Chapter 17: Father

The Ariglou General hopped from the desk and waved at Roy. “Let’s go Mr. Mssters.”

“They rescued Cara?”

“I am sure they are just about to do that, but you and your big black friend are expected aboard the Biscaya. The is on a tight schedule and so are you.”

Roy resisted. “Sir do you mean I leave for Sares without Cara? She is abducted and tortured because of me, I must help to...”

General Hytro Sone walked past Roy, and the office door opened. “Colonel Halvagh is fine, we are in contact with her, and we have special assets in place. This time we don’t want any of the culprits to escape. There are micro drones with her as we speak. She is very thankful for your loyalty and friendship, and will be with you as soon as she can.”

“You talk to her, why isn’t she talking to me?”

“She can’t contact you because the place she is detained is PSI shielded.”

“But how do you?

“The enemy knows she is a PSI talent and the original trap was meant for you and your teleporting beast, but she is also a data head and uses a special nano burst... , “ The Admiral sighed and added.”I should not even tell you all this, but for you, every minute counts to get to Sares.”

“Why the sudden hurry?”

“Because the Leedei came you can use the Telelistener. So you can try it to find your mother.”

Roy did follow the green dwarf out the Union Army suit snd across the Union Fleet lobby towards the exit. “I was in a hurry, but I lost so much time, I am sure they are dead by now. I never got another dream.”

Hytro Sone sounded angry as he responded. “At first you wanted to run away, across half the galaxy and into Freespace to rescue your parents and now you don’t care anymore?”

Roy wanted to rebuke that and tell the little General that he was dragged from port to port and chased by enemy agents, but the Ariglou was not done. “Your friend Moke Die isolated a GalNet message from a trading post on a distant Non-Union planet. The Enroe Mineral and Metal office at that planet reported the arrival of two Union citizens that escaped the slavers on Alvor’s Cove.”

A waiting freight skimmer with Union Fleet logo waited for them outside the Armed Forces office and while Roy and Partner followed the little green Army Officer he said. “Moke Die, the Bellebee. He promised to help me.”

“Aye and he did. One of the freed slaves is Paul Masters, your father!”

This news hit Roy like a bucket of ice water. “My dad is alive and found? Is mother with him?

“No, he is with a Union Shiss. Admiral Moke Die just informed me a few moments ago,”

While the skimmer flooded its Arti Grav and rose over the busy plaza, Roy paid no attention to the scenery but hung on the lips of the small officer. : Can I call him?”

“I think you should try, the Biscaya has GalNet, but be aware that Itheam is technically beyond GalNet range and there will only be low-quality visual-audio,”

Martha watched the cargo door as Geha tried to open Sister’s restraints. She looked over her shoulder as she heard a crackling sound and Geha cursing. The bronze-skinned woman shook her right hand, there was a curl of smoke and then with a metallic rattle, the steel cable dropped to the cage floor.

For a brief moment, Martha wondered if it was such a good idea to set the fierce, evil-looking demonic female free. She recognized the red-skinned woman’s impulse to kill Geha right away, It also was evident to her, that the demon looking female fought her impulse. “No, I will not act on what my nature wants me to do.”

She reached out and took hold of Geha’s collar. Martha could hear the angry hiss of the Neuro Ripper, but Sister showed no ill effects, Geha, however, was apparently not immune, she cramped and tenses pressed her teeth together. “Don’t stop get it off.”

Sister appeared to be very strong, with another forceful jerk she managed to pry the thing open.

Geha panted and rubbed her neck. “That was painful but worth it.”

Martha steeled herself. : Can you do that for me as well?”

The Demonic woman they now called Sister was moving to do just that when a burning smell came from her collar and clicked open all by itself,

Geha pointed at her mind.”Without the restrictor, I can use my abilities. I melted the electronics of your collar.:

All three women realized they were free of their restraints and now once more in possession of their abilities.

Martha thanked Geha and then pointed to the door to the hold. “Two Oghar guards are on their way, they are ordered to take us to a different hold, where we can use the bathroom and we will get food,”

“How long till they are here?” Geha asked.

“I am not sure, as I can’t tell how far they are from this place, but they are not in a hurry, Maybe five minuted.”

Geha sort of became the leader of this little group and she said.”What are we going to do? We are still in a spaceship and somewhere in deep space.”

Martha closed her eyes.”I am a decent Telepath and without the restrictions pf our PSI laws, I can make the Oghr see and think what I want.”

Geha grinned. “Perfect, let them think we are still restrained and lead us to the bridge of this ship,”

Sam estimated to be aboard the Togar ship for about 12 hours now. The ship safely accelerated to Quasi Space and was now safe from pirate attacks.

The chances to run into the sensor bubble of another ship once in deep space moving at Quasi speeds were very slim. And to run into a pirate with the technical capabilities to intercept and attack were equally rare.

The sudden jolt and the blaring alerts, however, told him that rare was relative indeed and did not mean never.

The former Marine did not have much chance to check out the ship before he boarded, but he always did as much research as possible before he tool on assignment. The Unth and her Shipmaster had a solid reputation.

