GALACTIC UNITY

By:  Mark J. Hadley

 

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CHAPTER 8:

“Territory”

 

 

The Adarian Trading Post was built on the surface of a small asteroid.  Several large docking platforms extended out from the central station, providing ample space for the heavy traffic of ships that passed through the region.  One of the ships already docked at the station was a Centraxian ship, undergoing a few small cosmetic repairs from the battle it had been through while its crew visited the station.

Inside, at a combination café/cantina called “Tralh’s”, Xianea and the girls sat at a table, finishing a meal.  Xianea was wearing something across the surface of her skin that had changed its color to a deep green instead of its usual greyish-silver.  She was also wearing a few other prosthetic enhancements that changed her features somewhat.  She had claimed that this made her look exactly like a Kallesonian, but since the girls had never seen one before, they had to take her word for it.  The girls themselves were wearing simple black cloaks with hoods that hid their faces.

Buttercup looked around the place, and said, “Are you sure we were supposed to meet him here?”

“Positive,” Xianea said.  “He said at Tralh’s.  I’m sure of it.”

“Well, I don’t see him anywhere…” Buttercup remarked, but no sooner than the words were out of her mouth, than she spotted him coming in the door.  “Wait, there he is.”

The creature that approached them was about nine feet tall, but extremely thin.  His body was no thicker than an average person’s forearm, and his arms and legs were almost the thickness of a pencil.  It took a seat at their table and said, “I have the information you wanted.”

Xianea nodded.  As she did, the creature looked cautiously at the girls.  She explained, “My associates.  Don’t worry, they can be trusted.”

The creature nodded, “Understood.”  He held a hand up in greeting to them and said, “I am Belor.  And you are?”

“My name is Aiya,” Blossom said, using her alias.

“Treeka,” Buttercup said.

Bubbles smiled and said, “My name’s Reilestirenya…call me Reilee for short.”

“Honored to meet you,” Belor said.  He turned back to Xianea and said, “Since you’ve already paid me the fee we agreed upon, I’ll let you have the information right now.”  He took a small, flat chip from his suit and set it down on the table.  “As you requested, it contains a detailed map of Hkratth space, and I’ve plotted a few courses where you’ll encounter the least resistance.”

“Thank you,” Xianea said, scooping the chip up from the table.  “We appreciate your help.”

“Certainly,” Belor replied.  “Oh, I was also wondering…you wouldn’t happen to have seen any Centraxians in the area, would you?  A client of mine is searching for one…says she’s travelling with a few Earthlings…”

“What’s an Earthling?” Blossom asked, forcing herself not to react.

“I don’t really know,” Belor said.  “I’m guessing that means you haven’t seen them…”

Blossom shook her head, “No we haven’t, sorry.”

“Oh well, I just thought I’d ask,” he said.  “I’ll be on my way now.  Good luck to you…you’ll need it, when dealing with the Hkratth.”  He stood up and made his way out of Tralh’s.  As he left, the girls gave a few nervous glances at each other.

“That was close,” Bubbles said.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Buttercup agreed.  “I’m glad he didn’t figure us out.”

Xianea watched Belor leave, and said, “I think it would be best if we got moving immediately.  If he’s searching for us, then it’s likely that his ‘client’ is here at the trading post, or perhaps on their way.”

The girls nodded in agreement, and the four of them got up to head for the exit.  They didn’t see it, but a curious stranger sitting at the bar was watching them leave, his face hidden in shadow.  Brushing a few loose strands of hair from his eyes, he grinned and casually took a sip from his drink.  Patience, he thought.  They’ll be back this way.  Don’t just charge in like that fool Sorvat…bide your time, and strike when the moment is right..

 

*              *                *

 

                Xianea’s ship appeared in space, its singularity generator slowing it down once again.  Xianea looked over at Blossom, seated in the command chair next to her, and said, “Perfect.  You see?  That wasn’t so hard…all you need is a destination, and the computer will make all the necessary jump calculations for you.”

                “That was pretty easy,” Blossom said, still not taking her hands off the controls.  “It’s almost self-explanatory…”

                “Blossom, I’m highly impressed,” Xianea said.  “You’re learning at an amazing rate.  A few more days of practice, and you should be ready enough to learn some of the more advanced procedures, like docking.”

                “You really think so?” Blossom asked.

                “Yes, without a doubt,” Xianea replied confidently.  “I’m going to go check on dinner; it should be almost finished.  I’ll only be gone for a couple of minutes…do you think you can handle the ship by yourself until I return?”

                “I think so,” Blossom said, smiling.  “Thanks!”

                Xianea smiled, “Splendid.  I’ll be right back.”  She got up and walked out of the cockpit, the door closing behind her.  Blossom turned back to the controls and took a deep breath.  She could hardly believe that she was piloting a spaceship, all by herself.  Looking down at the navigation screen, she made a few slight adjustments in the ship’s facing to make sure they were going in the right direction.  This is easy, she thought.  I don’t even feel nervous anymore…I bet I could handle anything!

