Galactic Freighter: Scourge of the Deep Space Pirates (Contact) (31 page)

In what Mahoney took as an antagonistic response, Rzlor said, "Your request seems more like an order. Emperor Djac will not be pleased."

Mahoney looked away from Rzlor. "I came here expecting a favorable reception. After all, my people could have taken your ship and you would never have known. But we didn't. We saved your people and ship. I think that merits some favorable response."

"My superior must consult with the Emperor." Rzlor stood, clearly aggravated by the request, and hurriedly walked to the pinnace with the Pagmok warrior steps behind.

"Fine," Mahoney said already rising from his chair. "Make sure your superiors tell your Emperor the Hommew may be more accommodating if he chooses to say no."

"How do you know of the Hommew?" Rzlor spun back to face Mahoney.

"I see no need to tell you. I'll wait for your answer."

Rzlor returned to the table and sat. "I must know everything on the Hommew."

"I told you the information came from your ship we saved. Consult with your Emperor."

Rzlor stood and entered the pinnace, the Pagmok trailing. Knowing the time it would take to get anything from Myslac, Mahoney and Evans headed to his cabin as the pinnace prepared to depart.

"That sure turned sour," Evans said. "Actually, I'm not surprised. They don't seem like an accommodating bunch. Too used to giving orders, always on top of the dog pile. Or in this case, the frog pile. Any idea what the Emperor will have to say?"

"He'll invite us to parley." Mahoney's self-assurance apparently didn't rub off on Evans.

"You sound so sure."

"Wait and see." The two men had cleared the hanger deck as the Kalazecis pinnace eased out from the hanger bay.

"Of course, I could have misinterpreted the habits of the Kalazecis. If so, there may be more trouble than we can handle.

"From what information the computer carried, that is a common tactic of the Kalazecis. Strange by our way of thinking. They are antagonistic by their nature. Everything is a confrontation. Anything less than that, they take as weakness." The two men parted in the passageway, Mahoney to his cabin, Evans to the bridge.

Mahoney showered, ordered lunch brought in and laid down for a rest.

Awakened, he hit the blinking icon next to his bunk. "Kalazecis launch is headed our way, Sir," the comm said. "Captain Evans is in the hanger bay."

Mahoney dressed and casually made his way down the passageway to the aft end of the ship. Deckhands had locked the pinnace to the rails and the Kalazecis were already seated at the table. He didn't apologize for being late.

"The Emperor has granted you an audience," Rzlor said. Over the next few minutes, he detailed the information needed to go on orbit and that a launch would take them to Myslac. He spent an inordinate amount of time detailing how to approach the Emperor.

Mahoney didn't underestimate the importance of meeting a monarch. Some could be quite testy. Apparently that was the case with Djac.

The part of interest to Mahoney was meeting the Emperor. Indifference may be a trait of the underlings, but he wanted to make sure he didn't do something to slight the monarch. He needed the Pagmok warriors and their ships. It was the way he could take the fight to Sebastian and Buck Fryman.

With that, the Kalazecis returned to their ship and the Dolin Elite prepared to enter low orbit.

Evans explicitly followed the directions Rzlor had given when requesting an orbit slot above Myslac. Two Kalazecis warships stood off fifty thousand meters, one to port, and the other off their starboard.

"Don't trust us," Evans said. "Can't say as I blame them."

Mahoney stepped onto the bridge. "Has a shuttle left either ship?"

"No, sir," responded the comm.

"Magnificent warships." Mahoney pointed to an area on the ship off their port. "They could do some serious damage with all the weapons they carry."

The aft bay doors opened and a pinnace emerged. "Looks like my transportation." He commed the hanger bay to make sure his luggage was there and left the bridge to board the soon-to-arrive ship.

"Are you going alone?" Evans asked. "Someone should accompany you. May I assign one man?"

Mahoney paused. "Might be a good idea. Can this person be ready in time? The launch should arrive in less than thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir. I anticipated your approval and had one man prepare. He worked at an embassy so he should have some idea of how to conduct himself before a royal court. He's also a former Marine."

Mahoney didn't bother to ask the man's name. He left the bridge and arrived ten minutes later in the hanger bay not bothering to acknowledge his newly appointed aide who stood beside the luggage.

