Chapter 10

Chapter 10

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The Angel Base exited hyperspace in a crowded sector of space. We had arrived at someone's personal junkyard. The place was littered with all sorts of ships, from Fighters to Frigates, Autoguns to Resource Collectors, all of them from many different races. I couldn't believe that this person had so many operational warships.

I undocked from my docking pad, along with 1R-D (or, as we had started to call him, Ardee), and Myla Sjet. Our three craft swooped through the different ships, the dead ships, and hailed the main station. "This is Captain Jake Sjet, of the Hiigaran Naval Squadron Angel. We are in a buying mood, and wish to speak to whomever works here."

The reply came in a rather scratchy voice. "Greetings, Hiigaran vessel. I am Carn Telos. I welcome you to my shipyard, and eagerly await our business transactions."

I asked, "Where can we dock at your station?" The station, by the way, was enormous. It looked like it could house thousands of members, but from what we'd heard, Telos was the only man living in this sector of space. Which made the question, "Where did he get all these ships?" much more interesting. The station was painted black, except at its equator, where, in fifty-foot high letters, read "HERMIT BASE." It was basically a massive cylinder, and was slowly rotating, which gave the impression that it was a very old station, requiring centrifugal force instead of gravity plates to produce gravity.

He replied, "Well, since you're the only people in the system, you can pick any docking bay you want, but I would suggest Docking Bay 18. It's the closest to my location." I acknowledged. "Affirmative. Three, Six. We're touching down at DB 18."

We flew within one kilometer before I activated my landing gear. I slowly hovered over the dark docking bay floor for a second until my landing struts were fully unfolded, and I then dropped lightly on the ground. I switched off main power, and opened the cockpit. When I hopped down to the ground, I saw the man we were to make a deal with.

He was a rather small beard, but he seemed rather neat for a man who'd been alone for a long time. Instead of a large, hermit-style beard, he was clean-shaven, and he wore a red Taiidani General's uniform. He was clearly a Taiidani, but he didn't seem to have strong ties with his people, noted in the lax way he approached us, eyes devoid of tension or hate.

He said, "Welcome, Captain Sjet." He looked back at my companions, and I explained, "This is Ensign Myla Paktu, and one of our artificial intelligence pilots, 1R-D." Myla bowed, and Ardee saluted stiffly. "Myla is an expert military strategist, and Ardee is proficient in knowledge of several thousand different ships in this sector. I brought them along to give me an expert opinion about your merchandise." The man grinned. "Afraid I'd cheat you?" I shrugged. "In these days, one cannot be careless." He nodded. "I agree, and I hold no offense. Now, would you like to see my fighters first?" I nodded, and he led us out of the deserted hangar.

On our way through the darkened corridors, I began asking questions. "So, how did you come across this place? I don't assume you bought everything, did you?" He shook his head. "For the most part, no. I stumbled on this place about twenty years ago. I was a merchant then, a courier, and I was attacked in an uninhabited sector by some customers that…weren't pleased by my services. They easily overpowered me, as I was working out of a light corvette, and I had to make a random hyperspace jump to another region of space. I emerged only hundreds of kilometers distant from this place, an I went to examine it.

"This place used to be a fully-functional shipyard, but from what information I got from the central computer, there was a plague that broke out on the station, and the entire area was quarantined. It was deemed unwise to return until the virus died off, in fifty years' time, and by then no one cared to return. This was two hundred years ago." I nodded. That made sense. It could be a lie, but it put several pieces of the puzzle together.

I said, "And, the ships?" He continued, "Well, since I had a whole pirate clan out for my blood, there wasn't much for me to return to, so I had all my stuff moved here. I broke into the food stocks and supplies here, and once I got everything decontaminated, I saw that I could remain here indefinitely. It is a rather large station, you know.

"Anyway, I extracted my personal savings, and bought myself ten Salvage Corvettes. Advertising through the pirate networks under a changed name, I soon got a business leasing out my Salvettes to those who wanted to retrieve vessels for their personal wants. In fact, it's thanks to me that Halen Chell became such a powerful mercenary leader. That was a most profitable deal."

I remembered something, "Are you aware that he has just recently been killed?" Telos bit his lip. "Yes, rather a shame, that. Still, as long a he paid me before he died, that is good enough for me." He coughed. "So, after I got enough money from that, I managed to hire crews to man my Salvettes on my missions. I would go through battlefields and pick up the more intact survivors of a skirmish. When I got my hands on a Fushai-class Cloak Generator, I could make heists at major spaceports; a rather dangerous venture, but a very rewarding one."

He suddenly stopped walking, and looked at me. "However, it is thanks to you that I got most of my stuff." I said, uneasily, "I beg your pardon?" He grinned, and continued to walk down the corridor. "No, not you personally. However, your Exodus was helpful to my success. Do you have any knowledge of the Bridge of Sighs?" I nodded. That was where the Mothership was confronted by hundreds of starships in their mission to destroy the Hyperspace Inhibitor that blocked access to Hiigara. Apparently, we captured a good fifty percent of the Elite Guard Ion Frigates at that point through the use of thirty Salvettes and two Carriers, which facilitated our capture of Hiigara.

