by Sid Kar
The black moon was pockmarked with craters big and small from continuous hits from stray asteroids in the vicinity. Carvyk’s pilots landed their spaceship into one such large crater that was overshadowed with cliffs on the edges. They parked in the shadows. One pilot stayed inside while the other one accompanied Carvyk and Jontvyk with a laser gun. This was the predetermined meeting spot and they awaited the arrival of Baron Karjax Jak.
They did not have to wait longer than ten minutes. Baron arrived in a small spaceplane of his own, parked in the opposite end of the crater and he disembarked accompanied by four soldiers. Baron and the rest were dressed in the black and gold uniform of the House of Jak with Baron alone wearing insignia and medallion.
Carvyk and Karjax stepped forward and met each other halfway.
“What was so important, Commander Carvyk?” Karjax was a short but stout man with a beard covering either side of his face and curly hair. He had large eyes and a round, slightly saggy face.
“Baron Karjax, we have been doing all the work and taking all the risks,” Carvyk said, “It is about time you did some lifting of your own.”
Baron Karjax burst out laughing.
“What is so funny?” Carvyk asked annoyed.
“Your plan has hit an obstacle but your pride will not allow you to ask for help,” Karjax said.
“I am delivering you the greatest strategic gift that Jak Confederacy will receive in history,” Carvyk said.
“And you and your boy Segwyk and those lackey’s of yours back there, will all be handsomely compensated for it,” Karjax said, “You will become a big baron, have more planets and space in your barony than I do now.”
“Huh…” Carvyk was puzzled.
“Yes, that’s the privilege I get for being the younger brother of Lord Jak, the ruler of our confederacy, I have no planets of my own, but I do command a large part of the Jak Fleet and run its spy department. But nevermind all of that, what have you mucked up?”
Carvyk gnashed his teeth and said, “Mercurian Empire has launched a large fleet to invade Nestorian Republic and my own country will mobilize with force in response. The war is inevitable and so is the fact that Mercurian and Starfirian fleets will park themselves in Nestorian space for a long time to come.”
“You have a problem then,”
“We have a problem,” Carvyk said, “You can forget about Jak Confederacy ever being able to expand into that space in the future.”
“Hmmm…” Karjax rubbed his chin, “You were paid and promised your own barony to keep Starfirians from getting involved. My task was to negotiate with Mercurians and promise them an open Nestorian market to sell their filthy chemicals to. The chemicals that they have a mania to sell everywhere like hot soup. In exchange, they were going to let us move into Nestorian Space.”
“And why would they do that if they can take it over themselves?” Carvyk asked.
“Because they were fighting the powerful Arkarrsh Empire at the time and couldn’t afford a two front war against our Jak Confederacy as well,” Karjax said, “Unfortunately some brilliant admiral of theirs thrashed Arkarrsh 1-2-3 in three battles knocking them out.”
“I certainly hope this brilliant admiral of theirs is not part of the invasion fleet against us.”
“No, he retired,” Karjax replied.
“But in your original plan, lies the solution to our problem,” Carvyk said.
“How so?”
“Mercurians won’t fight both Starfire and Jak at the same time,” Carvyk said, “I want you to send a fleet to Nestor. Your fleet will act as a buffer between Segwyk’s starships and Mercurian invaders.”
“You want me to start a possible war?” Karjax said, “Only my brother can order the fleet into battle. He will fire me if he finds out…”
“Baron Karjax, I don’t care. He is your brother, you convince him,” Carvyk said, “I can’t hold back the Starfirian response for long. Unless the presence of your fleet stops Nestor from turning into a battlespace, our plot is over and so is our relationship.” Carvyk turned around to walk away then stopped half-way and turned to Baron, “and there is no refund for our fees.”
Carvyk, Jontvyk and the guard returned to their spaceship and took off leaving Baron standing in the crater lost in his thoughts.
“Do you think he will do it?” Jontvyk asked.
