Chapter 14: Kilkam

What was there to do? The quest for the depot shaped up to be quite real and we were actually making some sort of progress. The Wisdom Keeper appeared to be a vital piece in this quest, but our disguise did not extend to the inside.

Narth spoke to me in our silent telepathic way.”I can not read him. He is well shielded but I sense he is very old and he is more than just the Wisdom Keeper of an auxiliary temple.”

“Splendid just splendid. Now what I am supposed to say and why did he pick us?”

“I do not know.”

Aloud I said.”I don’t like outsiders and strangers inside my ship, especially someone I know nothing about, but it seems I have no choice.”

The other members of our quest had obviously mixed feelings about this as well, especially Swybin who didn’t like to have a guide with such knowledge on any ship but his.

I tried once more.”What about your Wisdom Hall here, aren’t you the main priest?”

“Indeed, but there are substitutes I trust, besides it is more a philosophy than a religion and I am certainly not a priest in the conventional sense. There are a dozen temples or more right here on Trokhit, half of them are not even of Trontigmakader origin, they have priests who interpret the will of their gods and spirits. I have seen other seekers before and they all failed. I want to end my existence honoring my kind and finding the Seenian inheritance.”

Sandovahl was certainly no longer sober, as he indulged himself with the various drinks he was served. Even wearing a mask and sitting about as far as possible from him in a more or less round room, I could smell the strong alcohol. He burped unashamed and with glazed eyes and a nose that had turned quite red he slurred.”If you are not a priest what are you then?”

“I am a Wisdom Keeper of the Fifth.”

Sandovahl in his clouded state nodded.”Ah yes.”

Lia got up. “I guess that is better than nothing. I am taking advantage of the present shipyards and have my engines serviced. The fuel prices here are also much better. We are still on to leave for Prostradoris as soon as possible, right?”

Captain Carrhrh examined his extended claws.”It is you who has her ship serviced. I doubt these insects are able to service your engines in such a short time.”

Lemakr growled at Carrhrh.”Having one’s engines serviced by engineers with a shipyard might not be such a bad idea. Pulling and replacing cores is not the same thing as a real overhaul. Besides if things go sour for some reason, it will be a long way back.”

Crimson Curse played with his gold encrusted. “That mangy cat has a point. I am going to have the same done. Besides in these parts we aren’t wanted pirates but paying customers, we should all take advantage of that. The next Karthanian service yard is very far away.”

All but Sandovahl who had slipped of his seat and was snoring on the floor. His first mate, a Skiffer tried to get him off the floor and said.”I am sure that is what we will do as well.”

Skiffers were an independent species of Sauriens somewhere in Freespace if I remembered correctly, he looked very much like a lizard but Sauriens were warm-blooded.

I still was in a sulking mode trying to come up with a solution to the current problem, while the Red Dragon also got up.”Lemakr and the Oghr make sense and we all should take the opportunity. So we will remain here for a few days until we all have serviced our ships.” He raised his hands in a begging fashion.”This time please don’t start any trouble, we have an actual lead on our quest and it sounds there is much more than a few ships, but all the Celt ... I mean Seenian tech complete with instructions.”

Crimson accepted a mug with something that looked like beer.”No argument from me. I am in for the ride till the end. Both Lormoog and Kilkam gave your quest much-needed substance, Thauran. We know the Seenians existed and I too heard rumors about the things the Union found on that third planet in the Arsenal system. The potential of what we might find is beyond anything material. A Seenian battleship of my own and I could reunite the Shattered Empire and be its Emperor.”

The Thauran’s eyes glared with new fanatism.”And the Union will have to listen to my demands. Friends, we will change the course of Galactic History.”

Kilkam also got up. “Finding the cache certainly will do that, one way or the other. Since you all have work done on your ships and you are here for a little while will give me the chance to prepare for my departure. I will pack too and then see you, Captain Velvet, right?”

I sighed.”As I said, my ship is old and cramped but I have no real choice denying you so yes I am expecting you.”

