| [IC] The Freak Show |
|
Treecuu Star Empire
Thoov Mandate Near the national border Captain Vaac of the RFS Acteel, a mammalian, initiated another diagnosis program on his view screen. Because surely it must have been a glitch. The alien ships that were about to cross the Treecuu border seemed to be flashing like the fireworks on Imperial Day. And what was that noise being broadcasted on broadband? He looked up from his screen and saw that his Comms officer looked as baffled as he must have looked. "It's music, captain. And what an abomination" the officer remarked. "Indeed?" Vaac raised an eyebrow. "Are they mocking us, or is it a trap?" "We shall soon find out" answered the captain smirking. "Comm, advise Command that we are initiating Protocol 5." "Aye, sir." The captain looked on his view screen again. He dragged a circular marker from a virtual toolbox, which immediately started following the lead alien ship. He then rotated the circle, browsing through a few symbols that appeared around its circumference. The option he selected prompted the circle to narrow on the stern of the ship. He had instructed the his ship's weapons targetting system to lock on to the engines of the alien ship. He leaned to his right. "Fire control, I have a target for you. Disable. Fire when ready." He then leaned back, assuming a casual posture.
***
To the Zeltrex on the ship it first seemed like a spontaneous total breakdown of the drive system, but as soon as the white cigar-shaped ship materialised on their starboard they realised they had been fire upon. But Uilodova, Mogul of the Moonlight Dancers' nomadic fleet, had in fact expected it. Those border buoys suggested no other response. Nothing an extra transaction fee couldn't fix, she thought to herself. And typically people who imposed borders like that were often the best customers, even if they themselves didn't realise it. She stood up from her bed where she had monitored the situation casually. She put on a light, short bathrobe. Before leaving her lavish quarters, she turned towards the bed. "Oh, and boys. Fun's over for tonight" she teased before closing the door behind her. Business before pleasure, before pleasure. That was her motto, she reminded herself, walking towards the bridge of her luxury cruiser. She had a particularly good feeling about these Treecuu.
Captain Vaac was satisfied to see on his view screen how the drive section of the rear of the alien ship was shred to pieces. He felt the power of his ship, almost as a part of his own body, as the fire control team confirmed that the shot had good effect on target.
He stood up from his captain's chair, straightening out his green uniform and assumed an imposing posture. "Open a channel to the disabled ship" he order the Comms officer. "Open" confirmed the officer. "This is captain Vaac of the Treecuu Remote Fleet Ship Acteel. You have breached our sovereign border despite duly warned. You will immediately deactivate your engines and weapons systems and prepare to surrender your ships to me." Vaac remained in his posture while he waited for the aliens to respond. ***
"Tell the ships to stop" ordered Mogul Uilodova as she entered the bridge. She approached a comfortable-looking armchair in the centre of the bridge. A projection of the man who had introduced himself as Vaac was in front of it. As she was sitting down she activated the holographic recording system. "My ships are coming to a full stop" began Uilodova, closing her eyes for a moment as to emphasise how comfortable the armchair was. "Now, about surrendering... I think you would regret making me do that. And no..." she looked at holographic Vaac with an alluring smile, "Not because we would fight you, but because you would miss out on the opportunity of a life time."
Vaac was stunned by the Mogul's appearance but did his best to hide it. Her bridge looked like a mix between someone's living room and a bar. Most peculiar. Vaac narrowed his eyes.
"Prepare to be boarded" he simply replied, gesturing to the Comms office to close the channel. He turned to the commander of the company of Marines that was attached to his ship. "Captain, prepare your first platoon. We are taking control of her bridge." "Yes sir" answered the Marine, bowing slightly. "Fire control, maintain a broad active target lock on all alien ships. I want all their sirens to sound constantly and remind them of who's in control here" Vaac ordered, before joining the captain of the Marines.
"No, let them." Uilodova kept calm as her bridge crew asked for permission to stop the Treecuu boarding party from cutting their way through the hull rather than using one of the clearly indicated shuttle bays.
"If you examine your monitors more closely, you will find that they have chosen a spot that has no critical conduits or load bearing function" continued the Mogul. The Treecuu seemed unusually eager to assert their dominance, or was it just nonchalance? If so, this was going to be just as exciting as she had hoped. "They have entered corridor 2. I'm able to read 31 people" reported a somewhat stressed bridge officer, looking at Uilodova with a pleading face for permission to take action to secure the path to the bridge. "Stand down, do not deploy the centurions" Uildova dismissed. She then shifted to an even more comfortable position in the armchair. "All right. Everyone except Erla and Togon, clear the bridge. I will call on you later if needed." Upset muttering could be heard as the crew left the bridge, some even rather loudly questioning the young Mogul's leadership abilities. Erla and Togon joined stood next to Uildova, looking like servants.