“I know he will,” Carvyk said, “I wasn’t bluffing when I said our plan would be a strategic bonanza for Jaks and concomitantly a strategic catastrophe if it slips out of their hands.”
“Why so?” Jontvyk asked.
“Not surprised you are not a senior officer,” Carvyk chuckled and Jontvyk looked at him warily, “Capitan, one cannot be a great strategist if one doesn’t understand the implications of a StarMap. The problem for Jaks has always been that their civilization has existed on the far end of our galaxy that is disc shaped. On their one side is our Starfire Empire that hems them in from ever expanding into rest of the galaxy and the other side is the vast emptiness of space before another galaxy. The unclaimed space surrounding Nestorian Republic is their only conduit towards the galaxy and they have wanted to invade and conquer Nestor but we foiled their plan when we made Nestor our protectorate.”
“But Jak Confederacy is also our protectorate,” Jontvyk said.
“Only in name, they are multiple times stronger than any of our other protectorates and the terms are very favorable to them,” Carvyk said, “they only have to guarantee 10% of their imports to our industries; we offer protection for guarantees of less than 25% of imports to no one else.”
“And do you think we will let them take over this space now? I find that hard to believe,” Jontvyk said.
“Arrival of Mercurian Empire on the scene changes the political calculus completely,” Carvyk said, “It is long acknowledged that the best way to prevent a war between two great powers is to have a buffer state in between and that is exactly what Jak Confederacy could be. Once they expanded in the middle space, neither side would want the other to take it over. Why I tried to stop Commodore Raptor from reaching Nestor. If that goofball crew would have gotten themselves shot up into pieces by Mercurians then cries of revenge would have forced a massive mobilization of our fleet. But Raptor proved a lot sharper than I had imagined. Instead it is the Mercurians who have mustered a large fleet to avenge their earlier defeat at the hands of Conquistador.”
“How?” Jontvyk asked, “You had mentioned that his record was mediocre.”
“Peacetime record,” Carvyk shook his head, “Examination marks and training exercise scores do not a great warrior make. None of our heroes of old like Colonel Sthykar or Colonel Ryptar are known to have been in the top ten percent of their schools or war colleges. Courage, boldness, a sense of strategy, an ability to rapidly evaluate a dangerous and dynamic battlefield, cunning and daring maneuvers; these are traits that are only displayed in live action, in a battlespace in a state of war.”
“But what did Baron Karjax mean that you will have more planets than him?” Jontvyk asked.
“Younger sons of Jak households do not get planets of their own to rule, even though they receive the title of Baron,” Carvyk said, “Power in Jak Confederacy is divided between the House of Jak ruled by Lord Jak and the Barons. The Barons do not want younger sons of Jak to be made into new barons because they fear that after few generations the Jak family will come to control the Confederacy completely. And that is why Karjax is so keen on this plan succeeding. The Lords have always been fearful of expanding near our space and risking our wrath. But Karjax has nothing to lose and a lot to gain. New space means new baronies and he plans to grab at least 25 – 50 star systems for himself.”
“Better leave some for us,” Jontvyk said.
“Don’t worry Capitan Jontvyk, you too will be made a Baron and have a planet of your own to rule over,” Carvyk said, “I will be getting three star systems and Segwyk will have one.”
“Lord Jak and Barons are fine with us aliens
becoming Barons and Karjax getting so many systems?” Jontvyk asked.
“They will be too busy celebrating finally having a pathway to the galactic center to care much,” Carvyk said.
“Why? What is so special about the galactic center,” Jontvyk asked, “I have heard that it is uninhabitable to intelligent life.”
“Intelligent life as we know it now,” Carvyk said, “the galactic center is the true treasure chest, the real crown jewel of this galaxy. It contains massive black holes and mega stars the likes of which are not found anywhere else. We believe there are no planets around them but there sure are many strange, unexplained astronomical phenomenons at the center. No starship from any spacefaring civilization is known to have traveled to the galactic center yet. The gravity is too intense to sustain interstellar travel with reasonable speed and the usual space flight instruments go haywire for reasons heretofore unknown.
