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There was a gun sitting on the top of the ship and, as he watched, it spit lethal rounds at the Maderan's Reach. A moment latter, he heard and felt the impact of the rounds on his ship.
"That ship has knocked out our port FTL vane!" Tactics shouted. "It's now engaging our sub-light engines!"
The little ship was systematically taking out the six large sub-light engines at the rear of the Maderan's Reach.
"Open the tubes! Fire on that fucking ship!" Maderan ordered, knowing he could fire torpedoes on it faster than he could train the main guns.
"Tubes one and four open," Weapons shouted. "Firing now!" he said ten seconds later.
The crew felt the jolt as the two torpedoes were forced out into space. They watched as the torpedoes drives engaged. The torpedoes immediately homed in on the only ship in the area, the small ship to the rear. One of the torpedoes exploded in a fireball but, as the bridge crew watched, the ship promptly disappeared.
"She jumped!" Science yelled.
"That's not possible, she just jumped in on top of us, she should have needed several hours to recharge," Tactics called out to Science.
"Regardless, Captain, that little ship just jumped out. The remaining torpedo has no target to our rear," Weapons called out.
"FTL event forward and above us!" Science called out.
The image that showed on the screen was not a small ship. In fact, it was a fully functional Navy Fairling Class Frigate sitting perpendicular to the Maderan's Reach. The frigate's guns were already trained on the ship and opened on the Maderan's bow destroying it with a single broadside. The image on the screen disappeared, the forward sensors gone when the bow was destroyed. The bow racks were gone. The vessel had lost most of it's heavy weapons capability with one broadside.
The image shifted and, on the monitor, the captain saw the same small ship looking down on his vessel. The small ships guns were firing on his ship, swiftly knocking out the two Mk-20's on the Dorsal Deck.
"Engage the ship forward with the Ventral Guns!" Capt. Maderan shouted.
"FTL event above and below the ship! I think that damn small ship has jumped under us!" Science called out.
Maderan heard more impacts on his ship's port side.
"What was that?" he screamed.
"Sir, both our port side Mk-48 have been taken out, I think by the ship at our bow," Weapons answered the captain.
More sounds of impact could be heard, now below them and on the starboard side.
"Sir! We have just lost all our guns! We only have the aft tubes left as weapons," Weapons said.
"Sir, Comms O, message from the attacking ships."
"My station, Comms," Maderan ordered.
"To the Maderan's Reach, pirate vessel. This is the NS Pegasus, Captain Beverly Davis commanding.
"You have refused orders to surrender and have fired on a Navy ship. Your weapons systems have been severely degraded, as has your ability to maneuver.
"Surrender your vessel, or face destruction for your ship and crew. You have thirty seconds to comply. Any further attempt to engage either of our Navy vessels will result in your immediate destruction. Your thirty seconds start now, Pegasus Out," Maderan heard.
He looked at his EX O. The man shook his head.
"Options?" Maderan asked the bridge crew.
"Sir, we have only one sub-light engine remaining. We cannot flee as the other ships will run us down," Tactics stated.
"Our only weapons are the aft tubes, but both attacking vessels are forward of us now, they could engage us before any of our torpedoes could be brought around from the rear. I do not think we have a choice, sir. We must surrender the vessel," his Number Two said from the Battle Bridge.
Maderan looked around the main bridge. Nobody looked back at him. They wanted to live, that was obvious.
Maderan made up his mind and cued comms.
"Capt. Davis, this is the Alnitah Frigate Maderan's Reach, Carlos Maderan commanding. Sir, our vessel is severely damaged and unable to leave this system. We have only our aft tubes available to continue the fight.
"You have already clearly shown that you can and will destroy this ship if we do not surrender.
"Sir, the ship is yours, we surrender unconditionally. Please, spare my men. Maderan's Reach, out," the captain sent. The bridge crew gave a sigh of relief. At least they would not be killed out of hand.
"Sir, Comms O, there are several Combat Shuttles at the shuttle bay hatches, demanding that we immediately open our vessel for entry," he called out.
Maderan nodded.
