X Squared: Birth of a merchant prince (11) 03-08-04

[FourFingers]

Part 1 Part 2
Part 3 Part 4
Part 5 Part 6
Part 7 Part 8
Part 9 Part 10

Updated below the ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 03/8/04


Added below the ..................................................................... 20/7/04


Next part below --------------------------------------------------------- 16/7/04


Part 11


“And the Split said, actually that’s not my tail your holding.” Lan winced and glanced at Merissa as Ryhan finished telling his joke. He had expected to see outrage, indignation, even revulsion the usual reaction to Ryhans jokes, instead Merissa just smiled and winked at him.

“Thank you boys for the lovely meal, it has been a pleasure but I must be on my way. The boss will be unhappy if I spend the whole tazura having fun,” she said while rising.

“The pleasure was to be in yer company Merissa, I yearn for when we will next meet,” Ryhan replied also rising.

Merissa smiled and murmured, “I just bet you do,” in a louder voice she said, “hopefully your navy career keeps you out of trouble Ryhan.”
Turning to face Lan she said, “Best of luck with your trading career Lan, here take this holocard it’s the company I work for, we’re always looking for independent traders to make material deliveries or such. The pay is good and it can hook you up with constant income, make sure you drop us a line.”

“Thanks, I will do. It was a pleasure to have met you Merissa,” Lan said taking the holocard.

“Well, what do ya think?” asked Ryhan after she had left.
“About what?” asked Lan
Ryhan sighed “About the price of delexian wheat ya muppet, about Merissa of course.”

“There’s something different about her Ry, can’t quite place what it is,”

“It’s called being attractive. I know it’s a new concept for ya Lan but that’s what an attractive girl looks like.”

“Well I suppose you have been with enough ugly ones to know the opposite when you see it,” replied Lan, “Its more then that, I get this strange feeling when ever she looks at me.”

“Yea, me too,” said Ryhan grinning and rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand, “There are two ways to remedy that, A long cold shower or a visit to the back of the casinos.”
Lan gave him a withering look, “forget it. Anyhow tell me everything you been up to since I last saw you and I’ll tell you about the worst wozura I’ve ever had.

“Well mate it all started at that hearing in Home of Light,” Ryhan related his events with obvious embellishments and additions. When Ryhan had finished, Lan told him of the events which had occurred that led him to now be an owner of his own Discoverer and have over 250k credits in the bank.

“Never trust a Teladi bearing gifts,” Lan began.


Pi and Tchak’ta raced through the corridors of the hospital heading towards the maintenance hatch located at the back of the engineering section. They could hear the rising buzz as the Bio-irradiation field swept the hospital section by section sterilising everything as it went.

“This way,” hissed Tchak’ta taking a sudden right with out slowing. Pi skidded to a halt and raced back following the Teladi.

They ran along the darkened corridor, the buzzing sound rising behind them as the field hit their floor and began its sweep.

The Teladi slammed through a door on their left barely slowing and Pi followed him through into the engineering section. The Buzzing sound was much louder now and Pi could almost feel the resonance in the air.

“Over there,” hissed the Teladi pointing to a maintenance access which according to the schematic of the hospital led out to the back and the waste removal area.
Pi and Tchak’ta ran over and the Teladi tried to open the access hatch but it was locked.

Pi was about to offer to see if she could open it when the temperature in the room shot up and a blue haze could be seen outside the corridor. The field was practically outside there room.

Tchak’ta un-slung the blaster rifle he had taken off the mercs and blasted the access hatch, melting the lock and fracturing the door. He yanked on the hatch and it gave way with a loud snap swinging open.

The temperature in the room became unbearable and Pi felt like she was being boiled alive in her suit. She saw the blue hazy field enter the room and move with surprisingly scary speed.

“Move Boron!” shouted Tchak’ta shoving Pi hard against the open access tunnel “Unless you want to be cooked where you stand,” and pushed her through.
“Owww,” said Pi as she had instinctively reached for the sides of the tunnel to slow her descent but the metallic surface had become hot enough to scald.

Tchak’ta gritted his teeth against the extreme heat feeling it scald his neck and tail and dived through the access tunnel crashing into the Boron and hurtling them through the tunnel.
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They crashed into the exit hatch with a bone jarring thud, the impact knocking the wind out of both Teladi and Boron.

