Chapter 1

I could only shake my head irately as my Karkallian police escort dropped me off at my ship, the Phaunos, so I could prepare for this sudden, unexpected, and heartbreaking departure. “Why the fuck was the port’s cargo master waiting at my ship?” I wondered angrily, not the first angry question I’d asked myself this morning. I didn’t even notice that he was the only person visible, and I was too angry to care even if I had noticed.

I still have no idea what the fuck happened this morning. The last I knew, my happy, sated fiancée, her sister, and her two friends left for school this morning aboard one of my shuttles.

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I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Captain Marc Parker, owner and captain of the cargo ships Phaunos and Cornucopia, as well as numerous other ships, both larger and smaller. I sell my cargo of Terran fruits to Karkallians, and then buy high tech Karkallian goods to sell to Terrans--mostly to the Terran government.

Four days ago, I returned to the planet Toolondo, a planet stuck in diplomatic limbo because both the Karkalla Confederacy and the Goroke Empire claim it. Toolondo has been stuck in this limbo for 283 Karkallian years, the equivalent of 330 Earth Years. For most of that time, an uneasy truce has existed on the planet. Each government has a governor on the planet representing their interests.

To prevent governmental and economic paralysis, both governments petitioned the Duban Kingdom, asking them to appoint someone capable of governing so they could form a triumvirate to rule the planet. When at least two members of the triumvirate agree, that’s what happens.

The Karkalla Confederacy, or simply Karkalla, comprises forty-two inhabited planets and is the nearest race to the Terran Republic. It’s located in a galaxy so distant from the Terran Republic that the galaxy’s original name was no more than an alphanumeric footnote in outdated astronomy books. A Terran ship takes four years in hyperspace to make the round-trip to the port on Kai’ka, the Karkallian capital planet, the only Karkallian planet Terran ships can legally visit.

The Terran Republic, or Terra for short, consists of nineteen inhabited planets scattered across the Milky Way galaxy, populated by descendants of people from Earth.

The Duban Kingdom, or Dubanians, is the second closest race to Terra, and consists of thirty-seven inhabited planets. Outbound from Terra, when you reach Karkalla, hang a hard right for another three-year round trip in hyperspace to reach them. The only problem is that they don’t allow Terran vessels in their territory. There had been a brief skirmish between a Terran warship and what they thought was a pirate vessel several centuries ago. The pirate vessel turned out to be the Dubanian Royal Yacht headed incognito for a previously unclaimed planet where parts of the Dubanian Royal Family routinely vacationed. Duban has since claimed the planet and several solar systems around it.

If you remember your high school math lessons regarding 3-4-5 right triangles, a four-year round trip to Kai’ka and a three-year round trip at a right angle to the Duban Kingdom means a direct round trip from Terran territory to the Duban Kingdom would take five years--if it were allowed.

The Gorokians, a third race, are a highly suspicious race and allow no foreign ships in their claimed territory. The only place other races can purchase Gorokian goods is on Toolondo. As near as I can tell, Terran technology lags somewhat behind the Gorokians. Gorokians are slightly behind the Dubanians. Karkallians are the most technologically advanced of the four races, slightly ahead of the Dubanians, but considerably ahead of Terrans.

The Goroke Empire, or Gorokians, consists of thirty-three planets on the opposite side of the Karkalla Confederacy from the Terran Republic. We knew nothing about their race or their galaxy until we learned about them from the Karkallians. We still know very little about them. Well, most Terrans know very little about them. I may be the only Terran who knows much about them, and the government expects highly detailed reports on anything new that I learn about them, or any of the other races, each time I return home.

Terran merchants who buy Dubanian goods must buy them on Kai’ka at a hefty markup. Due to a special dispensation, I can buy both Karkallian goods and Dubanian goods on Toolondo at a much lower price. I can also buy Gorokian goods there, goods unavailable to any other Terran merchant.

The first thing you should know about me, aside from my name, is that I have an eidetic memory. Once I read, see, or hear something, I remember it. Hyperspace travel leaves me with lots of spare time to read and study. I covered the walls in my quarters with shelves full of antique printed books, especially reference books. I also have a huge computer memory vault filled with hundreds of thousands of electronic Terran books, mainly non-fiction. The vault also holds Karkallian, Gorokian, and Dubanian electronic books, although far too few Gorokian and Dubanian books, as they are hard to find on Kai’ka. Aside from my native language, Terran, I’m reasonably fluent in all three of the other languages.

