ Val thought. Then she continued patching the other fighters. This was going to take some time.
Several stazuras later Val came out of the last fighter. “I really need to write a script to automate resetting the ship ID. This is just so tedious. What are the guys doing, Arox?”
“They are shadow fighting between the asteroids.”
“You reckon it was the right thing to do?”
“Only time will tell. It certainly was a brave move.”
Val nodded and made her way to the living quarters. She needed some rest. “Arox, can you locate a suitable room for me to get some rest?”
“Cromancketal has already assigned one to you. He is very efficient at that. When you leave the lift turn left and walk towards the end of the hall. It’s the second to from the end on the left side.”
“Thanks.”
Arriving in her room, Val dropped onto the bed and was asleep in a matter of sezuras.
++++++++
“What is it? Can’t I even sleep for a couple of stazuras these tazuras?” Val was woken up by the loud sound of the station alarm. Realising what the noise was she jumped out of her bed, slipped into her clothes and made her way to the command centre. “What is happening, Arox?”
“Well, for starters, you haven’t been sleeping only a couple of stazuras but an entire tazura. Secondly, there is somebody in the sector who you may want to stop from doing any damage. The corvettes and your bodyguards are on an intercept course as we speak.”
“Who is it? Not these annoying Split again?” Val asked while stepping into the command centre.
“No, that’d be harmless. Khaak are approaching the construction site.”
“Not good. When did they turn up? How far has construction progressed? Wait, transport me to the hangar, you can update me in space.”
Val materialised in the large hangar and, after picking up a flight suit from the rack, ran over to the closest Perseus fighter. The pre-flight system check took less than a mizura and the ship left the station. Instead of heading straight for the enemy, Val adjusted the bearing towards a point just north of the construction site. The other ships should be sufficient to deal with the cluster but she needed to make sure nobody got through to the site. Soon Val could see that the battle had started. Space appeared to light up from all the plasma bolts and rays of the Khaak beam weapons. There was no point for her to try and make her way to join in, by the time she’d get there, the battle would be over. So Val just sat back and followed the proceedings on the scanners. Masterfully her small fleet singled out the heavy fighter and reduced it to space dust in very short space of time. It proved to be more difficult to dispatch of all the scouts. Their very high speed made them a hard target and the large number was more than just a nuisance.
“Attention, incoming.”
To her horror, Val saw another red dot materialising at the other side of the constructions site. Powering up the engines she turned the ship and headed for it at top speed.
“What is our weapons load out?”
“Oh, now you ask? Three AIRE and 4 Mosquito missiles.” Arox responded.
“You are kidding, right?” Val paled at the sound of that.
“Actually, I am. Three AHEPT and three BPSG but no missiles.”
“Phew, I can live with the lack of missiles.” Pressing a few buttons, Val changed all guns to BPSG. “You have any idea how far these babies reach?”
“The shockwave dissipates just over 2.5km, which is more of a fire arc than the HEPTs have but still short of that of the Khaak. Optimum efficiency is at approximately 0.7km.”
When Val passed the construction site, the cluster was still 5km away. However, her approach appeared to have been noticed. The cluster broke apart and Val swallowed hard.
“One heavy fighter and 22 scouts.” Arox announced.
“Oh dear. Let’s hope these shockwave thingies are as good as the Paranid claim.”
“The Paranid don’t actually claim anything, well, as far as this weapon goes. In fact, they try to keep them a secret, remember?”
“Right, let me rephrase that. I hope they are as good as the money spent in development would suggest. How’s that?”
“How much did they spend?”
“Oh shut up.” Val laughed. “Here they come.”
The beams of the first scouts made contact with her shields. Val pulled the trigger and large shock waves started to progress towards the incoming ships. The second volley claimed first casualties. Four scouts exploded while another two turned blue.
“Did they just surrender? Can’t see any space suits.”
“Chance of survival in a space suit is relatively low. The shock wave is likely to tear them apart as they eject. But I didn’t notice anybody ejecting either.”
The remaining scouts scrambled around the heavy fighter. For the moment they appeared to be uncertain what to do, and so was the heavy fighter. It was clear, a weapon like the shock wave generators was nothing they were prepared for. Val used this moment of indecisiveness and closed in on their position, guns blazing.
“Attention, energy low.”
