Part 1

Being a ship engineer for the Federation has its advantages and disadvantages. For one thing, you can meet all kinds of people at Stargate Alpha I, the Federation’s main stardock. There are aliens of all sorts. There are unsavory characters. There are women, children, animals, etc, living on this massive man made structure floating in the middle of space.

How massive you may ask? Well, let’s just say it is the size of a small planet, perhaps as big as Earth. While Stargate Alpha I, often refered to as Stardock around these parts, is huge, it is actually quite easy to get around Stardock thanks to hundreds of thousands of transporter pads around the structure that would beam you from one part of Stardock to another. Need to see a movie at the Cini-plex? You’re there. Need to visit a Lost Trader’s Tavern even though you are on the other side of Stardock at a Hardware Store? Beam over the the tavern in no time at all. It’s cool. For people who are scared to use transporters for fear their molecules wont reassemble at the end of the transportation, there is also superfast subway trains that still will get you around the structure in an hour or two.

Many transporter pads are small enough to beam one person or two to another area while some pads are large enough to fit a ship on and beam ships from, say, the shipyard to the loading bay, where ships enter and leave Stardock.

The downside of being a ship engineer for the Federation in the middle of space is that I havent set foot on earth soil in a long long time and I miss it. But I try not to think about that.

I just got done working on a Corporate Flagship and sat down for a cigarette break when some dude wearing short spiked light brown hair, a leather jacket, black pants and black boots walk up to me.

“Can I help you?” I ask him.

“You Timberwolf?” He says to me.

“The one and only”, I reply with a smile.

“Cool. My name is Fuseblown and I’m the CEO of -=Nav Haz Unltd.=- .” He says to me. ” I believe you are working on my CFS? It was supposed to go thru a physical in preparation for my patrol of federation space.”

“You a federal?” I ask him.

“No, just helping them out while many of the federals are at war with the ferrengi and the feds are short on men so I volunteered my corp to watch things around here. ” explains Fuseblown.

“I see. Well, all’s well with your ship except for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Your transwarp drive. You see, transwarp drives are supposed to lock on on a fighter you own in the sector you are supposed to jump to, right?”

“Right and this T-warp drive couldnt?”

“On the contrary, it will always be able to lock in on a fighter, or so it seems. ” I explain. “You see, someone tampered with the computer to always tell the T-warp drive you have a fighter in the sector you are to jump to, when in reality you may not have a fighter, which could result in one nasty mishap, if you know what I mean.”

“Gotcha, bro. Atomic fusion. ” He nods at me with a smile. “Fix it then?”

“Of course, already done. If I didnt find that flaw, you would be in a pod before you know it, ” I point out, “that is, if you made it to the pod in time.”

“Thanks. How much do I owe you for the work?”

I told him.

Fuseblown looks at me and then says, “That’s cheap. Last guy to work on my CFS tried to charge me an arm and a leg for repairs. I tried to haggle the price down and he refused.”

“So what did you do?” I ask him.

“I broke his arm and fractured his leg and called it highway robbery and he finally agreed to lower the price.” Fuseblown says with a wicked smile and I laugh.

“Think he tampered with that computer? ” I ask Fuseblown.

“No I dont think so. He was an ok engineer, but I think he is too stupid to do a job like tampering with computer proggies. ” Fuseblown shrugs.

I nod and Fuseblown takes out a hand held computer and punches in something and I take out my own hand held computer and get a message that Fuseblown just transfered money to the Shipyard’s bank account. Today there is no cash, no credit cards, all transactions are done by wireless transfers. It is pretty cool.

The only downside is that all computers are run by the Winux Operating system. That’s right – Microsoft and Linux merged Windws and Linus operating systems and called it Winux. When the merger of Microsoft and Linux was complete a few years ago, I read in the news about some linux guy so heartbroken over the merger, he commited suicide. I think the guy’s name was Aitvo something or other. Shrugs.

“Thanks, dude. ” I tell Fuseblown. “What is your dock in the loading bay so I can beam this ship over there?”

