Chapter 25: To Yastri

We went through decontamination, then we all helped put away the cargo. After that we trouped up to the main bridge.

“Where do we go next?” asked Jem. I did not have an idea. I looked at Koluna and Laine, and they looked blank too.

“I don’t know captain. We could follow the lead from the ambassador,” I said.

“Ship, the ambassador suggested there might be pirate activity in the vicinity of Yastri. Could you pull up a chart of that system and the adjacent ones,” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship. The tactical display showed an area of space with several systems in.

“Brian, you had an uneasy feeling last night. Was it warning you to go somewhere or avoid somewhere? Was it a clue where to go next?” asked Jem.

“I don’t know. I do feel it would be good to keep moving. If trouble follows us, I do not want it visiting Quard,” I replied. “Ship, can you check the logs from Tobis’ vessel, did he ever visit Yastri?”

“Confirmed. The logs show travel to Yastri was some time ago,” replied Ship. On the system display there were some lines added showing the flight path of the vessel.

“Did his vessel visit a specific planet in the system?” I asked.

“Confirmed. The logs show orbit around the third planet,” replied Ship.

“Well, that at least confirms the lead we got from the ambassador. Ship, take us to Yastri. Take care of departure clearance with Quard system control. I don’t feel like talking to them,” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship. We departed orbit and made for the edge of the system. Soon after, the hyper drive cut in and we were on our way.

Jem declared the next two days were rest days. Besides, while we were travelling from one system to another there was not a lot of work to do. Maintenance aboard was mostly done by maintenance bots, which I rarely saw. The only work for me was worrying about what went wrong last time and preparing something to counter it the next time. At the moment, I was ahead, since nothing went wrong. I felt bad about us leaving Quard so soon after we arrived. I decided I should talk with Laine about it.

“Hey Laine, would you like to take a walk with me, like last time?” I said. Koluna looked up and smiled at me. It was hard to say something to one without another hearing. I would have to take her for a walk soon. I nodded at her, and I felt sure she understood what I was thinking.

“Yes Brian,” said Laine with her beaming smile. She jumped up and took my hand and we left the main bridge.

We walked along in silence for a while. She did not seem sad at least.

“Your father is a good being. I like him,” I said.

“Daddy likes you too,” said Laine, with a gleam in her eye that made me feel nervous.

“I’m sorry we left so soon. I can tell your father is important to you,” I said.

“Don’t worry. He thought I was dead. Now he knows I am alive and well. That means a lot to him and me.”

“I’m glad you could see him at least for a brief visit,” I said.

“Me too.”

“If you wanted to, you could have remained on Quard.”

“No, my place is here, with you.”

“With me??” I stopped.

“I mean you, Jem and Koluna. Duh!”

“Oh, sorry I was confused for a moment,” I said. I got a punch in the arm.

We moved on again. “Trouble follows us. I don’t want to stay with others we care about, because we could bring that trouble down on them. Last time we were on Ori Major, beings died. I know we did not kill them directly, but I know that if we had not gone there, they would still be alive.”

We took the elevator to another deck. I was not too aware of where we were, we just walked along together.

“Do you have any thoughts what we will find when we get to this next system?” I asked.

“Not really. It has a name which is unusual for an uninhabited system. Perhaps it is another pirate base?” replied Laine.

“I should have asked your father how he came to get intel that the pirates were active in that area,” I said. Laine nodded.

“Do you have any new ideas for some cool surprises in case we find pirates there?” asked Laine.

“Not really. We have the usual probes. Ship, am I right in assuming you have some ready?” I asked. I guess we did not have to be anywhere specific to talk with Ship.

“Confirmed. The latest version is generic. It can serve as a redshirt, dreadnought or a pirate decoy. It is armed with nano-bots and data port probes. I have tried to anticipate your requirements,” said Ship.

“Outstanding! I am grateful we initiated the self-improvement protocol. Your progress is impressive,” I said.

“Confirmed,” said Ship. No modesty protocols I figure.

“Laine, we should assume that sometime soon we will encounter pirates with Baglogi technology. They could try to infect us with another virus, for example,” I said.

“But we put my anti-virus filters in place, and you introduced the surrogate probe. We should be safe from their virus,” she replied.

“They could have Baglogi cloaking technology,” I said.

“That is tricky, but why did we not encounter it already? It could be that they have yet to adapt it to their vessels,” said Laine. It made sense.

“There was that power core on Laine Alpha Four. It looked like Baglogi technology,” I said.

“Yes. So anything is possible. They might be further ahead. They might not. We don’t know. But we do have something they do not,” said Laine.

“We do?” I asked.

“Duh! We got Brian technology. That is like Baglogi plus sneaky,” replied Laine. We both smiled. Inwardly I hoped that it was enough.

Later it was time for dinner and a movie, as per Jem’s standing orders. We all met up in the main dining lounge. Laine had got us some fresh Quard food from our visit. Koluna helped her prepare it, and we all loaded up plates of food and sat on the couch facing the display. I ended up between Jem and Laine.

“This evening I have a movie from Quard, dubbed into Ori thanks to Ship. I hope you like it,” said Laine.

“I am sure we will. I have enjoyed Koluna’s movies from Ori,” I said. Ship dimmed the ambient lighting, and the movie came on. It was quite entertaining. We ate our dinner as we watched. It was nice to hang out together with food and entertainment like this.

We watched a couple of Laine’s movies, before it got late and we decided it was time to sleep. We returned to our cabins. Tonight I had the company of Koluna.

“Koluna, in the morning, would you like to take a walk with me?” I asked.

“I’d love that. Thanks,” she said.

The next morning, after we got up and had a morning coffee, I took Koluna on the promised walk. I took her hand, and we wandered along the corridors and decks.

“This is a nice activity. We should have thought of this earlier,” said Koluna.

“I am sorry, I can be slow to come up with good ideas. From now on, I can be available for walking tours as often as you like,” I said. Koluna smiled. We walked some more.

“Bri-an, I wonder what I am doing here. I don’t come up with amazing ideas like you do. I am not good at combat. I don’t know how to pilot a shuttle,” she said.

“I wonder what I am doing here too. If they had not rescued us, I’d be dead long ago,” I said.

“You belong here more than anyone. You are the reason we are all alive. You are the reason that so many pirates are dead. They rescued us, but you took to this life like you were born for it. I don’t think I am of use the way you are,” she insisted.

“Hmm. You know about commerce and freighters. You understand cargo and purchasing. Those are your main skill areas?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, pirates prey on freighters and they are a bane to commerce. The loot they steal is cargo. You can track down cargo and freighters. Because of your work, we can inform the systems that have lost vessels and loved ones. We can provide evidence to convict any pirates that survive long enough to be captured. After the fighting is over, we need your skills to make sense of all the mayhem and chaos. Many beings in the Ori Confederation have closure, because you made a list of vessels that were attacked by the pirates. And that is just one of many systems,” I stated. I wanted to stop her negative thinking.