"I know of it."

He said, "Well, when you disabled that Inhibitor, and scattered the Taiidani fleet, I was able to send one of my captured freighters beyond accessible space. To the Karos Graveyard." It dawned on me. Most of the ships in the fleet were of an unknown design, and instead of fighting for them, he just salvaged derelicts.

He smiled, and we stopped walking. He waved his hand in front of a DNA scanning lock, and a pair of blast doors slid apart. We entered the hangar, and I heard him press some buttons in the darkness, and the hangar was illuminated with a blinding light.

When my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I saw that the room was filled with many starfighters and freighters of rather exotic design. We began browsing through them. Many of them were instantly familiar; several Turanic interceptors and Thief-class Corvettes, many Kushan Scouts ("I have modified them individually with powerful engines, plasma launchers, and increased armor," he explained,) and some Turanic Interceptors.

The others were mostly Corvette-sized, and one particularly caught my eye. I pointed to it, and Telos said, "That is a Xorpaulin luxury freighter. Rather harmless." I frowned. Though the 40-meter long sleek, blue hull, and the large cargo bay were impressive, I guess it didn't have any punch. I was going to move on to another ship, but Telos stopped me.

"…At least, that is what your enemies will think." He pulled out his datapad, and the ship was transformed. Parts of the hull opened up, and six massive weapons platforms that I could spot came into view. I had to stand back to take it all in. 1R-D said, "Those, Captain, appear to be Kagley-Laird Plasma Torpedo Launchers. They are similar to the energy weapons now installed on the newer capital ships, but these ones were banned due to several safety infringements."

Telos shrugged. "I was able to fix them, and I don't believe that you came here wishing to find perfectly legal merchandise. So, how about it?" I thought for a moment. He continued, "Actually, that ship is my favorite of them all."

"Is that your personal opinion, or merely salesmanship?" I asked.

"Perhaps both. Her name is the Concealed Treasure."

I grinned. "Suitable name, but I think we will look at your capital ships first before we make a decision."

He nodded, and said, "Right this way." We walked through the menagerie of ships, and we fell upon a rather unusual ship. It looked like a perfect glass sphere. Half of the surface, however, was covered in metal. On the topside there lay a pair of powerful spotlights, and on the bottom there were two metal arms installed. The back of the sphere was opened up, so that we could enter it. When we entered, the back closed behind us, and I noticed that the opening also housed the engines. Though there was barely enough room for all of us to stand in at the same time, there was only one mounted control panel in the entire ship.

Myla said, "I don't like this."

Telos assured her, "It does seem fragile, but it is six inches of transparisteel. It isn't very likely that it could seriously crack unless we went into combat. And I don't plan on that happening."

I asked him, "Is this of your own design?"

He confirmed my suspicions. "Yes, as you can see it is a very simple ship, and the main sphere was easy to build." I ran my hand over the smooth surface. 1R-D thought the same thing; "My scans show that this ship is a near perfect sphere. It would be very difficult without the help of a fully-equipped construction yard to create it." He didn't respond, merely fiddling with the simplistic controls. "I had some help with the tools I got."

When we began to hover in the air, and he told us that we were fully pressurized, the hangar bays opened, giving us a view of his entire junkyard. He flew us swiftly out of the hangar, and he took a right once we were away. I looked around the space, searching for things I found interesting. I asked, "How come, after all these years, you haven't been discovered? I'm sure your fleet is large enough to be picked up on active sensors?"

He replied, "Well, some have tried, but they haven't been successful. First of all, every ship here is hardwired into Hermit Station's Tactical Computer. If any hostiles are in the vicinity, and I give the order, they will fire, and often they will be overpowered. I also have upgraded all my Auto Guns with EMP lasers, so if I can disable enemy ships, then I kill two birds with one stone. And if they ever try to take my ships, or destroy my base, I have two special systems set up in which to deter them. First of all, if my station's average hull integrity falls below ten percent, they will all self-destruct, and if they are towed outside of my station's hundred kilometer sensor radius, they will similarly commit suicide. Those measures have caused the deaths of more than one pirate Carrier."

We flew past one ship that seemed rather interesting, so I gestured at him to move us closer. The ship was clearly a hybrid vessel of Turanic origins. It looked like he took the spine-mounted Ion Cannons of four Ion Array frigates, and attached them in an X fashion to a peculiar center: a Brigand-class Turanic Missile Corvette. He snapped on the spotlights, and white light lit up the dark crevices of the ship.

We came closer, and I asked, "How does that thing get power?"

Myla said, "Yes, without the Turanic solar arrays, those Ion cannons won't be able to recharge."

The scavenger said, "I have made modifications to the Turanic cannons based on your Firelance-class frigates. They can recharge their ships internally, can they not?" I nodded, but I wasn't too easy with him knowing too much about our weapons systems. I asked, "Has that ship been combat-tested?"

Telos said, "Yes, it has. It can fire all of its cannons in one massive burst, or cyclically, to ensure a perpetual stream of Ions. The Ion Frigates' engines are used to maneuver the ship, so it is far more unwieldy than most standard Ion Frigates, but the central corvette hub has had its engines removed in the place of far more durable armor. This baby'll last you through a tough fight. What are you military folk going to use it against, anyway?"

