Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (41 page)

              Liam was somehow not surprised to hear the Meshtrell mentioned. Liam made a mental note to himself to find out any information these Cathergons had on the wayward Meshtrell but first he needed to deal with the fawning of these Cathergons.

              “Please stand up, we are not gods nor do we want to be treated as such. All we ask is that you treat us with respect and we will do the same.”

              The Cathergons seemed surprised by this and hesitated at standing, but instead looked to one another.

              “This human is not trying to test you. He really does want you to stand up,” Cryta assured the Captain Frozt.

              Captain Frozt looked to Cryta then slowly stood up. Once he had fully stood up, and realized it had not been a test, he indicated to his guards to follow suit.

              “I apologize, Commander Brennan, we meant no disrespect. It is just our culture to submit to those stronger than us.”

              “I understand but please let me assure you we mean you no harm. We only seek knowledge and hope to build an alliance with your people,” Liam said softly.

              The Cathergon studied Liam, weighing his words over in his head. After a few moments he nodded slightly as if coming to a decision.

              “I thank you for your respect of my people and would be honored if you would join me aboard my freighter so we might discuss how our people can help one another,” Frozt said as he turned slightly to indicate the airlock behind him with his arm.

              Giving a slight nodded to the captain, Liam stepped forward through the airlock, into the Cathergon freighter. The airlock slid shut behind them with a thud before the captain turned to the inner airlock door and tapped in a sequence upon a touchpad next to the door. After a few seconds, the door made an audible chime and slid open. Without waiting the captain stepped through into the passageway, hesitating only long enough to make sure Liam and his companions followed.

              Liam did notice that when they headed off down the passageway the two guards did not follow directly behind their captain but instead followed behind him and his companions, in perfect position if they needed to use their weapons. Perhaps all that fawning was an act and these Cathergons were not as meek and trusting as they wanted others to believe.  He didn’t know what to make of this situation but he was sure he would have some answers soon enough.

January 26
th
, 2014 12:16am EST

Cathergon freighter,
Farrow
, Shenkar Federation space

              Upon entering Liam immediately noticed that the passageways were roughly seven feet in height, something he had not expected since the owners were on average five feet in height. Then another thought occurred to him, if the race is subject to Shenkar rule then it stands to reason they would need to accommodate their taller rulers.

              The next thing Liam noticed was the temperature within the spacecraft. It was evident that Cathergons were from a world with a tropical climate.  The deck of the passageway was slick with moisture from the humidity level within the ship.

              As they walked he inspected his surroundings, while the light was low, his nanite enhanced vision augmented the light. Several occasions he spotted other Cathergons, hiding down side passages or behind crates, all wanting to get a look at the visitors who could defeat the Shenkar. On one occasion he spotted several small multi legged creatures roughly the size of a large rat scurry across a side passage and into a nearby duct.

              “Turrin,” Cryta said from his side.

              “What?” asked Liam, puzzled.

              “That creature you spotted. It is called a Turrin. They are scavengers commonly found on Cathergon freighters. A severe nuisance as they get into everything, they can be particularly harmful to freighters hauling perishables. The Cathergons usually keep small creatures, called Gurdes, that hunt and kill them.”

              Liam again looked towards the duct opening but did not see anything further.

              The trio continued walking in silence, following the captain, before Steve spoke up.

              “It is awful quiet, too quiet in fact.”
              “What do you mean?” Liam asked.

              “We should hear activity from their fusion drives, a small hum or something but it is too quiet for that. I had detected an unusual spike in their engines before, do you think they killed their drives?”

              Liam listened, but did not hear anything, Steve was correct. It also occurred to Liam that if another Shenkar ship came by seeking the destroyer then the Cathergons would be dead in space if their engines were severely damaged.

              “Captain Frozt, we detected you were pushing your engines pretty hard before we intervened. Did you damage your engines? If so, Lieutenant Barrow is excellent with mechanics and would be able to help correct the issue if possible,” Liam explained as waved a hand towards Steve.

              Captain Frozt halted and turned his head slightly to look sidelong at Liam.

              “We did suffer some damage but my technicians are working to correct the issue,” Frozt explained.

              Liam had the impression the damage was greater that the captain was really telling him.

              “Captain Frozt, I understand we just met so naturally you would be hesitant in divulging just how vulnerable you and your crew are at this moment but if another Shenkar warship were to come looking for that destroyer we might not be able to defend you…especially if it is a battlecruiser.”

              Captain Frozt seemed to think over what Liam had said before he waved for one of the guards to come forward.

              “Please escort this human to our engine compartment. Inform the drive technicians they are to give him anything he needs.”
              With that said the guard made a gesture, which Liam could only interpret as a salute, as he touched a clawed hand to the side of his own face about a half an inch from his right eye. The captain returned the gesture and the guard moved off towards a side passage, hesitating only long enough to confirm Steve was following.