A half minute later, the shuttles slipped into the bay, Marines in EVA equipment jumping from them before they even set down. The Marines swiftly secured the four airlocks and cycled through into the ship in groups of twelve.
One group headed immediately aft to secure engineering. Another group went to the Combat Bridge, a third to the Main Bridge, where they arrested Captain Maderan and the bridge crew. The fourth group began to take crew to a centralized holding area.
More and more Marines entered the ship and began moving crew to the holding area where they could keep watch on them.
* * * * *
Capt. Davis figuratively sat on her hands as she waited for the 'all secure' message from the Marines. So far, no one on the Maderan's Reach had tried anything stupid.
"Pegasus, this is Lt. Wenden, the ship is secure," finally came over comms, the Lt. sending to Maj. Belle 'Ringer' LaCroix, CO of the Marine Company.
A very relieved Capt. Davis bowed her head and gave a silent prayer of thanks that none of her people had been injured or killed in the attack on the Maderan's Reach.
Alien Station, Piscium System
Rikki was happy now that he had established comms with his former home world. His people were pleased that he had survived the destruction of the station and surprised that he had survived so long in stasis.
He found himself to be somewhat of an oddity to his people, as the first thing the scientists wanted to do was to conduct a full medical on him. Rikki assured them that he was in good health, thanks to the efforts of the people who now claimed the system.
That had initially disturbed the Council of Sisters. They wanted to know all about the people who had first attacked the station, then saved Rikki.
Rikki assured them that those who had saved him were different than those that had damaged the station. He indicated that there was much to learn from those who had helped him. That initially got the curiosity of the scientists going again.
Rikki was told that a ship would be available in two weeks. He assured them that the appropriate level of government and ambassadors, representing the new owners of the system the station was in, would be available.
Rikki was happy to pass on to the humans the date of the ship coming to the station. He was looking forward to seeing his own people again.
RH-149, Piscium-9 Gas Giant, Piscium System
Raymond was having a ball. He was, once again, at the helm of his personal Rockhound, doing what he did best for more than ten years.
The Wanderer had taken on eight Rockhounds and brought them to Piscium-9, a Saturn like gas giant in the Piscium system. They were searching for large chunks of ice.
Raymond had decided to join them to keep up his competence on the Rockhound. He and the others had moved down into the ice rings surrounding the planet to find and separate out some of the larger chunks from the rings. They would then bind them with pulse engines in order to transport them to Liramor-23, where they would be placed into a parking orbit until they were needed.
Each of the Rockhounds was working on their own, finding and securing separate ice chunks. But Raymond was helping with the surveys as his Rockhound had the best survey equipment on board.
They soon had nine large boulders of amorphous ice separated out from the rings so that they could place the pulse engines on them. Because of their age, the ice they chose was super dense and very clear. One could make out Rockhounds on the other side of the one kilometer wide structures, a block of ice this size would serve all the current needs of the platform for more than ten months.
The group worked slowly, meticulously on each of the ice boulders, not wanting to fracture their ice before they arrived at Liramor-23.
Four days after their arrival at Piscium-9, they were ready to slowly bring the boulders up to speed and move them toward the platform. The ice they were bringing back would serve the platform's needs for many years.
Raymond was the last to start his boulder moving, having ensured that the other eight had brought their boulders up to the appropriate speed of .35C, the fastest that they could move the boulders without risk of fracture.
Raymond surveyed the area one last time and noted something odd. He brought his Rockhound over to the object and smiled. Fate was handing him another bonus, as he had just discovered another sizable chunk of core material from the destroyed original Piscium Home World, captured in the rings of the gas giant.
Oddly, that made sense to him as he knew that the planets in this system were in compressed orbits in comparison to other star systems. He suspected that Piscium-9 was originally much closer to the doomed planet and may have captured a few pieces of the shattered planet. Another, more detailed scan, proved him right as more pieces of captured rock came up on his sensors.
Noting the location, direction, and speed of the objects, he decided to return for at least one of them after getting the ice back to Liramor-23. He set a marker on them, with his claim numbers, so that if anyone else came to the rings they could not take the rocks. Not that it was likely to happen, as all of the Rockhounds and Survey vessels were searching the scattered planetary debris around Liramor-23 for suitable rocks.
