Chapter 5

The Tavern was called the Mother Lode and had been chiseled and burned directly into the rock of the asteroid. The floor was made of metal grating placed in metal frames over more rough rock, Something small skittered between the pieces of waste and garbage that had fallen through the slots in the floor.

The bar of the tavern occupied much of the left side of the tavern while a viewport with a good view at one of the Asteroid bases’ mooring arms was on the other side. The shabby looking Tullerman brand 25 meter Dinghy we had used to come here was now moored there next to two much bigger ships and two ugly banged up looking miner tugs. The tavern was filled about to half its capacity with the roughest looking bunch of humans and non humans I had ever seen.

The air was putrid not just because of the strong and alien drinks served and consumed but also of rancid body odors of unwashed and unkempt individuals of a dozen species or more.

As per Har-Hi’s suggestion we had taken the Tullerman ahead of the disguised Tigershark to get a feel of the situation before I made our official entrance.

This would be the first official appearance of Black Velvet and her crew after all. I wanted to see and feel how other Pirate captains talked and acted.

For this Har-Hi and I had disguised ourselves as Freespace Scavengers, a disguise suggested by Sobody. Scavengers were mostly ignored and at the bottom of the feeding order of the galactic space faring community and so it was we were pretty much ignored here on Brhama Port. We had settled down on a quiet table in a corner and nursed our drinks while keeping our eyes and ears open.

Shea and Elfi had done a great job as Har-Hi looked now like a dark red furred Jooltar, a canine species believed to be distantly related to the Attikans.

Unlike the Attikans however they did not live in the Large Magellanic Cloud, but were a small independent species that made their home somewhere in a small sphere of influence beyond the Karthanian Conglomerate. The Jooltar were only briefly mentioned in Xeno Class but as I understood it was generally accepted knowledge that they have stolen most of their technology instead of inventing it. To complete his fur covered body costume complete with an animated bioflex mask, he also wore an outfit that was diced together from several questionable sources and none of the armor and clothing pieces looked new or in good repair. That the costume he chose had to be red was something he insisted upon.

I was made up to look like a black Nogoll wearing a similar set of clothing and equipment pieces over the black fur that covered me from head to toe. Since Nogoll space was not far from here and the black Nogoll had not fared too well in the still very recent Union Nogoll conflict; Sobody said it was a good choice for a costume, as encountering a black Nogoll in Freespace wasn’t unusual.

Har-Hi had dropped a few small Polo coins into a slot next to the table and selected a simple battle strategy game that was now displayed on the table surface. We played it and apparently paid no attention to the surroundings, but we both carried Nano fiber periscope optics and directional microphones. My Nogoll horns carried the optics and the large Nogoll ears the directional audio sensors. Har-Hi was similar equipped and that allowed us to focus in on any conversation and watch without appearing to watch at all. The barkeeper was a three armed Pertharian.

Either his business was not very good or he had other problems saving money for a cybernetic replacement or a re-grow therapy but he tried his best to keep at least the glasses and the bar counter reasonably clean, as he kept polishing glasses whenever he did not serve drinks.

Two more Pertharians came in and sat down at the other end of the taverns guest room. I was around those giants long enough to notice the barkeep was not too pleased to see them and he didn’t speak to them. The atmosphere of the taverns was not very cheerful or very lively, everyone kept to their business and while there was a constant din of voices no conversation was held loud enough to carry far. On a table not far from us were three Oghr, I was not sure of what subspecies, playing a game with dice. They appeared to be miners from one of the asteroid mines in the system.

It wasn’t long after the arrival of the Pertharians when a man with distinctive Dai features appeared. He even wore Dai armor, however his was not red but black and adorned with purple panels. His harness did not carry a clan glyph. He looked around and went straight to the table of the Pertharians. I zoomed in on that table using a sub dermal sensor track on the side of my index finger and rubbing my thumb over it. The other Horn of my bio flex mask contained the latest in NAVINT communication technology, a picto-burst GalCom transmitter and with it I was connected with the Tigershark. So they could see and hear what we did. The images were directly sent to my visual nerve.

Har-Hi whispered and said without moving the jaws of his fierce canine predator mask. “That is a ancient assassins armor suit, the long extinct Mar-Do tribe was famous for those. He wears it in a way that I am certain he knows how to use it, but he is no pure blood Dai from the looks of it.”

Through the crisp optics I saw him placing a complicated folded small piece of paper on the table and one of the Pertharians produced one that matched it.

Hans, who was of course watching the scene back on the Tigershark said to me. “This is a Narly Angularity. The Nul are known to use these complicated three dimensional shapes to identify themselves as members of their intelligence services.”

While I silently acknowledged the half Dai spoke and I could hear every word.