Fuseblown tells me and I get a droid to move the ship to a nearby transporter pad. I then punch in a few code sequences on a console and, presto! The ship is gone. I look at a security monitor and see that the ship is in the loading bay.

“Thanks Bro. I’ll go get my corpies in the Tavern next door and head on out.” With that, Fuseblown shakes my hand and walks out of the shipyards.

I clean up my mess and then I’m done for the weekend. I head on to the Lost Trader’s Tavern myself for a drink or two.

End of Part 1.

 

Part 2

There are many kinds of Lost Trader’s Taverns all over Stardock. This one is not exactly one a family can visit. Being so close the the ship yards and the loading bay, it is one of the busiest taverns and can also be bad in some areas too with unsavory characters hanging about.

I go to the bar and Mana Knight, the bartender, comes up.

“What will it be, dude?” he asks me.

“Beer,” I tell him. “Miller Lite if you got it.”

“Right.” Mana Knight goes to a fridge, opens it, pulls out a long neck, pops it open, shuts the fridge door, and walks to me and sets the beer on a coaster on the counter.

“Put it on my tab, ” I tell Mana.

“Will do,” and he goes to serve other customers.

I light up a cigarette when some dude in a ski cap sits next to me at the bar. I didnt look at him but I feel he is looking at me. Finally, I ask him without looking at him while taking a drink of my beer, “Can I help you, dude? Otherwise, get the hell outta here.”

“Name’s Hellcat.”

Never heard of him.

“Is that supposed to impress me? ” I tell him.

“Guess not. Got a job for you, Timberwolf,” he offers.

He knows my name. Big deal.

“What’s the job? Got a ship need fixing?” I ask him.

“Can you pilot a colonial transport for me?”

“Carrying what? You must be carrying something if it is a colt.”

“That’s on a need to know basis”

“I need to know or I dont take this job and you can fuck yourself.”

“Ok, you win. Hauling equipment.”

“Where?”

He tells me the location.

“That’s 20 hops from here, a good 6 hours trip in a colt. ” I explain. “You got support as a colt is not exactly a fighting ship?”

“Support is not a problem. I already have a crew. Just need one more guy, ” explains Hellcat.

“How much the pay?”

He told me and I think it over. For a days work, that is more money I make in a week fixing ships.

“Better not being carrying something illegal., ” I tell him.

Hellcat shakes his head. “Nope. Just equipment. Port Tarsus offered us a good deal on them and we are taking it there.”

“Ok. I’ll do it. so as long as I’m back by Monday for my regular job, ” I light up another smoke.

Hellcat smiles. He tells me to meet him in 15 minutes and gives me the number of the loading bay he’ll be at and walks away.

I drink the last of my beer and walk back to the shipyards to grab my stuff then teleport to the loading bay. I find the dock Hellcat is at.

“Hey Timber, ” Hellcat says to me.

I see 3 other guys with him.

“Who’s they? ” I ask him.

Hellcat points to each guy.

“That’s Prestone, over there is Rolodex, and that dude by the starship is DarkHawk.”

All 3 nods their acknowledgement to me.

“You ready? ” Hellcat asks me.

“First I want half the money up front,” I demand to him.

“No problem.”

He takes out his handheld PC and punches in a few sequences and I’m notified of the bank transfer on my own handheld.

“All right. I’m ready, ” I tell him.

“Let’s go. Prestone, Rolo, and Darkhawk are running support in the starships. I’ll take the other colt. You take this one”, Hellcat points to a colonial transport ready to go.

*************************

When you are in the deep void of space, time either flies or goes by real slow depending on how you look at it. In my case, time flew, and we are at Port Tarsus in no time. Port Annex is just a hop away where Hellcat’s colt is parked.

Hellcat beams to my ship.

“Wait here until we are done unloading, ” he says to me.

I nod in agreement.

