by J. K. Mabrey
Brax Miro was a Chokmnd. They were the most populous and powerful race in the Galaxy. Humanoid, but scaly. They were likely the oldest race in the Galaxy and were credited with bringing the alien races together to form the Galactic Community, a governing body run by a rotating five-member Galactic Council whose members were chosen from the most populous known races in the Galaxy. The Galactic Council oversaw interplanetary affairs and offered security to the Galaxy. The Chokmnd were one of three races given a permanent position on the Council, along with the Rovun and Farlin. The Chokmnd had, however, on several occasions, been responsible for almost tearing the Community apart. The latest incident, which had become known as the Red Moon Rebellion instead of the Chokmnd Rebellion at the insistence of the Chokmnd, was five years ago. The leader of Red Moon, a pro-Chokmnd criminal organization, tried to manipulate the Community into starting a war with humans. He hated humans and saw this as a chance to secure himself as the leader of the Chokmnd Empire and ruler of the Galaxy. Instead, Varin Bragko wound up trapped in an uncharted section of the Galaxy with no way back called the Dark Sector. It was a place Zavik hoped he would rot in forever. After Varin was stopped the Council finally decided to give humans a spot on the Council and former ambassador Mari Hains was chosen as the first human representative to the Galactic Council.
Brax worked for Red Moon as a low-level enforcer when they met, but he had no real loyalty to the organization. He helped them stop Varin when the Red Moon Rebellion started. Afterward, he agreed to join their ship and deliver supplies for the restoration efforts on Earth and Zavik was more than grateful for the help.
Earth was now past that dark point in its history where it had to rely on other systems to survive. The famines had stopped and the rationing of food had eased. The supplies from the Council that Varin desperately tried to block in his vain attempt to usurp control had helped Earth restore its sustainability. As an unfortunate side effect, many of the contracts with Earth they were receiving had also stopped. It hadn't helped that a new technology was threatening to make the portals obsolete, something the Council seemed okay with. Now they were stuck stealing shipments from rival crime lords just to get by. It was a career path Zavik thought he was passed.
Brax sat in the swivel cannon stationed atop the center of the Rinada. "I'll have you know, I hit my head on the control panel of the bi-cannons."
"You didn't break anything on my ship did you?" Zavik asked.
"No," he said. "But I appreciate your concern."
"You know I'm always worried about you," Zavik said.
Brax muttered something unsavory over the radio that trailed off.
"I'm going to go get ready by the air lock," Zavik said.
"Ok,” Dani said. She paused and grabbed his arm. “Zavik, just be careful over there.”
He nodded his head. “You know I will. Don’t worry.”
“Not likely,” she said. “I love you.”
"Love you too."
He stood up and walked out of the cockpit. She hated it when he put himself in situations where he might get shot at. He told her she worried too much, but he could understand her feelings. How could she not worry? The Galaxy was a dangerous place with little regard for life. But this was necessary to fulfill their obligation and try and move on. He walked down a short hallway and into a small living area. A table to the right sat full of half eaten dishes. A small cleaning station straight ahead was overrun with even more. That wouldn't do for one more night, Zavik thought. Dani would demand they clean up their mess, and he could see her point, it was becoming disgusting. The crew quarters were to his left, three rooms, all currently occupied. To the left of the cleaning station ran a staircase. Up would take you to the Rinada's heavy cannon. Brax complained and ridiculed it all the time, but he was always the first to volunteer to man it. He was good too, so there was never any argument.
Zavik recalled a time when Savin pirates had attacked them. They had just stolen a shipment of LT-44 blasters from them that were destined for a remnant section of Red Moon based on Phelis. The Savin's were at risk of losing a big payday and angering one of the largest remaining remnants of the old Red Moon syndicate. Six single-manned starships chased them through numerous portal jumps and reckless maneuvers. Brax took the reins of the cannon and systematically gunned them down. Even when the last ship decided it was best to run and live instead of being destroyed like its companions, Brax was able to take it out just as it was flying out of range. From that moment on, Brax always manned the cannons.