My mood hadn’t much improved as we returned to the ship. I called my senior staff to the Den to discuss how we accommodate that seeker without exposing ourselves.

Circuit said.”We could keep him right here. I mean we can keep the divider down and he stays on the other side.”

Mao was not happy either. “No one invited him and no one promised him a very comfortable ride.”

And Shaka added. “If he doesn’t like it, there are other ships who love to take him.”

I thanked Lilith for the coffee she was handing me. Then our Chef stepped on the table and placed a metal bowl with chopped meat before me. “Fenris is on his way.” Was his explanation and moments later with a high pitched screech, Fenris our mascot winged through a wall and dive bombed me. The obviously growing not so little beast only ate after it received a petting from me.

Shea crossed her legs leaning back in her chair. “If not maybe Fenris and Lilith can scare the daylights out of him and he begs to leave.”

Alice came to the table as well, hugged Fenris and sat down in a free seat. As always she looked as if she just came from the funeral of her most beloved aunt, but she had no inhibitions to sit right with us, but then this is what I wanted every one of my crew to do. Down here in the Den ranks and positions meant little and everyone was welcome on the table when there was room.

Meat pieces started floating from the bowl and before Fenris pointed snout filled with needle-sharp teeth.

She then said. “I can make him feel as if he gained a lot of weight.”

Har-Hi who had been quiet until now said.”He doesn’t know about the Union or how a Karthaninan supposed to look like from the inside, we are over 75,000 lightyears from Union side. If we limit his access to other decks, make sure the doors to the bridge and other places are closed for him, why not put him in one of our VIP quarters? Neither Sodoby nor Xon used them very long.”

The suggestions of my crew, some of them actually quite funny did wonders to my mood and I said.”Alright, Circuit go get a few hands and turn one of those VIP quarters in something barebone. I don’t feel like giving that guy the VIP treatment.”

SHIP said, “And I make the I.S.T.move very slow for him.”

Elfi said with excitement in her voice.”Captain our GalNet equipment just connected, we are online.”

“Can we call the Admiral?”

“Yes, captain.”

“Please get me a connection to Admiral McElligott.”

The Admiral of the Fleet was actually running back to his office as his adjutant called him just before he was about to enter an I.B.T. After a long day at the office, he had decided to go home.

But as his aide called him.”Admiral, Sir. Captain Olafson is calling.” Going home was far from his mind.

“Get Director Cherubim and the Old battle ax on the horn as well.”

The connection was quite good and Captain Olafson actually looked absolutely marvelous in her black leather suit. The Admiral completely forgot about Eric.

Cherubim established an Avatar, while Stahl participated sitting in the command chair of a spaceship.

McElligott gathered himself to appear his dignified self.”Ah, Captain Olafson, we were just talking about you the other day. I heard the Kermac stirring up trouble down there, I hope you are able to avoid them. We are eager to hear your report.”

The blonde captain did and delivered her lengthy report and then she said. “I sent the Kermac to the Yotenen so they are going to be out of the way.”

Stahl coughed.”And there I was thinking, five thousand Kermac ships would be an insurmountable obstacle.”

“I heard the Puup did a number on them in the Corspa system. We are on the Trontigmakader homeworld right now and all the locals are abuzz about the Kermac invasion. The agitators of the Galactic Council lost a good number of ships. I am told the Yotenen will also provide them with a very special welcome.”

Stahl could not stop the gleeful giggle. “Those grumpy skin sacks sure hate visitors and are very resistant to Kermac Psionic trickery because they know of them.”

Captain Olafson smirked. “To be honest, I used some Psionic trickery to make them believe the message did originate from Kermac Prime. I have such wonderful talents aboard my ship.”

Then she explained what she was doing on Trokhit. “Admirals, the Seenian depot I think is quite real. It is the focus of many seekers and apparently holds an enormous amount of Seenian tech including some sort of AI that explains its use. Down here it is called the Inheritance.”

As Erica came to the last details of her report, she said.”An individual which is vital for the quest’s progress, insisted traveling on the Tigershark. We think we got it covered without blowing our secret.”