“Oooh,” groaned Pi as she tried to move her tentacles, “My head hurts.”

Tchak’ta grunted in response slowly trying to manoeuvre with in the confines of the tunnel. “See if you can open the exit hatch, it should be a simple release mechanism on this side.”

Pi felt around in front of her and located the release catch; she pulled it to the left and pushed outwards.

There was a loud hissing sound and the exit hatch swung outwards dumping them both rather unceremoniously on to the floor outside.

Tchak’ta rolled off to the left and stood shaking his head to rid himself of the grogginess and took a scan of the immediate area.
They were in what looked like the lower cleaning section, there were maintenance droids lined along the room and general cleaning robots too.

“Come,” said Tchak’ta as he headed for the exit leaving Pi to struggle to her feet and follow.

“Damn,” said Ryhan when Lan had finished telling his story, “Can’t leave ya alone for a wozura without ya upsetting pirates and cutthroats.”

“Seriously though bro ya have to ditch the ship, it’s too easy to track and if the pirates decided to come after ya then it’s gonna act like a giant arrow pointing down at ya. It’s probably best to sell it far from here,” Ryhan said looking thoughtful.

“What do you have in mind,” Lan replied.

“Well I have a few tazura’s to myself before the almighty Navy calls me back,” said Ryahn, “How do ya fancy a trip to Boron space?”

Lan grinned, “well I’ve always enjoyed visiting the aquarium. Let me grab a few supplies and then we can see what space has to offer.”


Tchak’ta watched the docking bay from an alcove by the maintenance section of ship repairs. He’d been watching his ship for the last 15 mizuras and knew that he wasn’t the only one.
At least two other people were keeping a close eye on his ship that he could see. They seemed too professional to be Mercs but he couldn’t be sure, one was an Argon female and the other a Split male.

“We will need to find another ship to get off this station, best to find a fast ship heading out of this sector,” He said to his Boron companion.

Pi nodded not quite sure what to say, it had turned out to be a miserable tazura and she just wanted to sleep somewhere without people shooting at her.

They were wearing the clothes of droid repair teams that Tchak’ta had acquired from the hospital maintenance area. It wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny but allowed them to at least to move about in populated places.

Tchak’ta headed of down the docking bay with Pi in tow, “look for a likely ship we could get into,” he said to Pi.

Pi looked around wondering what a ‘likely ship’ would look like when she saw a somewhat battered Discoverer which seemed vaguely familiar for some reason. She stopped near it and tried to think why it seemed familiar but with everything that had happened and the numerous aches and pains she couldn’t concentrate.

“Yes, that will do,” Tchak’ta said from behind and walked around to the cargo bay hatch, “come on before the owner returns.”


“Might as well make a start now,” said Ryhan as both he and Lan made their way to the docking bay.

“I’ve got nearly everything I need, just have to buy a NavSat on the way,” Lan replied.

“Hmm good idea bro will make mapping those new sectors easier. I’ll meet ya outside.”

Ryhan headed off in the direction his ship was located and Lan made his way to his Discoverer. He sat in the pilot seat and asked permission to launch waiting as the docking bay robots placed his ship on the launch tube.

Once in space Ryhans voice came over the com system, “Lets go bro, last one to the jump gate is a Teladi warthog.”

Lan answered by putting full throttle and maxing his speed. He targeted the jump gate and felt a sense of beginning as the computer intoned their destination, “Gate, Herrons Nebula.”

In a research facility under a small island off the shores of the third continent of Argon Prime General Xin Ling ordered him self a coffee and took a sip.
“Blood and guts!” he swore “The most advanced technology known to the five races at our disposal and we can’t build a machine which can make real coffee.”

Grimacing at the taste he headed towards the opps room to see what the latest news in the universe was. He liked to stay abreast of current affairs as well as the usual political manoeuvrings of the four races, the Xenon didn’t really have a political arena unless you counted ‘Kill everything not Xenon’ as a political stance.

General Xin Ling was the head of a unique agency, a small man in height with an average build and no distinguishing features. He wore his 60 years of age like a favourite coat and kept him self fit and healthy, he had lost most of his hair except around the edges which was now mostly grey.
Having been a General in the Argon army for near 10 years had given him a military bearing and an aura of command.