I watch him as he unloads the equipment, then for some reason, he hurries back with the same equipment he just unloaded. He beams to his colt and does the same thing at Port Annex – unloading equipment, returning to his ship with same equipment, then beaming to my ship and doing the same thing here. It was then I realized he is using a common criminal tactic called “Sell, Steal, and Transport”, or otherwise known as “SST”. Damn. What did I get myself into?

Hellcat beams into my ship. “All right, get the hell outta here! I just got busted but got away! Move it!”

“I dont think so,” I explain to Hellcat. “I want no part of this.”

Hellcat looks at me with contempt and sighs. “This is more money you could ever make. You sure?”

I nod.

“All right. Darkhawk just picked up a merchant freighter. ” Hellcat tells me. “Beam to it and get the fuck outta here.”

“Gladly.”

I enter the code on the transporter for the merchant freighter , beam to it, and set course for Stardock. Right there and then, I get a message from ship scanners that DarkHawk’s Starship is powering up weapons!! He is about to destroy me!! I immediately make it to an escape pod and get in the pod. I jettison the pod out of the freighter and at the moment, the freighter explodes into a brillant fireball, the force of the explosion sending the pod spiraling into space.

I am now far and away from Port Tarsus. Scanners tell me I am about 5 hops away from where I was. They will find me in no time if I dont get help.

I then notice a group of warships approaching. Have they found me? Damn.

End of Part 2

Part 3

Being in a pod in the lifeless void of outerspace can be the most lonesome and scariest feeling in the universe.

It can especially be scary when 3 warships are nearby that could possibly destroy you.

I’m in this exact predicament after being screwed over by Hellcat and his group of thugs earlier today in a mission that I thought was just hauling equipment but turned out to be criminal activity that I wanted no part of.. The end result is that I’m now in a pod no bigger than maybe a small airplane all alone in outerspace.At least there is food rations and air to last me maybe a week…if I’m lucky to make it that long.

The warships approach closer and I feel I am done for as I think it is Hellcat and his gang. So I say my prayers.

But as the ships come closer, I see that they are not the same ships that blew up the merchant freighter I was in. I breathe a sigh of relief but still am apprehensive a bit as I have no clue who is in the warships. For all I know, it could be the Black Knights, who are another criminal gang, or maybe aliens.

Then I get a private hail, “Galileo, this is Space Ghost of Boo! Inc. Do you need assistance?”

Galileo is the official name for an escape pod, like the one I’m in. And I know of Space Ghost. He’s cool from what I hear.

“Yeah, ” I respond. “I could use a tow to Stardock. You got t-warp and a fed commiss, makes things easier and faster, dude.”

“I got both t-warp and a commiss so I’ll get you to SD in a sec, bro. Hang on.” Space Ghost said.

I wait a minute, then feel the pod jolt a bit and I’m guessing it is the tractor beam taking hold of the ship.

“Hang on, bro, ” said Space Ghost. “We’ll be at SD in no time.”

I hold on and wait. I notice the stars begin to move by my window then all of the sudden, the stars turn to streaks of light across the sky and I know now we are making the jump into hyperspace and in a minute, the stars stop moving and I see we are hovering over Stardock.

“Thanks. How did you happen to find me, Space Ghost?” I ask him over the subspace radio.

“Limpet was activated and we came to investigate, ” he replied.

“Limpet?”

“Yup. Invisible mine you deploy anywhere but fedspace in the universe,” Space Ghost explains, “If a ship runs over it, it attaches to the hull and it acts like a tracking bug, allowing the limpet owner to track the ship’s movement. Well, your pod had such a limpet.”

I sense a smile behind that last statement and I smile myself. I then thank him and begin to take my pod into the landing bay. Landing at SD is really cool. A huge door opens to allow the ship to pass thru. In order to keep the air pressure stabilzed and the air held in the landing bay, a special force field is activated that stills allows ships to pass through but keeps the air pressure stable as the door opens and closes. Ever put a finger or a pin through a bubble without popping it? That is what this force field is like as I feel my pod passing through it.

I then land the pod on a landing pad and as I get off the pod, a droid immediately scans the ship’s hulls, for what I dont know.

