Chapter 50: Gober System

Our visit to the Anzed system was a brief one. I was glad we didn’t risk exploring that hill.

I returned to my cabin to rest. Laine and Mina didn’t follow me back. I suspected the Lido and the botany lab helped distract them. If I could find something that held Jem’s interest as much, I would have a peaceful life aboard Ship.

I enjoyed a long dreamless sleep before Jem came by to see me.

“Wake up, Brian,” said Jem.

“Uh, what do you need, Commodore?” I responded. It might be something important, I suppose.

“I desire the pleasure of your company. Let’s go for a walk around our new vessel,” replied Jem.

“Sure. Let me get cleaned up and I’ll meet you in your cabin in a few minutes,” I said.

Jem left, and I got up and washed and donned a fresh jumpsuit. I found Jem in the corridor near her cabin. We held hands and wandered along together.

“Do you want Ship to put together a guided tour or just wander around at random?” I asked.

“Let’s try random for now,” said Jem. The dreadnought was much larger than our former vessel, allowing plenty of walking opportunities.

We walked in comfortable silence for a while. The closeness was mutually pleasant.

“You’ve done well with Laine and Mina. Their morale is at an all-time high,” said Jem.

“I have? I just gave them something they liked,” I replied.

“You spent time with Laine. She appreciates having a swim partner. You took Mina on an away team mission to gather samples,” said Jem.

“I expect Mina to be busy with her plants for the foreseeable future,” I said.

“Yes. I’ve warned her not to overdo it,” replied Jem.

We turned a corner. I’d lost track of where we were. We continued our walk. I tried in vain to think of a response to her comment. Then I let it drop. I sensed she might have something else to discuss, but wasn’t ready.

We took an elevator up a level and wandered the corridors on that level. They looked much the same to me. Jem didn’t seem to notice.

“Brian, how did it feel to stand on the planet where your mother was born?” asked Jem.

“It was nothing special. It’s just a planet,” I said.

“Do you remember when we stood on Baglogi Four? It was special to me. It was my ancestral home,” said Jem.

“Earth wasn’t special to me. I only went there to return Cathy. I was glad to leave,” I said.

The conversation died. I think she was trying to reach out to me, but she picked the wrong topic. We continued our walk.

A while later she started up again. “Are you hungry?”

“A little. I could get something at the Lido or the main dining lounge perhaps,” I replied.

“Let’s go to the main dining lounge. We can watch a movie as well there,” she offered.

Our walk detoured to the nearest elevator, and we made our way to the main dining lounge. We got some snack foods and snuggled on the sofa. Ship dimmed the lights, and we watched romantic comedies together.

A day later, Mina summoned everyone to visit her lab.

Jem, Laine and I arrived at the door to her lab.

“Do we knock?” asked Laine.

“No, she knows we are coming,” replied Jem.

We opened the door and entered.

“Welcome,” said Mina.

The lab contained multiple isolated areas with different plants growing.

“Over here are the plants that Brian collected from Earth. Over there I am germinating the seeds we got out of the supplies, originally from Quard,” said Mina.

“And what’s over there?” asked Jem.

“Those are plants we collected from Anzed Three. Each environment isolates the plants from contamination by foreign plants,” replied Mina.

“You have it organized well,” said Jem.

“Each area is a self-contained environment, to simulate the climate on the planet of origin. I have to go through decontamination after working in one area before moving to another, to avoid cross-contamination,” said Mina.

“Impressive!” I said.

“There’s plenty of room to create additional environments when we collect samples from other planets,” said Mina.

“How long to grow more food from seeds?” asked Laine.

“It will take months at least for the germination and growth to a mature plant. It could take longer before we can harvest anything. I might try an accelerated growth medium to help it along,” said Mina.

“Thank you for the tour. When we find food bearing plants, we should try to get mature plants,” said Jem.

“I agree,” said Mina.

“How about a beach party?” asked Laine.

“An excellent idea!” replied Jem.

After that, we trouped out of the lab in search of fun.

Several days later, our hyper drive went offline as we arrived at the edge of a system. This was our next destination on our patrol route. As per usual, we sat in the main bridge to witness the historic event.

“We are now at the Gober system, the home system of the Gobers. They are a space-faring race,” said Ship.

“Thank you, Ship. Have they had previous contact with Baglogi?” asked Jem.

“Not for a long time. Records suggest they were friendly,” replied Ship.

“Ship, deploy cloaked defensive probes and keep them near us. Do it before we get close enough for them to notice,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship. On the tactical display, several blue dots emerged from Ship and surrounded our vessel.

