Part 8: INTERLUDE: SWYBAR

Swybin had not planned to leave that fast, it turned out that he lifted off with two Oromarl technicians still aboard. The two had caused quite some damage and fought to the last breath. They spaced crates of valuable Mil Tech, including the P Bomb, before he and his robots could overcome them. Most notably it was them who blew up the Translocator cannon and causing hull damage to his beautiful ship.

He and his mysterious companion had finally crossed into Freespace. No Union ship could follow them there. Just a day ago they reached Karthania itself. The xenophobic engineers let them dock inside a rental hangar above the main planet of the Karthanian Conglomerate.

Karthanians openly declared to be neutral and stayed out of the politics and quarrels of the Big Four, but everyone knew they didn’t like the Union much and did not allow anyone not Karthanian to set foot on one of their planets.

His mysterious friend, first believed to be an agent of the worm, had changed his appearance and name once again and arranged for this hangar.

His associate no longer looked human but appeared to be Karthanian, Swybin no longer tried to figure out if this was indeed the real form or name or just another disguise and identity of his mysterious companion. The former Union admiral had no illusions, the man was dangerous, very dangerous. It was obvious the had great resources and contacts to powers and entities the Union did not even really know of.

The man treated him respectful and promised him that this would be a good place to sell some of the Union tech in return for favors and repairs. He also knew places where to recruit and train a decent crew. After all the Red Dragon was not really a one man ship. It needed a crew and a base of operations. His plans to go to Pluribus had chanced. His now Karthanian appearing companion told him, that the PSI Corps was out in force and Pluribus for all its size and population density would not be a safe place while the best Psi Talents hunted for his specific psionic mental pattern. Rumors spread fast, that a geat number of Narthhad joined the PSI Corps. Bad apples, criminals and spies were exposed and arrested in great numbers. These same rumors sources also reported about hundreds of arrests and trials; of courts and military tribunals operating around the clock. He had no illusion many would be spared an execution, and unlike his’ those would not be faked.

Without the Kermac agent, they had no access to military grade PSI tech. Returing to Union space was not a safe option until he could make concrete plans as how to carry out his revenge.

While Karthanian engineers worked on the damaged hull and added plating and shapes to camouflage and change the unique shape of the Dragon. Karthanian Tech was TL 7 at best, they could not replace or repair the lattice foam Ultronit armor, and had no technical solutions to counter psionics at all.

He didn’t like Karthanians to look so close over his ship. As it had a few surprises and tech solutions that weren’t even Union fleet standard. It was his only and his last trump card. However he did not have all that much choice and so far his companion’s council turned out to be all right.