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Following is an excerpt of

Hunt for the SaiphBook 3

Of

The Saiph Series

PP Corcoran

Copyright 2015 PP Corcoran

Published by PP Corcoran at Smashwords

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author.

CHAPTER TENMeet the Neighbors

SS CHARLOTTE DUNDAS

SELENE SYSTEM - 272 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH "Captain call the bridge! Captain call the bridge!""What now?" Grumbled Captain Lucio Vela as he dragged

himself out of the comfortable seat in the officers’ lounge of the SSCharlotte Dundas where was sipping his steaming coffee andobserving the gathering clouds on the planet below through theplasteel porthole and headed for the comms panel by the entrancehatch. Vela hated the wrist comms he was supposed to wear at alltimes so he tended to forget to wear it unless a member of theZurich Shipping Line hierarchy happened to be aboard. These daysthat was most unlikely with the difficulties the company waspresently going through. Charlotte Dundas and the other eightElephant class 250,000 tonne cargo ships were in high demandthese days. Only ships like the Elephant class had the load capacityto carry and sustain complete mining or colonization operations likethe one currently taking place on Selene, so they were very rarely inport long enough for the big wigs to decide to visit.

Keying the comms panel by the entrance hatch Velaestablished a link to the Duty Bridge Officer. Vela made no attemptto keep the irritation out of his voice. “Captain speaking. This wantsto be good Givens or you’re going to be doing night watches for therest of this cruise."

"Captain. Sensors are showing a group of ships closing on ourposition from behind the orbit of the planet’s second moon."

Vela’s jaw dropped in surprise. Charlotte Dundas had been in orbit around Selene for over two months now as the embryonic colony on the planet’s surface fought to establish itself. If all went to plan then Vela and his ship would remain a further three months before heading home for a quick shore leave and maintenance cycle before heading out with another load of colonists.

"Have you sent them a hail? They could be anothercolonization operation who haven’t gotten the word yet that we'vesecured the rights to Selene." Even as he said it Vela knew he wasgrasping at straws. It took months to organize a project the size ofcolonizing another world and before you even started getting thefinances together you had to secure a license from the Bureau ofColonization. They certainly were not going to make the mistake ofissuing two licenses for the same planet.

"Yes sir. So far no response to our hails."Vela heard the edge of concern in Givens voice. It was no

secret the cargo of a colonization ship like Charlotte Dundas wasworth a small fortune and many a ship’s captain, like Vela, wonderedwhy some enterprising individuals had not yet thought to hijack aship just like his and sell off the cargo on the black market orransom the crew.

In the days before the invention of the gravity drive and the warwith the ‘Others’, the Sol system had had its problems withprivateers. A problem the small navy of the TDF at the time hadstruggled to contain. With the invention of the gravity drive, theexpansion of the navy and the surveillance platforms which wereseeded throughout the Sol system, the age of the pirate appearedover. But out here, hundreds of light years from home there was aresurgence of this particularly nasty art.

Yes, if you got a comms drone away in time it could fold andreach Colonial Support Command (CSC) almost instantly.Unfortunately there was no guarantee there would be a naval vessel

in a position to respond immediately. The navy called it overstretch.Vela called it bad planning.

"What’s their ETA?""If they maintain their current course and speed they should

rendezvous with us in... fifty-eight minutes.""OK Givens let’s get a drone away to CSC on Ganymede.

Download our logs and sensor data and request immediateassistance. Put an all hands call out, quietly mind, no need to worrythe remaining colonists on board just yet. Let’s secure all the outerhatches and tell the master at arms to pass out the side arms. Bettersafe than sorry. I'm on my way to the bridge now. Vela clear."

Lucio headed for the bridge knowing the handful of side armsin the ships armory had little chance of stopping any seriousboarding action but it was all he had. For the first time since theyarrived at Selene he wished he was with the colonists who hadalready set up on the windswept planet below.

#

COLONIAL SUPPORT COMMANDGANYMEDE - SOL SYSTEM

The dull early morning routine in the operations room of what waseuphemistically called Colonial Support Command housed deep inthe bedrock of Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon was something theduty officer, Lieutenant Pizarro, could have done without. He hadbeen up late the night before celebrating the promotion of hisroommate and was feeling a little under the weather this morning,particularly at the prospect of another long tour in the darkenedroom lit only by subdued lighting and the glow of terminals mannedby equally bored sailors.