Then the droid comes up to me and says in a computerized voice, “Your ship has limpets on it. There is a $5000 charge for cleaning them. And cleaning is required if you want to keep the ship here. Otherwise I will have to ask you to leave the premises.”

I look at the droid.

“Ya mean I gotta pay 5 grand for one stupid limpet on a pod?” I ask the droid.

“Affirmative,” replies the droid.

Brother. I take out my handheld and transfer the 5K to the port authorities and the droid immediately cleans the limpet off the ship. I then have the droid take the pod to a transporter pad so I can beam the ship to the ship yards. Since the pod was off Darkhawk’s merchant freighter, I consider it free to me and since the pod is valued at about 17K, I will still come out ahead12K if I sell it to the shipyards to install into one of their main ships, so I guess no real biggie here.

I look up and see Space Ghost and his two escort ships come in the landing bay and land on seperate pads. Space Ghost comes out of his ship and I see a big yellow bird come out of another ship and a human unboarding the 3rd ship.

I walk up to Space Ghost and shake his hand to say thanks for rescuing me.

“No problem ,bro, ” he tells me. He then introduces me to his crew mates. “That big yellow bird over there? He is an alien and the first alien to work for Boo! Inc. We call him Tweety as his alien name is too damned hard to pronounce. And this one over here is Kavanagh. Good crewman. ”

I shake each one’s hands then I ask Space Ghost, “I thought you had a bigger crew.”

“I do.” He explains. “Medusa, Zoobar, and the Brain are all out investiging our active limpets. They should be done later tonight.”

The four of us then teleport over to the Lost Trader’s Tavern where we each have a seat by the bar. Mana Knight comes up and asks us what we will have. I order a Miller Lite, Space Ghost says to make that two. Kavanagh follows suit. Tweety then orders a bowl of birdseed and some water.

After Mana Knight gives us our beers and Tweety his birdseed and water, Space Ghost asks me what happened with me in the pod and I explain my story from Hellcat first offering me the job to DarkHawk blasting my ship to Space Ghost finding the pod.

“Did you say Rolodex, Hellcat, Prestone, and DarkHawk?” Space Ghost asks me.

I nod.

“That’s the VIRII gang, the most notorious ruthless gang in the galaxy,” Space Ghost explains.

“Did you say VIRII?” Mana Knight interrupts.

“Yup,” replies Space Ghost. “Why?”

“Some guy sitting at the counter calling himself Bud said he was gonna join VIRII for some reason. At the time, I didnt know who VIRII was or I would have warned authorities, ” explains Mana Knight.

“What’s he look like?” asks Kavanagh.

Mana Knight shows him a tavern security camera picture. Kavanagh looks at it then gives it to Space Ghost, who then sighs and passes on the picture to us.

“That is Bud AKA the Notorious Killer, boys, ” Space Ghost explains.

I’ve heard of him and he lives up to his rep. Damn. VIRII will be very tough to defeat now. Just then a drunk comes up to the bar and he seems wasted out of his mind and demands another beer. Mana Knight refuses and tells the drunk he is cutting him off and to get lost and go home. The drunk starts to get angry and remains at the bar, still demanding the beer. Mana Knight threatens to call security if the drunk doesnt leave. The drunk begins to climb over the bar to go after Mana and just as he is on the barstool, someone pulls him down. We look over and it is a young hispanic male standing over the fallen drunk.

“Guy asked you to leave, ” said the new guy to the drunk.

The drunk throws a roundhouse at the new guy with his right hand and the new guy blocks it with his left arm then nails a shot at the drunk’s left ribs with his right fist and the drunk doubles over in pain as security arrives to take the drunk away. The new guy then flexes his muscles and I could swear he would have thumped his chest if security hadnt come to take the drunk away.

“Impressive, ” Mana says to the new guy. “Beer on the house. What’ll it be?”

“Corona.”

Mana grabs a Corona, opens it, and hands it to the new guy, who promptly takes a drink out of it. Then the new guy sets the bottle on the counter.

