Salvage Conquest

by Chris Kennedy

“That gate has been closed for almost eighteen months,” the shorter Bith said upon viewing the pad. “It cannot be reopened.”

  “We both know that isn’t true.” Dumaul tapped the medallion dangling from the tall Bith’s neck. “Wouldn’t the Council agree?”

  Matt tilted his head.

  “The Council had every right to close that gate after what happened,” the tall Bith growled. “We will never reopen it, nor should we.”

  Dumaul paused. “What is your name?”

  “Loegoth.” The tall Bith gestured to his companion. “This is my batu, Bindar.”

  Matt guessed a batu was some sort of Bith aide or underling.

  “Pleased to meet you.” Dumaul kept his focus on the Bith superior. “I offer you a choice. Reopen the gate at these coordinates and allow the Bonifay passage, and you have my word that both of you will return to your people unharmed. Do not, and you will face a far different outcome.”

  Bindar scoffed. “What business does a Yatoni have with a darkened stargate? Your kind scarcely leaves their own system, much less travel to others that have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy.”

  “I am not Yatoni.”

  What?

  No one spoke as Dumaul reached past his collar and unplugged the breather hoses from his mask. He then removed the entire head piece and tossed it aside.

  “This cannot be.” Bindar gasped.

  The alien standing before Matt wasn’t albino at all. Rather, his skin was a deep shade of crimson matched with shimmering blue eyes set atop high cheek bones and a black goatee.

  “This isn’t possible,” Bindar continued.

  “I can assure you, it most certainly is,” Dumaul said.

  “I don’t get it.” Tenza did a double-take. “What isn’t possible?”

  Matt rolled his eyes. “Maybe if you’d extract your face from a betting sheet, on occasion, to keep up with current events, that wouldn’t be the case.”

  “Don’t be a wanker, mate,” Tenza said.

  “You’re a Cynzu,” Leslie said.

  Dumaul bowed his bare-skinned head. “My name is Rondo K’tar, native son of the sovereign world, Cynzua, and chief attaché to its Norsigh District.”

  “You’re a butcher is what you are.” Bindar hissed. “A butcher from a race of butchers.”

  Rondo’s gaze narrowed. “Watch your tongue, Bith. Just because I haven’t killed you, yet, doesn’t mean I lack the mind to.”

  Loegoth’s lips formed a line. “You say you are no butcher, and yet everything we know about your species contradicts that assertion. Lest we forget, Cynzu, it was you who bombed our envoy after our expeditionary team planted a stargate in your solar system. A pair of my peers on the Council lost their lives that day. So did a pair of batu and four of your own kind.”

  “It wasn’t us,” Rondo insisted.

  “The Council’s investigation found otherwise,” Loegoth said. “Every shred of evidence pointed to one organization—that damned terrorist group of yours, the Drugasso.”

  “Please.” Rondo huffed. “The Drugas were a petty band of xenophobic thugs who didn’t want Cynzu joining the greater galactic community. They had neither the resources nor the organization to carry out such an attack.”

  “Perhaps.” Loegoth folded his arms. “Alas, we’ll never know since every potential witness perished in the blast.”

  Rondo dropped his head. “I have no answers for you, Bith. I wish I did, but I don’t. Don’t you see? That was the point of all this: that we might find those answers together.”

  Loegoth snorted and looked away. “I have all the answers I require.”

  “Fine,” Rondo grumbled. “If you won’t listen to reason then allow me to put this into a language your kind does understand—credit.”

  Loegoth faced his inquisitor.

  “Open the stargate and allow me the chance to clear my people’s name,” Rondo said. “If I fail, you may do with me as you will. Surely a Cynzu attaché brought in alive would fetch a fine reward on the bounty market, yes? That can all be yours. I won’t resist.”

  That had Loegoth’s attention. “Continue.”

  “If, however, I don’t fail,” Rondo said. “If I succeed in unearthing the truth behind the bombing, you’ll return to your colleagues on the Council and tell them what you’ve learned. That is my deal.”

  “And if I refuse?” Loegoth asked.

  The hum from Rondo’s pistol as he brought it to bear on the Bith underscored his resolve. “Then in that case, my arrogant friend, we have nothing more to discuss.”