CSC had been established in response to the wave of

colonization which swept the Commonwealth. CSC was tasked withacting as the intermediary between Survey Command, the Bureau ofColonization, and the various shipping firms which were providingthe actual colony ships. Hence some unknown sailor had christenedthe operations room the 'Hub' and the nickname stuck. Evenbecoming part of semiofficial parlance. CSC did not actually ownany navy ships. If there was a requirement from a colony or shippingline for naval support the 'Hub' would consider the request,prioritize it and pass it on to the Office of Joint Naval Operationswho again would consider the request, prioritize it and let CSC knowtheir answer usually within ten days. Nothing moved fast in theadministration world.

"Drone arrival! Its transmitting a priority message codeLieutenant."

The call from the Communications Section brought Pizarro to full wakefulness as adrenalin flooded his system. "Accept the message and pass it to my terminal." Pizarro tapped his desk top repeatedly with his stylus as he waited for the drone’s message to be downloaded and passed to him. As the message header appeared on his screen his brow furrowed. The SS Charlotte Dundas was not aname which immediately came to mind and Pizarro keyed a queryinto the computer for the stats of the ship and its destination as hecontinued to read the message. His breath caught in his chest afteronly reading two lines of the message as he reached the part aboutthree unidentified ships on an intercept course for the defenselesscolony ship.

With the heightened tensions between the Commonwealth andthe Alonan Empire it was thought, however unlikely, the Empire mayattempt to retaliate following the destruction of Balat. Pizarrothought that may be what was happening here and actedappropriately.

"Comms. Flash Signal. Copy the message and logs from the

Charlotte Dundas and download it to our drone. Make yourdestination First Fleet. Add our recommendation for immediatenaval support and launch when ready."

A Flash Signal was the highest priority message in the navy. Itautomatically overrode all other traffic and would set alarm bellsringing when it arrived at First Fleet. A big call for a mere lieutenantto make but Pizarro was confident he had taken the correct courseof action. Pizarro sat back in his seat having done all he could. Hejust hoped help reached the Charlotte Dundas in time.

#

SS CHARLOTTE DUNDASSELENE SYSTEM - 272 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH

All eyes on the cramped bridge of the Charlotte Dundas were fixedon the main holo cube. Although not as well equipped as a modernnaval vessel Lucio Vela was still immensely proud of his ship andensured it was kept in tip top condition, though, it was times likethis when he wished she was equipped with military grade sensors.

Vela forced himself to keep a calm exterior as the threeunidentified ships closed on his position. Despite repeated hails theships continued their approach in total silence. Either they did notunderstand his hail or they were intentionally ignoring them.

As the ships closed the distance between them and theCharlotte Dundas, the merchant ship’s sensors at last got a goodread on them. What they revealed made Vela's blood run cold. Thesewere no pirate ships.

Each of the approaching ships were identical and they flew intight formation. A typical pirate ship was a hotchpotch of convertedmerchant ship and scrounged or stolen military hardware.

Vela looked again at the sleek lines of the ships he was facing.

A bulbous bow swept rearward before breaking into five pylonssharply angled away from the main body of the ship. Vela overheardone of the bridge crew liken them to starfish. He could see theresemblance, however, these starfish were colored a deep red andweighed in at around 70,000 tonnes. Vela's ship could easilyoutweigh all three of the starfish ships combined, but the grazerpoints at the end of each of the pylons and the missile tube coversspaced in two rows evenly spread along the main body of each shipmeant the Charlotte Dundas' meager point defense system wasvastly outmatched.

"They’re slowing Captain."Vela checked his repeater display to confirm his navigators

call. Yes there was no doubt about it they had slowed their approach.What the hell were they up to? They were already easily within anyconventional weapons range.

The next few minutes seemed to stretch as the three warshipsslowed and eventually came to a halt less than 100,000 kilometersfrom the hovering Charlotte Dundas.

"Incoming signal! Audio only."Vela anxiously leaned forward in his seat, "Let’s hear it."A strident, un-intonated voice in Standard English filled the

bridge, "You have infringed on the territory of the Turak. You willremove yourselves within one rotation of the planet or suffer theconsequences."

The bridge was silent for a heartbeat after the message ended,then burst into a cacophony of noise as the whole crew attempted totalk at once.

