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So, chapter two of Starfighter is up! I've had this done for a while, but I wanted to make sure it was as good as I could make it before I posted it. And for those who want to read it without downloading it, here's the story:
We were making our way back to our new base after familiarizing ourselves with the ship’s systems when we intercepted a distress signal. It was badly garbled, but Auren was able to trace the signal and we rushed off at full speed to assist. When we arrived, there was a Strovian Battlecruiser being attacked by three Abkani warships, and I immediately gave the order for us to enter battle. Auren fired on the nearest Abkani ship, and they immediately turned their attention to us and returned fire. Our new shields were barely damaged by their weapons, and we fired a volley of torpedoes that blasted through our opponent’s shields and crippled them, so we turned our attention to the next warship.
By this point the Strovian cruiser had joined us in attacking the Abkani ship, and between us we destroyed them in a matter of two minutes. We turned our attention to the third warship, but they jumped to high warp and escaped before we could deal with them. That’s when we were hailed by the Strovian ship.
“Onscreen.”
A badly damaged bridge appeared on our screen, and we saw several injured Strovians in the wreckage. “Thank you for the assistance, whoever you are. We wouldn’t have survived without your help.”
“I’m Captain Khan, and it was our pleasure. The Abkani are as much our enemies as they are yours. I’ll have your wounded beamed directly to our sick bay, and we’ll tow your ship back to our base.”
“Thank you, Captain. What starbase are we going to?”
“We aren’t. I’ll explain in full once you’re aboard, Captain.”
He nodded and cut the channel, then we started beaming his wounded aboard. We beamed the critically wounded directly to sick bay, while the rest went to one of the cargo bays we’d converted into a temporary triage center. The last ones we beamed aboard were the Captain and first officer, and once the captain had stepped off the pad he asked for my explanation.
“We were betrayed by the admiralty. My brother, Admiral Khan, tried to kill me and everyone else on the Odyssey because the Abkani said they’d agree to peace if all of the veteran war officers were killed and our warships destroyed. We found a Terellian battlecruiser drifting in an asteroid field and upgraded the Odyssey with everything we could salvage.”
He nodded, then thanked me again for the assistance. “It’s no trouble. I’m just glad that we were able to save you and your crew.”
“As am I. I can’t believe you found a Terellian battlecruiser in salvageable condition, Captain. That’s quite a find.”
“Yes, it was quite a find. Though I can’t take credit for the discovery; it was an old friend of mine that found him and led us to him.” Right as I finished speaking, Tamarin walked in with a data pad in his hand. “Speaking of, here he is now. Tam, got a minute?”
He nodded and walked over to us. “Yes captain?”
“I want you to meet Captain…”
“Trey Quinone, Captain of the Kamir. It’s a pleasure.”
Tam bowed slightly, aware of Strovian customs. “The pleasure is mine Captain. I’d love to talk, but I need to get these supplies to sick bay.”
That’s when I noticed the wound in Captain Quinone’s side. “You should go to sick bay, Captain. You need to get that wound treated.”
“Not until we deal with the remaining cruiser. Let’s go to the bridge.”
I nodded, knowing that arguing with a Strovian was a futile endeavor. “As you wish, Captain.”
I led him to a turbolift and we went directly to the bridge, where Auren was keeping an eye on the Abkani cruiser we’d crippled. “Hail them.”
Auren opened a channel, and I spoke to them. “Abkani cruiser, this is Captain Talura Khan of the Odyssey. Are you in need of assistance?”
The Abkani bridge appeared and I saw a scene similar to the Kamir, wreckage strewn everywhere and Abkani buried in it. “I would rather die than accept help from an insect such as you.”
I nodded, saying “As you wish,” then glanced at Auren. He knew what to do, and fired a single torpedo at the Abkani warp core, destroying the ship.
With that done, I turned to Captain Quinone. “Now, shall I escort you to sick bay, and your crew?”
“Please.”