“Who are you?” I ask the new guy.

“Name’s EleqTrizi’T. Friends call me Eleq for short.”

I introduce myself to EleqTrizi’T, then introduce him to the other guys.

“So what is this I hear about VIRII?” Eleq asks us.

Space Ghost explains the story and when he was done, Eleq takes a drink of his beer and sets it on the counter and asks us with a grin, “need another guy to even up the sides?”

“That would be great. You got fighting experience?” I ask Eleq.

Eleq looks at me like I’m nuts. Then he explains, “Doood. I was the CEO of Dominance Enterprises! Or DE! for short. It was the GREATEST crew of all time.Damn shame we then all had families and had to retire or we still would be kicking some ass.”

“Help us out then?” I ask Eleq.

“Be obliged to you if I can paste Hellcat and send that Cat to Hell,” Eleq responds with a grin. “Got two former crewmates arriving later to help out if needed. Names are Bad Girl and Guardian but both of them sent me a sub space message saying their ship records are corrupted and they will be delayed a day or so until the records are fixed so they will be here when they can.”

All of a sudden, things are looking up.

Part 4

I’m working on my ship getting it ready for the battle with VIRII when Admiral Nelson walks up to my ship. I put my tools down and salute him. He salutes back. Admiral Nelson is an old guy, probably 70 years old or so, but he is fit as a fiddle and sharp as a tack and I dont expect to see him retire for a long time.

“Gonna fight VIRII?” He asks me.

“Yes Sir, ” I reply. Apparently he knows of myself, Boo! inc. and Eleq about to take on VIRII.

He looks at my ship. It is a fast ship but one not quite made for fighting. It is an old flagship that I fixed and the owner was unable to pay the repair bill so I kept it. Starships are better for fighting. But with the crew we have, I figure we still have a fighting chance agaisnt VIRII.

“Gonna use this hunk of junk in the battle? ” Admiral Nelson asks me.

“Yes Sir. I cant afford a starship nor do I have the commision required to use a starship,” I reply.

Admiral Nelson looks at me and smiles. He hands me a document and I look at it. I just have been made a commisioned federal officer. I look at Admiral Nelson.

“Thank you, Sir. But may I ask what did I do to deserve this? ” I ask him.

He explains that due to my excellent work as a ship engineer for the Federation, all federal officers using ships I have worked on have very little malfunctions if any and that I have done a fine job in keeping the ships in tip top shape.

“I also have another surprise for you, ” says Admiral Nelson.

We walk over to another area of the ship yards and I see a shiny new Imperial Starship. On the side of the ship is a mural of a Wolf’s head and it appears to be howling.

“Awesome ship, Sir. That’s for me? ” I ask.

“Yes. I want VIRII just as bad as you do, but I’m too damn old to fight, ” he says with a chuckle.

I thank him and we shake hands and he leaves. I go back to my old CFS and teleport it to a hangar then walk back to the new ISS and look it over. Damn fine ship.

The rest of the guys walk up to me and congratulates me on my new commision and the new starship. Then EleqTrizi’T wanted to show us his ship so we walk over to his dock where I see a sleek shiny warship.

“Name of the ship is The Retaliator, ” Eleq explains. “This ship is the fastest and the most powerful one in the galaxy. It runs on the Fusion GS engine as well, the best type of engine there is.”

We look at the ship in awe and I think Eleq is ready to flex his muscles or thump his chest, but he didnt.

Space Ghost receives a beep on his communicator and he picks it up and talks to it.

“Space Ghost here,” he says to the communicator.

“Zoobar here, bro. We just found VIRII, ” Zoobar explains. “but they also found us. The Brain’s dead. Medusa’s ship was destroyed, but she managed to escape in a pod. I managed to grab Medusa’s pod in my tractor beam and was photoned just as I made the transwarp jump to our home base. The photon shut down the ship’s power after the jump was made, but Medusa and I are home safe. Wish I could say the same for The Brain.”

Space Ghost sighs.

“Where are they?” Space Ghost asks Zoobar.

