Chapter 2

What had begun as a simple curiosity blossomed into a great interest.

These Sommtaww, a kiith which consisted of barely a twenty-fifth of their race, were a very resourceful one. Klu'koth looked through the entry again, and was interested at the part about its control over the Mothership's PDA. The two ships, the Faal-Corum and the Kuun-Laan, were very impressive ships. While not combat ships, it managed to have access to a large array of weaponry that made the ship not only more difficult to capture, but even more desirable. The original Kushan Mothership was a very large and powerful ship, but very vulnerable to a full-scale assault. Neither was the Taiidan Emperor's flagship any better. While they could build great ships, they were in themselves not a good investment.

But this ship, the Kuun-Laan, was both a great construction vessel, a mining ship, and a ship that could hold its own in combat. It was the pirates' holy grail. He grinned. He can, and would, have that ship. He scrolled down to the part about the Clee-San. A frigate-sized ship, it was able to process information faster than any vessel in its class. Its scanners recorded everything in a particular part of space, infrared, ultraviolet, and several other kinds of scanning were built into one large scanning beam. A rather interesting ship, it was not as interesting as the Explorer-class vessels.

He shut off the data processor, and he received a call from the bridge. He patched it in, and he heard, "Sir, there is someone on the comm., on an encrypted channel. I can't patch into it, but it told me that you could access the line. It said it was Code Black."

Klu'koth lit up. There was only one conceivable person that could send a Code Black message. "Yes, I'll take it." He heard a robotic voice speak now, saying, "Please enter the encryption code." He thought back, and replied, "Turan 11089-Omicron." After a second, the voice replied, "Code accepted. Line coming through."

His holoprojector turned on, and the head of an aged Turanic materialised. Klu'koth breathed in sharply. "Leader Jomlau, it is an honor." The face nodded. "And I share that honor, Klu'koth Gul'daan. You have proved to be an able warrior. I heard of your recent victory for Captain Lance'hek. That was a rather brave thing you did." Had the Turanic been able to blush, he would have in response to praise from the highest member of his sect.

"I doubt that this was merely an excuse to chat, good Leader."

He nodded. "You are perceptive. Actually, it has to do with a special business offer I had in mind. Are you interested?"

Klu'koth parroted his teachings, "A Turanic lives for money and Turan. Why would I refuse?" Jomlau replied, "Perhaps this will count for both of those. Recently, a mining fleet from the Res'coom sect ran into a Hiigaran research vessel in the Coruc-Tel system. It is a top of the line ship, barely a year old, called the Clee-San. Have you heard of it?"

Klu'koth became fully attentive. "As a matter of fact, I was just researching into that ship's history." Jomlau continued, "We tried to share the discovery with the Res'coom, as we were escorting their fleet at the time, but they were reluctant to divide the prize. As they are in their infancy in terms of combat, this was…unwise."

Klu'koth winced. What had to be done in this profession had to be done.

"We have a crack slicer team from the Harkk'hah sect decoding their computer core, and we have the crew under interrogation, but it will take time to get all of their knowledge. If we receive such information as where their forces are weak, and what their weapons systems are like, we could be sitting on a wealth of knowledge. As a loyal member of the Gul'daan, you are entitled to a share of the credit, if you would be so kind as to offer the assistance of your ships and crew to defend us."

He quickly replied, "We will be there before the day is over." His leader nodded. "We appreciate any help you can give. Leader Jomlau out." The image dematerialised, and Klu'koth called the bridge. "Ensign, lay in a course for the Coruc-Tel system. Scan the system for any Turanic vessels, and bring us in close."

"Yes sir. Course laid in."

Klu'koth grinned. The Clee-San would be a very valuable prize indeed.

When they jumped out, the Nav. Officer reported that they were 200 kilometers from the Clee-San. Klu'koth hailed the nearest vessel, which happened to be an Imperial Heavy Cruiser. "Swift Death to Knock-Out. We have arrived in system, and are ready to move in to assist with the Clee-San."

The voice of Jomlau replied, "Ah, Klu'koth. Glad you could make it."

He said, "That is a nice ship you have there, Leader. Where did you get it?" The voice responded smugly, "Well, if it takes more than helping out in a skirmish against the Bentusi once in a while to be offered one of these, then I got a very good deal."

Klu'koth smiled. "Do you want us to move directly to the Clee-San?"

Jomlau replied, "No, that is ill advised. We have been placing mines all over the area to ensure safety from attacking forces. The problem is, they're very antiquated Minelayers, and the mines will be attracted to any Frigate-class or higher vessel that gets within range that isn't emitting an explicit engine harmonic. We ourselves are having trouble adapting our ships, and only a few are actually within the perimeter. We can have a technician team shuttle over to make modifications, but that will take time, and it would be better if you could fly over there now in a small craft, preferably with an escort of your best programmers. We still haven't cracked that core yet. I will be waiting for you there."

