by Sid Kar
Pirates Heaven contained numerous space stations controlled by outlaw bosses which served as hotel plus resort for rank and file outlaws on the run. One had to pay a hefty fee to live in a Boss’s turf but in return one was protected from other outlaws as well as from space detectives.
Antrar slowed down his spaceship as he flew towards Alligator’s Den as this space station was known and the flight controls gave him permission to land in one of the open bays. He docked his spaceship and walked in through the door. There were a couple of armed guards with laser guns but they weren’t asking for identification; that would have severely reduced their clientele and revenue.
There was a narrow corridor decorated with blue and green light partially hidden by a silver maze on walls, ceiling and floor. The corridor opened in a large bar and restaurant where an eclectic collection of various races from tens of different origin planets mingled about. It was like a galactic trading post except everyone here was an outlaw. No one looked twice at Antrar as was the custom in these places; one did not look too closely at a stranger.
There was a bar next to the corridor which also doubled as a registration desk if it could be called that. A bartender served drinks while a big, tall alien holding a particularly large laser gun on his shoulder stood behind him. A girl held a scanner and a box full of metallic chips and she smiled at him and Antrar returned the smile.
“Hey you,” the tall alien said to him, “come here and pay the fee.”
Antrar walked over to the desk and ordered a drink.
“How long are you staying?” the tall alien asked.
“Can’t say,” Antrar scratched his neck, “I got to hide out till matters cool down a bit back there before I can return,” he said.
“Give him chip for a week,” the alien said to the girl who scanned a chip, entered a number and handed the chip to Antrar and said, “700 stars.”
“That’s a rip off,” Antrar said.
The alien tapped his laser gun a couple of times and smiled at him showing his grotesque teeth.
“Alright,” Antrar said and took out seven chips each for 100 stars and gave it to the girl.
“If you stay more than seven come to us and pay the fee,” the girl said.
“I will. What about my residence?” Antrar asked.
“Stop by on your way out, we will have an empty asteroid for you,” the girl replied.
Antrar took their leave and walked across the restaurant to the other corridor on the opposite end. Two bulky aliens stood guard at the entrance holding laser guns which they crossed in front of him when he came near.
“Den crew only,” one of them said.
“I want to meet Jiggermaster,” Antrar said.
“Oh yeah, why? And who the hell are you?” the guard asked.
“Tell Jiggermaster, Antrar Wyft is here,” Antrar grinned at them, “I promise you he will ask you to present me immediately.”
The other alien who had been quiet turned around and walked into the corridor. He emerged a minute later with two more armed guards.
“Let’s go,” he said to Antrar.
Antrar walked in the corridor and the two new guards followed him while pointing their guns at his back. He came out into a smaller room and saw a man with a slightly wrinkled face and frizzled hair sitting on a throne. He was an Aurum just like Antrar but wasn’t a Starfirian. There were chairs on either side and a few sat on them while others stood around. It was a motley crew of individuals, a few from Aurum, some even Starfirians, but many aliens from strange and far away worlds of the galaxy. The place was like a king’s court except this here was an outlaw king on the throne, the notorious Jiggermaster.
“Commodore Antrar!” Jiggermaster jumped up from his throne, “this man here was my most dangerous enemy,” he said to his crew, “and now he walks into my den all alone. What are you planning commodore?”
“Commodore no more,” Antrar replied, “Didn’t you know I am retired and have no connections to the Starfire Army?”
“I had heard,” Jiggermaster sat down and laughed, “I was never relieved as the day I got the news. But what brings you to my den? Ol’ times memories?”
“I need a place to stay for a few days,” Antrar said eyeing the rest of the crew. Some seemed to be suspicious having a former army officer in their place while others were grinning at his need to be here.
“Aha,” Jiggermaster said, “what did you do?”
“Me and my company had some disagreements over company funds,” Antrar said, “they weren’t understanding and called state detectives on me.”