"Silence!" With Vela’s single command peace returned."Communications. Open a link." Vela swallowed to wet his dry

throat as the link was established."This is Captain Lucio Vela of the Commonwealth Union of

Planets’ starship Charlotte Dundas. We were unaware you have laid

claim to this planet. We operate under a license to colonize theplanet, issued by the Commonwealth Bureau of Colonization. Maywe meet to discuss this misunderstanding?"

Silence, interrupted by bursts of static was the only reply. Anod from the comms section senior bosun confirmed the link wasstill open. The silence stretched on until Vela gave the bosun a throatslicing motion and the link was terminated.

Think Lucio. Think. One rotation of Selena was aroundtwenty-six hours. Without moving in his seat Vela called out."Options Diane?"

Diane Williams, second-in-command of the CharlotteDundas, uncurled herself from where she was sitting to one side ofthe bridge watching the unfolding situation and slowly began pacingback and forth across the small bridge, "Before I answer yourquestion Captain perhaps it would be wise to consider what we knowso far."

"Go on.""We are facing three warships which our sensors tell us easily

outgun us.""Agreed," Vela replied grimly.Diane got into her stride, "For whatever reason they decided to

mask their approach by concealing themselves in the shadow of thesecond moon."

"OK. If I wanted to ambush a ship I would want to get in asclose as possible without being detected. It’s just good tactics."

"True, though, in itself it also shows prudence on their part. Areluctance to expose themselves too early."

"Again Diane, good tactics. They couldn’t have had any idea ofour capabilities until they got close enough to get a good sensorread on us and discover we are only a freighter."

"My point exactly Captain. They weren't sure what we wereuntil they got closer... so how did they know to hail us in Standard

English?"The silence Vela enforced on the bridge evaporated, he

allowed the animated discussion to continue while he grappled withDiane's statement. If you followed her line of thinking it could onlymean the Turak had been observing the Commonwealth for sometime but had not made a move until the Charlotte Dundasencroached on their territory. A flick of his wrist signaled Diane tocontinue.

"Option One. Do nothing. Wait for the navy to arrive and seewhat happens next."

Lucio smiled despite himself. "Somehow I get the feeling theTurak mean business. Next?"

"Option Two. Evacuate the colonists from the planet. Get asmany back on board as possible within the time constraints and hightail it out of here."

Vela shook his head slowly, "Diane you know as well as I wehave nearly 4500 colonists spread over the entire planet. We simplydon't have the lift capability to get all of them and their equipmentback on board in time. Is there an option three?"

Diane stopped her pacing directly in front of Vela. As hissecond-in-command and alter ego it was her job to lay out all theoptions. No matter how unpalatable they were. Steeling herself sheforced herself to speak, her voice coming out tautly. "Option Three.Abandon the colonists and head for home."

The shocked expression on the face of the captain caused anywho heard Diane's final option to turn away in distaste.

Vela leaned in close to Diane fighting to control his anger. "Iwill not abandon these people to their fate, Diane. I don't care howyou do it, you get every last one of them off that rock and back onboard. Do you understand me?"

Diane nodded her understanding. Nothing further was needed,the captain had given his orders.

Vela took a deep breath as he regained control of himself."Communications. Open a link to those ships,” comms quicklyobliged, “This is Captain Vela. I’m about to launch shuttles torecover the colonists. This is not a sign of aggression. I repeat. It isnot a sign of aggression, I’m simply doing as you requested. I’ll alsolaunch a communications drone to inform my superiors of yourrequest, there are no weapons onboard and it is of no threat to you.Please acknowledge."

Only stony silence broken by moments of static came fromthe bridge speakers. Nothing more than Vela expected, he cut thelink and addressed his bridge crew "OK people, we are about to getreally busy, really soon. A lot of angry colonists will be arrivinghere soon so let’s be as pleasant as we can but remember! We are onthe clock. Let's get it done!"

#

The previous six hours passed at an accelerated rate as the shuttlesraced back and forth between the massive freighter and the surfaceof Selena in a vain attempt to corral the widespread colonists.

Vela had to admit, Diane performed minor miracles as sheplanned pick up points and timetables for the colonists to convergeon them on the hoof. All the time under the open mouth of the Turakwarships guns. It took only one hard look at the numbers in hisdisplay to tell Vela everything he needed to know.