                All of a sudden, it appeared as though fate decided to test that theory, because the sensor screen picked up the signature of another ship approaching.  A moment after that, the communications screen beeped, indicating that the ship was trying to contact her.  Blossom was suddenly a little unsure of herself, and looked across the controls, “Uhh…”  She finally located the proper controls and punched the button to open the communications channel.

                The face she saw on the screen was probably the last one she had expected to see.  It was a round face, set with a large greenish nose.  The rest of its head aside from its face was covered by thick pink fur, and a pair of antennae stuck out from the top.  He was scowling, and there was no doubt in Blossom’s mind who she was looking at, even though she knew it was impossible.

                "Fuzzy?!" Blossom said.  "Fuzzy Lumkins?!  But...how are you still alive?"

                The figure on the screen growled, "Unknown alien vessel, identify yourself!"

                Strange, Blossom thought.  He's not talking in his hillbilly drawl anymore... "It's me, Blossom," she replied.  "Don't you recognize me?"

                "Alien Blossom...you are trespassing in our space," he said back.  "Remove your ship from our borders immediately!"

                Heh, still the same old guy, even if he doesn't sound like him... "Don't you mean, 'Git offa mah property,' Fuzzy?" she taunted, laughing.

                He didn't look happy at all...narrowing his eyes dangerously, he said, "What is a 'fuzzy'?  You will pay dearly for insulting the Hkratth!  Prepare to be annihilated!"  Turning slightly in his chair, he said, "Arm all weapons!" to someone off-screen.  When he moved, Blossom could see more people at stations in the background...and they all looked similar to Fuzzy as well.

                Oh no, she though...that wasn't Fuzzy after all, those are the Hkratth!  But...  "But..." she said aloud, "...but I...I thought you were..."

                The screen shut off.  Blossom bit her lip as she saw the alien vessel move into view in front of her.  It was at least four times the size of Xianea's ship, and covered with all kinds of weapons.  Cringing, Blossom yelled, "Xianea!"...but before anyone could show up, a wave of weapons fire started streaking towards her.  She yelped, and pushed the engine power all the way forward, pulling the ship up and over the blasts before they struck the ship.  A few blasts nicked the lower side, but it did little more than shake them up a little.

                Xianea came in through the door, and shouted, "What's happening?!"  She ran up to the front of the cockpit to look out.

                "A..a ship showed up, and..." Blossom tried to explain.

                "Let me have the controls," Xianea said quickly.  Blossom flew out of the seat, and Xianea jumped into place, quickly throwing the ship into a roll to avoid another set of blasts from the Hkratth ship.  She saw the worried look on Blossom's face and quickly said, "Don't worry about it...whatever happened, I know it was a mistake."

                “Yes, but…” Blossom began.

                “It’s all right,” Xianea reassured her.  “We can worry about that later…right now, we need to make a singularity jump and get out of here.”  The ship shook briefly again as a few blasts struck their shields.  Xianea turned the ship around and positioned it, then activated the singularity generator.  The ship burst into faster-than-light speed, narrowly escaping another hail of blasts from the Hkratth vessel.

                Blossom had a slight bit of nausea from the jump, but it was getting easier now.  She breathed a sigh of relief, and as she did, Bubbles and Buttercup flew into the cockpit area.  Bubbles asked, “What happened?”

                “Lemme explain,” Blossom said.  “We ran into a Hkratth ship, but…well, I thought I knew their ship’s captain…”

                “Knew him from where?” Buttercup demanded.  “We don’t hardly know anyone out here…”

                Blossom held her hands up and said, “I know it sounds crazy, but he looked just like Fuzzy…exactly like Fuzzy…”

                “Really?” Bubbles said.

                “Wow,” Buttercup remarked.  “What are the odds of that happening?”

                Xianea flexed her wings thoughtfully and said, “This ‘Fuzzy’…it was someone you knew back on Earth, I take it?”  The girls nodded, and Xianea said, “Then I think I know what happened.”

                “What?” Blossom asked.

                “Well, you see, the Hkratth have often sent out ships to find regions of space they can annex to their own territory,” Xianea explained.  “I remember hearing about a Hkratth ship that wandered into an ion storm that was in your region of space.  It was never heard from again, and was presumed destroyed.”

                “Oh, I get it,” Buttercup said.  “You’re saying that their ship wasn’t destroyed?”

                “Precisely,” Xianea replied.  “Chances are, it was heavily damaged, and it’s very likely that it made an emergency landing on Earth…or maybe it crash-landed.  This was many years ago, so this ‘Fuzzy’ that you knew was probably only a child on board the ship…perhaps even a newborn.  Growing up on Earth culture instead of with other Hkratth probably helped him blend in a little better with Earthlings, aside from his appearance.”

                “How about that?” Blossom grinned.  “All this time, we had an alien living near us, and never knew it.  No wonder Fuzzy was so angry with people getting on his property…his whole species is instinctively territorial.”

                “Now what do we do about it?” Bubbles asked.