All three immortals kept scanning over the written part of her report she had transmitted along with her logbook entries, science data and more.

Admiral McElligott slowly shook his head.”A living cosmic dust cloud that learned to play poker and is named Dusty. You know if I would tell someone about your crew, they’d call me insane.”

Cherubim spoke for the first time.”I have additional intel for you. Lia Bassett is also more than a pirate, she participates for the Shiss. Her instructions include to eliminate everyone if she is certain of the location of the depot and secure it for the First Nestling.”

“At this point, it surprises me not. The Red Dragon who is indeed the former Admiral Swybar told too many about his quest. I suspect one of the two Togar being along for the Togr Queen. I think Crimson and Sandovahl are the only genuine pirates for sure.”

All three agreed with the youngest captain in Union fleet history. McElligott said.”We are expanding Union influence over the entire system Sagodi’s Bazaar is in, which includes permanent GalNet and space-bus connection. In terms of distance, the Xandrao are not too distant.” The old Highlander flicked a space map bigger and pointed to a little light dot. “We are also establishing a NAVINT outpost down there. I am sending you the coordinates and if you can manage swing by and we can take custody of your stasis frozen criminals and hopefully be able to restock and resupply you.”

I sighed.”That be nice. We are not running out of things but our supply of fresh foods is down to a few stasis frozen fish and tomatoes. But with a new guest aboard we might have to substitute for local produce.”

Stahl said.”Your friends are on Trokhit for at least five days, with their engines in service they are not going anywhere. You could visit the Golden Bazaar, turn off your disguise of course and get all the supplies you need. The Devi is there as well.”

And McElligott closed the call saying.”You going to be out of Comm range again soon. Good luck girl, you and your crew is making us all very proud.”

I called the Red Dragon.”I am going to take care of some business while you guys fix your engines.”

“You better be back, without you that Wisdom Keeper isn’t helping us. I hate to admit it, but you became an essential part of this quest.”

“I did not make this long trip to quit now, but unlike you, I do not need my engines serviced but my bottom line maintained. As for our special relationship Mr. Dragon, it is still strictly business. I have not forgotten your prior conduct.”

Crimson chimed in.”Just do your pirating outside of the system while we are here. We screwed up our welcome at Cosporus and I don’t want any Trontigmakader trouble while their engineers crawl all around my ship.”

The coarse voice of Sandovahl told me that he didn’t have a very efficient sickbay and was still fighting a hangover.”I wish I could go with you, Black Velvet. This is a target rich region and it appears most civilizations are of low tech, but my First Mate made a deal with the locals to have my core changed.”

Swybar growled.”Five standard days, Velvet.”

I cut the transmission with a hand signal to Elfi and gave Shaka the go ahead.”Put some vacuum under our keel, and do it gently. Even though seeing our friends in Trontigmakader jails would have its charms.”

Shaka laughed.”Gentle it is. However, blasting off under full engines has its charms.”

It didn’t take us long to reach space. I said to Shaka.”Take us out with Silver Streak speed. Krabbel plot us a destination somewhere in deep space so we can change appearance.”

To Narth I said.”Did the Admiral specify what kind of disguise we are supposed to use for our visit to Sodoby’s brother?”

“The transmitted and signed orders are to switch off the disguise.”

“That means the USS Tigershark makes her first official debut visiting an official Union designation. Better call Command and make sure this is not an oversight.”

Ten minutes later I looked into the sleepy face of the immortal admiral.”Nothing for month and now you call every five minutes.” He waved before I could answer.”Never mind I am just an old grumpy man, never hesitate to call, this is what this direct line is for.”

“Sir, I am calling to verify the written orders to switch off our Janus device and expose the USS Tigershark.”

“It was a conscious decision, Captain Olafson. We still want to keep the details of your ship and mission secret of course, but we feel it is time you and your magnificent crew is slowly introduced. A Golden bazaar far out consecutive space is a good place to start.”

We all wore our real uniforms, everyone was groomed to regulations and according to their species. Xon looked at his reflection in a mirror field.”It is both a very uplifting experience but also a little disappointing.”