Zoobar tells him and wishes us good luck since his ship is pretty much done for thanks to the photon damage. Space Ghost puts away the communicator and looks at us.

“Looks like we got a battle to attend to, boys and maybe avenge the Brain,” says Space Ghost.

“All right , dudes, ” Eleq adds. “it is go time. Get your ships ready and meet in orbit of stardock. I know of a blind jump location near VIRII’s location that we can warp to. We can go after them in no time and kick some ass!!”

We all put our hands together then raise them up and yell, “It is go time!!”

I never have been this psyched for a battle as I am now and am now looking forward to seeking retribution against VIRII.

Part 5

Been a long long time since I was in battle. Last time I was in a war was about 6 months ago in which I assisted a corporation named the Huns in a battle with the Black Knights and a corp who called themselves the Good, Bad, and Indifferent , or the GBI for short. We made a truce with the GBI to work with them to drive out the Black Knights from the galaxy. But after that, we had to fight the GBI themselves. But both of our sides had such an enormous amount of resources and many of us on the Huns had families waiting for us back home during this long and extended war and we were afraid that the war would be even longer, so we pulled out with what we had to be with our families.God knows what the result would have been had we remained in the war with the GBI.

I dont expect this fight with VIRII to be a long one at all. It is just a ship to ship fight, no planetary invasions involved like the war with GBI was which took a lot longer to accomplish.

I am hovering over Stardock in my new Imperial Starship along with Eleq, Space Ghost, Kavanagh, and Tweety. We wanted to wait for Bad Girl and Guardian, but they are not here yet and we need to catch VIRII before they get too far away, so we decided to just go and Eleq sent a subspace message to Bad Girl and Guardian telling them where we’ll be.

“I’m gonna make the blind jump near VIRII’s location that Zoobar gave, ” explains Eleq on the subspace radio. “If the jump is sucessful, I’ll drop a fighter for you guys to lock on to and you then can make the jump yourselves.No need for all of us to fuse.”

We all agree in acknowledgement and I watch as Eleq’s ship is being surrounded by a glowing corona of warp energies then I see the ship vanish from scanners with a brilliant flash.

A minute later we hear from Eleq, “Jump was succesful guys. I dropped a fighter.”

He tells us where the fighter is and we make the jump ourselves and scanners now show us in a different location and that VIRII is nearby. We arm our weapons and scanners.

“Keep an eye open, boys,” warns Space Ghost.

We see VIRII near a port and head right to them. Immediately they react by attacking us and we all are at each other, no one having a clear advantage.

Then Space Ghost makes a move on Prestone. He bears down on Prestone’s ship, firing wave after wave of fighters at Prestone’s ship, damaging Prestone’s ship extensively. Tweety cuts in front of Prestone, fires at him and Prestone’s ship explodes. No pod, so he is dead.

“Good job, Tweety, ” says Space Ghost on the subspace radio

I hear Tweety yelling on the subspace radio and while I cannot understand his alien langauge, I can guess that, loosely translated, it is “Yahoo!”

Tweety’s celebration was shortlived, however, as Bud AKA the Notorious Killer sneaks up behind him and Tweety tries to get away. Bud launches a few waves of fighters at Tweety and Tweety’s ship explodes. But a pod did flee so he is still alive..I hope.

Just then Zoobar is on the subspace radio, “Guys, I got my ship back online, but weapons are still disabled. Anything I can still do?”

“Yeah, Tweety is in a pod somewhere, ” Space Ghost says. “Find him and pick him up. And be ready to pick up any more pods. “

“Will do,” says Zoobar and he disconnects from the radio.

Meanwhile, Eleq is in a dogfight with Hellcat while Rolodex is duking it out with Kavanagh. Space Ghost is trying to gain the upper hand on Darkhawk. So where’s Bud? I look around and all of a sudden my ship’s power and defenses shuts down. Seems I just got photoned and I immediately cloak out on the spot before the photon had a chance to disable the ship completely. Only way I can be de-cloaked is with another photon and I pray that doesnt happen. Thank god I’m a ship engineer and I get right to work on my ship while watching the battle. I’m safe for now since no one can see me cloaked…unless by a density scanner that I pray these guys doesnt use.