I escorted Captain Quinone to sick bay, and the majority of his crew, where he immediately asked Sandira of their condition. “They’re going to be fine, Captain. You should let me take a look at your side though; that’s a nasty wound.”
He nodded and sat down on the nearest bed and Sandira scanned his wound, finding a fragment of metal inside. “I’m going to have to operate to remove the shrapnel, Captain. It will take a little while, but there shouldn’t be any trouble removing it.”
“Will it take care from my crew?”
When Sandira nodded, Captain Quinone put his hand over his wound. “Then tend to them first. I can wait until they’re healed.”
She nodded, knowing how stubborn Strovians could be, and set to work tending to her other patients. I asked Captain Quinone what had prompted the attack on his ship, and he said that it had been unprovoked. They were patrolling a known Abkani travel route when three cruisers dropped out of warp and opened fire. “So they’re not just waiting for the admirals to do their work for them.”
“It would seem not, Captain. You never said where we were going.”
“Please, call me Talura. And we’re going to XV-5172, a planet that the Abkani fear more than us.”
He nodded, then mentioned something I’d neglected to consider. “Trey. And we shouldn’t call our base by its official designation, otherwise they’ll know exactly where we are.”
“Agreed, but that begs the question of what to call it among ourselves.”
“When I was a Raider, we called it Arvindel. Perhaps we could refer to it as such to keep our location unknown.”
I nodded, it was a sound plan. We ran the risk of being located by other former Raiders, but the risk was small as most of them served in planetary defense forces. “That works. I’ll call a meeting of my crew, what few of us there are, and I’ll let them know.”
He nodded, and I excused myself before calling a meeting of my crew, with the exception of Sandira due to her duties. “We can’t call our base by its official designation; we’ll be found too easily. I’ve consulted with Captain Quinone, the one we rescued, and he suggested that we use an old Raider’s name for the planet: Arvindel. Are we agreed?”
They voiced their assent, then I dismissed them back to their duties. We towed the Kamir to Arvindel, and Tam got in touch with several of his contacts and they began repairing the ship. Meanwhile, we were hailed by a Qotoran vessel that had come from around the planet. “Onscreen.”
A female Qotoran appeared on the screen, and her eyes glowed faintly as she used her telepathy to transmit her thoughts through her ship’s thought converter. “Drakaen vessel, this is the Qotoran starship K’voth. Identify yourselves.”
“I’m Captain Talura Khan of the Odyssey. We recently rescued a Strovian battlecruiser, the Kamir, from an Abkani ambush. Is there any way you can assist their wounded? I don’t have a large enough crew to tend to them all.”
“I’m afraid not, Captain. As you well know, we are a water-bound race, and cannot leave it for any reason. We can contact the Admiralty and tow the Kamir to the nearest starbase, if you wish.”
“I appreciate the offer, but our survival depends on remaining off the grid. The Admirals struck a deal with the Abkani – they agreed to kill off all the veteran war officers and dismantle their warships in exchange for peace, but the Abkani have proven that they are more interested in conquest than peace. My brother, Admiral Tarkana, made it his personal mission to kill me, and I made sure he wouldn’t get the chance to betray me again.”
My aquatic counterpart nodded, then ‘spoke’ again. “I see. I feel that I should inform you, Captain, that the Abkani have been amassing in nearby sectors for reasons unknown, but your information leads me to believe they’re preparing an invasion. I know of several ships that would be willing to forsake their fleets and join your cause, mine included.”
I was puzzled; why was she telling me this? “I would appreciate their names and locations Captain, but why are you telling me this?”
My counterpart’s expression darkened considerably, and I could practically taste the venom in her words. “Because everyone on this ship, myself included, has lost family to the Abkani. My daughter was left on a desert world to burn by those monsters, and I’m going to make them pay dearly for her death.”
I nodded, knowing all too well the kind of pain she was feeling. “And pay they should. There’s an ancient code among my people, and I’m one of the extremely rare few that follow it: Eye for an eye, fang for a fang, blood for blood.”