              Captain Frozt watched for a few moments before turning back to Liam.

              “I thank you for your offer of assistance and I apologize for my hesitance. I am not accustomed to other races offering to help just to help.”

              Liam nodded his head in understanding but otherwise did not say anything.

              “Shall we continue?” Captain Frozt asked, indicating, with one of his clawed hands, the passageway they had been traveling.

              Again Liam nodded an affirmative but otherwise did not say anymore.

              “Please follow me, we are almost there,” Captain Frozt stated before turning and once again headed off down the passageway.

January 26
th
, 2014 12:22am EST

Cathergon freighter,
Farrow
, Shenkar Federation space

              Steve entered the engine room behind the guard and immediately spotted where the problem seemed to be located. Four Cathergon technicians were gathered around an opening where a panel had been removed off what looked to be one of the fusion drives. Two were quiet but one seemed to be sharply gesturing at the open panel while the other was shaking his head in a negative motion. It was only when Steve and his escort were almost upon them did they notice the newcomers.

              All four Cathergons stared openly at Steve without saying a word before the guard stepped forward to speak.

              “The humans wish to help with repairs to our drive engines. This is Lieutenant Barrows from their warship and he feels he could help with the problem.”

              All four Cathergons looked at Steve before huddling into a group and quietly discussing the newcomer, occasionally one would peek over to him before shifting his gaze back to the group. Finally after several minutes had passed did they return their attention to Steve as the Cathergon had been shaking his head stepped forward.

              “We have agreed you may help.”

              “Excellent, so what do you know so far?” Steve inquired.

              At this question the Cathergon seemed puzzled before he spoke.

              “I know many things but it would take too long to cover as we have the more pressing matter of fixing our drive engines at hand.”

              Steve just stared at the Cathergon for a moment, unsure if he was being sarcastic or serious.

              “I did not mean what you know as a whole but if you knew of what could be the possible reasons for the drive engine problems.”

              “Then why did you not ask this instead?” the Cathergon asked, a perplexed look upon his face.

              At this point Steve just stood opened mouthed at the Cathergon trying to think of something to say to this. Finally deciding it would be pointless to try and explain he figured it would be best to address the matter of the drive engine.

              “Okay, so do you know what is wrong or have any ideas on what could possibly be wrong with your drives?”

              “Ah yes, I believe we have a damaged relay.”

              As soon as the Cathergon finished the other technician who had been sharply gesturing made a noise in his throat that could only be interpreted as negative.

              “You do not agree?” inquired Steve.

              “No, I do not, all of the relays have passed the diagnostic tests. If it was a damaged relay then we would get a notification of it when the scan had been conducted.”

              “What do you think is the problem then?” Steve asked.

              “I believe we have burned out the main drive capacitor.”

              “Okay, well then let’s check that first,” stated Steve.

              At this point all of the Cathergons began to shake their heads negatively before the one that had been gesturing sharply spoke up.

              “It is located through that open panel, but I would not recommend going in there,” the Cathergon explained as he gestured towards the open panel.

              “Why? Is it out of reach?”

              “No, there is pack of Turrin who have set up a nest in there.”

              Steve, clearly not understanding what the problem was, turned to look at his escort.

              “Turrin are scavengers by nature and are little more than a nuisance except when they are nesting. When nesting they are very territorially and will attack anyone who enters their nesting area,” the guard explained.

              “Okay, so they are dangerous then?”

              “Not particularly, their bite however is slightly poisonous and multiple bites can cause severe nausea and loss of bowel control.”

              Steve just stared at the Cathergon, not knowing what to say, wondering if he was being serious. Somehow he doubted it and the next thing he wondered was how harmful would this poison be to humans. Steve knew his nanites would attack any potentially harmful compounds that entered his body but he didn’t really want to test this out on an unknown poison.

              “Don’t you have those creatures onboard that hunt these Turrin?”

              “Do you mean Gurdes?” the Cathergon guard inquired.

              “Yes, that would be them, don’t you have any?”

              “We did but not anymore,” the guard explained but it was clear he was leaving something out.

              “What happened to them?” Steve inquired, his voice slightly annoyed that he had to keep prying to get all the information.

              “They died,” the guard said simply.

              At this point Steve was getting severely annoyed when one of the Cathergon technicians spoke up.

              “The Turrin ate them.”
              Steve’s eyebrows rose at hearing this news.

              “They ate them? I thought the Gurdes hunted Turrin, not the other way around.”

              “Typically they do but this particular nest seems to be led by a very large Turrin, a very large and vicious Turrin,” the technician explained as he held his clawed hands apart by about two feet.