"Captain, you're with me. Let the platoon guard the corridor" ordered Vaac as the two of them exited the shuttle after the corridor had been secured by the marines. The captain simply gestured at the platoon commander, who nodded back, confirming the orders.
The shuttle had "docked" only a few metres from the entrance to the bridge. As Vaac approached the doors, they automatically opened, revealing the extraordinary decorations inside. It was unlike anything Vaac had ever seen. Not even the most decadent governors had palaces that could compete with this extravagant luxuary. If the two Treecuu mammalians were impressed it didn't show, they simply approached Mogul Uilodova confidently. It was apparent that the woman wanted to speak first, but Vaac cut her off before she had the chance to utter a word. "You have ignored all warnings and chosen to breach our borders. I take my duties as guardian of the Star Empire very seriously. I give you one chance to persuade me not to impound your ships." Uilodova was surprised by Vaacs persistence, but quickly recovered. "Absolutely! I..." she answered, but right when she was about to speak, Vaac turned to the marine commander. "Take readings of their computer terminals. You may use additional men." "It shall be done" answered the commander, reaching for his scanning device while pushing a button on his tactical vest, calling for additional troops. As he approached the closest viewscreens, he was joined by the two Zeltrex who had flanked the Mogul, who immediately started doing their best to try to seduce him. Vaac raised an eyebrow, but was satisfied to see him push them away using just the right amount of force. "This is truly a strange ship. Who are you?" "We are a people who are dedicated to the comfort of others. For very moderate fees, we can acquire just about anything for you! Make your wildest dreams come true!" She spoke rapidly as to avoid getting cut off again, but managed to still speak sensually. "I am Mogul Uilodova, and this is my fleet. We have just left Sellexia, a planet in the Great Expanse, where we..." Vaac cut her off again. "Great Expanse?" "Yes, a people that truly know what they want. Actually, we..." "I will have all data entries you have about them. That goes for all nations and peoples you have encountered." "Certainly, Vaac" smiled Uilodova. She snapped her fingers, and the male Zeltrex approached her. "Note: information package about alien cultures." "Don't bother with starting a tab or whatever. I will acquire this data anyway" answered Vaac, nodding towards the marines taking scans and probing the computers all over the bridge. "We'll see about that... I guess we'll see" said Uilodova, now looking almost perplexed. "Now, Vaac, I take it you and your troops have been out patrolling and exploring for quite some time? How about we show you our inventory of goods and services?" "You insult me by implying neither I or Command can see to the welfare of my crew" answered Vaac with a hint of anger in his voice. "I see this has been a waste of our time." "Captain!" Vaac addressed the marine commander. "Finish your scans and secure the ship, call for..." Now it was the Mogul's turn to interrupt the Treecuu. "Wait! I have acquired information about ancient technology that might interest you! I'm the only one around here you will ever find who knows the whereabouts of the Freak Show." Uilodova tapped on a device on her wrist, which promoted all view screens to show an image of a dark corridor consisting of small pods, evidentially with creatures inside. Then another image popped up. Vaac was stunned by what he saw. "Teetacs!" he exclaimed. "One of the lost stasis ships!"
Knowledge of the ancient Teetaci stasis ship had proven to be a strong bargaining point. Vital in fact. Promising to show the Treecuu the location of the "Freak Show", Mogul Uilodova had secured the release of her fleet and a deal to sell information about other star nations and civilisations. The ordeal had turned out to be quite lucrative. Now she and 20 fellow Zeltrex where what the Treecuu had called "guests" onboard the cruiser RFS Acteel. In reality they felt like hostages. The Treecuu were fair hosts, but they they couldn't move about as they liked on the boringly military ship. And of course there was the threat to be executed if the information about the stasis ship was false.
