Chapter 11: Not a Simple Stop

About ten armed Trontigmakader entered the tavern, led by an insectoid in a flashy bright blue and white armor of some kind.

“The four Masters declared martial law until we can determine who released the Cleanser beasts from their hold. This place has been identified as a meeting place of the Discrepant Element. You are all considered potential collaborators, perhaps even supplying weapons to these criminals. You are...”

A high pitched humming voice screamed from somewhere else. “The Four must fall so the Fifth can rise again!”

The voice was immediately followed by a laser blast burning a hole in the head of one of the soldiers.

Again chaos ensued this time with soldier firing at what appeared to be rebels of some kind and the pirates caught in the crossfire.

The Trontigmakader soldiers fired at anything that moved., another group of locals that had suddenly appeared behind the bar returned fire.

The pirates, three of Lia’s and two of Sandovahl’s men had already been hit, and most likely fatal. The rest had scrambled for cover and returned fire.

In all this chaos and confusion, the disguised Union officers and crew members acted according to their training. There was no panic, no erratic behavior.

But it was Har-Hi who was not sure what he should do. In this moment he realized just how much they all, including him, relied on the Captain. He had found cover behind a overturned table and wanted to call her, but he wanted to tell her what he was about to do. The most logical approach was to return to the ship and stay out of whatever local affair this was. However, the spy drone he had launched showed more troops approaching along with alien battle robots and several tanks with large cannons. Erica would risk planetary war and of course, abandon the quest to save them.

Despite being well armed there was no chance they could fight their way through a full infantry assault force. He could, of course, ask Erica to send landing tanks and marines, but that would not only blow their cover but in effect start a war against the Trontigmakader.

He could also fight the rebels or whatever those civilians were, but that too was in effect a declaration of war and there was no guarantee the troops would stop and not arrest or kill them anyway.

The other pirates had not put any restrains on their actions and joined the firefight.

The uniformed troops had been reduced to eight. The pirate weapons were much more powerful then the laser weapons the locals used and easily defeated the troops armor.

Neither the soldiers nor the rebels used shields, but several of the pirates had shield belts, as of course, his disguised marines had. The two Petharians had formed a living cover where the rest of the Tigershark was taking cover.

So far none of his crew had fired, waiting for his commands.

Oh Erica, what should I do and tell you? Every fiber in his body wanted to cut loose and show those two-legged bugs what it meant to stand against a Dai Warrior

Shea rendered with stoic coolness first aid to the wounded, including the Zoran warrior and ignored the laser blasts and chaos around her.

One of the civilian Trontigmakader darted across the room, evading two potshots of the remaining troopers and dove right next to Har Hi and he hummed. “Fight with us if you want to live, there are more many more troops on the way and they will level this place with heavy weapons. They will make no prisoners and do not care who you are.”

The surviving troopers scrambled to the door. Har-Hi was certain there would be a barrage of heavy weapons any moment now.

“So be it, we fight but we need a strategy and I need to inform the captain.”

Derek at one of the windows said. “They are bringing robots and tanks.”

“Come with us and we show you the same way we came in, to escape.”

Har-Hi made up his mind. “Alright!”

He signaled his friends to follow the Insectoid while he and Sandovahl covered their retreat behind the bar.

There was an open trap door.

Har-Hi watched the retina image of his spy drone as the tanks assumed firing position, turrets turning...

He was the last diving head first into the hole as the tavern above them was obliterated by ground shaking explosions.

He caught the foothold of a crude ladder attached to the walls of this deep shaft, as a shower of debris pelted his back and a burning hot wave of air singed his exposed skin.

Ignoring the pain he climbed as fast as he could further down.

Along with more rocks, pieces of concrete he dropped into a narrow and dark corridor.

A Petharian grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him past him as a man-sized piece of debris came crashing down, impacting with a shattering crash into the Petharian.

The massive warrior brushed dust and some dark colored blood from his head. “Sorry for manhandling you like this, but my head had a better chance against that piece of crete than yours.”