Once the shuttle attached to the rails, two Pagmok warriors stepped from the ship and motioned both men aboard.

The aide picked up their luggage and followed Mahoney.

Once seated, a Pagmok handed each man a rebreather. Surprisingly, they fit well and neither felt any discomfort.

Not a word passed between Mahoney and the Pagmok on the trip to the surface.

A sparsely clouded sky greeted them as they stepped onto the tarmac.

Mahoney surveyed the area, satisfied that the orderliness indicated the Kalazecis kept a tight rein on events. He removed the rebreather and tested the air.

"It may take some getting used to, but I can do without this." He handed the device to his aide.

In an aircar with a Pagmok driver, they arrived at a two story building. A Pagmok led them to their rooms. From his window, Mahoney could see the multi-storied palace, white, and stone.

"Magnificent. At least the Kalazecis know how to enjoy wealth." Something Mahoney understood.

Surrounded by a good-sized well-groomed lawn, pathways divided the area into sections. His rooms were elegant, finished in soft colors, pastels, and the light blue rug of some material he didn't recognize but plush. Pictures, Kalazecis interpretation of oils, hung around the room.

After unpacking, Mahoney dismissed the crewman with a wave of his hand. Again, at the window, he watched as an aircar glided up to the building. Quite different from the one that brought them, he judged this must the royal carrier.

Anticipating a Pagmok at his door, Mahoney answered the chime only to see a Kalazecis along with a Pagmok.

With an expression he couldn't fathom, the alien said, "Dress in your finest for the Emperor." With that, they left.

Quickly, Mahoney changed, stepped before a mirror, and inspected his dark blue suit, cravat, and shoes. Satisfied, he picked up this translator and made his way to the aircar.

"Where is your aide?" asked the officer.

"Don't need him," Mahoney curtly responded.

"To go before Emperor Djac without an attendant is bad. Summon him."

Although it angered Mahoney, he commed the man, ordered him to dress in his best clothes and come to the aircar.

The man arrived, in a blue suit, lighter in color than Mahoney's, but well groomed and they made the trip to the palace.

En route, they received a repeat of the instructions on how to enter and meet the Emperor. "Do not make a mistake," the aide said. "Many will be watching and you must do nothing to insult Emperor Djac." He didn't elaborate on the consequences of any affront.

From a distance, the palace appeared elaborate. Up close, the luxurious building astounded Mahoney with its carvings and gold trim. He followed another Kalazecis and Pagmok, the officer dressed in a white one-piece uniform with gold trim, the Pagmok in a gray one-piece uniform, up the marble steps, his aide a few steps behind. Once in the palace, another resplendently dressed Kalazecis, this one without a Pagmok, motioned them forward. To Mahoney, it seemed the Pagmok warriors could not enter the room with the Emperor.

The Kalazecis didn’t lack in grandeur and pomp. Gilded stone colonnades six meters tall fronted the throne room entrance, embracing four-meter solid ebony colored wooden doors inlaid with ivory. White marble floors intricately patterned with precious and semiprecious stones smoothly polished to a mirror finish, reflected light from numerous small glass-covered overhead domes. The effect gave a surrealistic look to the entire antechamber. The wealth, the extravagance was beyond anything Mahoney had ever seen. He thought he knew how to enjoy wealth but this experience gave him many ideas.

Slowly, unattended, the great doors swung open.

In a rhythmic cadence, his guide moved forward, with Mahoney three steps behind, his aide trailed by the same distance. Entering the throne room must have been an event few Kalazecis experienced. The look on his guide's face showed what Mahoney took as a mixture of anticipation and fear.

A few meters into the room, they stopped.

Another Kalazecis approached and into his translator said in a whisper, "Human Jarred Mahoney, I will escort you to the throne and be at your side throughout your audience. If the Emperor speaks to you or asks a question, look directly at him and answer forthrightly." Maybe a hundred people, Mahoney had decided to think of the Kalazecis as people, lined the walls watching his entrance.

Mahoney nodded and asked, "What is your name?"

That brought no answer. All attention focused on the Emperor as he entered from behind the dais.