He said to the two giants. “It is quite foolish to dress up like Pertharians. There is hardly a more loyal species to the Union and only a handful ever went astray. There is already one tending the bar and he carries the price of his betrayal openly. His family most likely ripped out that arm and he has enough honor left not to replace it, seeing you with all four arms is not sitting well with him I can tell.”

As it turned out we weren’t the only ones pretending to be someone else. I mused and wondered if there were even more like us and them in this room.

One of the giants spoke. “We are aware of this but our size restricts us to few species we can portray. It is however pleasant to meet you once again, Dimon Honsu. We would not agree to meet anyone else.”

So the Half Dai had a name.

Shea flashed a message over my retina display and it read. “Intel report on Damon Honsu is very sparse, but biometric analysis suggests he is half Dai and half Asian Human. According to our files. He is a Freelancer and occasional assassin. He supposedly has good connections to the Nul.”

I whispered back.”That he has those connections can be confirmed, I’d say.”

Shea agreed and added.”SHIP is certain to 98.99 percent that the voice is created and not natural. Chances are he is not what he appears either.Lt. Senhadjii is analyzing his body language as we speak. Visual Data Analysis on the false Pertharians is more revealing and we are certain these are Nul Agents.”

I acknowledged her report with a blink and focused on the dialog on that table that turned out to be much more than a chance meeting of pirates or freelancers.

The man named Honsu said. “This is Brhama Port, Guys. You could be all yourself, two Nul be less suspicious than two Pertharians. No one around here is a particular fan of the Union and Pertharians are as Union as Terrans.

We could have met in a far nicer venue. Only want to be professionals, amateurs and agents in the cheap Holo novels met in dark bars on some remote Miner Asteroid. Well Brhama is a Miners port, but it has much nicer restaurants and lounges.

“Let us not dwell on our choice of disguise or meeting venue, Mr. Honsu. We are certain you are not always Dimon Honsu to the world either. You do business with us long enough to know that we are no fools.”

The Half Dai sat down, folded his hands on the table and said. “Indeed I know and I am glad you have agreed to meet with me.”

“Because you have been a valuable and quite reliable asset, especially for Union intel, we heeded your invitation and agreed to meet as we too have an agenda we must discuss with you, but for now tell us why you wanted to meet us.”

“I am here to see what the chances are for you to meet with my Kermac contacts.”

The same disguised Nul answered. “We are not interested in meeting the Kermac. For it disgusts us to deal with these squealing, self important, meddling dwarfs. It is true we don’t like the Union but we much prefer them over the Kermac and if the Union ever decides to move against them, we won’t stop them.”

Now the second disguised Nul spoke for the first time. “However there are two recent developments of great concern to us and believe you can help us with the first and we might consider information exchange with the Kermac regarding the other event.”

I had to remind myself to move my piece and keep pretending to play as the conversation went on.

Honsu said. “Can you be more specific?”

The second Nul answered. “The First Gray born Nul in decades has disappeared. Grays, you must know are of tremendous importance to us. Decades can pass without one being born, and sometimes even centuries. Whenever a Gray is born an important event is about to take place, it always has been so. Sixteen Nul cycles ago a Gray One was born and not just to any family pod but he was the first offspring come to the plane of life from the loins and line of our Wise Leader. This event was hailed as tremendous omen. The Gray One was to be our next leader and he was trained in all things. The Gray One exceeded all expectations. He was stronger and easily learned all that was put before him and all Nul rejoiced as he would be our second ruler in all Nul history that is an All Gray.

The other Nul chimed in and explained further. “We are a very violent race and made ourselves almost extinct in seven great wars. Seven wars that destroyed our civilization and reduced our home world to a lifeless planet covered in ashes. Out of these ashes rose the first Gray one, the greatest leader and ruler. He prevented us from doing that again.Now a new one is born to us and all Nul-Nul knows there will be a great chance and challenge for us on the horizon.”

The other disguised Nul grunted in agreement. “The path to Nul leadership has many stations and elements. The most important one is the Purification Bath in the Holy Ashes of Narl Gatu, the ashes of our first Civilization. To do so, the Gray prince entered the purification sleep and was sent aboard the Narl Tompe Barge on his way to Narl Gatu. The prince never arrived.”

The first Nul spoke with agitation in his voice.

“The Nul Realm left no trace unchecked and we came to the conclusion he had been abducted, captured by pirates or freelancers daring enough to infiltrate Nul space. We know he is still alive and somewhere in Freespace and we will pay you whatever price you demand if you find our Prince. You have six month to find him. After that we will search for him and no planet and no asteroid will be spared in our search. Of course that would mean the end of the Freespace treaty and war.”