She snapped her jaws together, displaying her needle-like fangs, and spoke with a determination I only saw in the most battle-hardened of soldiers. “Then count me as an ally Captain Khan. And please forgive me for not introducing myself before now; my name is Arya.”
“Talura. Now about those other ships you mentioned.”
She snapped her jaws again, the Qotoran version of a nod, and we heard an eerie, song-like vocalization come across the transmission. Soon after a smaller Qotoran swam up to a console and we received the names and coordinates of a half-dozen ships. Once we’d received the information I went to my ready room, “Vhyr, you have the bridge.” And opened a secure channel to Arya. “The three of us aren’t going to stand a chance against the Abkani as we are now. Even with the tech we salvaged, we’re too severely outnumbered to do more than irritate them.”
Arya snapped her jaws and voiced her opinion. “It seems that we need to get more advanced technology; technology that the Abkani don’t know we have.”
I nodded and voiced the most important questions I could ask about the topic at hand. “I agree, but what do we get and where and how do we get it? I know that Drakaen military tech is kept guarded in caverns miles beneath the surface of the planet. I don’t know about yours, but I’d assume it’s kept deeper than you can go without special equipment.”
“It is. It would seem that we won’t be able to rely on our own people to help us.”
“Unfortunately not, Arya. Until we come up with some idea of what where and how, shall we rendezvous with the first of the ships on the list you gave us?”
She snapped her jaws, then once I’d returned to the bridge we set a course to find the Sha’kal, a Nakrin attack cruiser captained by the legendary Esdar Tiral. Her tactics were cunning, her ship was powerful, and her crew was the best. I’d always wanted to meet her. Unfortunately we found her under attack by a small group of Raiders.
“Auren, fire a warning shot. Let them know we mean business.”
He fired a blast from the tachyon cannons, and the Raiders hailed us. “Don’t interfere, stranger.”
“The name’s Khan, Raider. Talura Khan, and I’m not in a good mood. Tactical, cripple their ships.”
Auren nodded and crippled each of the Raider ships with one shot each, then I ordered a channel opened to all three ships. “As I’m sure you’re aware, the Odyssey isn’t your standard science vessel. Unless you want to be left adrift for the Alliance to find, or worse the Abkani, I suggest you surrender.”
One of the captains, a Leokine warrior, tapped a console, then spoke to me. “My scans show you have an old friend of mine aboard, Trey Quinone. Is he a prisoner?”
“No, he and his crew were ambushed by the Abkani and we destroyed the Abkani ships before tending to his wounded. His ship is being repaired at Arvindel as we speak.”
The captains nodded, then the first one spoke again. “If Trey has accepted you as a friend, then so will I. May we join your fleet, Captain?”
It was an unexpected offer, but not an unwelcome one. “I’d welcome the extra hands, as long as you’re willing to follow our rules.”
“Alliance rules, I assume.”
“Not all of them, but a few. I would appreciate some help with Trey’s wounded, if any of your crew has medical training.”
“I’ll beam over with some of my crew. We’ve learned to treat our own wounded.”
I nodded, then informed the transporter room to be ready for them. I met them there, and I introduced myself to the Raider captain formally. “I’m Talura, Captain of the Odyssey. I’ll take you to sick bay.”
“Rhetia, Captain of the Bloodstar. The two ships with me are also under my command.”
Then I understood why she looked familiar. “I’ve heard a great deal about you, but why were you attacking Sha’kal?”
“We were defending ourselves. Captain Tiral accused us of collaborating with the Abkani before firing on us. We had every right to defend ourselves.”
I respected, even somewhat admired how calm Rhetia was in her explanation. “I see. I’ll take your crew to sick bay, then I’d like you and Captain Tiral to come to my ready room so we can discuss this matter in person.”