Despite Diane’s and the shuttle pilot’s heroic efforts theysimply were not getting the colonists aboard at the breakneck speedthey needed to. Current projections overran the Turak deadline by atleast nine hours.

"Status on the Turak ships?""No change Captain. All three remain stationary at 100,000

kilometers off our starboard quarter. No reply to our hails and our

sensors have detected no transmissions between them."Vela ground his teeth in frustration. He was trying to raise the

Turak to explain his need for an extension on their deadline but theships remained stoically silent. Well the Turak could go to hell. TheCharlotte Dundas was staying exactly where she was until thecolonists were safely back on board and that was the end of it!

In the blink of an eye the tactical read out in the holo cubechanged.

"Status change! Fifteen new contacts... correction twenty...computer is calling them warships Captain."

Vela’s shoulders’ slumped. His ship had little chance ofdefying three Turak warships but twenty-three?

"Receiving a general broadcast sir.""Put it through the bridge speakers" said Vela as he resigned

himself and the colonists to their fate."Turak warships this is Admiral Analisa Chavez, Commanding

Officer of First Fleet, Commonwealth Union of Planets. The SSCharlotte Dundas and the colonists on the planet below are undermy protection. Any attempt to fire on either the Charlotte Dundas,the planet’s surface or my vessels will result in my immediate anddeadly retaliation. I order you to withdraw your vessels beyond theorbit of the second moon where you may remain and observe theevacuation of the planet. Failure to comply with my orders willresult in the use of deadly force. You have five minutes to comply.Chavez clear."

The loud cheer echoing round the cramped bridge was nothingcompared to the relief Vela relished in. For the first time today heallowed himself a smile, "Communications. Update First Fleet onthe status of our recovery operations and our projected timetable."Addressing the bridge in general, he said, "Back to work people westill have a lot of colonists to move."

#

TDF RESOLUTIONSELENE SYSTEM - 272 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH

"Admiral. The Cutlass is signaling its arrival. Ambassador

Schamu reports he is ready to proceed."Analisa Chavez lifted her eyes from her tactical repeater

where she was reviewing the latest from her intelligence section’sbest guess of the Turak ships weapons and capabilities. The sectionchief came to some surprising conclusions. In his estimation theTurak were also equipped with a form of gravity drive not toodissimilar to those employed by the CUOP. The data collected byCaptain Vela regarding the Turak weapon capabilities were not toofar off the mark either. Each ship had two rows of missile tubes, thecovering for each launch tube was smaller than those on anequivalent CUOP heavy cruiser which meant the missile itself had tobe smaller, however, there were more missile tubes on the Turakships.

The section chief, however, highlighted the number of heavygrazer points. With five grazers a Turak cruiser would outgun one ofher cruisers five to three meaning at energy weapon ranges the Turakwould have the advantage but at longer ranges her cruisers couldthrow a heavier missile weight.

At this particular moment in time it was a moot point. Whenthe flash signal from the Hub was received at First Fleet it had beenakin to kicking over an ants nest. First Fleet forwarded the flashsignal to the Combined Joint Chiefs where Admiral Jing was heardto repeatedly curse CSG Itus, the unit specifically designed to dealwith exactly this kind of incident which was still three months frombeing operational.

Never a man to hesitate when time was of the essence Jing

ordered Analisa, his replacement as CO First Fleet, to assumecommand of the ready BatFor and prepare for immediate departure.Analisa's and the navy's speedy response had all been for naught asthe Commonwealth Council refused permission for the fleetsdeployment.

Wary of repeating their mistake in sending First Fleet rushingto the defense of Alona during the war against the Others. A movewhich left the Earth open to the surprise attack which ended in thedestruction of Fifth Fleet and the near extinction of the human race.The Council was refusing to authorize the deployment of a singleBatFor until each of the member states of the Commonwealthagreed.

Even with the speedy comms drones feeding information topoliticians the Council decision delayed any action until eachgovernment considered the pros and cons of deployment. Minutesbecame hours while Analisa and her relief force could only cooltheir heels and await their political master’s decision. When itcame, a long five hours later, Analisa did not wait for Jing toterminate the communications link before she folded for Selene.

