Now that local female had time to think she replied, “I suppose not.”
We spent a couple of hours on the beach. One thing the children love doing which you just can’t do in the hologram room and that is skim pebbles across the water. The older girls have got quite the knack for skimming pebbles.
We continued with our regular runs. Now we did not go that often to Dregg but fortunately we landed a contract to go there with some farming machinery. My chance to contact Zitter Bobeck had arrived. I counted down the days to when we were going there and finally the time had arrived. Jenna did all the communication with the Dregg and I had asked her to call up Zitter on the number given to me by her cousin Nindy. So after unloading the farming machinery Jenna called this number.
It was answered by a voice speaking Dregg, Jenna asked, “Can you speak Zeln and are you Zitter Bobeck?’’
Jenna received a blunt answer back in Zeln, “Who are you and what do you want with Zitter and how did you get this contact number?’’
Jenna now said, “We wish to speak with Zitter. Her cousin Nindy gave this number to us and said that Zitter may be able to help us with our quest.”
“Nindy you say! If Nindy did give you my number then she must trust you. Anyway you are speaking to Zitter, so how can I help you?’’
“We are looking for planetary defence hardware for a new alliance member, Earth. Can you or do you know of anyone who can help?’’ asked Jenna.
Zitter a little cagey answered, “I wish to meet you in person before I answer your request. There is a monument just outside town. I will give you the coordinates. Do not come armed or with more than three persons and be there at three precisely.” Zitter then hung up.
Jenna and I looked at each other.
Jenna asked me, “Do you think it is safe to go there? Is whatever she does legal? I must confess, I am somewhat worried now.’’
“Cloak and dagger stuff indeed,” I said, “but we must go. I don’t think Nindy would have given us her contact number if she was any danger to us. I do think what she does is not completely above board though and for that reason I believe Zitter is just being cautious. You remember what Nindy said, Zitter will be suspicious of strangers until she gets to know them.”
Alenna would also accompany us to this monument. We wanted to make sure we were on time so had left earlier that needed, just in case we were held up by an unforeseen circumstance. The Dregg and the Relnorians both invented their own unique star drives and this monument had been built to pay homage to the inventor of the Dregg star drive. The Dregg believed that their race had indeed got there first with the invention of their star drive, but this cannot be confirmed one way or the other. Personally I think the Relnorians got there first and after all their star drive is far superior. We were suddenly startled by a voice. We all turned round but could not see anyone at first.
The voice was heard again saying, “Step forward away from the monument and stand with your hands where I can see them.’’
We stood there as instructed and this shifty looking Dregg appeared and said, “I have been watching you for some time. Please, follow me. Another Dregg followed from the rear. We were taken to an awaiting shuttle, shown inside and questioned further.
Once satisfied the Dregg said, “I am Zitter, so what are you after?’’
“Hi Zitter, my name is Jake and this is Alenna and this is Jenna. We are interested in frigates, gunships and battle cruisers.’’ I said confidently.
Zitter laughed before saying, “Battle cruisers, you’ll be lucky! I have not had one of those, ever. I do have a gun ship though, but no frigates at this time. Are you interested in interceptors? I have a number of these small craft.’’
“Can we see them?’’ I asked.
“Yes but there not on this planet, they are located on the planet Drillder. Here are the coordinates. I will meet you there in six hours,’’ said Zitter.
We now made our way back to the cargo freighter. Drillder, that’s the second planet out from the sun in the Dregg system and it does not lay in the habitable zone of its host star. One side of the planet always points towards the sun its surface temperatures on this side can reach three hundred centigrade plus. Whereas the dark side never gets much higher than minus sixty centigrade. It would be even colder if it was not for the winds circulating the globe. Now as this planet always has the same side facing the sun there is an area of a few miles where the sun is permanently just below the horizon. This is where it is tolerant to be, it is light enough but not too hot or too cold. This is where Zitter had let say, hidden her space craft. The atmosphere is thin and mostly made up of nitrogen, almost no water vapour as this has over the eons mostly frozen out on the dark side, so an environmental suit is mandatory. Nothing at all lives there. We made our way to this planet and landed at the coordinates that we had been supplied with.
