Chapter 5

Chapter 5

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"Halen Chell is a very powerful, yet little-known bounty hunter," May began. "Guess what race he is?" I shook my head and looked at Jacyn. No one else was in my quarters. This was a very big secret. "Great. We've seen more than one too many Turanic on our last campaign. I don't fancy meeting another one right now very appealing."

She continued, "He holds no political ties to any of the fifteen known Turanic sects, going out on his own merely to acquire profit, even over the bodies of other Turanic. His fleet is the largest in private ownership: three Taiidan Assault Frigates and two Turanic Ion Array Frigates. He's usually prone to preying on valuable convoys, but recently he's been seen in this region of space. We can't trace his ships, because he gutted the ships' Identifier: Friend/Foe transponders, so they don't send out any identification beacon. Also, he has figured out a way to cloak his ion trails from hyperspace jumps."

I shook my head. "This guy's a pro. He's our only lead, and we have no way to find him. That's just great." Jacyn spoke up, and got out of his chair. "That isn't completely accurate. You both know that I used to be a mercenary? Well, more than once I was contracted to work for him."

Both of us looked at him. "And?" I asked. He continued, "Well, I found out how he masked his ion trails. I hacked into his central core and extracted anything I may have needed to know for later into the database of the Bloody Dagger. For blackmail, if and when I needed any." May frowned in disapproval, but he just turned to her and said, "When you're on your own, you have to figure out unorthodox ways to persevere."

He pulled out a datapad. "Anyway, I'll patch into the old bird and see what I can find." He paused for a few minutes. Then, he nodded, and began tapping at the screen. "OK, here it is." He passed it to me, and I read, "HYPERDRIVE TRAIL INHIBITORS: "OMICRON" PARTICLES." Underneath that I found a 3-D model of an Omicron particle. "So…if we program the Angel Base's sensors to scan for omicron particles, we will find where he is." I passed the datapad to May, and dismissed her. "Give this to the sensors officer aboard the Troop Transport, and tell everyone in the squadron to board the ship. We may be leaving soon."

She nodded, then left.

I turned to the Cloak Fighter pilot. After a long pause, I said, "What do you think he meant by 'new employers?'" He shrugged. "I don't know. It must be someone who values the nebula as much as us." He paused. "Well, it couldn't be the Corporation, since they already have laid claims to this region. If they wanted to force us out, they wouldn't have sent agents to do it." He thought some more. "And it probably isn't the Turanic. Even if they managed to get both us and the Corporation out of here, they don't have the number to keep it." I agreed. "What about the Bentusi?" Even as I suggested this, I knew Krrrra'k wouldn't be pleased by that concept. Jacyn didn't think so. "For the past ten years, they haven't really seemed very militaristic. They don't even have a decent star fighter design."

He froze, and looked behind me. "Uh, he isn't there, is he?" I immediately knew who he meant, and looked behind. I reassured him, "No, he isn't there." He looked very relieved, and continued, "Then it must be the Taiidan." I shook my head. "Now, let's not be too hasty. We've met hundreds of different races in the past decade through the Council. It could be anyone of them. Or something else…" He went white. "The…Tiamat?" I merely shrugged. "Let's hope not."

Day 12

We exited hyperspace at the most likely coordinates of Halen Chell's less than modest fleet. We didn't board our ships, though. The Angel Base was escorted by three Ion Cannon Frigates, two of the new Destroyers, and four Multi-Gun Corvettes; more than enough to hold off the pirate's fleet. I also noticed with interest, that all three Assault Frigates had been modified with docking pads for two Corvettes on each of the sides, six Turanic Corvettes in all.

I watched Commander Paktu order into her comm., "Gravwell Four, activate gravity sails." I nodded in her direction. This time they wouldn't be going away. She then motioned to me, informing me that I should make contact. I tapped some buttons on the communications console, patching into the frequency of the flagship, the Espionage. "This is Lieutenant Jake Sjet of the Hiigaran Armed Forces. I wish to speak to Halen Chell. You will comply, since your ships are help in real space, and we outgun you." I waited for a few seconds, and then the holoprojector lit up, showing an image of a rather portly brown-red beetle in charred battle armor. "I am Halen Chell. You, eh, wish to negotiate something?" I nodded. "We found met up with your hired goons. Does the name Kel Gerom mean anything?" The insect looked away for a second. "If we're going to do this, we must be somewhere private. Contact me when you're in a less public room." I nodded as his image dissolved.

