Chapter 11

He stared in utter disbelief at the Council of Ten.

"Pardon me?" Preliator asked in a harsh tone. "Exactly what do you mean by, 'we can't spare the resources?' We aren't talking about a god damned business deal here! In case you have forgotten, the particular topic of discussion is the Earth- a planet with intelligent beings living on it that is about to be attacked! Humanity is a pre-interstellar flight civilization, do you expect them to have the technology to fight effectively by themselves? Humans are good warriors, but they're not that good; they still depend on archaic technology. All I am asking for is for just maybe one damned ship, so that we can begin readying the Earth. I'm not asking for a fleet here; this is feasible! How can you just sit here and even think about letting over six billion sentient beings be condemned to death?"

A tired looking Taga stood up from his chair. All four of his arms were sagging slightly, revealing his old age.

"Young man," the old Taga began, the translator on his throat changing the words to I.D.L. Standard, "we can think about letting humans die because if we attempt to help them, billions of our people will die. Sorry, but we cannot go running around and helping every innocent little civilization between us and the Liodammians. We do thank you however, for turning over that Liodammian light cruiser you captured. It may be a thirty year old relic, but every little advantage counts."

Preliator barely kept himself from flying into a blind rage at the man's arrogance. "First of all, don't call me young man. Based on the normal Taga lifespan, I'm probably twenty years your senior. Second of all, we are no longer turning over that light cruiser. If you're not going to help Earth, my family will. We'll retrofit that ship for combat and fight them with their own weapons if we have to. I believe this meeting is over. I wish you all a good day."

He marched out of the meeting room before a single member of the council could open their mouth. It was only a hundred meter or so walk to the airlock that led to the light cruiser they had captured, so he was in front of the door fairly quickly. Unfortunately, so was a massive Xhfing guard.

"The Council has had this ship sealed indefinitely to non-authorized personnel." The guard stated simply.

"It's my damned ship!" Preliator hollered. "Now get out of my way, before I take you out of my way."

Normally, the Xhfing guard couldn't be scared off. After all, he had arms the size and shape of clubs, he was two meters tall, and he had a tail with a thick stone-like ball on the end. Not many creatures could challenge him and live. However, their were always exceptions.

When Preliator turned into massive troll straight from human myth, standing over three meters tall, his head brushing against the ceiling, the guard discovered one of these exceptions. He took off so fast that Preliator wondered if he may have had a fold-drive installed in his ass.

Quickly reverting to human form, Preliator boarded the cruiser. He found his way to the bridge, taking a seat in front of the helm controls.

"So, what's the prognosis, Preliator?" his father asked him.

"Heh." He looked at his father with a smirk. "These guys think that even though they're not going to help us, that they can keep the ship. They're going to try and stop us from taking it."

His father laughed. "Let's see them try. Preliator, full power to the engines. Get us the hell back to Earth. I for one have had enough of this damned diplomacy. Auctorita, if you would kindly take the tactical console, I want you to very quickly familiarize yourself with the weapons systems of this ship. Hopefully you read Liodammian. Aurum, honey, I'd like you at the sensor station."

Preliator's fiancée moved to tactical, and his mother to the sensor board, just as he began applying power to the engines. The ship slowly began moving forward, slipping away from the headquarters of the I.D.L. which it had been moored to.

He began calling out reports to his father. "Primary engines are operational at ninety-eight percent of optimal efficiency. The fold drive is charging... it should be ready for us in about two minutes. Let's hope the I.D.L. doesn't pull together something to re-capture this ship within two minutes; I doubt this ship can take much abuse. Her plasmatic maneuvering strips are even older than the ship itself; she isn't going to be evading fire, no matter how hard I steer her."

"Veneratio!" Arum called out to Preliator's father from the sensor board, "I have an incoming I.D.L. Cruiser, Mk. II model. Its weapons are charged, and it will be within firing range in... fifteen seconds!"

Auctorita didn't wait for orders before acting, her fingers flying across her console. "Defensive fields activated, emergency bulkheads are prepared to close, and our weapons are fully powered. Just a side note here: we barely have a fourth the firepower they do."

Veneratio nodded, pressing a button on his command seat that would open the communications channels.

"I.D.L. warship," he began, "this is a civilian vessel, under the command of a civilian. You have no rights to take this ship in; we are not members of the Interstellar Defense League. If you continue in this action, you will be violating rule six of the standard rules of engagement of I.D.L. vessels: the I.D.L. may not interfere in the action of any civilian vessels not of Liodammian or I.D.L. member race origins. We are a non-combatant. Do you really wish to face an inquiry because of this?"