I could not see any space craft at all, “Can you see anything at all Alenna?” I asked, “as I can’t. How about you Jenna?”
We peered outside. The light was deceiving. Then Jenna said, “There, that is not a rock. It some sort of cover and there are more of them, look!”
We could now identify around a dozen of these covers. They looked like and were the same colour as the surrounding rocks. Now Alenna, Jenna and I put our environmental suits on to go outside. During this time Zitter had arrived with her assistant. We met with them next to the covers. Zitter pulled one back and revealed an interceptor; it was old, very old. Her assistant climbed aboard one and fired it up before taking it for a short spin. This interceptor was about the size of a jet fighter but could go into space, its range was just for orbital defence. Powered by a fusion reactor which in turn powered the three antigravity pods, one under each wing and one in the nose. Its propulsion was more primitive, as it had two rocket like engines, one mounted on each of the small wings.
I asked Zitter through Jenna, “I know these were going to be old but I did not expect them to be this old, they must be two hundred years old at least, if not more.”
Zitter replied, “Old but serviceable, they are also going cheap.’’
“They need to be, well how cheap?’’ I asked.’’ I suspected Zitter had had them for a very long time and she wanted to be rid of them, as apart from Earth no one would want them, other than perhaps Lidier just for scrap metal.
“Fifty thousand credits each,’’ replied Zitter.
I pretended to choke before saying, “I will give you ten thousand each and I will take all six.’’ Alenna did not expect me to get involved with the buying side. As Zitter was a bit of a rascal and I suspected that she may have tried to bully Alenna into paying more than she should, I was prepared to jump in ahead of her. I think Alenna was willing for me to continue with the negotiations, as she made no attempt to intervene.
Zitter said, “I can’t do that. How about forty thousand credits each?’’
I came back, “Twelve thousand credits each.’’
Zitter now said, “Thirty thousand that is my final price.’’
I shook my head and said, “No, fifteen thousand each that’s my final offer. If you think you can get more elsewhere then try.’’ I turned as to walk away.
“Wait, Ok you drive a hard bargain. Fifteen thousand credits each it is,” sighed Zitter.
Alenna could not believe what she had just witnessed, the way I had just taken the lead in haggling over price.
Alenna said to me, “Well done, I don’t think I could have done better.’’
I replied, “It’s not over yet.’’ I turned to Zitter and said, “Well let’s see this gun ship then.’’
Zitter said, “Ok but I will not let the gun ship go so cheap, be prepared for some tough ba
rgaining.’’
I asked Zitter, “Where is this gun ship then? You almost certainly won’t be able hide something that large under a cover.’’
Zitter replied, “No, but look over that ridge.’’
I walked up a slight embankment and stopped dead in my tracks. There was a large area that had been mined, leaving a deep basin. In one corner was this rock overhang and tucked underneath was the gun ship. This was also old, but had been upgraded with additional armaments at some time. We had a good look around. The ship was larger than a frigate and could hold a crew of ten. Someone at some time had mounted an early plasma cannon as well as extra beam weapons. The gun ship could have done with a good clean and paint. At least it was serviceable; well both reactors fired up and all the antigravity pods worked. We took a chance on whether all the weapons and other things worked. Anyway it would be down to whoever purchased it on Earth to sort out any problems they may encounter. But first the haggle.
“Well Zitter how much are you asking? I enquire of her boldly.’’ I had to be more careful this time as there was a market for these ships on frontier worlds.
I think this time Zitter was going to be a little more cautious in her offers. She looked directly at me and said, “Four hundred thousand credits.’’
This amount was not what I had expected. In fact it was about two thirds of what I assumed she would say. I came back with “Three hundred thousand credits.’’ Which I suspect was higher than she thought I would say.
“Let’s go half way,” said Zitter, “Three hundred and fifty thousand credits.’’