I beckoned to Jacyn, and we walked out of the bridge towards my quarters. He asked, "Why do you want me?" We got to my door, and bent down to the retinal scanner. "Because you would know if he was lying to us."

We walked in, locked the door, and I activated the holo projector. He appeared again, and Halen looked at Jacyn, who hovered behind me. "You heard me Sjet. I will only speak in a private-"

I cut him off, "This is Jacyn Naabal, one of my closest friends. We have no secrets from each other. I understand you've met?" The bug took up an air of contempt. "Yes. Good pilot, but obviously not as loyal as most." Jacyn stared at him. "In our arena, you can't have any permanent alliances." Halen nodded. "Truer words were never spoken." I jumped back into the conversation. "Tell me, Halen. How did you get your impressive fleet?"

The Turanic became smug. "Eh, a friend of mine in the Taiidan Navy leased me six Salvage Corvettes and a Cloak Generators. I had my six Corvettes-four standard, and two of the missile variant-and my two Ion Array Frigates distract a patrolling Assault Frigate fleet, and my troops loaded onto the Salvettes. Easy steal." I faked a grin. "I guess that helped you make large profits in the future." He nodded. "Very large."

I decided to get this over with. "Look. We're here to talk about your new employer." He suddenly became very terrified, rubbing his front legs rhythmically. "Eh…yes?" I didn't take this to be a good sign. "Who are they?"

"I can't tell you," he replied almost immediately.

I looked at Jacyn. "Why not?"

"They will destroy us if we tell you. They are very powerful."

Jacyn only shrugged, informing me that Halen probably was being truthful. "We will allow you to be under Hiigaran asylum if you tell us." He shook his head. "No, only by staying on the move can we avoid them long enough." We both said nothing for a while. Then, he offered, "Technically, I could tell you how to find them. Then they wouldn't connect the two of us as readily. It will cost you, however." I was interested. "Go on."

"It will not cost you much. All I want is a Cloaked Fighter. A pair at best, but I won't be picky. One is fine." I looked back at Jacyn, and we both knew we would never allow such a transaction. I tried to get him to change his mind. "How about a Cloak Generator? That way you can hide your whole fleet at once from these 'employers.'" The Turanic's expression changed from fear to that of a devious merchant. "No deal. I can get a Generator any day of the week from my Taiidan employers. However, it isn't every day that I can acquire one of those Fighters. A limitless cloaking technology in a Fighter-sized package is a gift that many of your rivals would like to have, at a hefty price."

I was defiant. After Drone Frigate technology, Cloak Fighter technology was one of the most proprietary information of the Navy. And in the hands of the Taiidan Imperialists was a scary thought. Fleet Command wouldn't trade one of them for anything less than a whole fleet of Heavy Cruisers. "It isn't a fair trade at all. No way." The Turanic shrugged. "Well," he began. "Since you're stubborn about it, I'm willing to consider another trade. Say, information on how to find them for, say, a Destroyer-class vessel. I could stand to have that as a flagship. That would much improve business, if my employers knew how much power I wielded." I smiled and shook my head again. "Nice try, but the Navy wouldn't like it if I gave an independent militia something to the order of a Super-Capital class vessel, so don't even think about asking for a Carrier or Heavy Cruiser."

The negotiations were at a standstill, and I don't think that information of the order we were discussing to be a large hoax at our expense. He was a pirate, but I thought he was pretty truthful in this respect. And yet, we had nothing to bargain with. Then I had an idea. "Say, Halen, your fleet looks pretty banged up. Lots of battle scars." He nodded. "Well, it has been in several skirmishes over the past three years, without decent repairs." I had him where I wanted him. "Then you wouldn't mind to spending four or five days in dry dock at our star port in the Chu'Nath system, would you? No questions asked. In exchange for what we want to know." He looked at me from the corner of his eye. "You lie. When you got when you wanted, you would order a police freighter to besiege us. How do we know you're being truthful?" I looked him straight in his holographic eyes. "Because, according to you, we won't be much better off against your 'employers,'" I said, and when I said it I almost hoped it was a hoax.