From a curtain next to the raised dais, a man dressed in a deep purple robe appeared. Mahoney’s guide said he was an oracle, a prophesier of good to come of whatever he spoke.

"All gather to hear Djac, Emperor of Myslac, Kalazecis, Pagmok, Rococo, and the entire universe," the prophet declared in a tenor voice.

The Emperor seated himself on a very common looking wooden throne, silencing everyone in the room as they bowed. Even the understated throne seemed to add elegance, something not lost on Mahoney.

The attendant took two steps forward and joined in the communal raking. The entire entourage watched to see how Mahoney reacted to the Emperor’s presence.

He gave a courteous bow, as did his aide. Both eyed their attendant and saw a most approving bob. Collective nods spread around the room.

Emperor Djac motioned forward Mahoney and the Kalazecis at his side. His aide stood fast.

Mahoney and his escort walked to within three meters of the throne and stopped.

"Human," the Emperor said as he brushed long flaming red hair off his shoulder, "My officer says you want our Pagmok warriors and ships. Do you plan a war?"

"Majesty, I have labored hard and long to build a nation such as yours. Others contrived to take that from me. I seek to keep what is mine. If those who would do me harm are destroyed in the war, so be it."

"You speak like a Kalazecis. We take what is rightfully ours." Djac leaned back, his manner casual. "You did save one of our ships, many, many passages ago. We have some debt to you. Yet, it is our warriors who would die and our ships destroyed. You ask a great deal."

"Should your Majesty choose to ally with me, the Kalazecis could reap great rewards."

"Or lose everything." Djac scowled at Mahoney.

Mahoney didn't respond, as that was a possibility.

"How do you know of Hommew?" The Emperor eyed him with what Mahoney judged as suspicion.

This was the moment Mahoney dreaded. The wrong answer and he could lose his head. The right answer may bring him nothing. Djac could say no and send him on his way empty handed. His answer had to placate the ruler.

"When my people saved your ship and crew, your representative and the captain were most grateful. We shared much information on our two worlds. That is how we learned of the Hommew." Mahoney's people had decided the Kalazecis had not developed their technology. Otherwise, they could have made the repairs to their ship and continued without help but that wasn't the case. Someone had to give them their FTL ships. The data they'd received from the Kalazecis ship said as much.

"The Hommew must hold you and your people in great regard. Not everyone would be as generous." He was on precarious ground and summoned every bit of wit he possessed. Mahoney wanted the Emperor to understand he knew his people were not the originators of the space faring technology and framed his words in hope that no offense would result. He recalled that the Kalazecis respected boldness and anything less could doom his request.

Djac's body stiffened and seemed restive. "Our scientists were unable to interpret the information given to us. So, the exchange was useless. Tell me of your world."

Mahoney relaxed. He was right. The Kalazecis science remained far behind the humans and he could use that.

Briefly, he described the salient aspects of the human worlds and culture. He left unsaid that his primary target was Emperor Sebastian, fearing that Djac might see him as a kindred spirit.

Myslac had fought three wars with humans, losing the first two but they destroyed New Earth in the last conflict. Undoubtedly, the Emperor had concerns, worries, that the humans would seek revenge on the Kalazecis for having killed the first human space colony. That didn't need airing.

Apparently finished with the exchange, Djac ordered his foreign minister and military head to continue the discussion. With that, he stood and left the room. The assembled bowed as he departed.

Mahoney took that as a positive sign. At least the Emperor hadn't said no. He didn't move, waiting for his escort to tell him what to do.

"Follow me," the Kalazecis said. "You will meet in the foreign ministry building."

Chapter Thirty-One:
The Double Swindle

J
arred Mahoney dutifully followed the Kalazecis guide from the throne room. Once outside the palace, a Pagmok, dressed in the usual gray jumpsuit, motioned for him to follow and his aide fell in behind the two. The queue present in the throne room had preceded his exit and watched as he walked down the long flight of steps.

They entered an aircar less decorated than the one that had taken them to the palace. After a short ride, it stopped in front of a plain off-white three story stone building.

Met by a Kalazecis, his uniform marking him military, they entered, walked through a series of security gates, and stopped before a set of double doors. No one moved.