“You saved my life.Are you injured?”

“Not much more than as during our last Steel container kick match, Sir. I have a strong feeling our Captain will be very jealous.”

Har-Hi and the Petharian scrambled to catch up with the others and all he could say, “Jealous?”

“She missing all this action, Sir.”

Har-Hi grinned, “You got a point, there. I better call her now.”

–-””--

It was the first time I was actually angry at Har-Hi. He should have called the ship at the first sign of trouble and let me decide what course of action we are to take. He just finished his report and I was tempted to reprimand him right there and then, but that was not me. He was my first mate and made decisions and I would do my best to help him and deal with the situation. I still planned to talk to him about it in private.

“I send Narth and Ms.Noleii to get you home. The situation smacks just like our last big problem, rebels against the government.”

“We can’t get our right away. We are with other pirates and with the rebels. I try to separate us as soon as possible.”

Red Dragon called next. He was, despite his mask quite obviously agitated and said.”I lost seven of my crew to an attack of vicious beasts and Three were arrested by local authorities. The Celestial Nightmare lost four. I hear Lia, Sandovahl and some of your guys are on the run. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.”

“I am unable to go give you any answers. I haven’t left the ship since we met.”

He grunted something.”Alright, I try to find out what is going on. Stay put!”

“Our mutual support arrangement died a while ago, I am in this now for business reasons alone. Members of my crew are involved and in danger. I am not sitting back and let things happen.”

“I call you back.”

I rushed to the bridge and said.”SHIP, Battlestations. All available senior officers to the bridge.”

“Aye captain.”

As I reached my command seat, Elfi sat down behind her communications console and said.”Captain, I have Lt. Bergdorf standing by.”

“Put him on.”

“Captain, the Red Dragon did not leave his ship, but there is activity underneath the Uhuin. Request permission to investigate.”

“Permission granted but stay at a safe distance, there is a situation here, I need to sort out.”

He acknowledged and I asked.”Anything on the official channels of what is going on?”

Elfi put her headset on and checked her readouts.”TheOther is in the comm-lab right now, to work on a detailed report, Captain. It appears there is a rebel or dissident group advocating the reinstalment of the fifth. It is not clear yet what policy or changes the fifth represents. The officials believe it was the Discrepant Element who released a herd of so-called Cleanser Beasts.”

Narth had taken Shea’s position. “There is no Union reference regarding this life form.”

Sobody said.”It is an extremely dangerous lifeform. It has been breed by the Wutohf as a very bloody means of crowd control and similar situations. The Cleanser Beasts, unfortunately, are a big commercial success for the Wutohf and traded all over the galaxy.”

Elfi nodded and continued. “These Cleanser Beasts tore through a local market and bar district. Other news reports that a tavern in the same district has been destroyed by heavy ordinance. The authorities claim the situation is now under control and the Cleanser Beasts either contained or killed.”

Mao was next.”Captain, there is a considerable force of armed surface ships and fliers approaching from the east and another one from the open sea.”

This was getting more and more convoluted, and I still had no idea what was really going on.

Part of me wanted to have Narth teleport me to Har-Hi, but then the situation was swiftly escalating and my place was on the bridge.

Har-Hi, his shipmates and the other pirates had followed the Trontigmakader of the Discrepant Element, through a labyrinth of reeking sewers and what appeared to be a network of flood control tunnels.

The natives rushed them on and urged them to keep up a fast pace.

One of them hummed.”If the Enforcers of the Four find out we escaped, they open the tide gates and flood the sewers and flood pipes.”

So they slushed through reeking liquids for quite a while and must have covered several clicks before they emerged on the surface. The sewer pipe had become an open runoff. The Trontigmakader leading the sizeable group up the steep sides.

Har-Hi was glad they finally reached fresh air. He looked around to situate himself. Behind them was the tunnel entrance to the sewers and beyond that the skyline of the alien city. The filthy water coming out of that tunnel trickled down the shoreline and into the river delta. From here he could see the watery spaceport and the spaceships in the distance. He instantly recognized the shape of the Silver Streak, even though the local sun was setting and nightfall was fast approaching. He remembered that this world had no moons, so it most likely would be a very dark night.

