Liana, Terra, and Phia chatted about Boone and his upcoming trip to Kova. They talked about his childhood and other things but when it came to confessing what had happened that dreadful day in Tela KaTura, Liana thought it best that Boone should be the one to tell them.
Boone and Callie emerged from the bathroom. He was in a clean and fresh hospital garment and noticed his mom was still talking to Terra and Phia. He became concerned and could only imagine what Terra had told them. He stood beside Terra and Phia who were seated in front of the hologram when an unexpected green and red flash appeared within Liana’s hologram. Another call was coming in over the COM for Boone.
Phia, as she does so often, took it upon herself to allow the merging to the two holograms – Liana on the planet Kova and the new caller. Boone gaped at her rudeness and was speechless. Everyone gasped, including Liana, when a concerned Commander J’Dar appeared.
“Lieutenant Sa’vo! Uh! You haven’t reported to me! Ah!” he screamed in his mind. “Why? Investigator Je’en? Boone! I… what’s going on?”
Then he became more surprised when he noticed Boone’s mother.
Liana quickly followed his words, “Mar’Ki! Is that really you? What are you doing here?”
Phia quickly surmised, “What! The commander knows his mom! So he also knows Boone? What is going on with you? I can’t believe…”
“Liana!” he exclaimed as he studied her, noticing she was inside a separate hologram. He couldn’t take his eyes off her beauty. “I can’t believe it! After all of these years! How are you?”
“I am doing much better, now. Now that my son is going to be alright.”
“Yes, well, that is great news but I’m sorry. I don’t have time to chat.” He turned his attention to Phia and just glared at her wondering why she had not reported to him. It was over three weeks ago he sent her on a mission to discover what she could about one lone space drifter he considered a bum – Boone Nova. He frowned at her and turned his attention to Boone.
“Boone!” he ordered. “Where is that rude short black man? I have a question for him and I need to know. Now!”
Boone, gazing wide-eyed and confused, stared at him wondering what was going on in the spatial corridor between O'bipherion and Xeraxes.
“Sir,” he answered. “Mace, Jona, and Pryce spent the night at his ranch. Call him on his ship, the Kori Dane. They could even be on their way here. What happened out there, Sir?”
“High Guard business! Not your business and this is an order from me to you, stay out of it! Understood?”
Phia was very upset with the commander yet tried to show respect. He asked her to go to Kova and find any wants or warrants on Boone and Finn Nova and make them answered for any crimes. Now, she was told by many that Boone was innocent and she was beginning to believe them. Boone was the one who destroyed the gamma weapon and was just recently cleared of another accusation. Her anger toward the commander grew and her compassion and affection for Boone grew as well.
“Sir!” she interrupted. “I want to know the status of that cargo ship. You can’t answer that?” she glared.
The commander was surprised and embarrassed by her tone. She was becoming indignant toward him. He realized giving them the information wouldn’t hurt anything and he needed to bring his Lieutenant under control.
“Yes, the Ganes Trek was destroyed by a laser. 271 life pods are fleeing for their lives. We’re trying to get to them.”
Boone immediately remembered what Jona had told him. A large pirate ship, Jona explained, would lure the Sim-Sa Gale into a trap.
“Sir,” Boone uttered hoping he wouldn’t be cut off. “You’re not engaging this pirate ship?”
Commander J’Dar stood speechless. It was very difficult for him to even talk to Boone. He mustered enough tolerance for a short conversation.
“We know they want my ship – Captain Eisen’s ship – the Sim-Sa Gale. We know it’s a trap. I need to find your friend – we’re searching for a laser.”
“Call the Kori Dane, Sir.”
The commander nodded, shot a rude glare at his Lieutenant, and abruptly ended his communiqué.
Everyone sighed and looked at each other wondering what was happening in the spatial corridors.
“Mom?” Boone asked. “You know Commander J’Dar?”
She nodded, “When your father was a Kovan Flight Officer. Boone, we can talk later. OK? You need some rest.”