Right now he just looked like a man dissatisfied with his coffee.

Xin walked into the operations room to find Jurgan lounging at the back monitoring the commercial networks and Alicia at the central communications console most likely talking to one or another of their operatives. It was early morning and the others were either not up yet or had not arrived.

The Opps room was the heart of the facility, a large room filled with all manner of electronic hardware, cutting edge technology and some more then that all humming away softly. The room was dominated by the central communications console and the giant view screen at the opposite end. Other consoles and stations dotted the four walls and would normally be buzzing with activity as people went about their tasks.

“Morning boss, I see from your face that they still haven’t fixed the coffee machine,” called out Jurgan smiling.

Jurgan Clinz, a tall and gangly man with a slight stoop and sporting a very thin frame, almost emancipated. About 32 years of age with short light brown hair, his face seemed to be constantly gaunt and he looked like he could do with more sleep. His most striking feature would be his eyes, a cloudy shifting grey colour which always had a distant look to them like he was somewhere else.

“Blasted thing can’t even mix water, coffee and Boron spices together! And we call this advanced technology,” snorted Xin.

“Maybe it’s a sign for you to give up the evil brew boss,” joined in Alicia from her console. “Its not helping your blood pressure you know.”

Alicia Sanders, a tall fuller figure woman with a sunny disposition and a ready smile. Shoulder length blonde hair framed her freckled face, more homely then beautiful but when she smiled it was striking. In her mid 30’s she got on with everyone and was well liked which wasn’t surprising considering her talent.

“Bah, I’ve survived uprisings, wars, assassination attempts and even a case of the Paranid Roxian virus. I’d be very put out if I fell to a mug of Borons royal blend,” replied Xin.

“Any news on the missing Boron program?” asked Xin.

“Nothing concrete yet, the Borons are trying to keep it to themselves but Argon intelligence will find out about its existence soon. One of our research vessels was hacked into via remote and some research on bacteriological data was stolen,” informed Alicia.

“The Teladi PPA will also be aware of its existence soon as they are investigating the theft of their spaceweed data which took place over a wozura ago. The Borons will have a lot of explaining to do very soon I think,” added Jurgan

“We’ll let the respective intelligence agencies deal with the Boron program, we have the code from one of our people and our security systems have been updated. What has me worried is the apparent increased cooperation between the pirate clans,” said Xin.
“Also the increasing hostilities between Paranid and Split; the last thing we need is another pointless war.”

“Has Merrisa reported in?” asked Xin

“About a stazura ago, she’s here at the Trading station and will be here soon. She’s having a meal with her navy pilot and his friend,” replied Alicia.

Xin raised an eyebrow, “Having a meal? Well she’s entitled to have a social life too I guess.”

Jurgan laughed out loud, “Well I feel sorry for her companions, no doubt they will be tearing their hair out in frustration by the end of it.”
.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Xin smiled, “No doubt. Do we have anything more on the Paranid black out?”

Alicia shook her head, “The opposition have decided to keep their activities to themselves, very unsporting of them. We are unable to penetrate their barriers and our telepaths just develop a headache when they try. What ever or who ever they are using to block our telepaths is beyond our ability to breach.”

“Well the Paranid have been at this a lot longer then the rest of us, their gifted are trained from birth and we don’t even know the range of talents they posses,” answered Xin, “keep me posted of any change.”

“Everyone’s favourite scientist Mi Ton is going to be transported to Terracorp HQ to help them with the new fusion drive they are working on,” Informed Jurgan rolling his eyes, “Rue has reported that there is a good chance that his ship will be attacked by the local pirates. Apparently he made some unflattering comments about them to the local media recently.”

“Hmmm I’m tempted to let them have him; he’s got to be the most insufferable being in the universe. Unfortunately he’s also the most eminent scientist we have too. Who’s the pilot?” asked Xin

“Julian Garder, we vetted him a while back for Ban Danna, he was convicted for piracy, showed lots of potential. Great pilot too,” replied Jurgan.

“We had our people do a full psych profile on him to make sure he wasn’t going to just return to his colourful past. Ban Danna gave him a ship and now he works for Terracorps,” added in Alicia.