“Embezzlement,” Jiggermaster said and the whole room guffawed, “Imagine the news in Starfire: war hero steals money! I love it, absolutely.”
“You will understand I need to hide out for a few,” Antrar said.
“Why shouldn’t I just jettison you into space without a suit?” Jiggermaster squinted at him slyly.
“I may be considered a thief by some, but I am still a war hero,” Antrar said, “If you kill me then Starfire Empire will have no choice but to send every Starship from the Frontier Fleets to hunt you down.”
“And why should I help you?”
“Jiggermaster, you are a pirate but I always considered you a professional,” Antrar said, “Piracy is your business and I was just doing my mission as an officer. Now I am a civilian, I care less about your raids, that’s between you and the Frontier Fleets.”
“Hmm…” Jiggermaster stroked his chin, “I could use a man of your talent for my Sky Raider. What says you?”
“I will consider,” Antrar said, “but not now, I have been running across deep space for days. I need rest.”
“I will let you stay,” Jiggermaster looked at him narrowly, “But you pay up the fee regularly. And you better not bring a Starfleet behind you. Otherwise I will tie you to a rocket and send you hurtling into an asteroid.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you,” Antrar smiled, slowly turned around and walked away. He could have avoided meeting Jiggermaster but that was risky because if he was spotted they would certainly have been far more suspicious. Now he had put the pirate boss at ease to a certain extent. As he walked out of the restaurant the girl at the counter asked him for his chip and scanned a number onto it.
“You have Asteroid #6561,” she said, “plug this into your spaceship, it will navigate you there.”
Antrar went into his spaceship, plugged in the chip and switched on the auto-pilot. The spaceship lifted off the platform and slowly cruised towards a large asteroid that was five times the size of his ship. Then he saw part of the asteroid open up and lights came out inside. He flew the spaceship through the round opening and into the inside. The asteroid closed on him but the lights stayed on.
He looked around the interior of the asteroid which had been almost completely drilled out. There was a small platform for his spaceship where he lowered it to the ground. Around the platform it was like the insides of a small house. It was strange being inside an asteroid and scary for it being controlled by a pirate. Jiggermaster could lock him inside permanently if he wanted. Antrar was glad his spaceship had enough firepower to blast through the asteroid if he needed to.
Antrar got out and walked around. There were no walls, no rooms and no corners. All the accouterments of a house were stacked in a circle against the interior. There was also no place for anyone else to hide in there. After a few minutes of exploring the interior he got back into his spaceship and closed the hatch. He did not trust Jiggermaster and decided to sleep in the spaceship itself. He would begin his search for Silencer after he woke up.
Chapter 22: Coup
Fifty thousand soldiers of the Republican Guard converged towards the Nestorian Senate from all directions land and air. They were dressed in green and gold and carried long laser guns. They walked down the streets of the capital towards the Senate building. They were accompanied by tanks with a big laser cannon out front used to blast doors and walls. These tanks hove
red a couple of feet in the air and carried a few soldiers on either side. From air came laser gunships with two laser cannons in the front and one each from the side. They were piloted by republican guards and also carried airborne soldiers for insertion from the sky.
The Nestorian Senate was surrounded by a large wall made of a metal alloy that could withstand severe laser blasts. It was manned two thousand soldiers of the Republican Guard itself but who were loyal to the Senate. The wall had an elevated walkway allowing soldiers to take positions behind the wall and defend it from attack. They also had anti-aircraft laser guns which were parked in the circular lawn of the Senate and anti-tank laser cannons which they entrenched behind the four gates that were vulnerable to the tanks.
“Halt,” ordered the capitan of the senate guards but the republican guard kept moving forward now taking position behind tanks and other vehicles. The tanks aimed their cannons at the gates and opened fire. The soldiers inside the wall opened up with lasers and the republican guard let loose on the wall protecting the Senate. The sky was filled with gunships striking the Senate building and anti-aircraft lasers on the ground started targeting them.