Klu'koth nodded. "We will comply, Knock-Out. Swift Death out." He gestured to the comm. officer to switch the comm. off, and he got out of his chair to go to the hangar. He picked up his personal communicator, and declared, "Suit up, Esh'lar. We're going for a ride."

It was only when they got to the Clee-San, which was now "protected" by a sphere of mines, that the two of them realised that there was no docking pad to speak of on the research frigate, so they were forced to enter vac-suits and float through space to the airlock. Esh'lar commented, "Damn, these suits are cold!"

Klu'koth said, "Well, they haven't been used in four years. You should be glad they work at all." Esh'lar grumbled something unintelligible; very likely derogatory.

When they reached the airlock on the rod-shaped vessel, Klu'koth saw that another Corvette, a modified Multi-Gun Corvette bearing the colors of a Turanic Leader vessel, and sporting the Gul'daan crest, was hovering outside of the ship beside the Penetrator. That meant that Jomlau was already here. It took them a little effort to crank open the airlock, and pulled themselves inside the ship.

When they cleared the inner airlock doors, they unlatched their helmets, and saluted Jomlau and his escorts. The old Turanic said, "Welcome to the Clee-San. Very nice, don't you think? I admire how neat those Hiigarans are. Follow me."

They walked down the bright corridors, and he noticed that more than one of them in the group were squinting their eyes because of the increased light level. Most of them had been working on the usual dark Turanic vessels, and obviously the Taiidan flagship had been modified to accompany their preferences.

They reached one room, which was labelled, flanked by two Sommtaww crests, CENTRAL COMPUTER CORE. Jomlau explained, "We moved the hostages here, so that we could focus on both tasks in one place. Will your programmers arrive soon?"

Klu'koth shook his head. "There were some problems with our "Brigand"-class Corvettes, so they have to be delayed by about an hour. Until then, we could help out with the hostage interrogation. Jomlau conceded, and opened the doors.

Klu'koth saw the massive, torus-shaped core, which was covered in bright lights and computer screens. Turanic hackers were sweating over the security systems as if they were conducting major brain surgery with a shard of glass. In the corner of the room, a beaten up Hiigaran officer, judging from his garments, Klu'koth assumed that he was the captain of the ship, was being tormented by large soldiers.

One of them, a large, six-foot Raider, slapped him on the face, and with serrated claws for hands, that was rather bad. "What is the password?" The Hiigaran officer merely smiled weakly, blood glistening off of his cheek. "The code is E-A-T S-H-…" Another slap.

He walked over to him, and asked, "What is your name?" The Hiigaran officer, obviously unaccustomed to anything other than questions about confidential information and vicious beatings, looked at him with a wary eye. Then, he said, "My name is Captain Chezzo." He nodded, and while the soldier did not enjoy this form of interrogation, he let him continue.

"Why were you sent to Coruc-Tel?"

"We found pockets of heavily ionised gases in the system. We were hoping that we could find something that would improve our plasma containment fields. We were hiding in these iron-rich asteroid belts when our hyperdrive malfunctioned, and while we were making repairs you bastards jumped us."

Slap! Klu'koth did not object to that one.

"How many ships does your race own?"

He grinned a bloody, toothy grin. "Nice try, but I knew what you were trying to do all along." Klu'koth hung his head. "Besides," he continued, and he raised his head. "Do you really think I know the numbers of every ship owned by my people? Your entire race has about 20 to 30 carrier groups amongst you."

Klu'koth glared. "So far as you know."

He shrugged. "Some of our individual kiith have that many, and they are being spread across the galaxy as we speak, each carrier spawning more and more ships. You pitiful pirates will never exterminate us like your friends did back on Kharak. Not anymore."

Klu'koth realised that this was a rather intelligent and confident man, and it would take much to break him. Then he had an idea. "You know," he said. "It's funny how quickly you people want to leave home." The officer blinked. "After all," he went on, "you've spent all this time just trying to get to Hiigara, and now, you have your race leaving in hordes. Why not just stay with that desert planet of yours', and used the Mothership hull to build more than enough ships to help you guys out? I think your whole Exodus was a futile effort, if you want to know the truth."

The officer was silent, and he knew he'd struck a nerve. All he had to do was push it…

But before he was able to go any further, he was interrupted by a warning klaxon. He turned to the other officers, and one of them clutched their helmet, listening to something. He snapped to attention. "Sir! Explorer-class vessel reported in the region, sir! Engine harmonics signify the Kuun-Laan, sir!"

Jomlau moved into action. "All hands, prepare to attack! All fighters prep crews, and go in! They are probably trying to rescue the Clee-San!" Klu'koth rubbed his clawed mandibles together in glee.

When it rains, it pours.