Chapter 22

ROHGOR

Former Commander Roghor had been shown to very nice quarters. Everything inside that Karthaninan armed merchant was gleaming, bright and appeared to be brand new. That everything was of the finest Union tech, there was no doubt. The Dai XO showed him the hygiene facilities and the controls of the Vari matic bed. “Tomorrow I expect you to be at class. SHIP will inform you and show you where to go. The first step is Union class, Mr.Roghor. Since we picked up quite a few strays since we started this journey, you are not the only student.”

Roghor thanked the Dai and said.”Thank you, Dai.”

“I am Lt. Hi while in uniform and on duty and Har-Hi when I am not. I suggest you take it slow, this ship can be overwhelming.”

“I begin to see that. Who knew I end the day instead of being doomed to die, or a renegade outlaw on a Union ship.”

Har-Hi turned to the door.”What about your son?”

“He will suffer much humiliation and may be incarcerated but I hope he won’t be executed.”

“Your daughter will be fine, you are certain?”

“She is female, if she denounces me she should be fine.”

Har-Hi said.”Come with me Commander. I think you need to pick out your offspring from the rest of the sleeping cats. We might have to keep them in stasis till we can sent them Union side, but you are quite correct. There is a small Togar community living safe and free.”

“I am a Commander no more, Lt.Hi, but I am deeply grateful for your offer.”

“Like our Captain said, I think you might eventually regain that rank. Beings of all kind are accepted in our Academies.”

“Your academies? Your last syllable reveals your tribe and by carrying it with your name, you must be related to the tribe leader himself. There is no mightier tribe than the Hi Dai.” He paused only a moment.”That terrible battle between Union and Dai is not to long ago, were you not treated like an enemy?”

“Yes there were moments, as I was the first Dai to join the Academy, but only by very few cadets.The Union does not look at your origin or your past.It doesn’t matter if you were an enemy of the Union before or not.” Har-Hi showed the cat how to use the Auto dresser and then gestured to the door.”Let us sort out your offspring before we reach Kaliment.”

The Togar looked down himself.”Auto Dressers are just one of the many things I heard, Union citizens take for granted and now I am wearing a Union fleet uniform.”

“Most of the time I am taking Union tech for granted, but when I am confronted with Dai tech, I too realize how advanced we are in so many things.”

They walked past the Nul prince, who was in conversation with a beautiful female thin being. Roghor said.”The rumors are true then, the Nul are Union.”

“Not yet, Roghor, but all indications point to that very likely possibility.” Har-Hi added.”If Nul and Dai are welcome, I assure you, Togar will be too.”

Roghar wanted to say something else, but his voice failed him as he saw the female Togar that was just stepping out of an elevator. She wore a white dress and had all white fur. In an absolute immaculate way, she was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. He dropped to his knees, even before he realized doing it.”The Holy White Fur!” There was no doubt in his mind, no question at all. “This was no trick, no dyed or bleached fur. This was indeed the daughter of the Light spirit.

He bowed deeply.

“Raise please, Togar warrior. I am not to be worshipped, besides I am Togar no more. Outcast and hunted for the white fur I was born in.I am Cadet Grotha, Union citizen and I am in training to become a Med tech, nothing more and nothing less.”

He did slowly raise to his muscular hind legs.”I am Roghor, and nothing else anymore, but my eyes and days are blessed for seeing you.”

“Incorrect, you are Roghor and nothing less. You will find a place in this crew and more.”

KALIMENT

I stood next to my command seat and asked Elfi.”How soon will GalNet be possible?”

“We will be able to pick up GalNet, near Itheamh again. However neither Kaliment nor N’Ger are anywhere near enough to pick up GalCom or GalNet.”

I feared as much.

“Anything in sensor range, Mr. Narth?”

“No artificial contacts within sensor range.” “Mr. Ndebele, disregard our disguise imposed limitations. You got your wish, go as fast as we can. We have very important news we need to convey. Krabble get us anywhere within GalNet reach.”

Shaka responded with an enthusiastic.”Aye, captain, I can get us within range in less than ten minutes. That is still safe cruising speed captain.”

I acknowledged.”Let her loose, Shaka.”

Just as Shaka predicted, it took just about nine minutes, when Elfi reported that we could now send and receive Galnet.

She established a secure GalCom connection to Fleet command and to the Admiral of the Fleet directly.

This time he was not only presentable but apparently at the Assembly. He wore his uniform and in the background I could see the many of the alcoves that lined the inner wall of the Assembly dome.

He gave me a quizzing look. His first words were “Do I need to sit down?”

“Sir, I am not able to judge your reactions on the report I am about to give, the reason for my call is very urgent.”

“Let me establish secure conditions. I am in the spatial navy alcove at the Assembly and it will just take a second.”

