by Dark Knight
Now the crew only had to grow proper Terran backbone, and quick “One more mile, you twigs! C'mon, you've only ran four today, and it isn't even noon!”
The clock was ticking. She also had to prepare herself. Cat usually used these training days to reinforce her mind. The book of dzenta'rii brain-scratchers, as her captain so aptly named the hard logical and illogical problems written within was a blessing of sorts. Benevolent as they were, her Patrons never even touched the genes of her kind. It was up to the clients to decide of their own volition how their people would grow as a sentient race, and Cat was trying to improve herself exactly where the genes of her people often failed. While she spat commands to push her trainees physically, Cat pushed herself mentally.
One of the tankers in training suddenly slipped and fell in the mud. Cat frowned, a growl rumbling in her throat again.
“Why must we run so much?” one of them asked. “Aren't we supposed to ride inside a tank?!”
“Do not question a veteran soldier when they teach you how to defend yourselves!” Cat snapped. “The answer to your non-question should be self-evident: veterans are survivors!” The gorilla huffed, then pointed to a deeper part of the Ileanan forest.
“That hill up there is your new goal! You won’t eat or sleep until all you wimps can climb it! Crawl on all fours if you have to but you will reach the top! Do you get me?!”
Cat heard a mumbled choir of short breathed and weak yes ma'ams and continued trotting behind them, the thirty fourth illogical brain-scratcher already solved in her head.
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That strange item Anit'za found in the starship's secret compartment was securely locked away in his safe. He'd tried searching casually on G-net for a coin like that, but found nothing. He'd read a full dropship’s load of historical articles on ancient galactic civilizations, all long lost, all destroyed in this way or that. Still nothing. When the tired dzenta'rii was about to surrender and start looking for anonymous antique dealerships, a single photo popped up. Amazingly it was from an old Earth archive that belonged to Wernher Von Braun; prominent spaceship designer, engineer and futurist. Apparently he wore the same kind of coin as an amulet, with a silver chain looped through the center hole. The picture was taken right before his famous disappearing act turned conspiracy theory, one of the many proven to be real and to this day one of the greatest mysteries in Earth's modern history. It struck Anit’za as strange that nobody had shown any desire to investigate such a peculiar item, especially one that an icon like Von Braun apparently wore around his neck.
The grainy holo-slide was constructed from an old photo. It showed Braun sitting in his rocking chair, somewhere deep inside the garden of his little farmhouse. An unpretentious man, the spaceship designer became weary of all the fame he and his creations accumulated over the decades and had mostly retreated from public view. He shared his knowledge by giving a handful of engineering lessons and short interviews but generally sought to detach himself from the high stress of active work and the public eye. Before completely vanishing, Von Braun was rumored to have secretly met with a mysterious alien, and many a human investigator had theorized this sentient was remarkably similar to them in his outer appearance. It had happened right around the first phase of the 1969 pirate invasion of Earth. Not only that, but there were even stranger rumors circulating. People who served as starfighter pilots claimed to witnessed Von Braun's private space yacht punching through the pirate's blockade by force, all guns blazing. After the massacre had ended, pieces of the debris were later identified as hull fragments from Von Braun's ship. A shrinking group skeptics, or “anti-conspiretards” as they were called by reputable conspiracy investigators, had published dubious assertions based on half-assed assumptions in holo-documentaries claiming to debunk the entire matter. They called the whole thing an elaborate hoax, a clever ploy devised by officials from Von Braun's hometown to pull in more tourist dollars from those interested in investigating the mystery. According to them, Von Braun had been handsomely paid to live out the rest of his days in hiding somewhere on Earth, somewhere so far away nobody could find him.
Ludicrous!