The stairs down led to the cargo holds of the Rinada. The ones to the aft of the ship were used for legitimate shipments. Hidden compartments towards the front were used when a little secrecy was necessary. Grates on the floor of the living area could open to the cargo holds and there were two secret openings downstairs. A door on the back wall to the left of the stairs led to the cargo airlock overlooking the cargo hold below.
Zavik opened the door and a Rovun standing a little over six feet tall, brown hair and razor teeth stood waiting for him. His arms folded and his foot tapping the steel floor heavily.
"What?" Zavik asked.
"Are we ever gonna go?" the Rovun asked.
"Relax, Charra, we're going, we're going."
He growled low and heavy. "If Brax can slow'em down."
"I'll do my part just as well as I always do," Brax said over the radio. "Now, if you can not break the cargo, this time, that would be great."
Charra's eyes widened and his mouth salivated. "It's not my fault those robots are made out of cheap plastic. How was I suppose to know that their arms would break off with less effort than it takes to scare a Chokmnd at night?" He laughed to himself and deliberately over the radio. Zavik lifted an eyebrow.
"You had to make friends with the comedian of the gang, didn't ya?" Brax said. "Only Rovun who fancies himself funny in the entire galaxy."
"Cut the chatter back there," Dani cut in. "We're approaching the portal and according to our schedule the shipment should be coming through in the next minute."
A ship suddenly appeared out of a small flash at the center of the portal. A cargo ship, rectangular in shape with a small gun situated atop, drifted along. Dani brought the Rinada up close to its rear. The gun swiveled to the rear and started firing wildly as the ship lurched forward.
"Brax, the engines, now!" she said.
"Rodger," he replied. He opened fire with the cannon and a number of blasts caught the rear of the ship. Blue ripples emanated from the impacts. "Their shields are strong."
Dani jerked the ship up and around to avoid the laser blasts firing back on them.
"Will you please keep her steady," Brax said.
"I agree," Charra added. He looked ready to puke, though Zavik wasn't quite sure what a Rovun ready to puke looked like. His eyes were glossed over and the snarl that usually rested on his face was replaced with a loosely hung jaw. It reminded Zavik of someone with a hangover trying to run a mile.
A few more shots hit the transport and a blue flash of light surrounded the entire ship before fading away. The shields were down, temporarily at least. Too much strain from the blasts had caused the shields to overheat. It would take a few moments for them to vent the heat to space before they could turn on again, leaving the ship vulnerable.
"Easy, Brax," Zavik said. "We don't want to destroy the ship, just disable it."
"Unlike Charra, I paid attention during the briefing, thank you very much."
Brax squeezed off two shots that impacted the two large engines hanging off the rear end of the ship. Fire erupted out of one side and sparks and debris flew from the other. The ship began to list to the left, the cannon on top still firing wildly but with no real hope of connecting to anything. Its run for another portal was over as it drifted freely in space.
Dani brought the Rinada up to its side and maneuvered the airlock into position. Zavik could hear the mechanical connections and metal grinding as the two ships linked together. A hissing sound p
ermeated around the edges of the square door in front of them and a green light indicating a secure connection lit above the door.
Zavik nodded to Charra who opened the door. Zavik stood in the doorway staring at an empty corridor ahead. He stepped through the airlock and onto the transport. A red laser blast hit above his head. A shower of sparks rained down on his head and a brief whiff of smoke covered him. He whipped his head to the left and fired blindly as he fell behind a wall. Charra emerged from the airlock and fired around the corner. A Bacarian poked its head up and yelled something Zavik couldn't understand even if he heard it clearly.
The Bacarians were a particularly aggressive race that had managed to spread to most corners of the Galaxy. They were selfish and power-hungry. Most that Zavik had contact with were pirates and drug peddlers. He had only had a few actual conversations with them as they refused to learn the standard language of the Galaxy, something humans embraced early on. Instead, they clung to their own in a show of independence and superiority. They were furry humanoids, reminiscent of large felines. And they were fierce fighters. Never ones to surrender.
