Chapter 9: Yellow Throats

Tobaia the magnificent had ascended upon the highest spire of her palace. The Seventh Claw spire had never seen a queen before.

She stood there, her arms wrapped around her body and just below her breasts.

Below her the sprawling city of Hi-Togr, the very heart of the mighty Togar empire. Malmorus, the sun had just disappeared behind the crests of the Kreigha mountains in the distance, but Torgu the largest of the planet’s two moons was soon to rise and provide its magnificent cool light.

The skyline was an impressive statement of Togar supremacy and might. The sky and the not so distant meandering band of the river Harkorr was alive with traffic. The sky with fliers of all types and sizes and the wide, serene shimmering waters of Harkorr with boats and barges. Millions of lights had transferred the cityscape into a magical carpet of sparkling dots. The city appeared as orderly and quiet as it always had.

To the North East, just on the other side of the river, rising on the hill of the Frorkr district the ancient citadel of Prince Frorkur, that had become the buildings of the Togar War Academy. There was a push for decades to eliminate the cultural references to male kings and their dynasties, but to erase something so deep emerged in Togar history and culture was not as easy as it should have been.

A thick black column of smoke was rising from the Academy into the otherwise clear and cloudless sky. An Incendiary bomb had been detonated. It had killed 300 junior officers and 43 teachers, instructors and staff. The raging fire had been brought under control only moments ago.

The terror attack and the fire were the reason she was up here.

There had not been any such incidents for three thousand years, and now ever since the trial of the Innocent fur, they became increasingly frequent. That the Dissidents and rebels had the gall and the cloud to bring their terror right into Hi-Togr was the latest development.

In eight days, she was to travel to Grotha as she and all the queens before her had done for over 2000 years to be confirmed and justified by the Spirits for another cycle.

It was the most significant event in Togar society, three days of festivities, culminating in her visit to the Temple mountain of Malmoru.

It had been nothing more than a pompous event with royal pageantry for all the many centuries, but then something happened that should not have happened.

The prophecized Innocent Fur was born.

Tobaia growled with deep emotions, prophecies and religious texts were not supposed to come true. Yet all investigations confirmed, that Jolaj of Grotha was born to Jamalj, the first servant to the Lightray spirit. Jamalj had never seen a Togar male since she was brought to the temple as a little cup.

No male Togar had ever entered the sacred chambers in over two thousand cycles. There were ancient and quite modern and sophisticated security measures in place, besides no one had ever tried. Despite all the treasures, the Malmorou temple harbored. Togar were deeply religious and even the most daring thief would never even try to steal from the spirits.

The queen still staring at the now slowly dissipating column of smoke while her thoughts were drifting back.

The news that an All White was born, just as the Prophecy of the Spirits proclaimed spread like wildfire across the empire. Religious fervor surged to the last corner of Togar space. Even the intellectuals who dismissed religion as mere fantasy, begun frequenting the temples again.

The prophecy spoke of many events and a great threat that could only be faced by the White Fur herself.

She was groomed and educated, treated like a living goddess. Secret genetic testing confirmed that she was sired by a being that was more than just Togar, further cementing Jamalj’s claim that the statue of Malmoru suddenly came to life, during the climax of her time in heat and seduced her.

The High Priestess interpreted the Holy Smokes rising from the sacred Pool of Light and claimed that the Spirits prophesied her reign would see the coming of the Darkest Spirit and that this dark spirit would even disguise himself and shape itself as a Togar female. The Darkest Spirit would also kill her and all of her dynasty and great darkness would descend upon the Togar and the very light of the Galaxy’s center would be dimmed.

Then, the High Priestess of the Mother spirit Lehloran realized that her position as the highest authority in matters of faith and religion were in jeopardy. After all who needed a priestess if a genuine daughter of the gods was around.

The queen was not as gullible as the priestess thought, but she shared the priestess concerns. The daughter of a god was more than a queen. The old text claimed that the White Fur was to reunite all the Togar tribes, even the lost and forgotten ones that left Togr so long ago. Restore the males to equal partners and find the Lost King.

Tobaia snorted.

A male king on the throne of Togr, ridiculous. The reign of the male kings had been successfully ended when Comptess Rogi killed her own father and crowned herself Queen in 9940 MD.

Now in the year 12,940 and a good 3000 cycles later, the idea of male aristocrats and kings was ridiculous, males had learned their place.

A lost king, a mythical figure no more. Her eyes squinted as she was thinking that. A few years ago, she would have laughed and dismissed it, but mythical things had come true. Jolaj the White Fur existed and if she did, was the idea of a lost king so far fetched?

The prophecized darkness was perhaps that Union. The Shiss, easily on the same level as the Togar and with better technology, had paid for their transgressions against that tremendous giant. The Shiss, if all reports were true had been reduced from a major player on the galactic stage to an insignificant speck.

Tobaia knew first hand of the incredible power. She had met Alex Enroe and considered the human an actual friend. As much as a Togar queen could be friends to a Terran Human businessman.