I nodded and said, “I agree, Three hundred and fifty thousand credits it is and we will pay now and take them with us.” I turned to Alenna and said, “Pay the lady.” Well that went very well indeed, hardly any haggling necessary. It was a little cheeky of me doing all the negotiations but it turned out just fine and we had acquired them all at a good price. Again I hoped to make a good profit selling them on. So what was under the other covers? Well nothing to concern us, just some old battered shuttles. We would not be going back to Earth for some time, I now had the problem of where to store them until we do. I had an idea, I loaded the interceptors first before the gun ship. Good job there were only six interceptors as we had no further room for any more. After the transaction had been concluded we returned to Alkarr, only this time we stopped off to enter the moon’s orbit. This is where we would leave the gun ship. We only had to inform the authorities that it belonged to us. Next we returned to our landing bay on Alkarr. I was going to be able to store all six interceptors in our warehouse and still have room to spare for our normal goods. When done we made our way to our residence, Lara was there and gave us two bits of news and it wasn’t good news. First the alliance in all its wisdom had declared Earth a war zone and any cargo ship traveling there would do so at their owner’s risk. Alenna and the others were now very worried. The second bit, which was more frightening was that the Silka have been probing the alliance frontier, making incursions and when challenged they just turned around before making a fast exit. These incursions are a problem as they are spread out along the frontier, taking up a lot of resources, requiring most of big battle cruisers from the alliance defence force. I wondered if it was just a distraction to take them away from any prospect of the alliance helping Earth. I spent the afternoon in my man cave making an application for Earth to obtain new updated frigates. I did not want it to appear unacceptable so only listed purchase quantity required as three. I then sent it to Erika to see what would happen.
“Right,” I said, “Next time we go to Relnor our ship must be equipped with a plasma cannon, I don’t want any if’s or but’s, that is going to happen. We need the opportunity to defend ourselves. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.’’
Alenna replied, “I am really uncomfortable with the idea of having a weapon as powerful as plasma cannon fitted to our beautiful new ship, or put our ship into any danger. So in fact I would rather none of us return to Earth until it is deemed safe to do so.’’
I shook my head and said, “Sorry Alenna that is not going to happen, better to have a weapon such as a plasma cannon than a peashooter. Anyway we have to go back to Earth to take the newly acquired military craft. You don’t have to all come. We definitely should not take the children with us next time though and some of you will have to stay behind to look after them.’’
Alenna replied, “Leaving the children here is sensible. As for who goes with us, volunteers only. I will not force anyone to go, although I will of course be going.”
“Thanks Alenna,’’ I said followed by, “We are going to need Jenna or Emily to volunteer, as a navigator would be required. We could just about manage with three of us at a pinch as long as we forget doing any chores, though I do hope others will volunteer.’’
Our next trip was to Lusiana, then after that to… that awful Grimda, but that meant we would be continuing on to Relnor with another load of ore. We would need some time there to have the plasma cannon fitted. I asked Alenna to pencil a trip in for Earth. I wanted to go there before the advance ships of the Sika invasion force arrived, and she very reluctantly studied her now busy schedule.
Alenna hummed and hawed before saying, “Ok we will go to Earth after we have been to Relnor as I can move two less important consignments.’’
Alenna asked for volunteers to go to Earth. The answer Alenna had back was not what she had expected; everyone wanted go. They might be worried about going to Earth with the imminent invasion but on the other hand they would be more worried if they had been left on Alkarr. Not knowing for two whole weeks if anything had been happening to any of us would be worse.
Alenna had a thought and said, “I have an idea on how to get volunteers to stay behind and look after the children. I will make it clear that those who don’t volunteer to help on Grimda will be assumed to have voted to stay behind. That will give everyone a chance.’’