The view behind him changed to a solid wall and he nodded. “Let me have it.”

After I was done and had transmitted the detailed report he said with open concern in his voice. “I am informing Richard right away. Does your new Togar crew member know where it is exactly?”

“No, he only knows it is somewhere close to Brhama port, but it has to be within the system and maybe that key the Golden have might be able to activate it. I also still have the device that might be one of the keys to activate it. The miner I met there also hinted that there is more advanced alien tech inside that asteroid.”

“There are more fires burning in Freespace than even I considered. Knowing all this, I should have built two Tigersharks.” He then shook his head.”Finding another crew like yours, impossible.”

“Sir do you want me to return and try to find that backdoor?”

“I need to discuss this with Richard and the security council. Stay in GalNet range and I call you back as soon as I can give you an answer.

It did not take long, the Admiral called back within the hour.

“Captain Olafson, continue with your quest for now. We have the KELPI data and we are sending another Chimera unit to investigate. We have issued a general alert and increased patrol and scanning activity in all Union space.

As for the load of Togar you have aboard, if you can’t get rid of them at Kaliment we think of something.

For now keep on doing what you are doing. The prime objective is still the same, find that Seenian depot if it indeed exists, reduce the bad people population of Freespace. Finally Keep your eyes and ears open for...” He sighed and made wide gesture, “for everything I guess. You and your crew, that keeps expanding in the most unusual ways I might add, keeps running into situations we never knew existed.”

“Aye Sir. Keeping our eyes open and run into situations. I think we can do that.”

It was just a few hours after the call. We were close to Kaliment when Mao reported the familiar signatures of the Red Dragon and the Intruder on our scanners. Just twenty one light years from our destination Circuit’s prediction came true. The Intruder drifted dead in space.

Circuit came on the bridge. “I knew she would run out of fuel, but I did not expect the engineers of the Intruder to be that bad. Looks like the leaking plasma was not completely vented and caused a plasma fire. I bet their engineering compartment is a mess right now.”

Mao responded without turning. “I take that bet, because I think it might always been a mess.”

Elfi held up her hand. “Captain, the Red Dragon is hailing.”

Har-Hi handed me my mask.

Moments later the Red Dragon appeared on our main screen. “Looks like you managed to shake the Togar. My friend Captain Meateater did not think we see you again.”

“Life is full of surprises. That we would find him halfway between Alvor’s Cove and Kaliment however is not. Looks like your companion ran out of fuel just outside of any fuel source, but then I am sure it was a planned safety precaution, to prevent that plasma fire from spreading.”

“Your sarcasm hurts, Black Velvet but I have to say I am getting a little annoyed myself.”

“Are we going to belong on Kaliment?”

“No, just a day or two. Meateater needs fuel and some emergency patch work so he can limp to Itheamh. There are shipyards and professional engineers. We decided to skip N’Ger.”

“Are we still have this meeting you invited me or is it off the table and I go back to business as usual?”

“Of course it is still going to happen, meet us in three weeks at the Rifatah tavern just outside of Mirhth, the capital city on Itheamh.”

“I assume it is easy to find?”

“Yes, it is. It is famous. If you stick around till we can make it to Itheamh, I show you where it is myself. You would not have spare parts for a Shankar drive and a good engineer by any Chance?”

“No, I have Isah Pods as you know, not that I even know what a Shankar drive is.”

The masked pirate sighed.” Me neither. It is apparently the critical part of Meateaters engines. I guess we do have to wait till an associate of mine arrives from Kaliment. My tractors have been over strained and unfortunately my engineers are unable to recalibrate it.”

“It seems you need engineers that can service that fancy ship of yours.”

His voice had an edge of anger. “You stating the obvious is not helpful, but I intend to remedy that soon.”

“See you at Kaliment then?”

“Yes, unless you are willing to tow Meateater.”

The unsavory Oghr captain chimed in.”I open fire if that offense attaches her tractors on my ship.”

“I just about had it with you. One more insult and I attach something on that heap of garbage that makes any further tractor attempts quite mood.”

Red Dragon sighed.”Be civil Meateater, you are not irreplaceable, but he is my closest associate so I tend to be a little protective of him.” To me he said.”See you at Kaliment.”

I leaned forward and all friendliness had left my voice. “Make no mistake, Red Dragon. I am interested in that endeavour, but one more insult of you or that unwashed goon with his flying waste dump and you standing up for him, and the deal is off. I am not a little girl waiting with held breath for the big boys. Try me Red Dragon, if you think I am not serious.

I didn’t wait for a response and had Elfi cut transmission.

I didn’t see much of Kaliment the first time I had come here. I was wearing a Togar costume, sitting in a windowless passenger compartment of a Poodle with two horny Togar males lusting after me, not a pleasant trip. Mother Superior and I didn’t even spend more than three hours on the planet before we left for Netlor.