At that very moment Chancellor Augus was meeting VC Remus and Opposition Leader Senator Solus to discuss the impending alien invasion when their attention was brought to the events transpiring outside by the splattering off of airship lasers from the Senate building and the emergency alarm that started blaring at a loud pitch.
“Is that the sound of laser blasts?” VC Remus walked away from Chancellor’s desk and walked to the window. He could not believe the scene outside. A laser from an airship struck near the window and he ducked below. But the window did not shatter as it was made of a strong reflective glass and the building itself was reinforced with resistant metal alloy. Senator Solus walked behind him and looked out the window.
“Unbelievable, there is a war going on out there,” Solus said.
“But who is attacking us?” Remus wondered.
Chancellor Augus stood up from his chair behind his desk and his eyes bulged out, “What are you two saying?”
“The senate guards are fighting off an invasion force,” Remus said, “and they are firing anti-aircraft lasers from the lawn at the hostile airships. But where is the Republican Guard that is supposed to protect us?”
“That might be the Republican Guard out there,” Solus cleared his throat.
“I don’t believe it,” Augus said, “We are on the verge of being invaded by aliens and we have a civil insurrection at hands.”
Suddenly their door flung open. They had locked it from inside but Capitan Krotus, the leader of senate’s guards, walked in with the two soldiers who had laser blasted the locked door from outside.
“I am sorry for this intrusion,” Capitan Krotus said, “But we have to get you three out of here. We can’t hold much longer.”
“Call the Republican Guard,” Augus said to Krotus.
“Chancellor!” Krotus starred at Augus with eyes wide open for a few seconds, “Republican Guard is staging the coup.”
“Oh no,” Augus’s eyes popped out, he slumped back in his chair and clutched his chest in his hands.
“I told you not to trust the officers,” Solus turned to Remus, “the officers are staging a coup.”
Remus ignored him and turned to Krotus, “Can you establish a connection to General Vegus who commands the battleships in the orbit?”
“No use,” Krotus said, “Republican Guards staged a surprise raid on the battleships and now control them. They have also taken over the ground laser and rocket batteries.”
“And the officers just handed them over without resistance,” Solus scoffed.
“Solus, it is the other officers who are going to stop this,” Remus said, “General Bakus is gathering battleships.”
“General Bakus huh?” Solus looked at Remus closely, “I know he is your friend and he is the only general who commands enough battleships to overpower Nestor’s ground defenses. Do you think the Republican Guard would dare stage a coup without getting him on board? Or maybe he pushed for it.”
Remus was angry and his fist clenched. He wanted to dock Solus in the face but he resisted the urge. He had known Bakus all these years and yet… Solus’ words had a certain logic to it. Republican Guard couldn’t expect to hold onto the government without the support of a battleship fleet.
The two soldiers with Krotus had walked over to the Chancellor’s chair and were about to help him to his feet when he rebuffed them.
“Leave me be,” Augus said.
“Chancellor,” Krotus said, “we keep a fast spaceship for emergency evacuation. We can get you three off the planet in minutes.”
“I am not leaving,” Augus said morosely staring down at the floor.
“But…”
“That is an order, your chancellor’s order,” Augus said, “All these centuries, and it is me who failed the Republic. It is under my rule that a coup took place. What have I done?” Augus put his face in his hands.
“Chancellor…” Remus began to speak.
“You and Solus go,” Augus said.
“Without the head of the state it makes it easier for them to claim legitimacy,” Solus said, “Augus is right, Remus you should go.”
“And what about you?” Remus asked.
“I will try to stop them.”
“How,” Remus asked.
“When the Republican Guard storms through the gates, the officers won’t put themselves in the front,” Solus said, “It will be the soldiers, who are just the people within uniform and I am the people’s senator. I will appeal to the soldiers and the people to stop the coup.”
“I do not recommend that Senator,” Krotus said, “even if they don’t deliberately target you, a stray laser could hit you.”