That Alex controlled a business empire with resources far beyond the Togar and that Enroe Corp had a security fleet that could wipe out the Togar fleet was not lost to her. Enroe was just a corporation and not even the biggest.

Making Enroe very angry by forcing Lethra to do her bidding was not an action well thought through. But the Black pelted High Priestess had her by the throat and she, the Queen kept sliding down a path of no return and knew she gave that priestess more and more control and power.

Enroe had ceased all business relations with the Togar empire. The last shipment of bacon and other so delicious food items had been canceled.

As she stood there, one of her personal aides was coming up, bowed deeply and said.”The cabinet of your counsel is ready to issue a statement on the fir...”

The aide could not finish her sentence, something had penetrated the window panel and the skull of the aid, causing it to burst in a shower of blood and brain matter.

Security guards rushed up and basically threw her on the ground while establishing a protective force field over her.

Someone yelled “Assassin drones!”

--””--

The small spaceship, Cherubim called the Mirage was quite fast and I wondered if it was perhaps even as fast as the Tigershark. It had been a strange experience for me to be the passenger with nothing to do or have any part in the ship’s operations.

But now we had dropped out of Quasi and once more I found myself approaching N’Ger.

Cherubim swiveled around.”It is time you get into your first costume and identity. We are going to land at the northernmost part of the so-called Desert of Glaring Profit, more or less right at the gates to the Omnar enclave.”

I was wearing Tyron and the living suit said.”I have the privilege to be worn by my captain, General. I can simulate any garment or costume. If you have a visual or physical copy I can easily create the appearance.”

Cherubim’s masked face did not change, but felt she was quite impressed.”So it is true, you are indeed a living Seenian battle-suit?”

“Yes, General I am a Tyron type.”

I said.”Tyron is more than that, it is a Union Citizen and a valued member of my crew.”

She sighed.”Of all the wonders in this galaxy, your crew is certainly one of the biggest. There are entire civilizations out there willing to go to war for a prize like your suit. Can you simulate a face cover and different hair, make her appear like a member of a different species?”

“If the other life form has the approximate size, yes. I would not be able to simulate an Archa or a Mini Terran, but I would be able to simulate a Y’All or Saturnian.”

I interjected again.”Tyron is not my or anyone’s suit.”

The Mirage did not seem to need helm and was descending and approaching the landing field all on its own. Of course, automated landing was part of many civilian ship AI’s capabilities. Only the Navy rejected automated landing.

Cherubim displayed no visible confirmation to my statement and changed the subject.

“The Omnar merchants are Oghr, but like all the other merchant houses not affiliated with any of the shattered kingdoms. They are well-known merchants of second-hand items and materials. Their biggest clients are pirates and scavengers. The Omnar buy pretty much everything including slaves.”

I frowned. “At another time I would love to make sure they never deal with sentient life ever again, but can I ask you why we are here? I am eager to get to Togr and find our Snowball.”

“Patient, Erica. We can’t simply fly into Togar space and land on their Crown world without a solid cover. The cats of Togr are neither stupid nor do they trust others easily. Their intelligence service is on the highest alert, especially since our Assembly gave them ten days to produce Jolaj unharmed.”

I felt pleased. “So the Old Highlander kept word?”

Cherubim laughed.”He might intend to do so, but no it was the High Commissioner of the OOCA.”

“What has the Office of Citizen Affairs to do with all this?”

“Your Snowball managed to send an emergency call to Union Police and since they have no jurisdiction outside of Union space and your Navy wanted to keep the thing quiet, the police officer receiving the call opened an OOCA case in behalf of Jolaj Grotha. The Assembly outraged issued an ultimatum to the Togar government.”

“I had no idea all this was going on. And it seems that Old Highlander keeps playing his games.”

The Mirage settled on the hard-packed surface of a salt lake that was known as the Desert of Glaring Profit. I had been here before, but the Tigershark had landed quite a distance from here.

Cherubim said.”Don’t judge him too hard, Erica. Remember it is not you who comes first for him, but the entire Navy. It is expected that a good CO put’s his or her ship before anything, even before the crew. McElligott likes you, I can tell after knowing him for three thousand years, but to him, the Spatial Navy comes first above everything. It’s his baby, Erica. He built it from scratch.”

“Intellectually I can understand that, but all he has to do is say so, making speeches and promises and then changing his mind is not exactly building a lot of trust.”

Again she laughed.”True that and that is why Richard isn’t exactly his best friend. You, on the other hand, seem to be the closest thing the Eternal Warrior ever had to a daughter.”

She got up and added.”I have to change.”

Alright, and what am I going to be?”

“The General of NAVINT said, this is for my Soja. The Saresii Autodresser back in your cabin has been sent by her. I consider myself an expert in these and I think she sent you something from the First Age of Knowledge, I’d give a fortune for one of these.”

I shrugged.”Maybe you need to ask her. How does she know about all of this?”

Erica, she is the Commandant of NAVINT, she knows whatever she wants to know. Of course, she knows about Operation Fish, the Tigershark is under NAVINT command after all.”

Cherubim cocked her head.”What puzzles me in all this, how deeply she seems to care about you.”