He thought it over, and then slowly nodded. "Very well. We know you have set off multiple Probes to scan the region. They have technology that will prevent them from detecting their ships. Set the scanning frequency to 135.89. We better have a warm welcome when we reach Chu'Nath." His image faded. I looked at Jacyn, and we nodded. We did it. At least, we hope we did. Halen reappeared in the projector. "Oh, and Sjet? One more thing." I leaned in closer to him, and he said, "Could you ask your Gravwell to power down? We can't leave with it on." I grinned and nodded. "Gravwell Four, power down gravity sails."

I looked out my viewport, and saw that almost immediately they jumped off into hyperspace; they must have been primed to leave since the beginning. "Commander Paktu?" Her voice was crackled over the comm. "Acknowledged, Lieutenant. We have set a course back to the base." I swiveled around in my chair and Jacyn and I looked at each other. "So," he asked. "What now?" I shrugged. "I guess we scan and wait." And hope…

Day 17

I sat with Nolan at lunch. He didn't speak for a while. He then, slowly, said, "So, what have the Probes picked up?" I replied, "Nothing, so far." He took a drag from his cigar, and blew it out slowly. "I wonder who the new employers are."

I looked around the mess hall. "Do you think they're ready for this?" I was referring to the rookies. He thought about it, then shook his head. "I wouldn't have wanted to get into this at their age." I nodded. "They aren't much younger than us." He glared at me. "Speak for yourself, Mr. Twenty-something. I'm forty." I was surprised. He sure as hell didn't look it, especially considering all the combat he'd been through. "How do you do it?" He shrugged. "When I hit thirty I was working as a freighter commander; hence the rank of Major. I found out I got inoperable cancer." I couldn't speak for a moment. "What?"

He nodded. "They gave me ten to fifteen years. I decided I might as well do something exciting for a living, to return something to the community. So I used my rank to enter into one of the Heavy Corvette battalions operating on the Outer Rim. I figured I had nothing to lose, and finally I joined Angel Squadron, and the rest is history." He made a slight smile. "I'm almost due right now. I figure I might as well go out with a bang." This was a lot to take in.

"Hey, Jake. Whoever the hell these aliens are that are hiding in this sector, they won't take me out with a fight. I haven't lost my edge yet." He gestured to a table where Tengo, May, Myla, and Hal sat. "They're still green. They've only had one real combat mission in the past few months. I doubt that they are fully prepared." I began to object, "Well, I think we trained them well enough…" Then the gleaming shape of 1R-D appeared over us. Its chrome head swiveled on its base to look at me. "Lieutenant Sjet, Flight Officer Naabal urgently requires you onboard the Vigilance. Now."

I looked at the robot, and I nodded. "I'll be right there." I got up and asked, "Well, aren't you coming, old man?" He glowered. "Might as well see what you youngsters are doing."

* * *

We were in the main holographic cartography room onboard the Sensors Array when Jacyn raced towards us. "Guys, you need to see this." He fiddled with a console, and a huge section of the room lit up in front of us with a holographic representation of one sector of the Gemstone Nebula. "We recently got this video feed from Probe 114." The screen seemed to do nothing for several seconds, then there was a green flash, and the feed turned into a huge cube of static.

Nolan turned to Jacyn. "Is this a joke?" He shook his head vigorously. "Wait. Now this is the feed using the Probe's sensor modifications, as per Chell's instructions." Again, the same region of space, but this time, a partly blurred image of a ship flew into the frame, and we all froze. It merely drifted by for a second, and then it turned itself to face the "eye" of the Probe. Something like a weapons' barrel revealed itself. Then the barrel emitted a green beam that washed over the holo cam, which turned to static.

But the actual action of the ship, which was rather hostile, was not the shocking part. It was the kind of ship that was the eye-opener. The very thought struck fear into the hearts of many Navy veterans. Let's just say that their kinds of ships were known to…swarm.