Because I remember what I hear, as well as what I see, I pick up languages quickly. Before my first trip to Kai’ka, I bought copies of Karkallian news broadcasts from another captain who had made the trip. He included a list of about a hundred words written in Karkallian and then wrote them phonetically in Terran. By the time I reached Kai’ka the first time, I’d listened to the news broadcasts hundreds of times. I managed to piece together what they said in the recorded newscasts by translating the words the other captain gave me and extrapolating the rest. Then I made sure the extrapolated translations made sense in other places where the words were used. I was nearly fluent in Karkallian when I arrived.

I picked up Gorokian and Dubanian after having my androids programmed with those languages, as well as Karkallian. Having androids fluent in four languages comes in very handy in the marketplace.

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I guess my story actually began some time ago, when I only had one ship. I was inside claimed Karkallian space, en route to Kai’ka on my third round-trip when I intercepted a distress call from a Dubanian merchant ship being pursued by a pirate ship. By the time my AI pinpointed an intercept point, dropped us out of hyperspace, and reached the intercept, the pirates had heavily damaged the merchant ship. The pirates had targeted the ship’s engines and weapons first so the ship couldn’t flee or fight. The pirates were closing in, planning to board the merchant ship.

The pirates had barely a second’s warning between when I dropped out of hyperspace and my AI and androids successfully targeted and fired on the pirate ship, sending two blasts that vented their bridge into space, killing any pirates on the bridge. Why the pirates weren’t wearing protective suits and didn’t have their blast doors sealed before beginning an attack is beyond me. When the atmosphere on the bridge of the pirate ship vented into space, it depressurized enough of the ship that it killed everyone aboard before they could react and get into EVA suits.

It took an hour for me to decelerate after dropping out of hyperspace, and another to come about and return to the scene of the battle. The merchant ship was on minimum life support by the time I arrived and couldn’t be repaired enough to operate without visiting a repair facility.

The Dubanian captain of the merchant ship was surprised that a Terran ship would stop to help him. Once our scan of the two damaged ships was complete, he scratched his scraggly gray beard. “If I help you upgrade your engines and install the jump drive from the pirate ship, would you tow me to the Karkallian shipyard orbiting Kalangadoo?” he asked.

“Sure,” I replied cautiously, wondering what he could possibly do for my engines. I already had top-of-the-line Terran engines that were available to civilians on my ship.

I was surprised to learn that jump drives existed. Terran scientists had long postulated the feasibility of jumps. They just didn’t understand the physics of jumps well enough to build the engines, although they’ve been trying for centuries.

We docked all three ships together and started making our way slowly towards Kalangadoo. The captain seemed sure that he could upgrade my ship enough that I could get our two ships there. I wasn’t sold, and worried that propelling the mass of three ships docked together would cause me to run out of fuel long before reaching either Kalangadoo or the necessary speed to re-enter hyperspace, especially with two of the ships full of cargo.

We continued accelerating for three months while he worked on my ship. The mass of three ships docked together made acceleration a very slow process. My engines were designed for a single ship. His androids did most of the work at first, training my androids on the job. I had no idea what he was doing most of the time as he scavenged parts and spare parts from both his ship and the pirate ship and installed them on mine.

At least my androids knew what he was doing by the time they finished, and now know how to install, maintain, and repair everything. We also drafted the androids that the pirates used to help crew their vessel. That helped the work go even faster. The forty-eight Gorokian military androids we found aboard the pirate ship helped by carrying parts. I learned that the pirates used them to board captured ships.

The captain commented that he was sure the pirates were Gorokian, even though they spoke Karkallian, and operated a Karkallian-registered ship. Their accent placed them as Gorokian, as did the presence of the impossible-to-buy Gorokian military androids.

In addition to the Gorokian military androids, there were twenty-eight Karkallian androids aboard the pirate ship. The pirates always kept the androids from ships they captured and trained them to operate their ship, reducing the number of men with whom they had to split their ill-gotten gains. I didn’t know it at the time of the attack, but there were only six pirates aboard the ship when they attacked; androids did everything else. Shit, not only could the androids help with the upgrades but the Gorokian military androids now gave me a formidable defensive force if needed, not that I had ever needed one before now.