Obviously the fools were holo-hat wearing, delusional fact deniers. There was no way a person as easily recognized Von Braun could vanish in such a manner. Not to mention the fact that the local G-net was awash in easily accessible scan-data and credible witnesses who were willing to be questioned. Still, to the detriment of their own sanity these anti-conspiretards persisted in their battle with reality and logic, as every piece of evidence that was even remotely linked with this had to be debunked. How these mentally unsound people hadn’t been treated for their deficiency by anyone was the true mystery for him. Perhaps his professional medic could aid them in some manner? If not, then at least he had Boris at hand. That man could use his masterfully honed mind and I-sec connections to easily further an investigation like this, yet Anit'za was reluctant to share all of his current findings with him. His crew faced enough problems, and they had to be kept focused on one issue at a time lest they become overwhelmed. That was a risk for them all, no matter how skilled or committed they were.
Still, Anit'za was all but giddy with excitement and prepared to set Starshatter on a course for Earth tomorrow, investigating himself that whole matter in minute details. But their work had to be completed by order of importance and sensitivity. Lilly was very dear to his heart, and the noble Dzenta'rii captain wasn't ready to charge in and rescue what remained of her living neighbors from the clutches of the slaver sods that held them. No, they needed a military operation of monumental and epic ass-kickery for that! His crew demonstrated their abilities and prowess in combat many times over, far beyond what he assumed possible. Furthermore they were bonding; even the cat and Ort were now friends.
But the more he found out about what was happening on the Fringe, the more uneasy Anit'za felt. It wasn't that he'd expected everything here to always be calm and safe; in fact, that was the main reason that he chose this space to put the plan in motion. The way Anit'za saw it, every hurdle they faced helped forge his crew into a more cohesive unit, one that was twice as strong as before. Very soon, the next deadly-interesting piece of the plan would be fully implemented, and all the rapscallions, sorry sods, and obnoxious slavers prowling the Fringe would have another reason to quiver!
Glossary
Starshatter
The ship Captain Anit’za and Cat, his second in command, captured from a would-be pirate crew on the edges of Terran space. It is a reworked Terran escort vessel, bristling with small cannons, fast tracking point defense guns and equipped with one supercharged bow-mounted heavy laser, Starshatter is the last of its kind. Built originally during Mahimm’s invasion of Earth circa 1969, the vessel was over-armored, up-gunned and another main drive stuffed into its hull by ’Earth Orbit One’ engineers. The fifty-year-old, two hundred-meter long vessel of war now prowls the vast expanse of Fringe space in search of adventure and trouble.
Captain Anit’za
Anit’za of the great Dzenta’rii house Morat’za is the captain of Starshatter. He set out on a “quest” to find a better vintage than the finest Empress Ulit’ze 2833 GSY of which he has the last bottle in existence in the Galaxy. Whatever that is his ultimate goal and what his Grand Plan really is, nobody knows. An enigma to all, even his closest friends like the android sommelier Jovos, Anit’za spent most of his time training himself to perfection. That he did in secret and the reason was to not only become “super amazing”, but to fight the terrible boredom of his predestined future and daily, dreary existence. Whenever asked by any member of his crew, he enigmatically answers:
“Why would you like to know all man’s secrets? If you do, then the man is no more interesting than any other man. We can’t have that!”
Dzenta’rii are very much human look-alike, but slimmer and slightly shorter than the average human, with some of the Dzenta’rii
skulls slightly elongated and Anit’za is one of them. He keeps his hairdo simple, never colors his long light blue hair and mostly wears it braided, despite what the current fashionistas say. Eyes are black, with blue irises, and his skin pale white.
Dzenta’rii love fine clothes, drink, food and Anit’za is no exception. He himself had trained himself in the heretical skill of cooking and could openly practice this craft while on board Starshatter. He especially likes an old-school Dzenta’rii navy uniform that looks similar to what 18th-century earth navies wore. One rare dzenta’rii ion pistol and a purposely worthless looking energy saber adorn his belt and are his primary weapons that he wields with great proficiency.