“We passed on our suggestions and best way to handle him to Ban Danna via his lieutenant, as I recall the Lieutenants answers consisted of ‘but he’s a pirate?’ or variations there of,” said Jurgan.

“We can’t afford to lose our most valuable scientist no matter how annoying he might be,” said Xin, “Get me Captain Tomas Nallan on the secure channel, its time to end his fun and get him to earn his pay.”


“Tactical, what’s our status?” asked Tomas

“We’re doing good sir, the core is stable and energy fluctuations are with in normal parameters. The cloaking device is functioning as normal with radiation at background levels,” replied Larson.

“Excellent, remind me to commend the engineers on their radiation shielding. What’s the status on our weapons array?”

“Offline but fully functional sir, the separate power system is working like a charm, not even a burnt transistor this time,” answered Larson.

“How are our pirate friends doing?” Tomas asked

“There are 2 Orinocos, 3 Bayamons and 3 Mandalays in total sir, they are displaying the ‘Bloody Fang’ colours,” replied Sarason from her position at sensors.

“Well,” said Tomas looking around the bridge of his Corvette class ship, a Split Dragon, “Let’s go break up this party.”
“Battle stations everyone!” called out Larson as the Captain took his chair.

The crew of the ship ‘First Strike’ moved into their battle positions smoothly and with out hesitation.

“Bring the Gamma HEPT turrets online when we drop cloak and target the Bayamons with the first volley. Let’s give the EMP missiles a field test too so load them into the bays and aim for the Orinocos,” called out Tomas, “Helm, take us to where the action is.”

The Dragon ghosted in towards where the Pirate ships were congregating, undetectable to their sensors it moved to with in striking distance swiftly and easily. The pirate ships were in their typical haphazard formation with the Heavy Orinocos at the back and the Bayamons to both sides and slightly ahead while the Mandalay’s scouted in front.

The Dragon glided past the Mandalays and rose above the incoming Bayamons angling to bring all the turrets into play.

“We’re in position sir,” informed Larson.

“Lets show them why we’re called First Strike,” said Tomas, “Drop cloak and Fire Weapons!”

First Strike shimmered as the Cloaking shield disengaged and power was transferred to weapons. The Bayamons had no warning or chance as green plasma fire streamed from the four turrets ripping through their shields and hull.
At the same time all forward missile bays fired and three EMP missiles shot away towards the unsuspecting Orinocos. As First strike rolled through the debris of the destroyed Bayamons the Missiles hit their targets with a crackling flash.

“The Mandalays are turning around sir,” informed Sarason.

“Deploy the mines and scan those Orinocos,” ordered Tomas.

As First Strike moved towards the now motionless Orinocos, a couple of magnetised mines were deployed from the rear missile bay. They floated among the debris of the bayamons making them harder to spot.

“The Orinocos have no power sir; their shields are offline as well as weapons, propulsion and also life support. I’m reading only one life sign in the left most Orinoco,” informed Sarason, “Intelligence was right sir, I’m detecting 10 high yield Hornet class missiles in the hold of each ship.”

Tomas smiled, “Jackpot. Lets relive them of their burden shall we and transport the pirate who was intelligent enough to wear his space suit, he can answer some questions.”

The Mandalays were now closing in on the debris field their sensors showing the wreckage of the Bayamons and a Dragon facing the three Orinocos. They sped towards the Dragon intending to launch missiles into its rear to distract it and allow the Orinocos time to escape.

As they flew through the debris field their shields caused the mines to be polarised and become active. The mines then magnetised and flew towards the passing ships exploding as they hit the shields.
The combined explosion of both mines tore apart the three Mandalays in sezuras leaving nothing but fragments of hull.

“The Mandalays are destroyed sir and we have both the missiles and the prisoner,” said Sarason.

“Excellent, destroy the Orinocos and then we’ll head back,” replied Tomas.

The turrets fired their volleys of plasma leaving the smoking ruins of the Orinocos to join the rest of the debris. The ship moved off, began to shimmer and vanished.

“Captain, incoming transmission from general Xin,” called out Larson.

Tomas sighed, “Put it through Eric. Let us see what the general wants.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Captain Nallan is responding sir,” informed Alicia

“Put him on the main viewer Alicia,” replied Xin turning to face the giant view screen.