“Capitan Krotus,” Solus said to him, “you have your orders from the Chancellor; he wants you to take Remus to safety. As for me, he can’t really order me, unlike Remus I am not part of the state administration. Now if you will excuse me, I have a coup to stop.”
Senator Solus pushed away the open door and walked out.
“What’s with him and the officers?” Krotus asked.
“Don’t take it personally, it’s just his politics,” Remus said.
“Anyways, let’s get you out of here,” Krotus said.
Krotus left the two soldiers to watch over the Chancellor and he personally led Remus to the basement of the building where a superfast spaceship was being guarded by a few soldiers while being boarded by the senate staff.
“Can you fly this Vice-Chancellor?” Krotus asked.
“I am a certified space pilot,” Remus replied.
Krotus helped Remus up the ladder to the pilot’s cockpit and summarized a few technical details as there would be no time to read the manual and familiarize oneself with the display and the controls. Then Krotus started back down the ladder.
“Are you not coming with us?” Remus asked.
“Before I was transferred to the Senate’s protection,” Krotus said, “I was friends with Commander Nolfus in the Republican Guard. Senator Solus may not be able to talk sense to his soldiers but I will try to reason with him as an old friend.”
“Take care Capitan,” Remus said, “I hope one day your loyalty can be rewarded.” If they survived the coup attempt, Remus decided he would personally advocate for Krotus to be appointed the new Commander of Republican Guard.
Krotus got down the ladder and stood aside. The staff was finished boarding the spaceship and Krotus gave a hand signal for them to depart. Senate had a traffic control built in but they weren’t sure if Airships outside had sensors to intercept their signals and whether they had managed to commandeer spacefighters from the battleships.
Remus taxied the spaceship down the runaway that slowly ascended up. They were under the Senate’s lawn now and Krotus pulled a switch and the ground above them opened as a metal flap under the grass pulled back.
Remu
s launched the plane straight up in the air and it rose vertically like a helicopter pushing down air below to provide it an upward thrust. A couple of airships controlled by republican guard started firing lasers at their spaceship and they splattered off the shield. Remus was glad they had no spacefighters because their lasers were far more powerful.
Remus turned up the nose of the spaceship towards the sky and accelerated. A few airships broke off from the aerial attack on the Senate and instead took up the pursuit, but to no avail. Remus’s spaceship was too fast and once it reached above the atmosphere the airships had to return.
He saw one battleship in the orbit out of his window and three more were visible on his scanners. He was glad they still hadn’t managed to launch any fighters, perhaps the officer pilots were determined to not cooperate with the coup.
Remus accelerated his spaceship at the maximum rate it could bear and put its path as far from planet Nestor as possible. He decided to make straight for General Bakus. Nolfus and Republican Guard had cut off all the communications from Nestor. If the alien fleet arrived in the midst of the coup there would be total bedlam. He had to convince Bakus to abandon his plan to use Nestor as the bait and instead get him to intercept the alien invaders in their path.
His gravitron scanner started beeping and he looked at it. It was either a very large spaceship or a cluster of spaceships flying very close in a battle formation. His heart almost stopped for a few seconds. His spaceship was still inside the gravity field of the star and no way could they accelerate away before the alien spacefighters intercepted them.
Then he received a signal from that location. Starship Conquistador of the Starfire Empire demanded the identities of all abroad this spaceship.
The battle underway on the grounds of the Senate was not going well for its defenders. The airship lasers had destroyed most of the anti-aircraft batteries. The tanks laser cannons had blasted away all the four doors. The anti-tank lasers inside had destroyed a few tanks on their way in but they had been overwhelmed and tanks had established a beachhead inside the walls and Republican Guard soldiers poured in. The senate’s guard had taken heavy casualties and the survivors had fallen back to the main building which they were preparing to defend. The Chancellor was inside and till he gave the order to surrender they were going to fight it out.