I held my breath under the warm fur mask and for a moment forgot to play the game. There was the potential of Intergalactic war discussed on a shabby table inside a low class tavern somewhere deep in Freespace.

The man in the dark Dai armor said. “I will do my best to find him. If he is alive and in Freespace I am sure I can find him.Captured Nul are always news.”

The Half Dai played with the folded paper thing and added. “Could he not been taken by the Shiss or the Union?”

“The possibility that it was the Shiss is still considered and if we find evidence it is so, then we will increase our efforts to unprecedented levels to annihilate all that is Shiss.”

Again the second Nul participated in the conversation saying: “While it is not completely impossible that it had been done by the Union, it is not how they operate usually. As they much rather test our resolve with entire fleets and probing our strength by provoking large scale skirmishes. The Union respects us, we know. They however do not fear us. Agitating us by abducting the prince is simply not their style.”

“I will keep my eyes and ears open, if there is a Nul warrior kept prisoner or sold in Freespace I should be able to hear about it. Can I ask how you know he is still alive and in Freespace?”

“It must be so. The Seer of Narl Gatu said we have six month before our Prince, who according to the Seer is in a strange land will transform forever. The seer was brought to the last position we knew the prince was and the Seer pointed towards Freespace”

Now the first Nul spoke again. “Our leader believes that the Prince is transformed from being alive to being dead.”

The Half-Dai snorted and made an amused facial expression as he said. “I thought your investigation was done with sensors and tracing engine trails. You place too much trust in a Seer. I know a thing or two about Psionicsand no Psionic gift can predict the future. Maybe he simply went off course and burnt up exiting Quasi Space too close to a sun?”

The first Nul in his disguise said raising his voice. “The Seer of Narl Gatu is not a Psionic user. We Nul have no talent or use for Psionics. But the Seer is no mere Nul and he has been with us since we Nul rose from the Ashes of Narl Gatu. The Seer has always been correct, always!”

If he Nul was correct, then this Seer was among the oldest living beings, perhaps older than even Deepa.

Honsu did not respond to that but waved to the Barkeeper and ordered Thil. I knew Thil was a watery, weak beer like drink and I moved a game piece not even knowing if it was my turn and kept listening.

The Half Dai said to the disguised Nul agents. “Let us talk about the second event then. The one you mentioned could make you consider a meeting with the Kermac.”

“We like to make it clear that we only agree to an information exchange, nothing more. I personally would rather join the Union than deal with these meddlers.”

Honsu shrugged and said. “I am only the enabler, I make the connection. The Kermac have asked me to make contact with the Eye of Narl. What you then discuss or agree upon concerns me not.”

The first Nul said. “The Golden are no longer neutral. As small as this civilization appears to be, they have considerable technology, immense knowledge and contacts to species and civilizations none of us have heard off. Their resources might even equal those of any of the Big Four.”

Honsu put down the mug he had just received and waved his hand. “Are you sure this is correct information? The Golden are synonymous with neutrality and have been so for eons. Have they decided to join and side with the Kermac?”

“We are surprised you have not heard of it, Damon Honsu. The Golden have applied for Union membership and it has been granted just a few days ago much faster than this process usually takes, they are full members of the Union. We just received message from our envoys at Pluribus the message traveled per GalNet to Bokta World a Union outpost where we maintain a trading post and was then transmitted via Myon Corresponder to Natu Tothour throne world. Since we do not have the benefit of instantaneous messaging as the cursed Union all this it happened about four to five weeks ago.”

The voice of the Half-Dai was no longer sounding as certain as he had before as he said. “Could it be a trick, propaganda or false information? Sobody the First Merchant would never agree to something like that.”

“Would we be here and consider a meeting with the Kermac if it was a trick? Sobody the First Merchant never made a secret of his admiration for the Terrans and according to our source he has retired. A delegation of Golden Elders is still on Pluribus. We try to gather more details, but we know the entire Golden fleet has already been turned over to Union Fleet control and we know from reliable sources that the first Golden Spheres have been seen on their way to Ross 128 to be fitted with Translocator Cannons, no doubt.”

Honsu cursed. “Violent gravitons, Gantoor’s ghost be damned, Golden Spheres are not far behind their battleships and Golden sensors are second to none.”

“This is not just a one planet society joining the Union. This is as historic as the Klack making that decision.”

The second Nul spread his upper arm pair. “Not to mention that we have information that the Narth are now active Union members and even sharing some of their technology. With all this they might listen to their Warrior Admiraland attack and be done with all Kermac and perhaps all that is Nul once and for all.”

Honsu leaned back. “It is true, the Narth are suddenly an active member. They have strengthened that cursed PSI Corps, and no spy, mole or traitor is safe from their powers.”