The light olive colour face which appeared was that of a man in his late 20s, a round face with a shock of black hair and dark brown eyes reinforced with a strong jaw line made Captain Nallan popular with the ladies. He had a resigned look on his face as he asked the reason for the call.

“Good health captain, I hope things are well,” started Xin, “Have you had any success in recovering the missing Hornet missiles?”

“Intelligence reports were correct general; we have obtained 30 Hornet class missiles which were being transported by the ‘Bloody Fang’ clan. We have also managed to obtain a prisoner,” answered Tomas.

“Well done captain that’s excellent news. Since you will be heading back into the core systems I would like you to shadow a certain ship for me which is also headed there,” said Xin.

“Sir?” asked Tomas, “We were just going to field test the modified PSGs and check the stability of the reflective shielding, and we haven’t finished testing the cloaking device yet.”
“That can wait captain, I want you to shadow this ship, the registration and details will be sent to you by Alicia. You are to make sure it arrives safely at its destination, remain cloaked unless the ship looks to be in real danger. And captain, stick to conventional weapons, lets not have a repeat incident,” answered Xin.

“But sir, why not send the quadrant police to baby sit a passenger…” began Tomas.

“That’s an order captain and not open to debate,” cut in Xin, “and remember conventional weapons only.”

“Yes sir,” answered Tomas looking a little unhappy, “as you say sir, First Strike out.”

“He doesn’t seem pleased with his new assignment,” remarked Alicia when transmission ended, “especially since he doesn’t get to test his new toys.”

“I can live with it,” said Xin dryly, “Send Tomas the registration and course route of the ship carrying Mi Ton.”

The main door swished open as Merissa stepped in, “Hi Boss, Alicia, Jurgan, how is the universe doing?”

“Plodding along, more importantly how was your lunch with the no doubt dashing pilot?” enquired Alicia.

“That can wait,” cut in Xin, “Give us an update on the Pirate situation and what you’ve learnt so far.”

Merissa walked over to the main console and inserted a data chip activating the holographic projection system. A 2D map of the known universe filled the central area providing basic information about every known sector along with the political climate and defensive capability.

“As you all know we have been receiving reports of increased pirate activity along the unregulated zones. This in itself is not unusual as the various pirate clans vie for dominance of a certain trade route or sector resource,” began Merissa as the map zoomed into the pirate held sectors giving a 3d representation down to the asteroids present.

“What has us curious is the apparent increased tolerance between the clans. Normally each individual clan is very territorial and spend most of their time fighting each other which keeps them from causing too much trouble.

In the last jazura we have reports of various clans seemingly working together, defending each others ships, allowing other clans to use their facilities, even trading information. There is something going on between the larger clans, we have managed to pick up a few trails which show that the Vampire clan has been acquiring increasing amounts of armaments and various technology. They are being delivered not directly to the vampire’s main base but to other clans who then pass on the wares. This has made it difficult to track who has what and where it has gone.”

The holographic projection shifted to one sector, expanding to fill the whole view and gently rotated.

“This is Loomanckstrats Legacy where I have spent the last mazura as a serving girl for a very disreputable Teladi who owns a bar on the Anarchy Port,” Merissa said with a distasteful expression on her face.

The Projection centred on the only object with in the sector, a large space station which had been modified so many times it was hard to tell what it may have originally been. The many laser towers surrounding the base and gun turrets mounted on the hull gave evidence that whatever it may have been it was now very heavily defended.

“We have two people on board and it was to make contact with them that I had to work in the bar. What they reported is cause for worry.
There are at least four clans working together, the Vampire’s, the Werewolves, the Bloody Fang and the Red Eye, all sharing information and resources as well as ships and armaments. The most disturbing fact is that I couldn’t find out a thing on what they may be planning,” Merissa sounded frustrated.

“Don’t worry about it Merissa, the opportunity to meet any of the pirates who are in the know will come at some point. They are a suspicious lot and it wouldn’t surprise me if only the heads knew what they were planning,” said Xin.

“That’s just it,” replied Merissa “it wasn’t due to lack of opportunity as the heads frequented the bar I worked at. It was why I chose that bar. When I say I couldn’t find out anything I mean I couldn’t read them, or anybody for that matter,” Merissa said looking around.