Boone nodded and Callie ordered Boone to go with her for a stroll to exercise. Liana ended her communiqué encouraging the girls to keep believing in her son and his kind and loving heart. They promised to talk again soon.
Chapter 5
The Ambulas sat idle in the O'bipherion-Xeraxes corridor. She was seventeen minutes from the listing broken cargo ship, Ganes Trek. Much of the cargo within the Ganes had slowly drifted out into space but could easily be gathered with space gunners and tow cables.
Braxton, who captained the Ambulas in place of the absent queen, discovered to his dismay, the Sim-Sa Gale was not going to approach the Ganes. Their trap was now null and void. They continued to target the Sim-Sa Gale from the great distance but the Sim-Sa Gale was never stationary enough to land another laser strike. Frustrated, the Ambulas came upon the Ganes and launched her twenty-five space gunners. They began the task of retrieving their spoils.
The twenty-two High Guard intergalactic runners from Efferium and Xeraxes that tried to overtake the Ambulas from behind were ordered to cease and return. Several of them were decimated when the aft laser from the Ambulas fired upon them.
From the three battlecruisers, Captain Kapavon, Captain Eisen, Commander J’Dar, and Captain Koine watched with great trepidation as the Ambulas gathered precious and vital cargo. There was nothing they could do without a laser to attack or without some type of shielding to defend against a laser strike. All three battlecruisers had over 10,000 souls each on board.
…
Rena, Jak, and Nell spent two whole days searching a single square mile around the ranch house. The weather was very hot and dry. The search was tedious and exhausting as they covered the entire mountain northward that stretched upward from the flat courtyard, the very large meadow eastward that hosted a large crop field, and the forest and woodland that lay to the west and south.
Though they didn’t find the teleportation device, Rena found consolation in that the device must be in the valley of the kukupas, as she called it, which lay on the other side of the mountain and contained a host of small caves and large caverns. She had deep hopes Boone had hidden the device in one of those caves.
…
Sabin enjoyed wearing the High Guard uniform, though he made his two cohorts change into maintenance uniforms. The three of them were hanging around the unprotected flight deck that sat high atop the Karkavon Medical building. Sabin thought that was a much easier place to slip in and out of and not be noticed. High Guardsmen were searching every nook and cranny within the medical building, suspecting Sabin might try to finish what Kwelling couldn’t do.
As they meandered about the wide and spacious flight deck, posing as workers, Sabin was posing as a High Guardsman looking for an escaped prisoner. They spied a Class 2 Diamond Flyer - unattended.
Class 2 ships were one story ships big enough to carry several passengers. Diamond flyers were diamond-shaped and only fit for flying cross-continental. They did, however, have some limited weapons. That was enough for Sabin.
He instructed his two friends to go and search out Boone’s room while he would go and stow away inside the diamond flyer. Its owner was obviously there to visit someone in the hospital. Sabin would wait and see who returned to the flyer first – his two friends or an unsuspecting owner.
…
Jona sat in Mace’s large black disc-shaped ship monitoring the cockpit instrumentation as Pryce and Mace were outside the ship checking out a few parts and running a systems check. Jona was munching on a snack while they worked. After a good night’s rest, the
y wanted to get back to Boone. Jona had his big dirty boots resting on Mace’s cockpit chair. His long hair was in several braids tied with what appeared to be thin leather strips. His focus was on the weapons panel trying to imagine which of the Kori Dane’s four weapons components was the fastest in reaching its target. “Missiles… they’re the slowest, so guns would be the second slowest because bullets travel at a speed of… fast. It’s either the laser or the phase cannon… hmm. The laser is probably the fastest ‘cause you can actually see phase cannons… those… the… the energy bolt zips through the air. It’s fast but I can definitely see it…”
Suddenly, the COM echoed. Mace and Pryce heard it also as an outboard relay transferred the message. Someone was calling.
Jona hit the COM control and Commander J’Dar appeared in front of him in a small hologram.
“Huh?” Jona uttered. “You? What do you want!” he huffed as he quickly stood and glared at the mean officer.
“Easy, Jona,” Pryce uttered as he entered the cockpit. “Sir?” he asked.