  “Whoa!” Matt threw up his hands. “Let’s all just take a breath here and calm down. Surely there’s a way we can all have our cake and eat it, too, right? We’ve just gotta find it.”

  Loegoth grunted at his captor. “You wouldn’t dare harm a formal representative of the Bith Gate Council. My people would hunt you to the edge of the galaxy just to kill you where you stand.”

  “Two years, one month, and eighteen days,” Rondo said. “That is how long I’ve lived apart from my wife and daughter. If I am never to see them again in this life, then I’d just as soon move on to the next one.”

  Tenza stepped forward holding his Z-31 while Loegoth weighed his options.

  “You’re not honestly considering this,” Bindar said.

  “Silence.” Loegoth shot his aide a glare. “Very well, Cynzu. I accept your terms.”

  Rondo holstered his weapon. “Tenza, take our guests to the Bonifay’s brig and secure them there until we reach the gate. Captain Furyk, we may depart this planet at your earliest convenience.”

  Matt accepted the data pad from Loegoth and examined its contents. “These coordinates are quite a ways out. That’s gonna mean more gate fees that, frankly, I can’t afford to pay.”

  “Bith don’t pay gate fees,” Rondo said. “Call it a perk of having one aboard. Loegoth will get us access when the time comes.”

  Matt handed the pad to Leslie. “Settle up with the port authority. I’ll handle pre-launch to get us underway.”

  “Copy that,” Leslie said as both humans turned for the exit.

  “Captain?” Rondo called out.

  Matt motioned his wife to go on ahead.

  “Thank you for your assistance in this matter,” Rondo said. “My apologies for the subterfuge. Alas, I saw it as my only chance to get here with minimal bloodshed.”

  Matt held his thought while Tenza led the Bith out of the bay. “Can I ask you something?”

  Rondo straightened. “Of course.”

  “The old guard who helped you back at the commerce center. Who was he?”

  The smallest of smiles crested Rondo’s crimson features. “His name is Curtis Stokes. He was the first guard assigned to me when I arrived in this system two years ago on diplomatic appointment for the Cynzu government. Curt knew I’d be a fugitive when the Bith closed my stargate, and it was he who smuggled me to Akalla where I spent the next fifteen months planning for this mission. Thus, when the time came to execute that plan, Curt was the first person I contacted.” The alien dropped his gaze. “All I want is to see my family again, Captain. That’s it. Everything I’ve done today has been in service to that end. If you can help me finish it, and in doing so clear my people’s reputation, then you have my solemn word that I’ll find a way to repay your kindness.”

  Matt regarded the Cynzu for a long moment. He didn’t know how, or why, he believed Rondo’s tale. He just knew that something within him—call it plain, old gut instinct or that of a soon-to-be dad hearing the plea of another—suspected that he could. “We’ll launch in ten minutes. I’d advise you to buckle in.”

  Rondo exhaled. “Yes, Captain.”

  True to his word, the Cynzu escorted Loegoth to the bridge when the Bonifay reached the stargate, at which time the tall Bith entered some sort of code, prompting the massive ring to open. From there, the freighter transitioned back into the Otherside where it proceeded onward for nearly two full days.

&nb
sp; “Captain to the bridge,” Leslie called via intercom on morning three. “Otherside exit is eminent.”

  “On my way,” Matt answered from the galley. Leslie was seated at the nav station when he arrived on the bridge, holding a coffee for himself and one for his wife. “Status?”

  “Gate exit in three,” Leslie said. “Two…one…mark.”

  The scene beyond the viewport returned to stars as the Bonifay left the gate then tilted to port. There, three planets back from a yellow dwarf star, was Rondo’s emerald green homeworld.

  Pretty place. Matt handed his wife her coffee. “We got a bead on any welcome wagons?”

  Leslie tapped at her console. “Not a thing. Sensors read several orbital satellites, but they’re all dark.”

  “Every one of them?” Matt asked.

  Leslie nodded.

  Strange. Matt drummed his fingers on his chair’s arm.

  “Should I hail the planet?” Leslie asked.