Much to her relief she arrived to find the stalemate betweenthe hulking freighter and the Turak still in place. With the firepowerof an entire BatFor to back up her demands for the Turak towithdraw whoever was in charge over there decided withdrawal wasthe better part of valor. The three warships withdrew to just beyondthe second moon where they had remained, silently, for the lastthirteen hours.

Analisa's sensors detected numerous launches from the centervessel of the three ship formation, the analysts called it the flagship.The frequent launches they figured, and Analisa agreed, were mostlikely communications drones as almost immediately after launchthey accelerated sharply and disappeared into fold space. Analisawondered if they were calling for back up. She could be in for a

shooting war yet. The main reason she greeted the news of theCutlass' arrival with a sense of relief.

"Inform the ambassador he may continue." UnconsciouslyAnalisa's fingers sought out the delicate gold necklace she alwayswore. A gift from the widow of her late mentor and friend StephanoRicco, killed at the bloodbath of 70 Ophiuchi four years previously.The blue icon representing the Cutlass moved away from themassed ships of her BatFor on course for the three unmoving Turakcruisers. Good luck Ambassador. For all our sakes.

#

Nicholas Schamu appeared outwardly like he did not have a care inthe world as he sat on one of the few spare seats on the bridge ofSurvFlot One’s flagship, TDF Cutlass. Only two hours ago Nicholashad been enjoying... perhaps enjoying was too strong a word... dinnerwith his sister Madeleine and her insufferable husband, SenatorMathias Grant the Third. A priority call summoning him to theaustere offices of the Head of the Diplomatic Corps himself hadcome at a most opportune moment as he had about had enough ofthe self-inflated ego of Mathias Grant the Third and he was just onemore bland sound bite away from telling him where he couldpolitely shove his ideas of the Earth First movement.

The military flyer which landed on the back lawn of his sister’s house made an unsightly mess of the blustering senator’s immaculate rose bed and brought a chortle from the normally mirthless ambassador as he watched the politician mouthing a curse while shaking a fist at the flyer as it took off. The last remaining heads of the roses were separated from their stalks and blown across the neat, now scorched, lawn.

Whatever small amount of joy Nicholas may have taken fromhis brother-in-law’s futile efforts to save his beloved rose petals was

thoroughly suffocated as he opened the secure briefing package onthe PAD the crew chief handed to him on boarding. Nicholas, overthe years, developed a talent for speed reading any document andpicking out the salient points. In his opinion the situation at Selenewas a hairs breath away from going from a standoff to armedconflict. As the flyer broke the sound barrier in its headlong dashfor distant Geneva Nicholas tapped a key on his armrest activatinghis link to the flyers pilot.

"Change of destination. Get me to Geneva spaceport and don’tspare the horses."

"But Ambassador I have direct orders from Secretary Beckettto take you to the Diplomatic Corps headquarters."

Ah these military types always following orders. "And I'mchanging those orders. Don’t worry I’ll sort it out with the Secretaryjust get me to the spaceport tout de suite."

Terminating the link Nicholas could tell the pilot was nothappy but he felt the little flyer bank and knew he was on course forhis new destination. A few more taps of his armrest controls and heestablished a link to Secretary Beckett's private number. The lined,balding head of Aaron Beckett appeared in the display mounted inthe headrest in front of Nicholas. Before he could say anything theSecretary wrong footed him.

"I see you’re headed for the spaceport then Nicholas. Lucky Irequisitioned a courier ship and it’s warming up on the landing pad."

Instead of replying immediately Nicholas gave one of his rarechuckles. "I see you understand the importance of haste in thecurrent situation Mister Secretary."

Now it was Aaron's turn to laugh. "I only ordered the flyer tobring you here to see if you were still willing to follow your gutinstead of blindly following your superiors’ instructions. I'm glad tosee, even after knowing you for thirty odd years, you are still willingto question if not downright ignore my instructions."

Nicholas tipped an imaginary hat at the pick up. "I learned fromthe best Mister Secretary."

"Sycophant." Laughed Aaron before his demeanor became allbusiness again. "Back to the matter in hand, Nicholas. The couriership will take you to Charon Base where Admiral Papadomas has putthe Cutlass at your disposal..."

Aaron must have seen the quizzical look on Nicholas' face."The admiral was quite insistent. If you are going into a

potential war zone then you will be aboard one of his cruisers, notan unarmed courier ship. He made some reference to a Benii carrierand a shuttle craft as I recall"

Nicholas smiled ruefully. "Yes. Christos will never let me livethat one down I fear. But in this case he may be right. Tensionsappear quite high and perhaps being on board an armored warship isbetter than being on a defenseless shuttle craft."