“Why do you feel like that?” I asked with openly displayed curiosity.

“I am about as proud as a Nul can be to wear this uniform, captain. I just had that hope I would be the first Nul in Union fleet uniform. I took advantage of our GalNet connection and called my life giver. The Nul have officially applied for Union membership only a few days ago, but over eight billion Nul have already become Union citizens individually and not a small number signed up with Union Marines.”

“Maybe you still are the first in Fleet uniform. Marines do have a different one as they are a separate service.”

“Unfortunately not, my life giver himself has become a Union Admiral, while it is technically an honor rank he actually takes Academy classes and he takes it very seriously.”

I smirked.”I still think it is a marvelous and quite wonderful development to have the Nul being on our side. I myself remember a quite serious engagement against Nul forces not all that long ago.”

“I think it was inevitable, it just happened much earlier thanks to you.”

“I think our SHIP and you yourself had much to do with that as well.”

SHIP could not stay silent of course as she heard that.”I am a very content machine able to play a part in this truly historical development.”

I got up from my seat, tugged on my uniform blouse and said.”Mr.Narth please turn off the Janus device and turn on our Union transponder.”

Even Narth, wearing his version of an official uniform, managed to sound proud.”Aye Captain, Janus device is deactivated. Simulated hull deconstructing ... Union transponders active.”

It took a few moments for the Narth matter manipulators to revert our disguise and Shea reported. “Captain, we are officially ourselves.”

With our reversal also came our real sensors and Mao said.”I hate to be the one with bad news, but our transponders were noticed. Three contacts with distinct Kermac signatures have changed course.”

Shaka turned.”We can outrun them easily, Captain. The Tigershark is faster than a Type IX Wolfcraft.”

I shook my head.”The USS Tigershark does not run! Sound battle stations activate all our real shields and weapons. Load Translocators with full Giga loads.”

There was a resounding ‘Aye Captain’ from all stations.

“Elfi hail me those Kermac.” With a satisfying grin, I added.”Maximum transmission energy, so they can’t say they didn’t hear us.”

She too sounded satisfied.”Maximum transmission energy on all channels Captain.”

“This is Captain Olafson of the USS Tigershark. Our sensors picked up three Kermac warships on an intercept course. This is open space and we do not appreciate being intercepted. You have one and one chance only to immediately change your course.”

The response came right away. “We have your pathetic little ship on our scanners, Union cretin. I am angry and you will be destroyed. Kermac supremacy will dominate this space and we will wipe out any Union influence we come across.”

Funsecsiev was more than annoyed. He was about as angry as a Kermac could be. First the disaster in the Corspa system. That it was him who jumped the gun listening to a worthless Puup did not cross his mind. He was Kermac and therefore everyone and everything else was responsible for his failures.

That he did not check with Kermac Prime to make sure the information he received was correct also failed to register. He blamed his navigator for not recognizing the coordinates as the ones leading into the core system of the ugly and triple cursed Yotenen.

Even he knew about their reputation, but he could not explain why his LRT received such erroneous information, other than that his handler interpreted the received messages completely wrong. He was denied the chance to punish the Puup. That slick crook had stolen a shuttle during the battle in the Yotenen system and in the confusion of the heated conflict managed to escape.

He had left the remaining force mainly consisting of the old and slow Habyr battleships behind and was speeding towards a rendezvous point with a substantial reinforcement fleet that was on its way from Kermac Prime.

It was not too far from the core system of the Trontigmakader when his sensor operators reported the sudden contact of a Union transponder.

He was now convinced he had been somehow been duped and purposely diverted, and he planned to return and lay waste to Trokhit after they had supplied him with the information he needed.

Now detecting a Union ship so close to Trokhit, he became really furious. No doubt these Unions heard about the Celtest Depot as well. The lead crook and self-identifying pirate was a former Union citizen and Union admiral after all. From the Puup he knew about the other pirates that participated in that quest and perhaps the captain of the Killerbeast, that Sandovahl individual was a Union spy. That stupid Thauran certainly told to many about his quest. The Union having control over one of these Celtest tech caches already certainly did not want anyone else to gain another one.