Rhetia nodded, so after showing her crew to sick bay, and Trey insisting that he come with us, the three of us went to the transporter room after contacting Captain Tiral. Once she was beamed aboard we went to my ready room and before an argument could break out I bodily came between them. “That’s enough! You’re captains, act like it!”
They nodded, then Captain Tiral spoke to Rhetia. “You truly are not with the Abkani?”
When Rhetia nodded, Captain Tiral bowed. “Then please, let me apologize. I lost my sister to the Abkani, and where they’re concerned I have a difficult time believing they don’t have allies among the admirals.”
I knew they did from my brother’s actions, but I chose not to voice that yet. “As do I. Now, can we count on your assistance against the Abkani, Captain Tiral?”
“Esdar, please. And yes, you can. My ship will need some minor repairs, but they shouldn’t take long.”
Rhetia nodded, then offered her assistance. “We caused the damage, so it’s only right that we help fix it. May I send a team over to help your engineering crew?”
Esdar agreed, and I left them to talk while I went to my quarters and opened a secure channel to Arya. “Talura, is something wrong?”
“Not a thing. We’ve gained four more ships for the fleet, Captain Tiral among them.”
“Excellent.” Before she could say more, someone signalled that they were outside my quarters. “I’ll contact you later. Someone’s outside.”
She nodded and closed the channel, and I composed myself quickly. “Enter.”
To my surprise, Sandira came through the doorway. “Can we talk, Captain? It’s an urgent matter.”
I motioned to a chair and took a seat next to her. “What’s wrong, Sandira?”
“My son, Kiba, is living on Starbase 216 with his father. With all the trouble the Abkani are causing I’m worried about him.”
I nodded, understanding her concern despite not having children of my own. “Then let’s get them. Are you on good terms with Kiba’s father?”
“Yes, we just haven’t seen each other for a while.”
“Good.” I tapped my badge. “Senra, set a course for Starbase 216, tachyon level three.”
“Aye Captain.”
“Tamarin, can you come to my quarters? There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“On my way Talura.”
Once Tam arrived we thrashed out the details of the plan, and we left for Tam’s ship while the Odyssey waited on standby outside the station’s sensor range.
We were making our way back to our new base after familiarizing ourselves with the ship’s systems when we intercepted a distress signal. It was badly garbled, but Auren was able to trace the signal and we rushed off at full speed to assist. When we arrived, there was a Strovian Battlecruiser being attacked by three Abkani warships, and I immediately gave the order for us to enter battle. Auren fired on the nearest Abkani ship, and they immediately turned their attention to us and returned fire. Our new shields were barely damaged by their weapons, and we fired a volley of torpedoes that blasted through our opponent’s shields and crippled them, so we turned our attention to the next warship.
By this point the Strovian cruiser had joined us in attacking the Abkani ship, and between us we destroyed them in a matter of two minutes. We turned our attention to the third warship, but they jumped to high warp and escaped before we could deal with them. That’s when we were hailed by the Strovian ship.
“Onscreen.”
A badly damaged bridge appeared on our screen, and we saw several injured Strovians in the wreckage. “Thank you for the assistance, whoever you are. We wouldn’t have survived without your help.”
“I’m Captain Khan, and it was our pleasure. The Abkani are as much our enemies as they are yours. I’ll have your wounded beamed directly to our sick bay, and we’ll tow your ship back to our base.”
“Thank you, Captain. What starbase are we going to?”
“We aren’t. I’ll explain in full once you’re aboard, Captain.”
He nodded and cut the channel, then we started beaming his wounded aboard. We beamed the critically wounded directly to sick bay, while the rest went to one of the cargo bays we’d converted into a temporary triage center. The last ones we beamed aboard were the Captain and first officer, and once the captain had stepped off the pad he asked for my explanation.
“We were betrayed by the admiralty. My brother, Admiral Khan, tried to kill me and everyone else on the Odyssey because the Abkani said they’d agree to peace if all of the veteran war officers were killed and our warships destroyed. We found a Terellian battlecruiser drifting in an asteroid field and upgraded the Odyssey with everything we could salvage.”