“Oops. So they drain the energy banks pretty quickly. I wondered if there was a down-side.” Irregardless, Val pulled the trigger again, as soon as there was sufficient energy available. She had an advantage that she could not afford to lose.
Realising there was no chance for withdrawal the Khaak turned at her again. The strong triple beam of the heavy fighter churned large chunks of energy out of Val’s shields. Wrestling frantically with the stick, she tried to break loose. It took several sezuras until she managed to break the lock.
“Shields at 63%. I don’t think we can afford that much more often. And neither this.” The missile alarm had gone off. It appeared the Khaak were throwing everything they had left at her. In quick succession three missiles hit the Perseus and shook it violently. A look at the shield indicator showed that she had lost another 24%. Spinning the ship randomly around its axes Val opened fire. The expanding shock waves dispatched of the missiles but her focus on the projectiles had opened an opportunity for the enemy ships to press the advantage. The soaring sound or the beams passing by in close proximity and hitting her shields filled the cockpit.
“Shields at 23%. It’s time to fight back.” Arox announced.
Val spun the ship to face the heavy fighter while pulling the trigger at every motion she saw during rotation. The shockwaves would keep the fast scout ships occupied. A quick flick of a button changed the middle gun to AHEPT and she opened up on the large pyramid while charging at it at top speed. The Khaak, however, appeared fully aware of the destructive power of its beam weapon and made no attempt to avoid her fire.
“Shields at 8%.”
As soon as they had passed, both ships spun around. The Perseus, being slightly more agile completed the turn a few sezuras earlier and Val managed to place herself behind her prey. Letting off a few shots that impacted on the fighter’s shields, the missile alert forced her to break her lock. Rotating the ship, Val fired randomly hoping for a lucky shot. The Paranid heavy fighter shook violently when the missile struck.
“Shields at 2%.”
Sweat ran down Val’s body. She blinked and wiped with her hand over her eyes.
“Where is the fighter?” She shouted while changing another gun to AHEPT.
“Almost behind you.”
Val pulled the on the stick and could hear the passing rays of the deadly beam weapon. Still firing randomly, she saw another three scouts explode. She had lost count of how many had gone by now. All Val knew was that there were still too many left to sit back and relax. Again the sound of the beams of the fighter was to hear.
“Shields gone, hull at 97%. Micro fracture in the cargo bay, decompressing now.”
“I’d love to have the time to put on a helmet but somehow I don’t think these guys are allowing for a timeout.” Val mumbled with clenched teeth.
After another 20 straining sezuras she had finally managed to place herself behind the fighter again and opened up with all she had.
“You better make that quick. There are still 6 scouts on your tail and as weak as their beams are, they are strong enough counter the recharge rate of the shield generators and keep eating away on the hull, which is now at 83%.”
“Oh, is that what it is? I wondered why I’d get this sizzling feeling in here.” A grin flashed over Val’s face that left nothing of her attractive features. Fear was written all over it.
The Khaak fighter swirled as good as it could, trying to avoid the incoming fire but the single shock wave emitter kept confusing it enough to avoid breaking the target lock. After a little more than a mizura the ship finally exploded. Instantly Val turned the ship and changed all guns to PSGs again. A few mizuras later another two scouts had surrendered, the other ones exploded.
All tension in Val’s body was suddenly released. She slumped back in the seat and began to cry. While she sat there sobbing, Arox patched into the captured scout ships and directed them to dock with the station. She then guided the Perseus home.
The airlock opened soon after landing and Tagor stepped into the ship. He carefully pulled Val out of her seat and picked her up. The other pilots stood outside and looked puzzled. Their cheering was suddenly silenced by concern.
“What is wrong?” Jasso asked.
“Call it exhaustion.” Tagor responded. “Looking at her ship, I think she had been fearing for her life for quite some time. Mind you, I can’t resent her for it. Fighting such a large cluster on your own in nothing more than a fighter is an experience I can do without. The ship also had vented atmosphere and Val didn’t wear a helmet.”
The others nodded.
“Anyway guys, check the Khaak ships to make sure there is nothing alive in there and then go to the meeting room and fetch some drinks. I think we need to have a look at combat logs.” With these words Tagor moved to the elevator and took Val to her room.
Thanks mate. Have part of next part already written and a few ideas. Will have to see how I am going to develop them.
.. otherwise it will be one dull X-mas (or an opportunity to breath some life into the typing fingers)