Rise of the Kirin (Chapts 12 & 13)

[Cmdr Wyvern]

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Chapter 12 (Starship in a bottle)
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Udian pawed over the holographic star maps of the local sector. This was turning into a deadly game of chess with either a madman or a tactical genius. Despite trying to dictate as many of the rules of the game as he could, it would appear that military were trying to double cross him at every turn. He had successfully predicted the attempt to intercept the Kirin plans, although this prediction owed more to paranoia than deduction. Paranoia, too, had sent the kirin crew on a roundabout route. It would be exponentially more difficult to keep a lid on the kirin the more ship yards received the plans.

Another thing worried him. Why agree to such an outrageous term in the first place then openly attempt to stop it? Deniable culpability? Then why have a corporal in his nice shiny military uniform lead the charge? He was clearly planning something. Udian thought back to his father, his flawed, arguably psychotic, brilliant father. When he was barely six cycles old he'd gone looking for him, bloodied and crying and found him in his study. He had been in a fight, and having lost rather badly had hoped to find some form of comfort. Mirias had been cold and abrupt with him, as he was with anyone who disturbed his work. But he had said something, something that echoed down the centuries and tolled in this old scarred mans mind like a bell. "You let your enemies pick the battle field Udian, and yet still you wonder why you lost."

Gouglass had picked Tibecea. But why? The planet itself was unremarkable. Its position then? Outer edge of galaxy 1 surrounded by lobster worlds, mostly anachies, confeds and dictatorships. Not a rich area, although it's isolated position dictated a heavy defense. The nearest sizable garrison being a short jump away on Ceedra. Udian checked The SECCOM records; Navy sector command 14 commanded by General Senior Gouglass vor Cheem. Udian cursed, a very very foolish mistake on his part. Vor Cheem's reaction to Roh'is presence should have rung alarm bells. Given the population of Ceedra, it wasn't surprising at all. Much like a chess player unexpectedly checked by his opponent, a final terrible realization of intent crystalized in his mind. What's at the end of recorded space? The start of everything else of course. With the protective umbrella of Sector command 14 gone, that area was extremely isolated and vulnerable to Thargoid attack. The next capable garrison was Sector 12 based at Aleusqu several days' jump away. Tibecea and the surrounding worlds became one big bottleneck of relatively expendable systems. Any news of a sizable invasive action would take time to reach Aleusqu, then maybe a day to a mass a fleet not to mention the travel time.

Gouglass didn't want to use the military to kill him, he couldn't. He wasn't high enough up the food chain. But the Thargoids could be practically counted on to arrive in force if they knew an area of space was defensively compromised. All he had to do was wait for him and the kirin to fly down the neck of the bottle and some how inform the insects that the red carpet was out. Then any sizable force coming down from war-torn Beenri but more likely Zaleriza or even Diquxe would trap them in a small pocket of systems for easy disposal. It was a plan worthy of his father. The knowledge of the nature of the trap was in its self useless. Udian had to go back. His ship, although strong and fast, was no match for a full scale swarm and it would be a swarm. When the Thargoids found out he was there. His family would assume correctly the Thargoids were acting out of revenge and align with the military.

Udian thought back to the death of Horgan Vor Cheem. It was a regrettable incedent, but not any Shulth's fault. Both families had lost a great deal the day he died. Udian had let his sympathy for Cheem's loss cloud his judgement. Not that this seemed to matter to Gouglass. Was he really mad enough to goad the Thargoids into a full scale invasion? Just to full fill a personal vendetta? It was he had to admit, a sure fire way to guarentee his death.

Udian, for once, for a fleeting second, showed his age. He sagged slightly. His mind was furiously number crunching. He was caught in a massive catch 22. Although he guessed Gouglass was working alone in this, he realized that his options were quite limited. He would inform the family of course so they wouldn't become puppets, but someone had to go back and try to rescue Mima. Shulth tapped keys feverishly, an overlay of galaxy two flowed over galaxy one. The two were sown together in 3D, inches above each other by thin silver threads denoting Galactic jump co-ordinates.

The galaxy two worlds of Inbeed maybe Soinuste both low tech-level and unstable political systems both nearly directly above Tibecea. Nearest SEACOM system Onmate, close but not close enough. Either could serve as a nice quiet second ambush point to finish off anything that somehow managed to survive the Tibecea bottleneck. Udian sat back in the dark leather chair of the map room. There were still options, even at this late stage. Unorthodox tactics that might work. Ways of complicating the board. Outrageous gambles. Very much a chance to live in the moment. It was doubtful that Gouglass was going to die in his own trap after all and if he can find a way out then Shulth might too.