"Let's hope you don't have to find out Nicholas. But enough ofthis melancholy talk. Cutlass will be at your disposal and I'vealready sent word to Admiral Chavez, you will be joining her asexpeditiously as you can. All the latest information we have isalready loaded onto your PAD including your mission specifics."

Nicholas cocked an eyebrow at the image of the Secretary inhis display. “Which are?"

"In a nutshell to make sure we don't find ourselves in anothershooting war. Find out as much about these people as you can and tryto establish some form of peaceful relations with them."

"From what I've seen the Turak come across as prettybelligerent Mister Secretary."

Aaron frowned and the mood turned somber. "That’s what I'mafraid of Nicholas. Do your best."

Nicholas looked into the tired eyes of his friend for a secondbefore replying. "Yes, of course, you shall have it Mister Secretary."

With a nod Aaron terminated the link. Nicholas picked up the

PAD again and began going through the data line by line hoping toglean even the smallest detail which could help him with the Turakas the flyer sped on-wards.

# "All stop.""All stop aye Captain."Captain Denise Nicholls spun her chair till she faced the

dapper diplomat in his seat along the rear bulkhead of the Cutlass.To her surprise he was sipping tea from a bone china cup and lookedas if he was completely unperturbed by the sight of the three Turakwarships hovering 500,000 kilometers dead ahead. AdmiralPapadomas gave her strict instructions before departing Charonregarding the ambassador’s well-being.

Ambassador Schamu was in charge of the mission and she wasto follow his orders to the letter. However, if the ambassador’sorders compromised the safety of the Cutlass and her crew, theadmiral would take a very dim view if she were to allow saidambassador to come to any harm by reckless behavior, by say, takingan unarmed shuttle and heading out to meet three warships. IfSchamu's reputation for grandiose gestures were anything to go bythose instructions may prove a hard task to complete.

"We are at the limit of what we think is the Turak effectiveweapons envelope Ambassador."

Schamu put his cup down carefully on a small table by hischair and put on his best game face. "Thank you Captain. Perhaps youwould open a video and audio link to the Turak ships."

Nicholls gave her comms officer a nod and the link wasestablished.

"Turak vessels. I am Ambassador Nicholas Schamu of theCommonwealth Union of Planets and I have come here at the

request of the Commonwealth to hopefully establish peacefulrelations between our peoples and avert any accidentalmisunderstandings."

There was no reply from the Turak just stony silence."Comms are we sure the link is still open?" Asked Nicholls."Yes Ma'am. My board shows the link is good. The Turak are

receiving both our audio and video feed.""Let’s give it a minute Captain if you please," said Schamu.The seconds crept by and as the bridge clock reached four

minutes the harsh, Standard English of the Turak erupted from thebridge speakers.

"You have infringed on the territory of the Turak. You willremove yourselves from the planet or suffer the consequences."

"As you can see we are doing as you ask and we apologize forany offense we may have caused. We did not know this system wasclaimed by the Turak. If I may make a suggestion? So we may avoidany further misunderstandings in the future perhaps an exchange ofinformation, a list of systems under Turak control in this quadrant ofspace to prevent any unintentional ingress. We would of coursereciprocate and supply you with a list of systems occupied by theCommonwealth." With a small nod from Schamu the comms officertransmitted the pre prepared data.

Again the seconds seemed to stretch as Schamu awaited theTurak's reply.

"Captain we're receiving a data packet from the Turak... lookslike navigational data."

Schamu let out a small sigh. Progress at last. "Thank you. MayI request we establish video communications as well as audio?"

The answer this time was immediate. "No. We have suppliedthe data you need. Ensure there are no more intrusions into Turakterritory. Next time no opportunity to retreat will be given and ifyou believe we have taken no action because of the presence of your

warships behold the strength of the Turak!"The wailing of alarms filled the bridge of the Cutlass and the

tactical holo cube filled with the blood red icons of Turak ships.Ten. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty capital ships, each the size of aBismarck class battle ship filled the holo cube.

Mocking laughter reached Schamu through the sound of thealarms. "Go now and do not return unless you want war!"

###

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