Chapter 13

Chapter 13

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I woke up on the bridge, hearing the shrill alarm of the mission chrono. I checked my console, and noticed that we had five minutes until reversion. I thought, This is it. Acquiring this vessel and tracking their location was the easy part. This would certainly be the challenging part.

I brought my hand to my face, and instead of smooth, moist cheek, I discovered dry, rough skin. I went through a split-second shock, but quickly remembered my costume. This would take some getting used to.

I called up the rest of the crew through the comm. "This is Captain Sjet to the rest of you guys. We have a few minutes 'till reversion, and I want to show our "superiors" that I keep a well-oiled crew. Get up to the bridge ASAP." They took their time in arriving, and one of the alien-looking Hiigarans, I think it was Jacyn, said, "You're certainly taking charge, Captain," he said mockingly.

I smiled smugly. "Just remember that I have the authority to pull rank, Lieutenant. Now get to the conn." The man looked puzzled. "I'm supposed to be in the Number One chair."

If I could blush through my costume…

"Uh, sorry Sergeant."

Another man, who I guessed really was Jacyn, said, "Boy, you really should improve that memory of yours before we get onboard their ships."

I countered, "Well, this is rather disorienting, even after several days. Besides, I won't forget your fake names; they're conveniently on your breastplates."

He nodded dismissively, and walked over top the pilot's chair. I sat down in my own chair just as the computer began the countdown to the end of the jump. When it said zero, I felt my chair buck up, and the viewport in front of us changed from blue light to normal space.

Check that: real space. There was nothing ordinary about this space at all.

The area was swarming with murderous-looking Kadeshi starships and fighters. Offhand, I guessed there were a dozen of the Needle Motherships that the Exodus had revealed to us. At least.

Then there were easily hundreds of the modified Fuel Pods, Multi-Beam Frigates, and ships that looked like Missile-equipped frigates. And countless Swarmers. What these people lacked in diversity, they made up for in lethality.

A flight of four Advanced Swarmers flew up towards us, and my instinct was to ready the guns, but they called us up on the com in a not-too-threatening manner.

"Unregistered vessel, identify yourselves."

I hit the comm. button, "This is the freighter Concealed Treasure. I am Colonel Karesh-Nok of the Frigate Muu'sha. Our task force was destroyed while pursuing that Turanic Raider Halen Chell, and we barely managed to escape in this foreign craft. We require docking on one of the Motherships."

I hoped that I didn't say anything that sounded conspicuous, but fortunately the reply came rather quickly and understanding. "It is good that you did not get captured by the enemy. Slave your navigation to our Swarmers, and we will direct you to the Mothership Kkkuuum for quarantine."

I looked on my sensors. Sure enough, there was an elongated, hammerhead starship about a thousand clicks from our position. Like all Kadeshi ships, they appeared sleeker, and more heavily armed than the version the Mothership's first encountered.

I sighed, saying, "Affirmative…" I looked down at the IFF frequency from which the voice came from, "…Blood Leader. Slaving our navicomp to you now." I shut off the comm., and said, "Well, we passed square one."

* * *

I was escorted by two bulky Kadeshi guards, separated from the rest of my group, to a small room where a single guard sat. On the way, I noticed quickly the way the gravity was less than I would normally expect, giving my steps an extra bounce. Interestingly enough, I noticed the weapons that they used clasped onto their hands: grav-emitters.

These were hand-weapons that could manipulate gravity and magnetic fields to fire off a powerful pulse that repelled anything in the line of fire. A rather impressive weapon, I must say. It was intriguing that, while they had mastered the arts of using gravity practically, they did not apply this knowledge to their artificial gravity systems. Possibly out of tradition.

Anyway, I entered the room, where a pale-faced Kadeshi gestured for me to sit down. I did so, and the guards walked out of the room. He was clad not in my battle armor, but in long, flowing white robes. I noticed that most of the starship's inhabitants were also dressed in such wear. I deduced that only the soldiers had battle armor on, and the Mothership crews were less apt to engage in combat.

The officer said, "Welcome, Karesh-Nok. I am Marii-Ngo." This alone made me feel better; if I were to run into anyone that my persona actually knew, I would be at a loss. Fortunately, that wasn't about to happen.

He continued, "I was impressed with your report. You did much to escape like you did. Better that than being captured by the enemy." I nodded in response. He went on, obviously not expecting me to speak, "I see that you did not enter the system on a Kadeshi starship."

I nodded, keeping to our story. "We captured the vessel at the starbase where the Turanic double-agent was. We captured several other vessels, but they were destroyed along with the rest of the fleet." Taking a gamble, I adlibbed, "I believed this craft would help to modify our hyperdrive modules."

He hesitated for a minute. I wasn't sure whether he bought it, but he then nodded. "Our engineers have acknowledged that their hyperdrive have a 1.1% more efficient drive, and their sub-light thrusters are 4% more efficient. Not very great of an improvement, but any improvement is enough." He shuffled some datacards, and handed one to me. "This is your schedule for the next standard week. You will stay within the medical sections to have examinations run. This is our first time outside the Nebula; the last thing we need is an outbreak of an alien virus."

He concluded, "Pending the end of your examinations, you and your crew will continue work aboard the Krekkin'Na." I shifted in my seat. "Will we be returning to combat?" I sure as hell wasn't going to kill any of my own people on this mission. Mara wasn't that valuable. But then, I thought, the Kadeshi are my own people. Not on any other terms but biologically, but wasn't that enough?

He reassured me, "No, I think you six have had enough action to spare. Your mere survival is admirable, but I won't risk you further by returning into combat. Your new schedule will be decidedly more sedate." I nodded, hoping not to show my relief. "Will that be all, sir?" He paused, but nodded, and waved me off. "Take a few hours of R&R; your temporary quarters will be on Deck 5. An escort will show you there."

I stood up, and saluted, hoping both our races had the same military gestures. I turned, and walked out of the room. I began to walk down the carved, gleaming white hallways to the turbolifts. I entered one of them at the end of the hull, and placed my thumb on the fingerprint sensors to unlock the doors, and they slid open with a promising beep.

I walked in, and said, "Deck 5, please." The computer dutifully replied, "Deck Five," and the doors closed just behind a woman who was entering. I looked at her, and at the name stenciled on her charred armor. She looked back at me, and we looked away. Our glances met several times after, and she decided to speak, "Captain Sjet?"

I frowned at her, saying, "Captain who?"

She froze, and her eyes widened with horror. "Uh, I'm sorry, I meant…uh…"

"I think you need to follow me to the brig, young lady."

She looked as if she were going to faint when I put on a reassuring smirk. "Hi, Flight Officer Paktu."

She let out a surprising amount of air from her lungs. Even through her retinal disguise, I could tell there was rage in her eyes. "That was not funny!"

I replied, amused, "I disagree. I think it was pretty damn hilarious."

May glared at me. "Were we not on this mission, and I was your superior, I would have you killed." I merely said, "Well, I guess I must appreciate my rank even more now, shouldn't I?" Her anger seemed to bleed off. "You know, I would be angry at you, but I have some very important information."

I was skeptical, "Already?"

She nodded vigorously. "Well, have you heard where they are sending us after we get out of quarantine?"

"Mmm-hm. The Krekkin'Na, wasn't it?"

She continued bobbing her head. "Do you know what that is?"

I did not.

She told me.