Lilly
Lillyana is an uplifted bunny and hails from the now destroyed by the Taz’aran Empire Fringe space colony of “Murphy’s Landing”. A humble watermelon farmer and junior exo-biologist, the small 4.5ft Terran client had suffered multiple near death wounds, while being viciously chased throughout the deep jungles of her home by multiple soldiers and even one heavily-armed grav attack craft or GAV. The bunny’s face and brown, white spotted fur is now covered with multiple scars and bald spots. Lilly’s bright hazel green eyes had seen the dead bodies of her neighbors and little brother causing severe mental trauma. Whomever the invader managed to capture, was whisked away to be sold in chattel slavery and she is poised to save them. Armed with her trusty rail-carbine, Lilly’s position on Starshatter is as the vessel’s system operator; responsible for any electronic warfare actions and anti-hack defense. On the ground, the bunny is now acting as an accomplished scout, striking deadly blows while being concealed in the shadows.
Awesome&Alice
Awesome is a 3.5ft tall, black furred hamster with red eyes. He always wears his heavily augmented pilot spacesuit and carries an unnaturally big for his race laser rifle on his back. Awesome is a specialist starfighter pilot, but in the beginning of his adventure was а second navigator on a small passenger starship called the “Mushishi”. During his very first trip on board, the vessel was ambushed by a slaver ship while still within Terran space. The slavers failed in capturing both “Mushishi’s” crew and passengers, who chose to fight to the last shot in their weapons’ power packs. Beaten, tired and weaponless, Awesome chose to retreat via one of the escape pods and somehow managed to survive for a month in outer space before reaching an unknown space station of Terran origin. Exploring the derelict base, Awesome found his new friend Alice and unknowingly uploaded her onto his wrist-mounted personal computer or PDA. Alice is a C.O.A.I.G or Combat Operation Assist and Information Gathering AI. She sometimes bounces back between the mainframe of his starfighter called ’Insanity’, and the PDA. Alice looks very much like Alice in Wonderland since her creator Sinclair mind-coded her based on this template.
Dozan’Re
The young Morale Officer is of the race called Kil’ra – tiger-like peoples, they are the only benevolent older race in the Galaxy and currently an ally of Humanity. The almost 10ft tall golden- eyed humanoid is well trained in wielding his blade, gifted by Terran citizens, and many other weapons. His armored gray and gold colored uniform has an ornate cap and dark blue cape, which now he uses only when on light duty. He joined the crew of Starshatter after successfully defending alone a distant Fringe space colony named Semoa. Under attack by a roving band of slavers, the morale officer managed to motivate what was left of its population. His force consisted of a group of disheartened, wounded teenagers, whom he inspired and ultimately led to victory. Dozan’s reason for joining Anit’za’s merry band was to help Lilly get revenge over the Taz’aran invaders who decimated her colony and possibly rescue the kidnapped colonists.
Brynjar
Brynjar is an Asgardian male with green eyes and short white hair, atypical for his race. He can also be called a giant - he is 4.5 meters tall or close to 15ft. He, despite what most assume him to be, is an engineer and a battlemech pilot, who despises creature comforts and wears a simple engineer’s work-suit with a large PDA. He is also a boxer and a well trained rifleman to boot. One of the first to join Captain Anit’za’s crew, he was hired in to provide heavy mecha support while piloting his towering strategic armor. Essentially a huge mech, “The Rock” was designed and built by him entirely from salvaged, scrapped parts. That machine is the only thing which enables Brynjar to make use of his Oden force ability, by channeling his immense power throughout the device he engineered for that purpose.
Cat
The uplifted gorilla Cat has fur gray in color, brown eyes and a cybernetic left arm. She is a tough, muscular grenadier that learned the way of the stormtrooper and a heavy weapon specialist. Always wearing some type of armor protection, even in safe environments. A light field suit is something she treats the same way as most people would jeans and a T-shirt. Her weapons of choice are grenades, a heavy auto-railgun and a two handed vibro-axe. Catherine was born on Mars in the family of loving parents who wanted to have nothing to do with the military themselves. Both were cooks and young Cat learned quite a lot from them while helping in their family restaurant. Later in life she was drawn into military service after losing her arm during a slaver’s raid and spent almost ten years in Cav’s colonial militia stormtrooper unit. Now groomed by Captain Anit’za to be Starshatter’s XO, Cat is learning the finer art of spaceship command.