Our trip to Lusiana went without a hitch, Yarkeli was able to leave her diary of events there for Pooky to pick up, at the same time collecting a message from Pooky of hers. Then on to Grimda and thank goodness Minty did the right thing and did not volunteer to help. Someone had to look after the children and she knew her duty, Emily did not volunteer as she wanted to assist Minty and surprisingly Sabrina failed to volunteer also. When Rachael shortly found out that Sabrina had also not volunteered, reluctantly she now had to decline to be a volunteer as well. That left Jenna to go to Earth as our navigator. Later I overheard a tiff between Rachael and Sabrina. Rachael was somewhat upset over her not volunteering to help on Grimda. What Rachael did not know was that Sabrina was absolutely terrified well more petrified of spiders, having been told about what to expect at Grimda. This was the reason she did not volunteer. Rachael soon made up with her after she became aware of this.
I said to Alenna, “We must give Rachael and Sabrina a chance to go to Earth if they want to. Minty and Emily are quite capable of looking after all the children and of course Lara is there in the evenings. I suspect Lumi’s mother will be on hand to help, especially with the twins.”
Alenna replied, “I understand Sabrina’s fear of spiders and I will give that some thought. I know Rachael would have volunteered, so I will let them know of my decision nearer the time’’
We only actually needed four to help load the ore. Alenna and I always did, so who else was selected; River because it was her first time and Jenna as she was more than willing, what her sister does, so can she. River had not been to Grimda and I did not really think she knew what she was letting herself into when volunteering. River might be quite think skinned as regards human males, but the insects on Grimda that was a different story. I was on hand to protect her when she screamed, removing any bug that had clung to her protective suit, making me her absolute hero. Then I had b
een for some time. Off to Relnor, only this time we had to spend long enough to have the plasma cannon fitted. Supplying cargo ships with armaments, in our case a single turret, consisting of two plasma cannon, was not in a way much different to what merchant ships often had during the Second World War on Earth, which at that time was probably an antiaircraft gun. As all the infrastructure had been incorporated in the design of our cargo freighter, the time to fit this gun turret only took a single day. I watched as the Relnorians tested it. I was very impressed with the demonstration and felt more confident that we could protect ourselves if necessary, though at this time I had no intention of putting us in the firing line or getting directly involved in any way. We returned to Alkarr and loaded the interceptors. They did look like they could at least do with a polish to make them more presentable. Alenna had agreed to let Sabrina and Rachael accompany us to Earth. Lumi reluctantly left the twins in the care of Minty. Her mother was also there to see her off and to help with the twins, not forgetting they also had the older daughters to help when required.
Lumi’s mother’s status within her house had climbed since her daughter had not just one son, but two.
First stop, moon’s orbit to collect our gun ship, then off to Earth. During the journey I persuaded a number of the wives to help give the interceptors a makeover, stripping the grime from them. By the time we had finished they would have sparkled if it was not for the outer surface being completely unreflective. The reason for this was much the same as our old cargo ship, so they were less easily seen. I had made a list of those I wished to attend the auction. It was the same countries I had sold the frigates to and I thought it best to restrict purchase to a limited number of governments. I was again challenged as I entered Earth’s orbit and had to wait until granted permission to proceed to the landing zone. Earth had now extended its influence due to those frigates and I could foresee that in just a few years, Earth would control the whole of the solar system. I also foresee that the main governments would not be happy being barred from obtaining star drive technology. Well they would not get it from me, anyway nowhere on Earth or even within solar system can the mineral to line the star drive chamber be found. It’s very rare to discover this mineral but when you do it can be a quite often a large deposit. On landing I informed the Prime Minster that I wished to hold an auction giving him the list of countries that I wished to invite, along with the details of military hardware to be auctioned. I had to wait a few hours for him to get back to me. In the meantime I had unloaded the interceptors and gun ship. So the military hardware did not draw any unwarranted attention I hoped to fit them all in the warehouse. Unfortunately the doors on the warehouse were not high enough for the gun ship. It now stood out in the open for everyone to see. I was not happy with this. The auction was for invited countries only and if others got wind of the auction they might be resentful that they were not invited to bid. I had only one choice, return it to the cargo bay for now.
Chronicles of Jake 2: The Invasion Begins Page 16