“Yes,” the commander replied. “Sorry to bother you. I know you’re probably doing something questionable. Or illegal, or… where’s the black man? Oh, Mace!”
“Me?” Mace asked as he appeared from behind Pryce. “Something’s happened! Right?”
Commander J’Dar sighed and frowned. “I hate this! Ah! Ah!” he screamed to himself. “These… these… space bums! Idiots! I can’t believe I’m even asking!” He admitted, “Yes… I… I need your help with something. This pirate ship is called the Ambulas. Ever heard of it?”
Pryce answered, “Commander, I’m sure that’s what he calls it. No telling what ship it really is…”
“He! He? Who?” he blared.
“The Pirate boss, Sir. You know? The pirate in charge of doing all of this destruction, coordinating, planning all of this…”
“Fine. There’s a head pirate. That’s your assumption. Mace, I need a laser that can reach it. It’s firing at us! What do I need and where do I get it. And I need it fast.”
“Oh,” Mace uttered. “He’s very rude. You will need one of two things, either will work. One – a laser package with a high-density high-focused MXP ion-based delivery. Those are hard to come by and the main mining base on Fema-Pherion might now where one is. Sir, I’ll bet it’s in one of the outlying systems right now as it is used strictly for large meteors and asteroids. Two – any highly-focused frame mounted laser torch accompanied by a PLT condensing chamber. Those chambers are expensive and rare, though.”
J’Dar nodded as if he understood it all. “So, any mining ship we have available will not do?”
Mace slipped into his cockpit chair and frowned. “No, Sir. Sorry. They don’t have the means. The laser on that Ambulas… what has it done?”
“It cut the Ganes Trek practically in half. Parts of it exploded.” The three of them nodded with despair. “Sir? What distance?”
The commander huffed, “Well, I guess everyone will find out sooner or later… uh… the Ambulas was nearly a day away from the Ganes traveling at full speed.”
“What!” Mace replied. “That laser must be… uh… it’s probably been modified by some kind of tech genius. In order to…”
“The Ambulas has five laser turrets on its bow.”
“Huh,” Jona muttered. “They are focusing all five into one beam. I mean they all target one specific point.”
“Yeah, Sir,” Mace added. “It has five lasers and each one targets the object or ship individually. Five lasers combining into one at the point of the target.”
“I see. Look, Mace, is your ship carrying a laser strong enough to help us?”
“No, Sir. I’m sorry but Commander, I’m legal. I’ve not modified mine. Or any other laser for that matter.”
“Is there someone on the mining base who can modify one strong enough?”
“I don’t know. I work on Nava Kova. I don’t know anyone here. Sir? I can come…”
The commander hit a button and the communiqué ended. The three of them exchanged glances and went about their business. There was nothing they could do but feel helpless and worry about what was happening within the O'bipherion-Xeraxes corridor.
They sat and discussed an important matter concerning Boone and his newfound freedom. Knowing he was soon to be released, and knowing Lieutenant Phia Sa’vo had ‘apprehended’ him, they made plans for Boone’s timely escape from her. They lifted off and gently flew up and away from Pryce’s ranch and Fisher Springs. The Kori Dane headed to Karkavon Medical with one very important stop to make.
…
In the Xeraxes system, from several hidden pirate outposts and compounds on the planets, Efferium and Xeraxes, fifty-one separate space gunners began to converge. They would meet together near a compound attacked weeks ago by Terra Je’en and Pryce Caperstone, though they attributed the destruction to Boone Nova. The town was called, Kopiter. Once they were all gathered together on the vast desert-like landscape, just outside the town, they would take off, orbit Isoter, and land at the ranch house. Each one wanted the ‘unimaginable reward’ described by the queen pirate. For some, the reward would not even be the best part of the endeavor – meeting the queen for the first time would be.