They just couldn't catch a break, Zavik thought.
"Why did it have to be Bacarians?" he asked himself.
"Because our luck sucks," Charra offered.
The Bacarian yelled again.
"What does he keep saying?" Zavik asked in between unleashing shots in the alien's direction.
"He said, 'You dirty thieves', and then called us a fat Bacarian female slur, about ten times," Charra said.
"Oh, well then. Cover me. I'll show him a fat Bacarian female."
"I don't see how that can help us, but you're the boss."
Charra stepped out and fired wildly at the Bacarian who ducked behind a crate on the floor. Zavik moved behind him and flanked the Bacarian. Zavik cut him down with ease before he could even notice.
"Let's move," Zavik said.
They headed down a hallway towards the front of the ship. Two Bacarians at the end of the hall stood there, blasters raised and firing. A laser blast flew close to Zavik's face and Charra jumped to the side just in time to avoid a burning chest. Charra looked at the wall behind him, a black circle of charred metal stared back. He growled and opened fire on the Bacarians. Two shots hit them in the head and they went down quickly.
"You okay?" Zavik asked.
"I don't like when people fire at me." He loosened a power pack and slapped a fresh one in its place.
"That I can understand," Zavik said. "We need to get to the cargo."
The end of the hallway turned right and dead-ended at a large bay door. Zavik opened it and before them sat four large gray cargo crates.
"These them?" Charra asked running his hand along the top.
"Better be," Zavik said.
"You guys want to hurry up?" Brax asked.
"What's a matter, you getting lonely?" Zavik asked.
"Hardly, but it appears that ship has radioed for help from the local fleet. There are nearly a dozen fighters headed our way."
"Do we check them now?" Charra asked.
"We'll check'em on the ship," Zavik said. "Let's move."
They lifted the crates onto hover platforms and pushed them, two-at-a-time, out of the cargo hold and down the hallway. A Bacarian appeared from the front of the ship with a heavy blaster and laid down continuous fire on the crates. Zavik and Charra ducked behind the cover. The metal heated and cracked from the blasts. Zavik stood up and fired at him. The Bacarian dove behind the door for safety.
"Take those to the ship," Zavik yelled at Charra.
"But-"
"No! Go! I'll be right behind you."
Charra pushed his two crates down the hallway and into the Rinada's hold. Zavik dove back behind his crate.
"Phensica human!" he heard hiss from down the hall. Next, he heard the clanging sound of metal skipping off of metal. It got louder. He looked over the crate and a small sphere was rolling his way. A grenade. He took off down the hallway just before an explosion sent metal and gas and flames flying by him. A hot wall of air slammed against his back. He tumbled forward and slammed his face on the cold steel floor. He grabbed his ears, they were ringing and it felt like someone was driving a stake through his head. He coughed with every breath.
The pain in his ear turned into a quiet buzzing that grew louder and then slowly cleared. It was replaced by a muffled sound of a woman's voice in his ear.
"Zavik!" he could finally make out. "Zavik, come in. Charra, what happened?"
"I don't know, it was an explosion," Charra said. "Must have been a grenade."
“Zavik! Zavik!” Dani shouted over the radio.
"I'm okay," Zavik mustered between coughs as he got to his feet. He looked back. The crates were destroyed. Metal shards lay at his feet. They weren't from the crates, but from what was inside. The contents were destroyed. He grimaced and clenched his teeth. A thick cloud of gray smoke filled the hallway. It smelled like a welding station that had caught fire. The lights in the hallway flickered and then went dark. They were replaced by a steady strobe of red. He could see a mangled Bacarian body behind them. Fool was too close to the blast. Zavik left the remnants of the crates and returned to the Rinada. As soon as he was through he shut the door and disconnected the airlock.
"Dani, get us out of here," he said softly over the radio.
"Where are the crates?" Charra asked.
"Gone," Zavik said looking down over the half filled cargo hold. "That Bacarian wasted them both, along with himself."