“When you are ready, activate transponder and advance into the system,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

A short while later, three Gober patrol vessels approached us.

“Attention, we are being hailed,” said Ship.

Jem pressed a key, and a blue-green face appeared on the display. “Welcome to Gober. Your transponder code identifies your vessel as Baglogi. Please confirm your identity and your intentions.”

“Thank you for your welcome. We are a Baglogi vessel. Our intentions are peaceful. We seek to renew our friendship with Gober and perhaps visit your famous orbital bazaar,” replied Jem.

“Your race has not visited us for a long time. We thought you had passed from existence, and it pleases us to see you again.

“Your vessel is too large to dock at the bazaar. You will need to park in a high orbit around Gober Prime and shuttle across to the bazaar. Please follow the assigned path on course for orbit.”

“We are changing course to the assigned path,” said Jem. She closed the call. Ship made the slight course change.

“Commodore, they have an orbital bazaar?” I asked.

“Yes, one of the largest in the galaxy,” replied Jem.

“You’ve been here?” I asked.

“No, but I did my research before arrival. I suggest you try it sometime,” said Jem with a smirk.

“Yes, Commodore. Point taken. So you plan on a shopping expedition?” I asked.

“Duh! We lost most of our possessions when the Lagaid destroyed our original vessel,” said Jem.

“Attention. We are arriving at the coordinates, in high orbit around Gober Prime,” announced Ship.

On the tactical display was a view of the bazaar, floating in orbit a distance from our current position. It was much bigger than any orbital platform I had seen.

“Have they detected our defensive probes?” I asked.

“Negative,” replied Ship.

“Make sure they avoid other vessels, but keep on guard. I don’t want something bad to happen like it did in Quard. I don’t think anyone knows us this far away,” I said.

“Confirmed. Defensive probes on high alert and stealth mode. Commodore, incoming call from a freighter for you,” said Ship.

“Huh? Put them through,” said Jem.

A large being with yellow-brown fur appeared on the tactical display.

“Ahoy the Baglogi vessel, this is the freighter Crayus. Are you connected with the Baglogi vessel that rescued us a while back when our power core failed?”

“Yes Captain. We are the same crew. This vessel is new. We recently got an upgrade,” replied Jem.

“I am so glad to meet again. I am captain Bedu of the Asan. My crew and I owe you all a life debt. Are you visiting the bazaar? I’d like to thank you in person if that is possible?” said Bedu.

“Our vessel is too large to dock with the bazaar. We will take a shuttle over there soon,” said Jem.

“Excellent. I will meet you just outside the shuttle bay. I look forward to meeting you then. Crayus out,” said Bedu. The communications closed.

I laughed. “I didn’t expect to meet anyone who knew us here.”

Jem smiled. “That was unexpected. We better get ready. Mina, bring your device with Ori credits. Laine bring yours with Quard credits. I don’t know what currency they will accept here.”

We left the main bridge to get changed into our away team uniforms.

We met up at the shuttle bay and entered the shuttle. I took the pilot’s seat and Jem sat beside me. I did my usual pre-flight checks and soon we exited from Ship and pulled away.

“Gobers don’t allow visitors to Gober Prime, but they allow visitors to the orbital bazaar to buy and to trade. Because there is a lot of beings and goods and money, they maintain a strong security presence at all times,” said Jem.

“So we don’t need to worry about attacks,” I said.

“Correct,” replied Jem.

I navigated our shuttle over to the bazaar and entered a huge shuttle bay. It contained shuttles from other vessels there, each had their own distinctive design. Within the shuttle bay, we docked at an assigned airlock.

“Everyone, please remember we are at airlock number fifty-seven,” I said. It’d be helpful if we could find our way back to this shuttle.

We exited through the airlock. First, we passed through a security scan, followed by decontamination. Then we came to Gober immigration. This involved scanning our ID chips and asking questions. Jem, Laine, and Mina made it through without incident.

The Gober immigration officer was a short creature. He came up to my shoulder, had no hair and a blue-green skin. I tried not to stare as he scanned my ID chip. He looked at me with wide-open eyes.

“You hold multiple citizenships, including Ori diplomatic status and you hold a title in the Dentra system?” he asked in Ori.

“You speak Ori?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes, your ID chip states that Ori is your preferred language,” he replied. His Ori was excellent.

I was glad that he spoke a language I knew. He waited for an answer to his previous question.

“Yes, I helped rescue their long lost princess, and she granted me something in recognition,” I replied.