The queen patiently waited. Rena had that resolve within her. Though the waiting was difficult and because of her determination, she knew she would get exactly what she wanted in the end. She, as well as those that followed her, wanted the primes to return to the old self-governing establishment and abolish the recent unified planetary system. Her goals were to undermine the prime establishment, take what she could from those that had, distribute what she could to the poor and needy, and build her network of like-minded people. Boone Nova, of course, was a whole other matter.
While she waited, she had another task to complete – find out if Braxton and her precious Ambulas had indeed taken down the Ganes Trek, looted its cargo, and decimated the Sim-Sa Gale. She was intent on sending the prime establishment another message.
Chapter 6
The 5th prime and Lorin waited for the chief investigator. They were inside one of the most secure detention rooms the High Guard Detention Center had. A dozen royal guardsmen stood just outside, protecting the prime. They flanked both sides of the door. Tanner was standing with the guards, waiting for his commander and the constellation’s chief investigator. Not sure of why the prime and his daughter were there, Tanner, the newly appointed O'bipherion investigator who had recently replaced the injured Terra Je’en, had summoned his commander, Logan Dowey upon the prime’s request. It wasn’t long before Commander Dowey and Lincoln DeKator strolled down the long hallway.
“Investigator?” Commander Dowey asked. “You said the prime is here?”
Officer Tanner nodded and answered, “Inside, Sir. Looks like we’ve got a new plan. For Kwelling.”
Commander Dowey looked at the constellation’s chief investigator. Lincoln smiled and replied, “Oh, you’ll see. It’s gonna be fun.” They opened the door and went inside.
“Prime?” an aged Commander Dowey asked. “You’re really doing this? To Kwelling?”
The prime smiled and nodded to the chief investigator and the commander – his long-time friend and comrade.
“Yes, Logan. All will be OK. But, how are you?” he humbly asked.
“Uh, Prime! I’m doing well, in spite of what’s happening. I’m sorry for dismissing the pleasantries but I have an evil pirate on the loose, 471 ships trying to rescue those life pods, Copiannis is still trying to recover, Nano-bugs on the loose, and Boone Nova… uh!” he gasped. “I’m getting too old for this!”
“Yes, well, Logan, you’ve got help here. Everyone is helping. I’m also here to help.”
“You’re here to help?” Commander Dowey’s eyes drifted from the prime to Lorin then to the prime again. “What do you hope to accomplish? I’d say, let’s just proceed with the court’s wishes.”
Lorin was very anxious about the whole matter.
She felt very vulnerable about someone finding out about her ability. If it weren’t for the urgency and magnitude of the calamity taking place on O'bipherion and in the spatial corridor, she wouldn’t be there. But, dangerous times called for drastic measures. She was determined to speak and use her ability to read Jurias Kwelling before the court dealt with Kwelling in a new fashion.
Jok approached the commander and gently placed his hand on his shoulder. Lincoln and Tanner looked on.
“Logan, my friend, how long have we known each other? How long have we been fighting these… these…?”
“Insurrectionist!” Lorin blared in disgust.
The commander looked at her and saw her disgust and determination. “What are you asking me? You want to speak to Kwelling? You think you are going to make him feel bad for what he’s done?”
“No, Sir,” she replied. She stood in front of the commander and Lincoln with her fingers intertwined and resting on her lower torso. Her long brown hair gracefully rested on her shoulders. She wore a long dark green dress embroidered with a light yellowish floral design. A light yellowish sash was wrapped around her slim waist. She was exceptionally beautiful for a fair complexioned young woman. She began her read of the commander and Lincoln as she knew they would object to her request.
“I would not even attempt a thing so foolish. I do, however, wish to discover a few things from him as I know he is very arrogant and hateful. I know how to ‘push those buttons’ Commander.”
She studied his mouth, his shoulders, his eyes, and the minute twitchings of his face. Lorin read the commander.
“He is extremely stressed. Commander? This pirate attack and this attack within the corridor, it has exhausted you?”
He chuckled and nodded. He quickly wiped his face with his hand. “Very much so. And Kwelling… well, I’d like to…”
“I know, Commander. We’d all like to do that!” The four of them chuckled.
BOONE NOVA AND THEPIRATE QUEEN Page 5