Vasilisa
Vasilisa is a young human woman who is not only an expert pilot and explorer but also a gunslinger. She has pale white skin, blue eyes – her long blond hair she wears braided, reaching below the waist line and is 5.5ft tall. Her spacer’s EVA suit is somewhat bulky, but all covered with small scenes depicting her greatest deeds. One is a gunfight that she has her plasma revolver in hand, the other depicts her own space shuttle flying through some dense asteroid field, yet another depicts her pulling a coffin like stasis pod while shooting back at multiple enemies. For a spacer like her, the suit is an icon of her success and renown amongst her peers. Vasilisa is armed with her father’s plasma revolver and a Winchester rail-shotgun that she found while exploring the wreckage of “Bremen”.
Alric von Englebert
Alric is a half man half alien – part of an ancient race called Aryans. He is 7.5ft tall, has white blond hair and pale cold blue eyes and the last star marine of INS “Bremen”. She was a Terran destroyer who ravaged the pirate clan fleets some years after Lord Mahimm’s invasion of Earth. Alric had achieved the rank of commander and was soon leading the whole First Star Marine brigade on board. After the horrible experience he had on Earth and losing his entire family, Alric devoted his life to the Star Marine Corps and learned nothing else but how to fight. Master of space warfare, boarding action and defending one’s starship, Alric is wearing his super heavy spacesuit equipped with an anti-tank shoulder laser and a snub auto-railgun in each forearm. On his back he carries a long vibro-sword that he always wields with two hands.
Boris
Boris is a human telepath, with very athletic, slim body and jet black, spiky hair. Not that tall around 6ft – the average for a human, he has brown eyes. Boris wears the dark gray uniform of a lawman as he is part of an elite Psy-corps investigator team that is supporting I-sec (internal security). His badge is actually bio-luminescent and shines from under the skin of his left wrist. He wears a disruptor pistol on his hip, but no other weapons since he himself is a weapon. Abducted as a child by slavers and witnessing the death of both his parents, Boris spent ten long, grueling years into the hell of a uranium mine. There he toiled, survived and trained himself both mind and body, in the end plotting a successful escape. After destroying the psychic nullifiers he basically wiped out all the slave guards, flew to the orbital processing facility and then crushed said facility on the planet surface below. Before leaving he found and rescued Kera, whom he met for a short while as both seemed to be on a same slave transport ship.
Kera
Kera is from a race called Avern’a. She has pale greenish skin and long dark blue hair that ends
almost close to her knees is 6ft tall and has light pink eyes. If one looks closer one can see a small halo of golden light above her head. She wears a close fitting red jumper suit and carries a medical bag with one stun pistol on her hip. Kera is considered special since she was born with the link. Able to communicate with a Universal consciousness, she is called a Star Witch by some and despite the fact that her kind is sometimes reviled or hated, Kera is unburdened by any of it. After meeting with Boris on a slave transport for a bit, she, almost as he did spent ten grueling years in torment. And while the man was down on the planet below digging uranium ore, she was on the space station above being used as a test subject in medical and cyber-tech experiments. Her owner, the Vaugn matriarch Vlenti was considered a “scientist” and medical doctor and she spent years chopping her to pieces experimenting with various implants. In the end when Boris arrived and sprang her out, Kera was missing her limbs, eyes and was unable to speak. Left over in her medical tank, the young woman was all but forgotten and even though her body was mutilated, her mind and link were still strong. She used the time spent in the lab to learn and during the years became a knowledgeable medic and cyber-tech specialist. Kera even managed to save the mind of one Vaugn male soldier, transferring it into an Earth semi-sentient dog. Now married to Boris, Kera is the chief medical specialist of the Starshatter and makes every effort to heal her crew – both body and mind. Using her witches ways in a way perhaps that most of her kind had never thought of.