The male Togar shipmaster listened to the name Groghr nu Trrmphka, which meant something like Though Bastard in Union standard.

While Groghr wasn’t known to be a pirate, but more of a Freelancer who found good business in connecting the many independent planets in Freespace with freight and passenger service.

The Togar ship was a solid piece of hardware as much as the felines of Togr were able to build.

That the Togar did not fear any of the Oghr kingdoms, were not concerned about the Jooltar and felt equal to the Karthanians gave evidence to their well-earned reputation of being serious opponents both in space and on planet surface combat. While the Togar had a ferocious reputation and were known to eat other carbon bases sentients, they also were known to keep their agreements and contracts.

The Unth flew under the banner and seal of the Togr empire, and while this part of Freespace was taboo for any warships or military assets of the Big Four, the Togar not being a signatory party to the Freespace treaty considered this region of space, Alvor’s Cove included a region of interest.

While pirates were usually not all too picky as to who they attacked, the smarter ones tended to stay away from Togar ships.

A second jolt rattled the ship, Sam was never the worrying kind. Getting stuffed into a drop chute, while the Drop Shio faced withering planetary defense fire had been part of his long career with the Union Marine Corps. However, he always felt a little helpless in situations like this. Back then as a marine, unable to use ship to ship weapons, because he was not part of the Union Fleet and now as a passenger, not even a crew member aboard a Togar armed trader.

He wondered about the attack, once beyond the orbits of a star system, in deep space and traveling at many times the speed of light, it was indeed very rare to be intercepted. Simply due to the vastness of space, where the most minute course deviation meant hundreds of lightyears and millions of potential course path solutions.

The old wisdom many spacers held true: The likelihood of trouble was usually around star systems.

Now, the bruisers that followed him and Charles were of two groups, one sent after the RAvE team by the Slave merchant most likely and two of them put on their heels by a yet not identified party.

Sam was certain, that the Vdca were the ones trying to convey

Kukur Nurop’s distinct displeasure of taking an involuntary nose dive into a lizard poop composter. Whatever bounty or reward the Slave Merchant offered, Sam was certain Kukur’s involvement ended with Sam and hopefully soon Charles being off-planet. He had dispatched the Vdca that was after him and he was certain the other Vdca, found out how unhealthy it was to follow a Cerberus robot into a side canyon.

That left the Basil and the Chistel. The Basil most likely had a similar experience trying to stop a sentient Union Battle robot with a Neuro Ripper, but Sam did not have the opportunity to kill the Chistel.

The former Marine evaded the Chistel boarding the Yogar ship and that potential assassin was denied boarding, but did he contact someone to intercept the Unth?

No one outside Union space had instantaneous GalNet communication, but Kermac did have Long Range Telepaths that we’re able to send messages without time delay over vast distances. That meant if the Chistel was able to send a message to someone and have the Unth intercepted he was an agent for the Galactic Council and the Kermac.

And if this was true, why would the Kermac commit such resources to intercept him?

He clenched his fists, all he could do was sit here and speculate. He had no idea how the Unth fared and what kind of opponent she faced.

The Togar shipmaster was as surprised as his passenger a few decks below as he faced two ugly looking pirate ships, apparently waiting for them, at a course waypoint he deemed safe as it was in deep space.

His first mate, the Kakth Oger voiced his thoughts out loud. “Durku’s rotten liver. It is as if they knew we are taking this course.” He then added. “Someone went through a lot of trouble and resources, but someone tried to camouflage two genuine Nogoll war frigates.”

Grogh had spent good coin on the latest Karthanian Shimmer shields and the ship had six Togar Minze Missle launchers. Togar never really developed forced energy beam type weaponry and did not adopt such tech from other civilizations, but remained focused on missile weapons. Grogh wished he had a few of the latest Vagroorr Missles, but these were, of course, restricted to war-ships of the Queen’s military, but the smaller and older Minze were still one of the best missile weapon systems out there.

If his mate was right and these were Nogoll ships then they were in for a fight. “Did they hail us?”

“Message just coming in, Grogh. They want us to cut engines and prepare to be boarded. The firing to reinforce their demands.”

The Unth’s shields were hit and the kinetic energy of the accelerated particle made her shiver, but the shields held so far.

They were close enough for electromagnetic communication and next to no delay.

Sure enough, a Black Nogoll appeared on the viewscreen. “You are the Unth and we want everything and everyone aboard. We let you live Togar and release you at Sin 4.”

Before Grogh could even think of an answer, the Black Nogoll exploded, showering the visualizer and everything with terrible gore. A heartbeat later one of the other Nogoll also exploded, the detonation destroyed much of the Nogoll ship’s bridge and cut the visuals.

Grogh was as shocked as his mate and whispered. “What just happened?”

The second Nogoll ship turned around as fast as its momentum thrusters and integrity fields allowed.

Grogh, still shocked did not let this opportunity go to waste as the second ship presented its side.”Missile launchers one to three, release!”

The three Minze projectiles could not miss at that distance, the Nogoll not commencing any countermeasures, was hit. The first two Minze obliterated the Nogoll’s shields snd the third shredded a sizeable part of the Nogoll’s engineering section.

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