Shaka asked.”Where do you want to touch down, Karthanian or Togar side? Both sides have a space ports.”

“Call the Karthanian side for landing instructions, Elfi. Shaka we take the Karthanian side, we got a load of Togar and it seems a Togar bounty on our head.”

Hans said.”Our newest crew member is requesting to address you, Captain. It appears he too is listening to bridge conversations.”

“Access granted.”

The former Togar commander came out of the left IST, in company of Cateria. It was obvious he was impressed and took in the details. He was a command officer and had spend a considerable time on Togar bridges, so his curiosity was more than understandable.

Cateria said.”Roghar could not believe that you are open to every crew members suggestions.”

I got up from my seat and said.”It is a policy, I am especially glad about, Mr.Roghar. We do have a few moments for certain, why don’t you tell me what is on your mind.”

“May I voice a suggestion, Captain?”

“Of course, this is not a Togar ship. Gender has no meaning in terms of social ranking.”

“I was fortunate to see the Goddess with the white fur and learned that she is a content Union officer, but I wanted to address that Togar bounty on Jolai and that standing order to search your vessel.”

“Yes?”

“Since this is an Union ship, could your superiors not simply broadcast, that they captured the Swift Profit, while he was raiding some Union colony or ship, and your news broadcast the news of a freed Togar female qith white fur, now becoming an Union citizen? No Togar ship will dare to go there. Our queen might try some diplomatic trickery, but that is all she can do.”

I smiled and said to no one in particular.”This policy of everyone voicing their ideas works out even better than I dreamed. As soon as we are in GalCom or GalNet range, I will ask Command to make this announcement, thank you Mr. Roghar. This is quite a simple yet brilliant solution to a mounting problem.”

Cateria said.”See? Our captain is many things but she always means what she says.”

“Gee thanks, Cateria. Almost sounds like sarcasm.”

“Just a tiny bit, captain. I meant no disrespect, just hinting at the many sides of you, I am discovering.”

I grinned.”Well, you were never shy speaking your mind.”

To the Togar I said.”So what do you think about my bridge?”

“It is in many ways exactly as I imagined a Union ship bridge would look like and yet I am not really prepared for seeing one. It is much less cluttered than a Togar command center.” He looked around.”What I do not understand is why it is on top of the ship and not deep inside.”

Har-Hi answered for me. “I wondered that myself at the first time, but Union designers build ships with Translocators in mind. Translocator bombs detonate deep inside a ship. Union ship bridges can separate and either act as a life boat and or a Captain’s Yacht as in the case of this ship.”

I waited a moment for him to process that.”Translocators, there is not a more frightening word to all non Union shipmasters, I can attest to this.”

“I can imagine, but since we are almost at Kaliment, how will I go by letting your crew go?”

“Simply land and let them out. They will immediately report to the local command and you will be contacted and receive your reward.”

“And I better land on Karthanian side, right?”

“Yes.”

Shaka “Two minutes to outmost orbit.

I returned to my command seat and said.”You are welcome to remain Mr.Roghar.”

Then I concentrated on the task at hand, we entered a non union system with potential hostile elements. So as usual we dropped out of Quasi at the outermost orbit of Kalha system and checked out the situation before getting closer. There was steady traffic, for one the planet was indeed rich in Kalimun and it was contested by two spacefaring societies that did not like each other much. There were eight planets, a nice GIII type star, planetoids, moons and asteroids. According to our scanner results four planets were occupied, including Kaliment.

Sodoby explained the unusual situation on that planet to everyone, most was the same I received from Mother Superior, but Sodoby added some interesting details.

Kaliment was also a traffic hub of sorts. From it you could travel to Katharian controlled worlds that allowed visitors. Visit Togar worlds and reach many of the Oghr kingdoms. Clipper ship services offered passages to Netlor, Alvor’s Cove, N’Ger and to places Downward virtually unknown to the Union. One could buy Kalimun and sell it for profit somewhere else. Both societies maintained large mine camps on their side of the planet and both sides used slaves.

The Togar mines were called the Never Warm mines, the original destination of our White Togar and the ones on Karthanian side were known as the Monglor mines.

Elfi made contact with the Karthanian port control and received landing instructions.

Everyone on the bridge was busy. Mao fed sensor data to Hans and Shea. My big Saturnian compared the signatures and visuals with his data banks while Shea analyzed them for energy and material composition. Narth and Ensign Fifcher were using the Leedei Psi equipment. Elfi and SHIP shifted through millions of communications for key phrases and conversations.

Krabbel was putting escape trajectories on a close selection pool, in case we had to leave very fast.

Roghar whispered. “My children, all of Togar need to see this. This glimpse into Union ship operations show your true strength.”