Charra growled and turned away. He brought both fists down hard on the steel wall. The sound pierced Zavik’s still ringing ears.
Dani moved the Rinada away from the cargo ship. Brax held off on firing at the approaching fighters at first. Dani aimed for the portal to Zalif and routed all power to the engines. The fighters circled around the cargo ship twice then returned to their formation to pursue the Rinada. Brax fired off a few shots, not really trying to hit the ships, and they backed down. They were lightly shielded and any direct hit would destroy them instantly. Brax knew they wouldn't think it was worth risking their lives just to catch pirates stealing from other pirates, and besides, they weren’t the bad guys, just local security. No need to do anything stupid.
The Rinada emerged from the portal and set a course to make port on Zalif. It was a remote system originally colonized by the Iriquios tens of thousands of years ago. The Iriquios were a gray-skinned humanoid race that held an eerily resemblance to humans and were one of their only true allies in the Galaxy. They had sided with humans during the Red Moon Rebellion, even before it was discovered that Varin was behind the plot, and were instrumental in getting humans a place on the Council. In the time since Zalif was founded, it had been relinquished from their direct control and was now populated by a diverse number of alien races. While Iriquios were still the majority there was a growing number of Savins and Pakals. Humans even made up a respectable and growing percentage of the population.
Zalif was covered in a thick forest across its equator. The green growth slowly diminished into barren land as it got closer to the poles. The cities near the equator were the only places that people had settled. The original settlements had grown larger and larger as the population expanded. Zavik found it curious that the populations ever grew to the size that it is since Zalif had nothing to export and its economy continually struggled, even as the galaxy as a whole improved.
Its lack of resources and strategic value is what prompted the Iriquios to give up on it as a colony and let it be governed by its own system. The representative of Zalif to the Galaxy was now a Pakal, Equard Daly, that adopted a laissez-faire position on galactic affairs and only ever traveled off system about twice a year. Once to Tarekun to take part in an annual festival of drunken parades and promiscuous celebrations surrounding a local deity that he didn't even believe in. The other time was to Cedona, the Galactic Capital, to ensure that the Galactic budget still included the provision from
Iriquim, the Iriquios home world, that was required by Council law. All past colonies were entitled to a stipend from their founding system for a set number of years based on the colony's economy and time spent being ruled by the parent system. The Council didn’t want colonies to be left to rot just because the settling system gave up on them.
Zalif needed that stipend to survive and Equard had won election to rule Zalif by promising to ensure its continued influx into Zalif's economy. Iriquim had been pressing the Council for decades to allow it to stop funding the once-upon-a-time colony arguing that their economy at one point exceeded the threshold for self-reliance. Even if now it was below the established level, the mere fact that it at one point was above should have exempted Iriquim from its continued support. It was through shady accounting and a few bribes that Zalif was able to show officially their economy remained just below the threshold.
Since then they've suppressed their economy, preferring to receive the stipend from Iriquim instead of growing their own, albeit sparse, resources. The planet's infrastructure had slowly decayed in the recent years, the stipend mostly going to placate local crime-lords in an effort to keep the system stable. Most of the cities were dirty and dangerous. The rule of law was thrown away and replaced by the rule of force. Trouble seemed to find anyone new to the system. Very few people actually wanted to live on Zalif now, those that did wished they could leave. But most were stuck, unable to afford transport off the planet, and having nowhere to go even if they could.
The Rinada landed in a shipping port in Yehvan. Zavik followed Charra out of the cargo hold as Brax was descending from the laser turret. Charra pushed Brax out of the way and stormed into his room.
"Hey! What's your problem?" Brax asked to silence. The door closed shut behind Charra and a loud crash followed. "What got into him?"
"We lost two of the crates," Zavik said.
"Ut oh."
"Yeah."
Dani came in from the cockpit and hugged Zavik. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.”
She looked at his clothes and checked his arms for cuts. There was a bit of black soot on his right sleeve and some on his forehead, but otherwise, he was unharmed.