She went to the door.”Use that machine to change your appearance and I sent Mr.Suit the details for your outer garments. The Omnar will sell us a skimmer and provide us with a cover story for our merchandise. Then we cross the Glaring Desert and make a deal with the Lorr.”

“And they are who?”

“The Lorr are Togar, they are here on N’Ger longer than anyone and they are independent of the Togar empire. The Lorr deal with food and we have ten tons of bacon and tuna.”

--””--

The Tigershark was still sitting in a hangar of Christmas Base, but her crew was complete with the exception of Jolaj, the Captain, Tyron, and Roghor. Har-Hi who had just left the ship corrected his own thoughts. Meeze, their latest crew member was missing too, but Har-Hi was certain the sassy worm was a stowaway aboard the Mirage. He could not even reprimand the worm when it came back. Meeze had literally wormed himself into the crew and of all people it had been the Admiral of the Fleet that made the Wheeze an official crew member. Meeze had zero academy training or any Union school. Meeze had no position or rank, all things that Har-Hi decided to address as soon as the Worm returned along with the others.

The Dai actually smiled as he was thinking about the small creature with a big appetite and little respect for anything.

Har-Hi glanced at his new golden sleeve ring that had been added to his uniform by the Auto Dresser. The entire crew, with a few exceptions of new additions, had been promoted, he had been advanced to Commander. It would have been a tremendous event and cause for a shipwide celebration especially as the Admiral of the Fleet and two high ranking officers were personally present. But the entire crew of the Tigershark accepted the promotions without a single cheer.

Har-Hi sighed, she was gone just a few days and he missed her too. The real reason for the crews less than enthusiastic response was, of course, the fact, that they all wanted to volunteer and kick all regulations in the wind that prevented them to follow the captain and free Jolaj. There was not a Dai Tribe as loyal and close-knit as this crew. The Dai sighed with a proud smile, then he stepped into an Inter Base Transport and told the system to take him to Xeno Lab facility 12.

It took no time for the transport capsule to reach the requested destination almost 200 klicks from the Tigershark’s berth.

After he entered the research facility and passed through several security locks. He was asked by a robot to step into an auto dresser before he was allowed to proceed.

Clad in a hermetically sealed protective suit, he finally emerged in a large sterile and spotless clean white hemispherical room. A large burnt looking object was sitting at the center of this spacious room.

What the crew of the Tigershark nicknamed the Geek Squad was all here, officially led by the ships CSO, Lt. Schwartz.

All, but Three-Four wore the same protective suits.

Shea was floating once again, near the top of the thing, at about ten meters holding a scanner. The Dai caught her attention with a wave of his arm and he said as she

Shea floated down and with a few airy dance steps she landed before Har-Hi.”Hi, Sir. We are just wrapping things up before we crate the specimen and sent it to the Neugruber BioSciences Institute on Venus.”

Har-Hi eyed the black clump. “So you send our only ‘whatever that is’ to the Sol system? Well, maybe they have more luck.”

Narth joined the conversation by also floating to the ground.”This is not our own specimen. We dissected twelve, terminated four and sent eight to various research institutes. This is the last of the Lava Moth Cocoons we took out of the crust.”

Brana, the Delicate remained floating. “We know what it is and what it does.”

Har-Hi looked dumbfounded.”We do? So we are done?”

SHIP who was here via her Ego Remote said.”No Sir, we identified a grave danger and we determined that the Ypeherix deliberately seed those terraforming semi organisms.”

Seamlessly Shea picked up.”We have not yet determined why the Ypeherix do it, but we are fairly sure these are self-replicating terraforming tools of the Earlies. Since the Earlies have been active a very long time ago, we fear that many millions of planets have been infected with these deep seeds.”

The Dai rubbed his chin.”That is frankly beyond me. What is it we are supposed to do next? This does not seem to be an issue for a single ship.”

Three-Four returned into his suit and said.”Maybe we capture us a few Ypeherix?”

A new person wearing an environmental suit came in and joined the group. The form-fitting suit revealed a short somewhat overweight human with bowlegs. It was the Admiral of the Fleet, Har-Hi seeing him for the first time without his kilt.

The Admiral pointed at the big black thing and said. “I am sure the Science Corps will extract the last iota of information about that thing, but I can’t tell you how proud I am that the science department of a Fleet ship unraveled the mystery so fast.”

Shea said.”We haven’t really, Sir. We just identified what this is.”

Har-Hi repeated his question and added.”Sir, this assignment doesn’t feel like something the Tigershark can solve in an appropriate fashion.”

“Little did I realize how much brain power his Little Fish has.” The Admiral of the Fleet said.”I am leaving Christmas Base and continue with my inspection tour, maybe I should take you all along. It equally unsuited for the Tigershark.” He walked closer to the carbon crusted cocoon. “With all that brain power I hoped you figure out why.”

The Admiral touched the pod and said.”I wanted you to take it nice and slow, keep you out of trouble as much as this is possible, and give your Captain time to do her thing and bring that Togress back.”