  “Yeah, but stand by first.” Matt tapped his chair’s comm button. “Furyk to K’tar. Report to the bridge at once.”

  Rondo entered the chamber a couple of minutes later. “I presume we’ve arrived at Cynzua?”

  “We have.” Matt motioned the red alien to a comm panel. “I’d like you to hail your world. I figure it’s been a while since your people have gotten one of these, and it might help if said communique comes in a familiar voice.”

  Rondo bowed his head and took his station. “Norsigh Control, this is Rondo K’tar aboard the Akallan freighter, Bonifay, in orbit. Please acknowledge.”

  The open line crackled with static.

  “Norsigh Control, this is Rondo K’tar. Please respond.”

  Still no response.

  “I don’t understand.” Rondo shook his head. “Someone should’ve answered by now.”

  “Any chance they’re experiencing a comm outage?” Matt asked.

  “Perhaps, but I doubt it.” Rondo shrugged. “There are failsafe systems in place to prevent such a conundrum. My district’s authorities should be receiving us.” He pointed toward the planet. “The Norsigh territories reside a hundred kilometers inland on the northernmost continent. Captain, with your permission I’d like us to begin our descent there. I can provide landing coordinates when Commander Furyk is ready.”

  Matt stroked his chin whiskers. “Take us down, Les.”

  The Bonifay’s passage through Cynzua’s atmosphere was relatively smooth on account of the calm weather conditions. Even still, the crew had roughly six hours until daylight. Combine that fact with the planet’s mostly jungle terrain and surface visibility on the ground promised to be a challenge.

  “Sensors are detecting activity ahead,” Leslie said once the Bonifay had leveled out.

  “That would be Norsigh Prime.” Rondo swiveled his chair to face the humans. “It’s the biggest urban center in our district.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it doesn’t look like your hometown is much of a destination spot with the tourists.” Matt pointed to the viewport. “That, or they haven’t paid their utility bill in a while.”

  Rondo furrowed his eyebrows then swiveled toward the front of the room. Sure enough, the massive metropolis ahead rested almost entirely in shadow. The only exceptions were the larger structures where a handful of lights broke the darkness.

  “Life signs?” Matt asked.

  “Only a few hundred or so.” Leslie tapped at her terminal. “By the look of things, the city is mostly abandoned.”

  Rondo was speechless.

  So, for that matter, was Matt. He’d heard stories of how life had gone to pot on worlds that’d been cut off from the galaxy via stargate closure. However, those outcomes had taken years, sometimes even decades, to unfold. The Cynzu stargate had only been closed for eighteen months. “We got a line on their starport?”

  “Yep,” Leslie said. “It’s three klicks due south from our present location.”

  “Good,” Matt said. “Let’s put down and get our bearings. We’ll figure things out from there.”

  “Copy that.” Leslie adjusted their heading to compensate then fired the Bonifay’s landing thrusters to level their descent. The thump of landing struts to solid ground came a moment later.

  “Heads up, Rondo.” Matt tossed the Cynzu a spare data band. “That’ll let us stay in contact on the ground.”

  Rondo bowed his thanks then strapped the device to his wrist and put it to his lips. “Tenza, it’s me. Bring our guests to the cargo bay. I wish them to accompany us into the city.”

  “Understood,” Tenza answered.

  Matt turned to follow the Cynzu out, though not before stopping by the bridge’s weapons locker for a pair of rifles with attachable pin lights. He kept one for himself and tossed the other to Leslie who racked in a charge.

  Tenza was waiting in the cargo bay with the Bith when the others arrived. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  “Likewise,” Matt said. “I was under the impression you’d been paid. Why aren’t you hiding out in your bunk, counting your money?”

  “What can I say?” The Reeoli shrugged. “The explorer in me is a sucker for first contact.”

  Matt made a face.

  “Oh, bloody hell.” Tenza’s gaze rolled skyward. “Rondo wired me an extra thousand credit to have another pair of eyes watching your backs out there.”

  “Uh, huh,” Leslie chirped.

  “Frex off,” Tenza answered.

  Matt waited with the others across the bay as Leslie moved to the debarkation hatch and entered her code. A second later, the barrier slid open, and the ramp lowered into pitch-black night outside.