Thanks to my technical expertise, I get my ship back online though weapons are still down, so I remain cloaked. Kavanagh is fighting with Rolodex and Bud at the same time, but Kavanagh pulls a nice move by getting between Rolodex and Bud and then diving out of the way, making Rolodex and Bud fire at each other and destroying each other.No pods either. Heh.Two more down.

“Nice Job Kav, ” I comment on the radio.

While Kavanagh tries to get back into position for the battle , DarkHawk surprises Kav and nails Kavs’ ship with a few waves of fighters but not destroying it. The damage was enough to Kav’s ship though that he was forced to leave the scene or risk being killed. DarkHawk then turns around and blows up Space Ghost’s ship in the blink of an eye, but a pod fled from Space Ghost’s ship so he will be ok. But it just leaves me and Eleq to fight Hellcat and Darkhawk. Eleq is holding his own against Hellcat, neither man not getting a clear advantage.

I then come up with a plan and radio Zoobar of my plan. Zoobar says he’ll carry out my plan and I wait until I hear from Zoobar again. Which I do.

“I picked up Space Ghost in his pod and told him of your plan,” Zoobar says. “He’s ready to do it, bro. Whenever you are ready.”

I smile and then decloak. DarkHawk sees me and comes right for me. I simply deploy a fighter and a limpet and just sit there.

“Ya think a single fighter gonna stop me, punk? ” DarkHawk yells at me over the fed com radio. “You are a dead man, asshole!”

I did not respond. I just sit there while DarkHawk bears down on me and as soon as his ship picks up the limpet and he takes out the single fighter, a level 6 planet materializes from the void of space.

“What the…??” DarkHawk exclaims on the fed com.

I watch as his ship explodes in a ball of fire and I smile. The planet happened to have an interdictor generator which prevents enemy ships from escaping the sector and what destroyed his ship was the quasar cannons on the planet when DarkHawk tried to leave the sector. The planet is also special in that it can be warped around the galaxy.

“Nice planet drop, Space Ghost.” I comment on the radio. I land on the planet and head for the planet’s citadel to meet Zoobar, Space Ghost, Medusa, Kavanagh, and Tweety. We watch on a monitor of Hellcat and Eleqtrizi’T fighting. None of us can help out as all of us either dont have ships or those of us with the ships are too damaged to fight with.

Eleq finally pulls a nice move on Hellcat, inflicting some damage on Hellcat’s ship. But Hellcat is faster and turns around and sends a few waves of fighters at Eleq’s ship, damaging it badly . I look at a combat scanner. Eleq is only down to a few hundred shields. But so is Hellcat. The next shot wins the battle and we all hold our breath. We see Hellcat make a move to get Eleq in front of him. I see on the scanners Hellcat is powering up his weapons systems and I pray that Eleq gets the hell outta there quickly.

Just then 2 waves of fighters come out of nowwhere and destroys Hellcat’s ship just like that.No pod..no nothing..just a cloud of debris is what is left of Hellcat.

A male voice exclaims on the radio, “Yee-haaa!”

A female voice adds, “Yes!!”

“Nice hit, Bad Girl and Guardian, ” says Eleq. ” But I was doing fine on my own.”

I think Eleq is grateful anyways and we all chuckle.

“No problem, bro, ” says Guardian on the radio. “Bad Girl and I will get you guys back to Stardock.”

I smile, grateful that no one on our team died though we did lose a few ships.

“All right, ” Eleq responds. “That would be cool.”

Next on part 6 – the celebration

Part 7

It has been about a week since the battle with VIRII. Boo! Inc. since has left for their patrols. Eleq, Bad Girl and Guardian have left for Earth to help run some kind of war games tournament over there. I’m still working in the shipyards, though I now own it outright when the Federation began selling many departments to private individuals to cut operating costs. I bought the shipyards when it went up for sale. All ships up for sale are mine until sold. Took me a hefty loan to buy it, but I’ll get the money back to pay off the loan in no time when many of my ships are sold.