                “I’m not sure,” Xianea said.  “Now they know we’re here.  It’s going to be a lot harder to move through Hkratth space, since we don’t have the element of surprise anymore.  If we had some way of hiding our ship from detection, at least until they’ve lost a track on us, we could still make it through without a conflict.”

                Xianea turned on the navigational screen, and brought up the detailed map of Hkratth space that they had obtained from Belor.  As the four of them looked across it, Blossom pointed at a small, green dot on it, “What’s this?”

                “That’s a comet, I believe,” Xianea replied, zooming into that portion of the map.  “It’s heading towards the heart of their space.  They can’t even tolerate asteroids or other celestial objects wander into their territory, so it’s likely it will be disintegrated by one of their outpost cannons when it passes here.”  She traced her finger up on the map, stopping at one of the outposts that dotted the map.

                Blossom rubbed her chin, and said, “How about if we piggyback it in?”

                “Hmm?” Xianea said, not quite comprehending.

                Blossom clarified, “If we follow right behind the comet, in its tail, it’ll be hard for their sensors to pick us up, won’t it?  We can follow it along until just before it gets to the outpost, then break off and circle around here…”  She pointed at a gap between two outposts on the map.  “…especially their attention will be on the comet at the time.”

                “That’s actually quite clever,” Xianea observed.  “In fact, it should work, too.  How did you come up with it?”

                Blossom smiled, “I saw it in a movie once.”

                “See?” Buttercup pointed out.  “I told ya watching all those sci-fi movies would come in handy someday!”

                “All right, let’s do it,” Xianea nodded.  She prepared to drop the ship out of faster-than-light speed so that she could make the necessary course changes to rendezvous with the comet.  As Blossom took her seat, she still could hardly believe it.  Fuzzy, an alien, she thought.  Heh…I should’ve guessed, with those antenna and everything…

 

*              *                *

 

                The comet drifted slowly forward directly in front of them.  The particles that made up its tail surrounded their ship in a brilliant display of gold, from the light of the system’s sun.  The girls stayed next to the window, looking out at it in amazement.  “It’s beautiful,” Bubbles remarked.

                Blossom nodded, “I’ve never seen anything like it before…”

                Xianea carefully matched the comet’s course and speed, and said, “We’ll be coming up on the break point shortly.  We’ll have to act fast…the moment we fly out of the comet’s tail, we need to initiate a singularity jump while their sensors are still obscured.  They won’t even be able to pick it up.”

                “What’s the catch?” Buttercup asked.

                “The catch is, our own sensors will still be blocked, so we’ll have to more or less guess on which direction to jump in,” Xianea explained.  “I’m going to need your help to visually spot where we need to go.  When we fly out from behind the comet, look quickly for a constellation of four stars in a straight line.”

                “Got it,” Blossom said.  They resumed watching the light show outside the ship.  She thought, It’s hard to believe that the Hkratth would want to destroy something so beautiful, just because it drifted into their boundaries…

                They waited.  The map showed them growing ever closer to the outpost.  Just before they came within weapons range, Xianea shouted, “Ok, now!”  She pulled the ship out from behind the comet and streaked away from it at a different angle.  The ship left a trail of glowing dust in the air behind it, almost like the comet itself, from the particles it had just flown through.

                The girls quickly looked past the remaining particles, examining the stars.  Bubbles spoke up first, pointing out the window, “There it is!  A little to the left!”  The constellation they were looking for was just ahead.

Xianea made the necessary course correction.  Beside them, the comet gained more and more distance, until finally it came within range of the outpost, far off in the distance.  Little more than a battle station, one of its gigantic cannon mounts swiveled towards the oncoming comet and opened fire.  A giant blast of bright blue energy shot out from it, striking the comet dead-on and exploding it into millions of tiny fragments.  The moment the explosion took place, Xianea made the singularity jump.  The ship vanished into faster-than-light travel before the outpost could pick them up.

Blossom smiled, “Perfect!  That couldn’t have gone any better.”

Xianea rechecked their status and said, “We’re within a few seconds of a degree on the course we wanted.  We should reach our destination within an hour.  Excellent job, everyone!”

Bubbles said, “Thanks!  Next stop…the library!”

“Yeah!” Buttercup exclaimed.  “Nothing can go wrong now…”

Buttercup spoke too soon, however, because suddenly their sensors picked something up in front of them.  Xianea studied the readout, and her mouth dropped open, “Uh oh…”

“What is it?” Blossom asked, concerned.

“We’re heading right into a large armada of ships,” Xianea said.  “A very large armada.  Over a hundred of them…no, two hundred.”

Buttercup gasped, “The Hkratth?”

Xianea nodded, “Some of them.  But the other half consists of Sanhreni ships.  It looks like we’re heading right into the middle of a conflict…”

“Can’t we just go around them?” Bubbles asked.

Xianea shook her head, “We’d have to come out of faster-than-light travel first, before we can make course corrections, and if we do, they’ll detect us for certain.  But they’ll detect us if we just try to fly past the armada anyway.  Either way, we’re in trouble…”  The ship grew ever closer to the conflict as they realized that they had better come up with a strategy fast…

 

TO BE CONTINUED…