  “Rondo and I will take point with Leslie and Tenza on our six,” Matt said. “Loegoth, Bindar. Stay in the middle and try not to get shot.”

  Loegoth grunted at Rondo. “After you.”

  The Cynzu replied with a smirk then clutched his pistol and started down the ramp.

  The scene outside the Bonifay was even more devastated up close than it had been from the air. Most of the buildings had been completely blown away, whereas the streets—or what remained of them, anyway—resembled an endless graveyard of downed starships and scorched infrastructure. The whole sight reminded Matt of the dystopian fiction stories he’d read as a kid.

  “Unreal,” Tenza marveled. “What happened here?”

  A visibly shaken Rondo shook his head.

  “Questions later.” Matt motioned everyone forward. “For now, we move.”

  The group eased down the ramp into the street then fell into formation per Matt’s instruction. From there, they cut left down a sidewalk and began their trek through the starport toward the inner city.

  Something moved in the shadows.

  “Shuh.” Rondo threw up a hand.

  Matt swept the scene with his rifle’s pin light.

  “What is it?” Leslie whispered.

  Now, even the Bith looked nervous.

  Come out, come out wherever you—

  A nightmarish blur of legs, armor, and fangs roared at Tenza.

  “Frex me!” the Reeoli screamed.

  A plume of laser fire struck the beast at center-mass, stifling its charge. It shrieked in protest then lunged back to the shadows where it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

  Insects chirped in the distance.

  “What the frex, Rondo?” Tenza erupted.

  The stunned Cynzu didn’t readily respond. “I…I do not know. Never in all my years have I seen such a species.”

  “You mean that thing isn’t native to Cynzua?” Leslie asked.

  “No,” Rondo said. “We have nothing like that here.”

  A chain of thoughts surged through Matt’s mind. He turned to Loegoth. “Do you know what that thing was?”

  The Bith shook his head. “There are numerous alien species in the galaxy bearing that creature’s anatomy in some form. Without a better look, I cannot be certain as to which one attacked us.”

  Matt studied his Bith
companions for a long moment. They were worried. They were hiding it, sure. However, their body language—especially that of Bindar who was twitching up a storm—told the truth of their feelings.

  “Let’s get to some place with more light,” Matt said.

  “To hell with that,” Tenza said. “I say we board the Bonifay and bug out of here now while we still have our limbs attached.”

  “No,” Rondo said. “My family is here. I must find them. Nothing else matters.”

  “To you,” Tenza added.

  Matt could see on the Cynzu’s face that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Damnit. “We press on as before. Rondo and I will take point. Tenza, Leslie. Stay sharp and bring up the rear. Let’s move.”

  The group continued onward through the maze of overgrown streets and wrecked equipment until a sizable cluster of lights illuminated a large building ahead. Defined by its long rows of hand-carved columns and elegant stone archways, the structure had doubtless been a sight to behold in its prime.

  “This is the Norsigh Governor’s Hall,” Rondo said. “At least, it used to be.”

  “Where to?” Matt asked.

  “The residence is in the eastern wing,” Rondo said. “If anyone is still here, we’ll find them there.”

  Matt started to move, but Leslie halted him by the arm.

  “There.” She pointed northward.

  Three more aliens were patrolling the perimeter, each one carrying a rifle and some sort of blade strapped to its back. Now exposed by the light, the group could see the beings for what they were.

  “Interesting,” Loegoth said.

  “You recognize them?” Matt asked.

  The Bith gave a small nod. “They are called the Xajok. They are an extremely rare species, so much so that the Council believed them extinct.”

  “Where do they come from?” Leslie asked.

  “That we do not know,” Loegoth said. “The Xajok existed as nomads for centuries, though their world of origin was never identified prior to their final use of our stargates some time ago.”

  Matt returned his focus to the aliens roaming the scene. At nearly seven feet tall, the Xajok rivaled the Bith in size. Whereas the latter were reptilians, however, the Xajok looked more arachnid-like with their dark, armored exteriors, oblong heads, and barbed tails which arched forward as they ran on eight legs.