The spaceport and the ships were the focus of two large military forces. Thousands of fliers, boats with spotlights. His sharp eyes identified infantry troops and robots on barges and boats.

There was no way he could see approaching the ships without being seen. Narth and Brana could teleport them of course, but exposing their psionic talented assets to the other pirates was not something the captain or he wanted to risk at that time. If one of the pirates recognized Brana as a Delicate or the Narth, all pretense was out the door.

The other side of the path they were on became a steep hillside with many primitive houses glued to its side.

That this was the city part of the poorest was glaringly obvious. There weren’t many lights and the businesses here did not cater to foreigners. The places were dirty and in need of much repair.

The path they were on was narrow and meandered between the buildings and the steep hills at one side and the shoreline on the other.

Their guide was still rushing them on.”This is a large group of many non-Trontigmakader, please rush on before they use their tele viewers to scan the coastline.”

It appeared they managed to remain unnoticed by the authorities and they reached what Har-Hi thought of as some sort of abandoned fish processing plant.

It was basically just a big one-room building sitting on stilts on the shore side halfway over the water.

A foul odor of brackish water and rotting fish hung in the thin metal wall building. There were long tables with some kind of conveyor system in the middle. All looked old, very used and now abandoned. The light which had been turned on as they entered had a reddish glow and Har-Hi suspected the light was not only in the visual range but had a strong infrared component.

“I think this is a good place and time for you to explain what is going on and why we are involved and here?” Har-Hi said.

Sandovahl, Lemakr, and Lia agreed and actually placed themselves next to Har-Hi.

Har-Hi could not differentiate the Trontigmakader, there were eighteen of them. To him, they looked as alike as X101s of the same series. Since they did not use their mouths to speak, he wasn’t even sure which one was talking.

“Let us thank you for fighting for and with us at Hugnast’s Welcome. The troops of the Four were winning. Without you, we face the Death-Master either in judgment or in the hereafter.”

Sandovahl actually said what Har-Hi wanted to say.

“We didn’t have much choice, now did we? You started shouting political slogans and killed a soldier. That they started shooting and included us as targets is something I actually understand. Now I think you keep telling us what is going on. I for one like to return to my ship and leave this crap world behind. I rather set up our refinery again then getting fuel here.”

One of the Trontigmakader, most likely the same responded. The humming sound that was part of every word somehow took on a forceful fanatical tone. “The Four masters oppress the people and incarcerated the fifth. The Fifth is our legitime ruler and was always aided by the Four. They disposed him and took over the rule themselves. We fight to restore the rule of the Fifth.”

Derek Simmons actually groaned. “We just came from Itheamh, apparently the same story repeats itself all over again.”

Har-Hi shook his head.”But not with us taking part.”

Lia featured a bandage on her right arm. Har-Hi had not noticed her being wounded but then almost no one got out of that Tavern without an injury so some kind. The Zarin had been carried by crewmates of his was in bad shape and needed real medical attention soon.

Lia was visibly agitated as well and she said.”It all started with those beasts attacking. What was that all about?”

One of the insectlike Trontigmakader stepped a little forward and looked at his associates, also revealing himself as the speaker.”That is something we can not understand either. We stole fifty Cleanser beasts in containment cages from the Four and planned to set them free during the Festival of Hatching tomorrow. None of us can explain how they all got loose. Someone must have opened the cages.”

Har-Hi felt he made the wrong choice, following these rebels. “They just admitted planning a terror act with the aim to cause death and mayhem during some kind of public event. That was one thing the rebels on Itheamh did not do, they only fought the Drak and refrained from Terror acts.

Aloud he said.”What the case might be, we are not going to be involved. Let us find ways to get back to our ships.”