She pressed a button on the console and the Holographic image vanished and the data chip popped out.

“What do you mean you couldn’t read them?” Alicia asked.

“Just that, I couldn’t read what they were thinking or even what they were saying at that time. Every time I reached out with my mind I got static, like there was some sort of thick blanket shrouded over everyone and I would have to slog my way through it to even reach the person I was trying to read.
Like wading through a bog and it was with everyone on that station. Trying just gave me a very bad headache and it felt like I’d been running all day,” Replied Merissa

Merissa’s talent was still developing and thus mostly unexplored but she had shown great aptitude and ability as a telepath. It was her growing ESP ability that had allowed her to be spotted and recruited by this extraordinary agency from her last career as a tactical coordinator for a private security company. She had a level head on her and wasn’t rattled easily which means that this is something to be taken seriously and not just another ESP agent going cold. It’s happened many times before to agents, who found themselves under a lot of pressure, fear and physical fatigue that they are suddenly unable to focus their talent. All this went through Xins mind in the moments it took Merissa to take a few breaths.

“We need to check this out further, get one of our long range telepaths to see if they can get anything from the anarchy port. If the pirates are actively blocking telepathic intrusion then we need to know why and how. Also assign scout ships to keep watch what goes into and comes out of that sector,” Xin ordered.

“I did manage to get something even though the effort put me to bed for a day, I managed to find out that the pirates will be holding some sort of big meeting on the station in two tazura’s time. I couldn’t get any details except that this person expects many of the clan heads to be present, something big is being discussed,” Merissa said, “its all I could gather.”

"One more thing boss... one of the contacts didn't show for two of our meetings. It may be nothing as its hectic in there but..." Merissa left if hanging.
They all knew the dangers of their profession and the risks involved when going undercover.

"I dont like this," said Xin.



Part 12

[KiwiNZ]

Excellent action! And yes, there was still this Lan guy Good to see more about him again. Merissa is obviously taken a bit by him, too. Unless, of course, she just sees a profit opportunity in him. Profitsssss

Tchak'ta and Pi obviously made it last minute, well, second So the parties can now actually work on meeting each other


Looking forward to the next installment!

[FourFingers]

Hi ya, sorry been away for awhile.
just added the next bit.

now i'm gonna go catch up on the all the posts here.

thanks for the feed back.

[pixel]

cool, interesting developments

One thing, all the dialogue at the end is a bit overwhelming, it could help to try and intersperse it with some actions or thoughts? Just an idea though

[KiwiNZ]

Nice! Looks like Lan has scored himself some stowaway... or cahoona meatsteaks if the ship hasn't got life support For a moment I thought you'd have them nick the ship.
Interesting addition with the psych(o)s Should be fun to see what they are good for as the story develops!

Looking forward to the next installment.

[FourFingers]

thanks guys.

added more. i'll try to ballance the action with the normal stuff.

[KiwiNZ]

Excellent read. Nce way of 'explaining' the mysterious Dragon Well, Julian has been saved, probably swearing that the Dragon killed his 'safe captures' as his APSG pounds away

Looking forward to the next installment.

[pixel]

eerrrmmm, what's going on??

Sorry, but that was my initial reaction on reading the update.

I like the fighting bits, but was completely confused by the whole host of new characters and environment.....

Sort it out!

Just kidding , good stuffm but it is a bit confusing this last bit

[FourFingers]

hey ya, sorry for the very late reply..
broadband connection problems!! damn my service provider..
I was quite excited by bulldogs offer of 4meg download and 4meg upload line they are doing... alas not in my area.. sigh..

yea Pix i can see it being quite confusing as there is a sudden shift in scene and characters, its needed thou.. so bear with me.
Usually i have like 4-5 chapters written up so there are smooth transitions from one chapter to the next.. except right now im writting straight thus ideas are crudely impemented...

but stay with me people

[FourFingers]

Finally updated this chapter...

sorry for the delay folks.

[KiwiNZ]

Very good read! Looks like Merissa is another one of 'them' Though, nothing beats good preparation as the Pirates demonstrated

So the clans are uniting, that does sound scary indeed.

Looking forward to the next installment!