But it is the only place where stars are still being born and a state that could observe the star formation process first hand could learn it, accelerate it and convert the galactic center into an artificial star factory. Can you imagine the power the nation that can create stars will possess? And no fleet positioned around the accretion disk of the massive black hole can be targeted or dislodged. All weapons launched at it will go berserk and fall into the black hole instead.
Great many strategists have said that the nation that controls the galactic center will rule the galaxy. And the race is on between all major powers to try to make it there. Jak Confederacy does not want to be left out of this race.”
“Damn,” Jontvyk said, “I have just now realized how small and inconsequential a pawn I am in vast, cosmic scale destinies.”
Carvyk guffawed and got up from his chair, “small yes, but not inconsequential, you are important to my plans and that is why I have told you much about our scheme because we are now entering the final stages of it. I am going to catch a nap, wake me up just before we are due to touch down on the comet for meeting with that ruffian.”
Jontvyk stood up and saluted Carvyk who walked back to one of the small rooms and lay down on the bed for rest.
Their spaceship landed on a comet that was half way between the Fico star system and the next facing outward into unclaimed space. Here again Carvyk, Jontvyk and one of the pilots debarked and two visitors were already waiting for them and their spaceship was parked right behind.
Carvyk wasn’t going to meet these individuals all alone and he had told Jontvyk to walk along with him while staying alert and ready to reach for his laser gun at any moment. The pilot inside his spaceship was already ordered to keep the laser cannon discreetly aimed in the direction of their visitors.
The two visitors walked forward towards Carvyk. They were dressed head to toe in shiny black clothes, carried black laser guns and were wearing a black helmet over their head with shiny black glass as the front visor. One of them took off his helmet and attached it to his belt while the other one merely pulled down his visor by pressing a button on the side of the neck strap.
“Renegade Romvyk Nyk,” Carvyk smiled derisively at the man who had taken off the helmet, “My displeasure to have to meet you.”
“What can you say,” Romvyk laughed, “I always strive to leave everyone worse off than before they had met me. What brings a corrupt, old coot like you to me?”
Carvyk squinted at Romvyk’s companion for few seconds but could not tell through his helmet which alien race he belonged to. Although Romvyk was a Starfirian, indeed a former Colonel of a Strike Soldiers division abroad a starship which had earned him the moniker of renegade, he led a multi-civilizational outfit. There were aliens from over a hundred different planetary races across the galaxy who made up the mercenary force of Dark Star Company. Five thousand of the roughest sons of guns to make a living and a killing with laser thrown together had earned this syndicate the notoriety as the most dangerous band of outlaws in the galaxy.
“I need a crew with operational experience in hijacking starships,” Carvyk said, “and no better collection of ruffians for it than your Dark Star Company.”
“What can you say, we have a reputation to keep, can’t have anyone feeling safe traveling across deep space, can we,” Romvyk chuckled, “whose starship do we jack?”
“Our own, and one under my own command: Starship Conquistador,” Carvyk said.
“An army starship?” Romvyk was startled. Him and his alien companion looked at each other momentarily then Romvyk said to Carvyk, “Are you setting us up or have you gone senile.”
This time Carvyk laughed and scoffed, “Cowards. Here I was ready to give you a blank check.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t you just order it…” Romvyk started saying.
“It has gone rogue,” Carvyk said, “the command officers are mutinying.”
“Why don’t you send other starships after it?” Romvyk asked.
“What do you care? If your men are too afraid to do it, perhaps I should talk to Nova Raiders…” Carvyk knew that Romvyk and his company absolutely hated rival outlaw mercenaries Nova Raiders and vice-versa and had killed each other’s soldiers in many shootouts.