Aside from the engines, power supply, and jump drive, the captain stripped the pirate ship of her weapons, AI, cloaking, and shielding, installing them on my ship. We were lucky that the pirates had concentrated all of their power to their forward shields to deflect any shots fired by the merchant ship. My shots hit from the unshielded rear.

Even though the captain said he would install it on my ship, actually seeing the jump drive from the pirate ship surprised me. I’d heard scuttlebutt in port on Kai’ka that jump drives existed, but always shrugged those reports off as rumors resulting from wishful thinking by ships’ officers and crew who had imbibed in too much of their chemical intoxicant of choice.

One hundred twenty-seven days after interrupting the pirate attack, the Dubanian captain declared the Cornucopia’s upgrade complete. While the work was underway, some of the Gorokian military androids had transferred the fuel and everything of value from the pirate ship, packing my ship so full that I even had stuff stored in my quarters and in the passageways.

I turned the derelict hull of the pirate ship loose once we stripped it. Sure, it was worth some serious bucks, but it would be next to impossible to jump with three ships docked together. I attached a salvage beacon to the hull of the pirate ship, planning to come back to retrieve it once I sold my cargo on Kai’ka.

Having reviewed the information available on the AI from the pirate ship, I knew the locations of six other ships they had captured and plundered before they scuttled them, hiding them on uninhabited planetoids where they wouldn’t be found. Once I salvaged and sold the pirate ship hull, one at a time, I’d pick up and sell the six ships the pirates had attacked and abandoned. I had all the necessary information from the pirate ship’s AI stored aboard my ship in a data dump. I’d probably pick up and sell one ship each trip rather than sell them all at once, so I didn’t flood the market with used ships. When I finished selling my cargo each trip, I’d run back and pick up an abandoned ship to sell, and then fill my ship with the usual high-tech Karkallian goods I sold back on Terra. I sent a hyper-light message to Kalangadoo, the nearest Karkallian planet, informing them of what happened and of our pending arrival. However, if the jump drive worked, we’d get there well before my message arrived.

Even with just two ships docked together, and having accelerated for more than four months, it took a full day to get up to speed to make the jump. Once we started the jump, it took seven hours to complete. Four hours after completing the jump, I towed the Dubanian ship into the shipyard that orbited Kalangadoo. By the time we got there, the captain had finished my tutorial on using the jump drive and had updated my navigational charts to show where the gravitational influence of each star and solar system began and ended so I would know where it was safe to begin and end my jumps.

I had to begin and end each jump outside of the gravitational influence of a solar system. Otherwise, the gravitational field would influence the jump. On a jump across a dozen solar systems, the influence could be enough that I could exit in the middle of a solar system, aimed right at a planet, sun, moon, or asteroid.

Making a jump is similar to sailing blindfolded. Assuming that the wind and current stay constant, you set your course, turn on the autopilot, and determine how long the trip will take. At the time you calculated that you would be near your destination, you remove your blindfold, and you’re there--hopefully.

The gravitational field of a nearby star or solar system will affect you the same way as if the wind shifted slightly at the beginning of your blindfolded sailing trip, sending you far off course over such a vast distance.

Since I was no longer towing another ship, the next leg of the trip went much faster. Four hours after departing the Kalangadoo shipyard, I exited hyperspace. After reporting my presence to Kai’ka Space Traffic Control, I contacted the harbormaster and received directions to my berth. When we arrived, I was surprised at the small crowd waiting for me. Normally, there was a customs agent accompanied by six android troops. This time, there were several additional people.

“Welcome, Captain Parker,” the customs agent greeted me cordially. That was unusual in itself, as customs agents usually range somewhere between businesslike and gruff, even Terran ones.

“The Karkallian government sends their regards and their thanks for the service you rendered by ridding us of a pirate ship. The captain of the ship you saved released the data from his AI showing your masterful attack on the pirate ship.

“Three of the people with me represent companies that insured six ships missing in that area before your intervention. They hope the AI from the pirate ship will help them determine if the ships they insured were attacked by the pirates. If so, they hope to determine what the pirates did with the ships and the people aboard them. Naturally, you will receive a 50% finder’s fee for the value of any ships and cargo they recover.

