|
Out of the darkness, weapon arrays raised and ready to do battle? Three heavily armed Galacia Federa A class warships! To slow to a halt, encircling the Raptor, fully powered weapons arrays. It would take some tense moments, whilst the Commander of the Canderi made it clear that Raptor was NOT the enemy. OK, so it was a bit of a problem to explain what had happened and yes, there had been two hostiles. Luckily for Nathan there was aboard the Canderi, recorded evidence of them. Not however for some reason the ball of energy leaving Raptor and the destruction of the vessels. On his recording, they were clearly there and then dust!
Tila and Vessa had seen events and were now sipping on drinks. Cursing the damage to their vessel. "We're stuck here until the repairs are done." "The money we've made from this trip." He nodded. "We'll manage Papa. We always do. You know we couldn't stand by and do nothing. Unlike that other bunch of spineless merks" Vessa saw the male approach. He stopped in front of them. "You're Tila?" He nodded. "Your vessel was damaged in the fire fight earlier." Tila was looking at her. She was tallish, well dressed and carrying something? It made him nervous.
Vessa had her hand on a weapon.
The female placed the pack onto the table. Slid it across to him. "For your services. We hope this will more than reimburse your losses and pay for the damage to your vessel." She turned and walked off. "What the." Unwrapping the pack Vessa stared, her eyes not believing what they were seeing. "Must be over 50 slips of pure Drax here.!" 2 would have bought them a new state of the art high tech cargo transporter! 50?!!
"Package delivered." Nathan sat back. "Bravery deserves its rewards. I'll not see those who put their lives at risk to save others in a situation like this go unrewarded." Aboard Raptor, some ten minutes later, Hawker was thanking Nathan and Cistera, for coming to their rescue. “I, still don’t know how you destroyed them. You never fired a single weapon.“ Nathan said nothing as Cistera replied.
“That’s our secret, You don’t mind if we hang around and ensure no more problems, even if you have three other Galacia vessels?” Lianna interrupted them, “I have the Commander of the Galacia response fleet, wishing to talk to you.” On the screen the Supreme Commander of the three vessels, telling them, they could not and would not be permitted to remain.
The screen in front of him flashed, a face appeared, the Comtesse! “The Comtesse of the Galacia Federa Council Elect sends her regards. The Raptor and the Sovereignty of Fendiq have been placed in command, by the Elect. All vessels will obey orders from the Fendiq command, or answer to the Supreme Elect.“ “My Lord if we may proceed?” “He’s changed his tune hisses Corky. The main coms screen lit up on Raptor. “Nathan," “Comtesse!“
“They have their orders. You are in charge until the Kets are delivered to the Akademy. I note they have a suitable unit onboard the satelite, I’m sending, Commander Serenia, to assist you. Until then, any problems with Akinov let me know, he can be a little brusque, but he’s proved himself in battle. Corky stepped forward. “Not Uvarian’s son Doquar Akinov?” She smiled “Yes! Why?” Corky grinned.
“I knew his father, I served with him on the Sukashi battlefront!” Doquar Akinov had been listening to the conversation. Lianna having left the coms unit open he screamed as they heard his voice. “Corkscrew!“ Nathan looked at Corky. “Seems he knows about you!“ That broke the ice. They were soon aboard the Raptor. Later to be joined by a familiar face, to some of them, Commander Serenia.
Arranging the Ket transports to the Akademy planet, Serenia wasted no time in ensuring everything went smoothly. “But why can’t we go aboard Raptor.“ Becci, annoyed at having to remain on the transporter? “Because Raptor will take us to the grid, no further. It is NOT allowed beyond the grid defences. Nor are the other Galacia Federa vessels. “Becci stamped her feet and threw her arms down by her side as the others laughed.
“Well why didn’t someone tell me this!“ “So we still don’t know who they were?” Tovinak came into the room “I think you ought to see this “ He went over to a screen then illuminated it to play a holographic image of the sequence of events aboard the enemy craft after Cistera and Nathan had boarded. “Here ‘it’ is encircled by the energy rings, but stop looking at ‘it’ and look to the left. Nathan peered closer.“
“Looks almost like a 'ChrmxT8' Anti matter device. Probably what they used on the Pagallion?“ “If they had succeeded in deploying that, they would have taken out the transporters and the Canderi in one blast, even if it meant their own destruction, badly damaging Raptor. We would not have been fast enough to deploy the 'White lightning'“ He went quiet, Cistera stared at the holographic unit, the Alien energy form leaving; returning. She knew whatever it was, had saved the Kets from certain destruction.
“I don’t think, whoever they were, we’ve seen the last of them. Knowing what they look like, doesn’t help us that much.“ Nathan interrupted. “I'm inclined to agree, we’ve all been around the galaxies, but I can tell you all I’ve never seen such ugly, barbaric looking things. They made the Urowq look attractive..“ He had managed to have them laughing. “Seriously though, they gave me the 'e b jeebies'.“ Commander Akinov looked at Nathan “We at least, have data on them.
Solid data, to allow us to detect them in future, we won’t be caught off guard again. We might do ourselves a favor, having someone below on the planet to update the systems. Mainly so that they recognise the visual print. Can warn us in advance. We don't want to cause alarm, easier to plant someone there who has our interests as well as theirs to look to. He looked back at Corky as Nathan turned their eyes met “So what do you think.”
Corky’s face could well have been described as being one of sheer terror. No not disbelief, just the realization, of what had just been said, hitting home. Despite some of the others having the cheek to smirk. “NO way, much as I love those Kets.“ Cistera, was not to be put off! “You are perfect for the job, they adore you! Your teaching and life skills would be invaluable! “He shook his head, still not agreeing! It would have to be referred back to the Comtesse. He was sure, she, would dismiss such a suggestion. What possible use could an old fool like him be to the Kets!
"An excellent suggestion, Commander Serenia, is to join the Akademy and work with him, on ensuring, SHOULD those Aliens return, they are well prepared for any encounter. We will feel a lot more at ease, knowing they are there, even if it is only a temporary assignment! Serenia can teach the Kets combatant skills. Our Veteran, can teach them invaluable humility and life skills.” It would be a few hours before Nathan heard the good news. Corky had finally, relented and agreed, to join the Akademy, with Serenia, as tutors.
"We ought to install the anti matter devices." Nathan sipped his Prae tea. Listening to Corky as he outlined his plans. "Use some remotes carrying the devices in orbit around Onica. If we need to deploy the devices, I can do so from the Sat or from within Onica." "Sorted. I will instruct Tovinak to implement the necessary work. Should be on our way within the next day or so. Delays are inevitable, but we need to make sure, SHOULD they return, that you have some decent arsenal, to fight them with. Well, until we can get here." "I'll leave Bejan to install the equipment on the Sat. He, can make his own way back. I suspect, he will be a few days, doing diagnostics, before deploying the remotes?"
"What I can't understand, is why, they did not send up forces from Onica?" "They won't risk opening the grid defenses, if there is a a battle going on immediately beyond it. Paranoid that one of the hostiles might slip through? Why do I suspect the hostiles, were hoping that might have happened. Imagine them deploying those anti matter weapons within the grid?" "Wouldn't they have worked on destroying the grid?" "Never thought about that but no one knows the secret behind it, only those select few on the planet. Think some of those have been there for over 100 years."
|