He was in command of three Yiee battleships and from the scanner data he just received the Union ship was no bigger than a Supercruiser. Sure the Union unit had one or two Translocator cannons and perhaps several of those powerful Loki torpedoes, but his ships were equipped with target lock scramblers, had the most powerful Line cannons and the Kermac version of the Loki torpedo.

He decided to remain behind and send the other two Yiee first, who cared if they were damaged and life was lost? Once the Union ship was crippled he wanted to swoop in and finish it off, perhaps even board it and find out what the Union knew.

He gave orders to attack.

“Captain, these are serious big units. We have only very limited intelligence on these latest Kermac battleships.” Mao reported.

Shea was working with SHIP and her team on the sensor data and added.”The energy distribution matrix of these ships suggests they are armed with at least twenty line cannons each, the biggest ones too.”

“Their target lock scrambling also appears to have been improved. I can’t get a clean lock.” Mao again said.

I had my seat raised into Combat mode and as usual, had the unobstructed view of all space around us. The view was computronic enhanced and allowed my human eyes to see what they could never see on their own.

Colorized spheres represented the range of our various weapons as well as the assumed range of the enemies weapons. Floating icons informed me about the status of systems and gave me contact points to the bridge stations.

This was the first time we engaged an enemy without any limitations, true the enemy were three very big and powerful Kermac ships but that did not scare me. The lead ships released four torpedo-like weapons each and they accelerated fast directly towards us.

“The first shots have been fired. Shaka let loose! Jump behind that third ship staying behind as fast as you can. Mao hit that cowardly bastard with all our Quark-Gluon Plasma and our FTL right up his engines and follow up with a Hydra launch. As soon as the torpedo is out, Shaka execute another jump at maximum sniper range. SHIP you have permission to visual target and fire. I doubt they can scramble visual targeting.”

No one, not Circuit, not Shaka and certainly not me had any idea just how fast our ship was. We accelerated with a nudge over 1500 km/sec^2. Meaning we hit Translight in less than three seconds. I think some of the acceleration gees came through despite the most advanced inertia neutralizers, diverting billions of kinetic energy into hyperspace.

24 FTL energy cannons opened fire at the same time focusing all energy onto a single spot. To our surprise, the Kermac battleship that had stayed behind was not even under battle shields. Our weapon fire literally cut off one of the engine modules of this Y shaped ship.

The Hydra torpedo ripped the other module to shreds.

We were back in quasi-space as the first Kermac torpedoes reached the spot we had been moments ago. Ship released five kilo loads in rapid succession and at maximum range. Her machine precision using visual data instead of relying on direct sensor fed targeting, was directly on target. All five loads exploded deep inside one of the Kermac ships that still accelerated to catch up with our position before we even started.

Of all symbols in my command bubble, it was Dusty requesting to speak. I blinked it active and the living dust cloud said.”Captain, sorry for interrupting you, but I noticed graviton energies exceeding the mass of a large moon diverted. Could you not permit me to use it against our adversaries?”

“Do it and let me see what it does.”

The last unharmed Kermac unit flew into a graviton concentration like a solid wall and was instantly compacted to a ball measuring less than a few centimeters in a truly blinding energy sphere. The Yiee battleship converted into a speck of neutronium while expelling all quantum level energy.

I was utterly shocked by this and so were the others, even Narth. It was the first time I felt his mind to be truly impressed by something. “I believe we just gained a weapon that dwarfs the effectiveness of Translocator cannons or even our nose cannon. Dusty has psionic abilities very similar to the Conck we encountered, able to manipulate and concentrate gravitons and Alice assisted him channeling them.”

Funsecsiev, now forced to wear a protective battle suit stumbled through the chaos of his command center. He was on his way to an escape pod. One of his subordinates stopped him. “Masterful leader, we received a message from the reinforcement fleet, they will be here in moments.”