“The others with me are attorneys hoping to review your records of the items you legally took from the pirate ship. They are hoping to find family heirlooms or items with sentimental value to their clients that the pirates kept. If they do, you will also receive proper compensation for those items,” he assured me.

I motioned for him to come aboard. “I already have the locations of the six ships they attacked. The ships are all repairable and hidden in an asteroid belt. I planned to return and salvage each ship, as well as the hull of the pirate ship,” I explained as I showed him the excerpts from the pirate’s AI showing the pirate attack on the first of the six ships.

Within an hour, I had a serious influx of cash into my bank account as the three insurance companies paid me for the six damaged ships. It was worth it to the insurers to buy them as repairable salvage and haul them back to repair before selling the repaired ship to recoup part of the claim they paid for each ship. One company even paid me salvage cost for the pirate ship hull, planning to haul it back to repair and sell as well.

The attorneys were more difficult to deal with, but it was my difficulty, not them being difficult. They offered me much more for the family heirlooms and keepsakes than they were worth, hoping to convince me to sell them back to the families. After an independent appraisal, I sold them for half of the appraised amount. The customs agent commented on my generosity.

“Those families could easily afford what they offered,” he told me afterwards.

I shrugged. “Probably, but I’m not the type of person to take advantage of a grieving family. I couldn’t return the loved one who died in the pirate attack and tried to do something to help them. If the family members had come here personally, I would have given the items back to them for nothing.”

One of the android soldiers accompanying the customs agent was speaking quietly with someone on a com unit. When he finished that conversation, he took the customs agent aside and spoke quietly with him. The customs agent was grinning when he turned back to me.

“Your generosity has already been reported to those in the upper echelons of our government. Combined with your intervention in the pirate attack, they have agreed that you will be welcomed at any Karkallian shipyard, anytime. In addition, you may trade with the disputed planet Toolondo, and you may purchase items here, or there. We will eliminate all import and export duties, charging only the same tax that Karkallian ships pay. We always watch foreign merchants and know that you visit the marketplace here, but have never tried to buy anything illegal,” he said.

“I was just looking to see if there was anything interesting so I could buy it through proper channels, or anything that I could buy there legally,” I replied defensively.

“As I said, we watch every foreign merchant. We are aware that you went through proper channels to purchase items you saw in the marketplace, or only bought legally allowed items in the marketplace. We will still be watching, and should you accidentally purchase something you shouldn’t, the government will reimburse you for the item and confiscate it instead of arresting you,” he advised.

“Personally, I recommend that you sell your goods on Toolondo. Prices there are normally higher than here because a middleman buys them here to sell on other planets. With your new jump drive, the trip should only take you a few hours,” he added.

“Please let the proper officials know that I’m honored,” I replied.

Once the customs inspection was complete, I sealed the hatches and headed for the marketplace. I wanted to buy three things that I kept seeing for sale there but couldn’t afford before. The first was a Karkallian long-range scanner with a range twice that of my current Terran long-range scanner. The second was rail guns. I could charge those ahead of time, so another ship didn’t see me charging my weapons, interpreting that as a hostile act. The third thing was printed books. As I said before, I read a lot. For some reason, there are few printed Karkallian books available, just electronic books, and the available printed books are expensive. Among the more than four thousand printed books in my library, only twenty-six are Karkallian.

The long-range scanner was cheaper than I thought it would be. Two of the two dozen androids accompanying me took it back to the Cornucopia. Having never before seen more than two rail guns for sale I was surprised to find four, and bought all four. However, the ten books I bought excited me the most. In addition, forty-four electronic Karkallian books and even seven electronic Gorokian books went back to the Cornucopia to load into my library vault.

After stocking the Cornucopia with fresh food and other supplies, I headed for the spaceport in orbit above the planet. They had obviously been told about me as they greeted me warmly. Normally, foreign ships may only refuel or receive critical repairs. When I told them what I wanted, they didn’t bat an eye.

While they were installing the long-range scanner and the four rail guns, two fore and two aft, the head guy took me aside. “That Terran shielding you have is worthless out here,” he warned. “The Karkallian shielding from the pirate ship is good. Since Karkallian technology is superior to others, I have little use for Gorokian or Dubanian items that I pull from ships we sell for scrap. I have a Gorokian shielding unit and a Dubanian shielding unit, as well as the power supplies for each so they don’t draw power from propulsion or weapons,” he offered.