He nodded, then thanked me again for the assistance. “It’s no trouble. I’m just glad that we were able to save you and your crew.”
“As am I. I can’t believe you found a Terellian battlecruiser in salvageable condition, Captain. That’s quite a find.”
“Yes, it was quite a find. Though I can’t take credit for the discovery; it was an old friend of mine that found him and led us to him.” Right as I finished speaking, Tamarin walked in with a data pad in his hand. “Speaking of, here he is now. Tam, got a minute?”
He nodded and walked over to us. “Yes captain?”
“I want you to meet Captain…”
“Trey Quinone, Captain of the Kamir. It’s a pleasure.”
Tam bowed slightly, aware of Strovian customs. “The pleasure is mine Captain. I’d love to talk, but I need to get these supplies to sick bay.”
That’s when I noticed the wound in Captain Quinone’s side. “You should go to sick bay, Captain. You need to get that wound treated.”
“Not until we deal with the remaining cruiser. Let’s go to the bridge.”
I nodded, knowing that arguing with a Strovian was a futile endeavor. “As you wish, Captain.”
I led him to a turbolift and we went directly to the bridge, where Auren was keeping an eye on the Abkani cruiser we’d crippled. “Hail them.”
Auren opened a channel, and I spoke to them. “Abkani cruiser, this is Captain Talura Khan of the Odyssey. Are you in need of assistance?”
The Abkani bridge appeared and I saw a scene similar to the Kamir, wreckage strewn everywhere and Abkani buried in it. “I would rather die than accept help from an insect such as you.”
I nodded, saying “As you wish,” then glanced at Auren. He knew what to do, and fired a single torpedo at the Abkani warp core, destroying the ship.
With that done, I turned to Captain Quinone. “Now, shall I escort you to sick bay, and your crew?”
“Please.”
I escorted Captain Quinone to sick bay, and the majority of his crew, where he immediately asked Sandira of their condition. “They’re going to be fine, Captain. You should let me take a look at your side though; that’s a nasty wound.”
He nodded and sat down on the nearest bed and Sandira scanned his wound, finding a fragment of metal inside. “I’m going to have to operate to remove the shrapnel, Captain. It will take a little while, but there shouldn’t be any trouble removing it.”
“Will it take care from my crew?”
When Sandira nodded, Captain Quinone put his hand over his wound. “Then tend to them first. I can wait until they’re healed.”
She nodded, knowing how stubborn Strovians could be, and set to work tending to her other patients. I asked Captain Quinone what had prompted the attack on his ship, and he said that it had been unprovoked. They were patrolling a known Abkani travel route when three cruisers dropped out of warp and opened fire. “So they’re not just waiting for the admirals to do their work for them.”
“It would seem not, Captain. You never said where we were going.”
“Please, call me Talura. And we’re going to XV-5172, a planet that the Abkani fear more than us.”
He nodded, then mentioned something I’d neglected to consider. “Trey. And we shouldn’t call our base by its official designation, otherwise they’ll know exactly where we are.”
“Agreed, but that begs the question of what to call it among ourselves.”
“When I was a Raider, we called it Arvindel. Perhaps we could refer to it as such to keep our location unknown.”
I nodded, it was a sound plan. We ran the risk of being located by other former Raiders, but the risk was small as most of them served in planetary defense forces. “That works. I’ll call a meeting of my crew, what few of us there are, and I’ll let them know.”
He nodded, and I excused myself before calling a meeting of my crew, with the exception of Sandira due to her duties. “We can’t call our base by its official designation; we’ll be found too easily. I’ve consulted with Captain Quinone, the one we rescued, and he suggested that we use an old Raider’s name for the planet: Arvindel. Are we agreed?”
They voiced their assent, then I dismissed them back to their duties. We towed the Kamir to Arvindel, and Tam got in touch with several of his contacts and they began repairing the ship. Meanwhile, we were hailed by a Qotoran vessel that had come from around the planet. “Onscreen.”