I sure as hell wasn't going to give that away. Not even anyone past Fleet Command back at Hiigara knew of the Kadeshi threat. "Well, that is classified. But I am strongly interested in that ship. How much?"

"Five million galactic-creds."

I whistled. We were given twenty million for the shield information, but I wanted to be sure that we were getting the best deal. I turned to my two escorts.

The robot said, "It is a rather unusual design. It does suffer on maneuverability, but I believe that the firepower will make up for that weakness. The addition of missiles from the central ship would improve the major setback of Ion Cannon Frigates."

Myla didn't talk to me, focusing her look instead on Telos. "We'll give you three point five million." I was taken aback, but realized that she was haggling with him. He acted as if he had heard he was going to be shot. "I'm afraid it is non-negotiable. You won't find this ship anywhere else in the sector."

Myla smiled. "Nice try, but you won't let the 'low availability' line bring us down. That ship is clearly no match for anything of a Frigate-class or smaller. They can move out of the line of fire before that monster can get turned halfway. The only possible way it could be effective is if those cannons are gimbals-mounted, so they can swivel on their bases. We can spare you the task of making the modifications for 3 ½ million, but if you can do it for us, you get five million." She turned to me. "We do have the facilities to make such modifications.

He was clearly mulling it over. He concluded, "Four and a half million."

"Four."

"Four point two five."

Myla grinned with satisfaction. "Deal." She turned to me, and I was quite impressed. I switched on my personal comm. "This is Captain Sjet to Angel Base. Prepare to transfer 4,250,000 creds to Mr. Telos' temporary account. Take a salvage team to the starship we are immediately adjacent to, and once it has been moved over a hundred clicks away from Hermit Station, initiate the transfer." Before we moved onto the next ships, we saw the Water Thief, the Compass, and two other Salvettes dock with the quad-Ion Frigate, and watched as they lugged the massive ship away from the yard.

We moved onto several other ships, including a huge destroyer with thirty rotating turrets, which seemed like the ultimate Fighter-killer, but 1R-D informed me that it was not set up so all the different pieces would be able to stay together under stress, and a rather large ship that looked like a sphere that Telos said could capture several Corvettes or Fighters at a time, and break them up into bare atoms like a Resource Collector, but it seemed too unwieldy to use.

Then one ship caught my eye, hidden in a large cluster of scrap metal.

I said, "What is that?"

He said, rather solemnly, "That one is not for sale."

I could see why not. I ordered him to bring us closer, and, reluctantly, he agreed. As the observation ship drew closer, I could barely believe my eyes. The ship was massive, almost Mothership-class. Ardee told me that it was about fifteen kilometers in length, making it about three times longer than an Avatar-class Heavy Cruiser. I asked him what it was, and he replied, "That is the Ichel-San. It is the flagship of a long dead alien race. I ran into it rather unexpectedly. I was supervising my territory at the time, and I fell under attack by Turanic assassins who had apparently learned of my location. I was flying in a ship of an unknown origin at the time, and about ten minutes into the battle, this massive ship hypered right on top of us, and quickly destroyed my enemies."

He sighed with nostalgia. "When I cleared through the debris, I docked with the ship, and realized that it had picked up on my communications beacon. I learned a lot about the race once I had gotten onboard and shifted through its database. Apparently, their home planet was struck with a massive plague, and they loaded one million of their people onto this great starship.

"Much like your own race, in a way," he added in amusement. I agreed.

He resumed, "Anyway, somehow the disease found its way onto the ship, and they were all killed, but not until after they plotted a random hyperspace course to the very edge of our galaxy, seemingly for the rest of time. When it picked up on my signal, it was the first contact the ship had had with its race for over a millennia, and it rushed to my aid. After that attack, I learned much about its structure. You see those large blisters on the hull?"

I nodded; there were large bulges about a half-kilometer across spread around the Ichel-San. "Those," he said, "are a version of our PDA systems. They break down the atomic structure of any ships in range, and use the atoms to build up its robotic fleet of six hundred starfighters to defend itself."

He said, "I knew that if I could sell it at the peak of the Hiigaran war to either the Taiidan or your people, I would make far more money than a hundred lifetimes of trading, and strongly changed the tide of the war." He looked down. "Unfortunately, I couldn't sell it to either of the armies, nor can I sell it to you now. You see, as powerful as this ship looks, there is one major drawback: due to its creators' infancy in the field of hyperspace, the module can only be fully powered once every seven hundred years, for one journey to any point in the universe."

He concluded, "I'm afraid you must leave now. You know too much." I looked at my two compatriots and nodded. I sighed. The Ichel-San was an amazing ship, and even though it was supposedly immobile, I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time we would run across it. I looked at Telos, "Before we go, how about we talk about that Xorpaulin freighter you showed us earlier."

* * *

Two hours later, we were in hyperspace back to our base in the Gemstone Nebula, with the Concealed Treasure and the massive quad-Ion cannon starship, which we named the Flexible because of the pivots we were going to add to the Cannons, and I went on wondering if the Ichel-San would run into us again…