The Lost Trader’s Tavern location next to the ship yards also went up for sale. Mana Knight bought it and renamed it the Trade Winds Bar & Grill. From what I understand, he will be serving steaks, hamburgers,etc. , and most notably, he will be serving many cajun and other Louisianna specialities from his home land.

I’m in Trade Winds right now enjoying a sirloin steak and some steak cut fries when Fuseblown walks over to my table and sits down.

“Sup, bro?” I ask him, eating my steak and then taking a drink of my soda.

“A team of thieves just looted a port nearby, ” Fuseblown tells me.

“Nothing new. Thieves loot ports all the time and they get caught,” I shrug my shoulders and go back to eating.

“This one is different.,” Fuseblown explains. “They left a bottle of ajax, a can of comet, a jug of clorox, a bottle of mr. clean, some T960, and some other janitorial supplies at the scene.”

I look at Fuseblown.

“A card was also left at the scene, ” Fuseblown continues, ” that said ‘Cleaning Crew strikes again!’ “

“Interesting,” I respond, finishing the last of my steak. “I’m done with the shipyards for the day anyways. My assistant manager can run the show for a while. What do you say we go on a little patrol?”

“Sure, ” Fuseblown responds, “I’ll get my ship ready and meet ya in the loading bay.”

We shake hands and I pay Mana for the steak and then head over to the pharmacy to grab some Advil for my back aches. I walk in the pharmacy and as I’m taking a box of advil off the shelf, I hear a familiar voice by the prescription pick up counter. I peek around a corner and I recognize the guy waiting to pick up his prescription as Soul, the guy I caught the other day with Big D in the tavern for violating probation.

I listen and hear the pharmacist tell Soul, “Here is your viagra, sir.”

Viagra? It was all I could do to keep laughing right there and then. I quickly go up front to pay for my advil then wait outside the pharmacy for Soul to come out and he does come out. I tail him to a sleazy section of Stardock where he is talking to a girl who is obviously a hooker, judging form her halter top & a skirt up so high you can see the outline of her ass. If she bends over, it is a full moon right there. She is also wearing thigh high leather boots. Soul appears to be trying to make a deal with her then both of them go in a building together. I sigh and grab my communcatior and punch in a number for Soul’s probation agent. After all, I did warn him, he fucks up again, I call his probation agent.

“Stardock Probation and Parole Agency, Beverly speaking, how can I help you?” says a female voice.

“Bev, Timberwolf here, ” I explain to her. “Macahan around?”

“Yes sir, ” Bev tells me. “I’ll connect you to him.”

I wait then hear a voice with a swedish accent come online.

“Macahan here, Timberwolf,” says Macahan on the communicator.

I told him what I saw of Soul.

“No shit?” Macahan asks me. “Where he at?”

I told him.

“I’ll call an officer and I’ll get over there to pick him up,” explains Macahan.” Thanks.”

“No problem,” I put away my communicator and head for the shipyards to get my ship ready for patrol to look for the Cleaning Crew.

As I’m putting the final touches on preparations on my ship, my communcator beeps. I answer it.

“Macahan here, ” says Macahan on the communicator. “I caught Soul and had him arrested. He’s going away for a long time for violating probation. Thanks, dude.”

“No problem, bro,” I respond.

“Hey you did say he got some viagra?” Machan asks me.

“That’s right.”

“Ok, ” explains Macahan.” When I caught him, he was butt naked TRYING to get it on with the hooker. Let me tell ya, bro. If he used viagra, he sure didnt look like it”

I laugh.

“That’s sad bro, ” I tell him.”He buys a drug to help him get IT up and IT didnt get up and if he did get IT up, I would hate to imagine what IT would be without the viagra.”

Both Macahan and I laugh.I say goodbye and put away my communicator and finish work on my ship.

Cleaning Crew ought to be interesting.

End of Part 7