He had a mountain of ice to deliver first, a boulder almost one kilometer in diameter. He gently pushed the engines to move the ice on it's predetermined track leaving behind the other core rock pieces. His quick survey of the largest showed that it would provide a very nice addition to his current fortune.
Campus of Malton University, Mike Deck, Liramor-23, Piscium System
Junelliya had rented space from the university to teach the Pod-Drran how to play the Luttrale. The Pod-Drran had provided her enough funds to purchase twelve medium quality instruments for training purposes.
Most were fitted for adults but some were designed for older children that she could give to the two Kisory in the group. Her students had been transported from the Pod-Drran home world that day and had been given temporary quarters not far from the House of Ur on India Deck. They were due to remain on the platform for six months while they learned the instrument.
Junelliya greeted the students in their own language and had them first learn about the instrument, how to take care of it, how to transport it, how to hold it, before she began showing them how to tune it, how to play basic scales, and play some simple songs.
At the end of the two-hour instruction period, Junelliya played a piece she had learned in the old dialect of the Pod-Drran. The students were fascinated and looking forward to learning the skills she demonstrated.
Each of the students signed for an instrument and took them back to their quarters, where they would practice what they had learned, especially the musical scales of the instrument. For the moment, they were eager but Junelliya knew that over time, they would lose their dream-like revere for the instrument.
She looked forward to seeing which students persevered.
As Junelliya was leaving her rented room, she noted Ren-Ur coming out of Prof. Xavier Kuaté's Literary Arts class.
"Learning new things, Ren? Junelliya asked.
"Oh, yes!" Ren replied with a Pod-Drran smile. "Today we learned about Paraprosdokians. They are figures of speech in which the latter half of a phrase is surprising or unexpected in nature, often humorous in intent.
"Like: 'Where there's a will, I want to be in it,', 'To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal from many is research,', 'Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak,', I liked that one the most," Rem explained, getting laughter from Junelliya.
"How goes the first music class?" Ren asked.
"Very well. The students all have a good understand of the concepts of music even if it is in a different musical notation system from mine. I am teaching them the old music script, our human music script, and the basics of the Luttrale all at the same time. So far, all of them are managing to keep up. I look forward to seeing who is most diligent in their personal time," she said with a smile.
"You might be surprised, Junelliya," Ren advised. "All of these students have been recommended by the Palace, their time here probably paid for by well-placed members of the elite. None of them will want to be less diligent than their fellow students. Imagine having to return to the Palace because you are not as good as someone there thought you were.
"No, they will all be diligent and practise hard. Perhaps a little too hard. You may have to intervene a little to keep them from burning out."
"Thank-you Ren. I will keep that in mind. I will try to make the next few lessons a little more interesting and a little less academic so that the students learn to love the instrument for itself, rather than their future political needs," Junelliya said, getting a nod from Ren.
They continued to chat as they made their way to the central core and back up to their respective home decks.
PV The Wanderer, Piscium-9 Gas Giant, Piscium System
Raymond was back at Piscium-9 to pick up his large rock. With him were four of his Rockhound friends, the ones who had won his lottery. Raymond had no intention of taking all the rocks back. He didn't need the extra money, especially after he would bring in this new rock, the first one he had discovered in the rings of Piscium-9.
The other, smaller rocks, if you could call a one kilometer sized rock small, he had offered up to his friends in a lottery. The four winners were now leaving the belly of The Wanderer and moving over to claim their prizes.
It would take them a few days to get their rocks back to Liramor-23 but they were used to that. The carefully measured their rocks in order to best plan the placement of the booster packs that were needed to push them.
While it was possible to push a one kilometer rock with a Rockhound, no one would do so for safety reasons. One by one, the rocks started moving toward Liramor-23, four very happy Rockhounds and one Rockhound with a somewhat happy man at the helm. After all, Raymond had already made his fortune, this rock was only adding to it.
Pod-Nalii Shop, Concours, Liramor-23, Piscium System
Hanalei was irritable. She couldn't get comfortable and it was starting to get her down. She would sit, but then have to stand. She would walk, then have to come back to sit. It was getting monotonous for her.