The Treecuu seemed extraordinarily uninterested in romance and the more tender forms of pleasure. And they were likely immune to her species' seductive hormone aerosol. They had a manners that reminded her of elderly people. Polite, calm, but somewhat lacking in display of emotion. Then there was that confidence of theirs. They always seemed to have an answer for everything. But Uilodova knew how to play that role too. During 36 day long voyage to the outskirts of the Great Expanse she had spent most of her time in the mess hall, engaging in conversation with the crew, occasionally showing them native Zeltrex drinks. Especially the more bland and water-based varieties seemed to appeal to the mammalian Treecuu. Those insectoids she were still not sure about. But the Treecuu in general were genuinely interested in her and her civilisation, beyond the typical small talk questions. Another oddity was that they seemed unbothered by rank, or at least it wasn't such a big deal as elsewhere in the sector. Officers and the enlisted sometimes shared a table for food and drinks. The Mogul hadn't noted any significant differences between the males and females either. She was about to observe an even more notable example of odd Treecuu behaviour. There was an announcement from the helmsman of the ship that they were coming to a full stop shortly. This prompted all Treecuu to rush to the big panorama windows along one side of the mess hall. They seemed uncharacteristically excited. As the ship dropped out of warp she saw why. The display of colours as an effect of collapsing the warp field was dreamlike. Some Treecuu even cheered as they noted subtle changes in the patterns they saw, commenting on how the helmsman must have manoeuvred the ship to achieved them. A curious end to a strange voyage. Or a strange beginning of their mission to locate the "Freak Show", she thought.
Position A1-0: (1050,743) lys
"All stations, report" captain Vaac ordered his bridge officers as the RFS Acteel dropped out of warp. "Standing. Position correct. Restarting warp system" the helms officer confirmed. "No contacts. No signature match on stasis ship" answered the tactical officer with a hint of disappointment in his voice as there was no trace of the old Teetaci ship. "Vicinity is clear of signals" the comms officer concluded. "I suspected this. The Mogul will d..." the captain was interrupted by a high-pitched alarm. "Captain! I get a system error report: Red-5-1, unable to form warp bubble" the helms officer explained. "Cause?" The helms officer pushed a few buttons on her console. "Preliminary analysis done. Unknown viscous-kinetic quantum aggregate, restricting the bubble from expanding locally. Cause: artificial!" "Battle stations!" Vaac almost snorted. The atmosphere on the bridge changed from a calm curiosity to tense focus. The captain spoke up again. "If it is artificial, then I assume this is a trap. Unless our sensor suite is inferior, which i highly doubt, it will take some time before we have company. I also assume the vicinity is littered with those aggregates, but there must be a hidden way out..." The captain smiled as he got an idea. "Tactical, deploy a full cell of warp ramming torpedoes in a standard subliminal search pattern. Spiral form I reckon. Have them try to establish warp as they go. If they are successful, we will have found our safe spots, which got to form a full safe path." "Yes captain!" the tactical officer responded. The captain continued issuing orders. "Science, begin work on active countermeasures. I want options within the hour." Vaac then turned to an officer in full battle gear standing in a darker corner. "And security, bring the Mogul here, under escort!"
It had been weeks since armed guards came to escort the Mogul last time. It was never a good sign, and she had actually thought they had left such behaviours behind them. As they walked towards the bridge, distant humming sounds could be heard, changing in intensity and pitch until they stopped abruptly. It was probably the warp engines failing to establish the warp bubble. Something must be terribly wrong she thought.
Just as they were about to enter the bridge, they took a turn and ended up in a room she had never been in before. There captain Vaac sat behind a wooden desk. The room was poorly lit. He pointed at a chair in front of him and she sat down. The guards retreated into the shadows in the corners. Vaac looked her in her eyes for a few uncomfortable moments before speaking. "This is a trap", he began, leaning forward, "but it makes no difference to me really." Uildova looked perplexed. Vaac continued. "When your Zeltrex friends arrive, or whatever scum you have hired to snatch us, I will be more than happy to demonstrate the full capability of the arsenal of this cruiser." "But captain, I..." "I will let you decide how they go. Antimatter or perhaps something more spectacular, like aerosol acid?" "Please listen, I..." "There is also a third option. Save them all and call off the attack!" Vaac slammed the desk. "Sweet, dear Khadan! I swear this isn't our doing! We are merchants, killing our customers is bad for business! It must have been the Lafars Band, I suspected they were onto the stasis ship." "Lafars Band?" "Pirates..." The Mogul turned her head to hear better. "It sounds like you have problems with the warp. The Lafars have a way to strand ships. Don't ask me how, but I bet this was them." "You did not think it was prudent to tell me about these pirates?" "They rarely venture this far south. And I swear by Eriza, I don't know much more about them than their name. And if I were to tell you of all dangers of the Tikanyaki Territories, we wouldn't have left Treecuu space yet." "For the moment I will believe you..." The captain relaxed and suddenly looked a lot friendlier. "Tell me", he continued, "how good are they at hide and seek?" |
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