But instead Romvyk burst out laughing and said, “I call your bluff. Nova Raiders have only two thousand pigs and dogs and of the lowest caliber. I will tell you what. You don’t come to me as representative of Lambda Man. This is not a covert mission to get a rogue starship that army commanders can’t reveal to the public. It is a rogue mission of your own that you can’t reveal even to the commanders. Senior Carvyk, I have read your number right, this is some conspiracy you have cooked up.”
“Look Romvyk, you owe me one, I let you escape once from a starship net through my own region,” Carvyk said.
“And you were paid a great sum for it,” Romvyk said.
“I have said, you have a blank check, name your price,” Carvyk said.
“One billion stars,” Romvyk said.
“Done,” Carvyk replied.
Romvyk and his alien compatriot were startled and once again looked at each other. Romvyk started salivating at the thought of that much money. He had thrown out one large figure just for the hell of it. He didn’t fancy risking his life taking on the army but with so much money at stake the greed inside of him was pushing out the fear.
“Alright, let’s say you get us the micro error data in that starship’s scanners so we can get inside undetected…”
“You will have it,”
“But then we face 20,000 strike soldiers, now I commanded strike soldiers, you know that,” Romvyk said, “not just my pride speaking when I say it is the best light infantry force in the galaxy.”
“Your ruffians are a ruthless bunch too. Conquistador had 30,000 strike soldiers, but...”
“There are 30,000 on that ship!”
“…had before, but they are down to 15,000, they garrisoned other 15,000 on Nestor,” Carvyk said.
“That’s not very reassuring, it is still 3 to 1 against us,” Romvyk said.
“I will give you blueprints for the starship,” Carvyk said, “You know from your experience that strike soldiers are concentrated in a separate section and there are chokepoints from their barracks to the rest of the starship. If you plan well and execute fast, you will have to deal with only two thousand starship guards and I don’t think you think much of them.”
“Chumps the lot of them,” Romvyk guffawed, “Nova Raiders could take starship guards.”
“Then you will do it?” Carvyk asked.
“Alright, but you better get me those blueprints and scanner error patterns.”
“Now listen carefully,” Carvyk leaned in to whisper as if afraid to hear his own words, “When you take the starship, execute all the command room officers.”
“What?” Romvyk jumped back, “Massacre senior officers in cold blood? Starfire Army will hunt us down to any corner of the galaxy. Combat deaths they can understand, they are soldiers and it is a battle. But executions?”
; “Look at you talk, it is not as if your company hasn’t massacred even civilians before,” Carvyk said.
“How do we hide the fact that we did it?” Romvyk asked.
“You transmit the location of starship Conquistador to my boy Segwyk,” Carvyk said, “he will attack and destroy it once there are no command officers alive to fight back and then circle back to pick up the survivors pretending to be the rescuer. But I don’t give a damn about its crew. No one will know what happened to Conquistador. Everyone will assume Mercurian battleships ambushed it because its last message said that it was chased by them.”
“What is its location now?” Romvyk asked.
“I don’t know, but somewhere between Starfire frontier space and galactic center,” Carvyk said.
“That is what only ten thousand light years of cubic space,” Romvyk grinned at his friend, “why, you won’t even need binoculars to spot them.” They both laughed and Carvyk gnashed his teeth again.
“You louts know a lot of the smuggler scum that infests all parts of deep space,” Carvyk said, “One of them should have come across Conquistador on its scanners.”
“Fine, we will worry about it, but let’s talk insurance now,” Romvyk said.
“Insurance?” Carvyk’s face popped forward in surprise.
“If you stab us in the back, I want to stick that very knife in your throat,” Romvyk said.
“I…” Carvyk’s jaw dropped and he glowed at Romvyk with anger, “you scum…” he began to speak.
“It would be very easy for you to wash your hands off of us and order your boy Segwyk to hunt us down,” Romvyk said, “Hence my final requirement: the 1,000 number encrypted unique authorization code from you identifying this operation as sanctioned by Lambda Man.”
Carvyk wanted to reach out and dock Romvyk in the face but he realized that he was the older man and the one in need.