She was near the front of shop when two Pod-Drran in the colours of merchants made disparaging comments in their language about the prices of the goods on display.
Already irritable, Hanalei snarled at the two. "Look ye to these buffoons who would look down their noses at the fine goods on display," she wailed, loud enough to attract the attention of other Pod-Drran on the Concours.
"Fine goods, you gross human! You wouldn't know fine goods if you stepped on them! Your goods are overpriced, female. I would not pay a third of what you have listed here for a price!" the male of the pair replied.
"Oh! He wounds me, this Mon! He hurts me so! He ridicules a female with brood, nearing the end of her term. He wounds my pride as a merchant, demanding that I give up house and home for my impending brood he asks so low a price of my fine goods!" she wailed, quoting him a price that was one third higher than what was listed.
Other Pod-Drran were coming around. The females were taking up Hanalei's side, giving the tongue clicking sound that the Pod-Drran used when they meant tsk, tsk, tsk.
The Mon looked hard at Hanalei, giving her a stare that dared her to do something.
"You have raised your prices, female! You do not even know how to haggle! You should be lowering your prices to meet me," the Mon stated aggressively.
"And now he insults my intelligence! Males always think that when a female is with impending brood they lose something of their intelligence. We know this is not true," Hanalei snarled getting answering snarls from the watching females and comments about the good sense, or lack thereof, of males. She raised the price yet again causing the merchant to curse her soundly.
"Unintelligent human! You do not raise your prices when you want something to sell. You lower the price until your customer agrees with a price!" he yelled.
"And now he tells me how to conduct my business, he who does not even have a shop here!" Hanalei called out, raising the price on him yet again.
The Mon cried out in shock at the new price of the goods. He could not believe that this female would treat him so.
"I walk away from this improper haggling!" he called out, turning to go, or at least attempting to turn. A hand on his back pushed him to turn back to Hanalei.
"Oh, no, mate of mine!" his mate cried out, her Pod-Drran smile evident. "You put yourself in this position, now you must deal with it."
The Mon grumbled but raise his price again, now within twenty percent of the original price.
"Very well, Mon. I can tell when I have been bested. I will sell you the goods," she stated, quoting a price that was ten percent lower than the original price. The Mon grumbled but paid the price, while his mate hooted and hollered at how he had been taken by a pregnant human who was not even a merchant.
The other Pod-Drran who had been watching laughed good naturedly and quietly gave Hanalei a thumbs up for her trading, thumbs up being something new that was borrowed from humans. Amusement ended, they moved into Hanalei's shop to see what else was on display.
Hanalei suddenly got a sharp pain in her abdomen. That's when it hit her. She had been restless all day, unable to get comfortable. Now she was getting pains. She timed them and was surprised to find them within five minutes. She cued her comp.
"Hospital reception, Nurse Silliya, how can I help you?" came over the comp.
"Silliya it's Hanalei. I'm at the Pod-Nalii and I need help getting to you. I'm less than five minutes apart and they only just started," Hanalei informed her.
"Oh. That is fast. I've dispatched a chair for you, Hanalei. Try to remain calm. They will be there shortly," Silliya replied.
"Thanks, I'm calm, I will just watch as others panic," she quipped bringing laughter from Silliya.
* * * * *
Ikekia Fatima Tema 'Dosri' Piscium was born some four hours later. Named after Fayad's mother, Junelliya's great Grandmother and Hanalei's younger sister, and the female version of the name of Hanalei's late husband Temet. Her Pod-Drran name, Poda-Rai-Dosri, meaning second of the Goddess, was shortened to simply Dosri in her full name.
Junelliya and Fayad cooed over the infant for a time, then Junelliya went home to get the Cats. They rode her back to the hospital, aware that something important had happened.
When Junelliya entered Hanalei's room, the Cats all jumped to her bed and crawled up onto her lap. She was holding the baby. The Cats started sounding out the kit keening sound, introducing themselves to the baby just as Heyya came in. She and the nurses smiled as they watched the Cats bonding with the little one, each keening to her in turn, rumbling their purr against her and against Hanalei.