The Trontigmakader made a further step forward and said.”We need you! Your weapons are much more advanced than ours and form what we have seen you command these humongous warriors, able to kill Cleanser Beasts with their bare hands. With you, on our side, we sweep the Four aside and restore the Rule of the Fifth!”

The big Togar captain growled.”You fight on your own. I see no profit in this and no benefit. I am going back to my ship right now and I pity the fools who try to stop me.”

A large roll gate and every other opening in the building opened as if by command and at least fifty Trontigmakader stormed in. More of them remained at hatches and windows aiming shoulder carried weapons at the pirates.

The speaker of the group said.”Then we are those fools. We hoped you would fight for us, but you are not of this world and do not understand. Your weapons and equipment will help our cause. Your ships will send us more in exchange for you.”

Fivcheer came to the bridge.”We all focused on the Red Dragon and overlooked the Puup, Captain. I am terribly sorry.”

I was standing by the Nav Tank, unable to find the state of mind to sit down watching the approach of the two armed forces. “You are sorry for what, Mr. Fivcheer?”

“The Puup, Captain Brathering, Ma’am”

“What about him?”

“He and a group of his crew left the Uhuin underwater and it appears they are the cause for the mayhem. The Puup are declared enemies of the Trontigmakader. The Puup’s ship is a Kermac T cruiser and in terms of Psionics well shielded.”

He got my attention, but I still didn’t see what he was trying to tell me.”This is a fact I have not considered either, but what does this have to do with all of this?”

“The Puup is acting on behalf of his government. He is agitating both sides and is supplying weapons to both sides. His goal is to destabilize Cosporus and prepare the ground for a Puup attack that is planned for years. He is a pirate Upward but loyal to his society.”

The way he pronounced Puup, in all the serious situation made me giggle. “A puup attack, eh? Let’s hope they don’t have diarrhea.”

“Captain?”

“Never mind. I should chastise myself for having these childish gutter thoughts and focus on the matter at hand.”

I finally had an idea of what was going on and went to my chair and sat down.”Someone knows who these two groups are that are about to meet with us in the center?”

It was Elfi again.”Yes, captain, TheOther made much progress in analyzing their communications and with SHIPs help decrypted it too.”

She swiped over a lit contact and activated an info bubble. While she was reading the floating texts she said.”The group coming from the city are Troops of the Four and represent the official government. The military forces coming from ocean side are the troops of a powerful landlord or noble. It is not sure how they will react. It appears the guy is on the fence between being loyal to the Four and supporting the Fifth.”

She interrupted her own report.”Captain, we being hailed by the Trontigmakader on official channels.”

I nodded and put on my mask. Not that thought the local insects could tell the difference, but I am sure the pirates and of course the Red Dragon was watching.

One of the insectoids appeared on the screen and in its humming voice it declared.”This is the voice of the Four Masters. Your privileges to visit the city have been revoked, complete your refueling and leave our world. It appears some or all of you are involved with local subversive elements and terrorists!”

He added before any of us could reply.”You have one day. After that, we will seize your ships.”

The Red Dragon responded for us.”Now listen, we came here traveling from the Upward sector of this galaxy and have never been here before. We do not know and we do not care about local politics, but I refuse to be threatened. I am the Red Dragon and once my associates are ready we will leave. You can keep whatever fuel you have for sale. There are other ports of call I am certain.”

The speaker of the Trontigmakader did not respond but cut the transmission.

I called the Red Dragon.”Have you checked on your friend the Puup lately, you know they are enemies of these Insects and basically at war.”

He wanted to dismiss it, I could tell. However, he stopped before he really said something and listened to someone on his bridge. Then he cursed and growled.”That worthless louse! I pluck his teeth...”

He too cut the transmission.

“Elfi get me Har-Hi again. I am sick of this and want them back aboard.”

Narth had retreated in one of his seclusive meditation states right after Fivcheer gave his report and only now raised his head.”Captain, there is more to this planet than the Red Dragon let on. The first clue of our actual quest is hidden here. Where ever he got the information about the Seenian depot, he also received instructions to come here and contact the Anagoge.”