A female Qotoran appeared on the screen, and her eyes glowed faintly as she used her telepathy to transmit her thoughts through her ship’s thought converter. “Drakaen vessel, this is the Qotoran starship K’voth. Identify yourselves.”
“I’m Captain Talura Khan of the Odyssey. We recently rescued a Strovian battlecruiser, the Kamir, from an Abkani ambush. Is there any way you can assist their wounded? I don’t have a large enough crew to tend to them all.”
“I’m afraid not, Captain. As you well know, we are a water-bound race, and cannot leave it for any reason. We can contact the Admiralty and tow the Kamir to the nearest starbase, if you wish.”
“I appreciate the offer, but our survival depends on remaining off the grid. The Admirals struck a deal with the Abkani – they agreed to kill off all the veteran war officers and dismantle their warships in exchange for peace, but the Abkani have proven that they are more interested in conquest than peace. My brother, Admiral Tarkana, made it his personal mission to kill me, and I made sure he wouldn’t get the chance to betray me again.”
My aquatic counterpart nodded, then ‘spoke’ again. “I see. I feel that I should inform you, Captain, that the Abkani have been amassing in nearby sectors for reasons unknown, but your information leads me to believe they’re preparing an invasion. I know of several ships that would be willing to forsake their fleets and join your cause, mine included.”
I was puzzled; why was she telling me this? “I would appreciate their names and locations Captain, but why are you telling me this?”
My counterpart’s expression darkened considerably, and I could practically taste the venom in her words. “Because everyone on this ship, myself included, has lost family to the Abkani. My daughter was left on a desert world to burn by those monsters, and I’m going to make them pay dearly for her death.”
I nodded, knowing all too well the kind of pain she was feeling. “And pay they should. There’s an ancient code among my people, and I’m one of the extremely rare few that follow it: Eye for an eye, fang for a fang, blood for blood.”
She snapped her jaws together, displaying her needle-like fangs, and spoke with a determination I only saw in the most battle-hardened of soldiers. “Then count me as an ally Captain Khan. And please forgive me for not introducing myself before now; my name is Arya.”
“Talura. Now about those other ships you mentioned.”
She snapped her jaws again, the Qotoran version of a nod, and we heard an eerie, song-like vocalization come across the transmission. Soon after a smaller Qotoran swam up to a console and we received the names and coordinates of a half-dozen ships. Once we’d received the information I went to my ready room, “Vhyr, you have the bridge.” And opened a secure channel to Arya. “The three of us aren’t going to stand a chance against the Abkani as we are now. Even with the tech we salvaged, we’re too severely outnumbered to do more than irritate them.”
Arya snapped her jaws and voiced her opinion. “It seems that we need to get more advanced technology; technology that the Abkani don’t know we have.”
I nodded and voiced the most important questions I could ask about the topic at hand. “I agree, but what do we get and where and how do we get it? I know that Drakaen military tech is kept guarded in caverns miles beneath the surface of the planet. I don’t know about yours, but I’d assume it’s kept deeper than you can go without special equipment.”
“It is. It would seem that we won’t be able to rely on our own people to help us.”
“Unfortunately not, Arya. Until we come up with some idea of what where and how, shall we rendezvous with the first of the ships on the list you gave us?”
She snapped her jaws, then once I’d returned to the bridge we set a course to find the Sha’kal, a Nakrin attack cruiser captained by the legendary Esdar Tiral. Her tactics were cunning, her ship was powerful, and her crew was the best. I’d always wanted to meet her. Unfortunately we found her under attack by a small group of Raiders.
“Auren, fire a warning shot. Let them know we mean business.”
He fired a blast from the tachyon cannons, and the Raiders hailed us. “Don’t interfere, stranger.”
“The name’s Khan, Raider. Talura Khan, and I’m not in a good mood. Tactical, cripple their ships.”
Auren nodded and crippled each of the Raider ships with one shot each, then I ordered a channel opened to all three ships. “As I’m sure you’re aware, the Odyssey isn’t your standard science vessel. Unless you want to be left adrift for the Alliance to find, or worse the Abkani, I suggest you surrender.”
One of the captains, a Leokine warrior, tapped a console, then spoke to me. “My scans show you have an old friend of mine aboard, Trey Quinone. Is he a prisoner?”
“No, he and his crew were ambushed by the Abkani and we destroyed the Abkani ships before tending to his wounded. His ship is being repaired at Arvindel as we speak.”
The captains nodded, then the first one spoke again. “If Trey has accepted you as a friend, then so will I. May we join your fleet, Captain?”
It was an unexpected offer, but not an unwelcome one. “I’d welcome the extra hands, as long as you’re willing to follow our rules.”
“Alliance rules, I assume.”
“Not all of them, but a few. I would appreciate some help with Trey’s wounded, if any of your crew has medical training.”
“I’ll beam over with some of my crew. We’ve learned to treat our own wounded.”
I nodded, then informed the transporter room to be ready for them. I met them there, and I introduced myself to the Raider captain formally. “I’m Talura, Captain of the Odyssey. I’ll take you to sick bay.”
“Rhetia, Captain of the Bloodstar. The two ships with me are also under my command.”
Then I understood why she looked familiar. “I’ve heard a great deal about you, but why were you attacking Sha’kal?”
“We were defending ourselves. Captain Tiral accused us of collaborating with the Abkani before firing on us. We had every right to defend ourselves.”
I respected, even somewhat admired how calm Rhetia was in her explanation. “I see. I’ll take your crew to sick bay, then I’d like you and Captain Tiral to come to my ready room so we can discuss this matter in person.”
Rhetia nodded, so after showing her crew to sick bay, and Trey insisting that he come with us, the three of us went to the transporter room after contacting Captain Tiral. Once she was beamed aboard we went to my ready room and before an argument could break out I bodily came between them. “That’s enough! You’re captains, act like it!”
They nodded, then Captain Tiral spoke to Rhetia. “You truly are not with the Abkani?”
When Rhetia nodded, Captain Tiral bowed. “Then please, let me apologize. I lost my sister to the Abkani, and where they’re concerned I have a difficult time believing they don’t have allies among the admirals.”
I knew they did from my brother’s actions, but I chose not to voice that yet. “As do I. Now, can we count on your assistance against the Abkani, Captain Tiral?”
“Esdar, please. And yes, you can. My ship will need some minor repairs, but they shouldn’t take long.”
Rhetia nodded, then offered her assistance. “We caused the damage, so it’s only right that we help fix it. May I send a team over to help your engineering crew?”
Esdar agreed, and I left them to talk while I went to my quarters and opened a secure channel to Arya. “Talura, is something wrong?”
“Not a thing. We’ve gained four more ships for the fleet, Captain Tiral among them.”
“Excellent.” Before she could say more, someone signalled that they were outside my quarters. “I’ll contact you later. Someone’s outside.”
She nodded and closed the channel, and I composed myself quickly. “Enter.”
To my surprise, Sandira came through the doorway. “Can we talk, Captain? It’s an urgent matter.”
I motioned to a chair and took a seat next to her. “What’s wrong, Sandira?”
“My son, Kiba, is living on Starbase 216 with his father. With all the trouble the Abkani are causing I’m worried about him.”
I nodded, understanding her concern despite not having children of my own. “Then let’s get them. Are you on good terms with Kiba’s father?”
“Yes, we just haven’t seen each other for a while.”
“Good.” I tapped my badge. “Senra, set a course for Starbase 216, tachyon level three.”
“Aye Captain.”
“Tamarin, can you come to my quarters? There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“On my way Talura.”
Once Tam arrived we thrashed out the details of the plan, and we left for Tam’s ship while the Odyssey waited on standby outside the station’s sensor range.
Category Story / Fantasy
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