The problem here was an inability to ascertain the strength of his initial assets, one could assume that any invading Thargoid force would be bordering on the monstrous. Some family contacts were going to have to be reforged and some pride swallowed. He had time, just a little, but some. The first thing that couldn't wait was enlightening the crew of the Kirin of this distasteful revelation. It was, he had to admit, far fetched but it was the only explaination that currently fitted. No one had actually asked the Thargoids nicely to invade before. It was he mused an assassination disguised as a war.


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Chapter 13 (Plan B)
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None of the crew suites built into the /Therenback/ were large enough for Esei, but spacers being uniquely adaptable, they had the bulkheads cut away between three of the standard quarters, and the resulting large apartment refurnished for Esei's needs. Now dressing in custom made clothing and wearing custom moccasins on her paws, the Silurian centaurid was performing her duties as /Therenback/'s cargo master with growing confidence and cheer, even assisting with inflight repairs when needed, and showed remarkable talent as a chef and amateur brewer, building a distillery in the galley with Ramania's help from scavenged parts and copper tubing. Just as well, as she had an astonishing appetite, eating around 100 pounds of food a day. Fortunately food is a cheap commodity, and Captain Roh'i made it a point to keep at least three TC's worth on board at all times.

Filling out the roster was the brilliant Dr. Genray Pachensen, a three foot tall vaguely beaver-like rodent, a traveling chemist, dietitian, cyberneticist, xenobiologist and frontier surgeon they had picked up as a passenger, who then decided to stay onboard as the ship's medic.
Rupert Thorn, the only human on board, signed on as secondary pilot and tactical officer, and to help out where he could; the /Therenback/ had scooped up his escape pod after pirates shot up his rusty old Cobra in the Geisgeza system.
Finally, Ossil and Na'lik Hanuris, Ceedran brothers who signed on as ship's security and assistants; the brothers expressed an interest in going to Tibecea, saying the General owed them money and it was past time to collect on old debts. Roh'i couldn't fault the brothers on that, but warned them to be on good behavior.
A motley bunch to be sure, but each loyal, talented and capable in their own ways.

The /Therenback/ had taken a roundabout, seemingly random course and had effectively shaken off pursuers since departing Enola, and had wound up in Tianve to deliver the plans to the last shipyard on the list, Z.P.G.

It was then that Udian called again. Roh'i made it a conference with his crew. Udian informed them of a possible Thargoid ambush awaiting them at Tibecea. In between them, a plan was formulated...
Roh'i would call in some favors, and have his friends spread around the message of Thargoid assault fleets gathering in and near Tibecea system, a rumor that was sure to draw in every hardassed privateer, merc and laser happy pirate from across the chart. There's irresistibly huge bounties on Thargs, after all, and the Empress' ransom in alien items to be gleaned from the wreckage.
The /Therenback/ would bounce around awhile and spread the rumor further in bars and on GalNet forum nodes, enticing large merc forces to gather in the vicinity of Tibecea, while Udian would monitor the buildup of mercs from a safe distance. This also allowed the /Therenback/ crew to prepare for a swift get in, get out mission to negotiate Mima's release - or if necessary, pull a jailbreak, while the mercs kept the Bugs busy. In the ensuing chaos, Udian could slip through under cloak and escape unnoticed, effectively throwing a large spanner or two into Gouglass' machinations to catch Shulth unawares. The /Therenback/ would then follow with Mima safely aboard.

It was an insane plan, a brilliant plan, or so brilliantly insane that the chances of failure were slim. Surely Gouglass wouldn't see it coming. There was only one flaw in this mad plot: Mima. She didn't know Captain Roh'i and crew, and vice versa. At Udian's request, Derik dismissed his crew mates from the conference.

"Captain Roh'i...Derik. I wish to record a message for my great-granddaughter, that may ease tensions between you and her."

Roh'i popped a blank disk into the terminal and engaged record mode. "Go ahead, Udian."

While Udian recorded the message, Roh'i finished his tankard of 'Esei's Awesome Ale', as Esei's home brewed drink was called around the ship. When Shulth had disconnected the call, Roh'i started making calls to friends around the chart, while Thorn visited the local spacer bars, and Ramania logged into GalNet. Plan B was on.

[Screet]

Hi,

just a little thing...and I might even be wrong, as english is not my native language...but shouldn't that be written as one word? " full fill" -> "fulfill"?

Screet

[DaddyHoggy]

Hi,

just a little thing...and I might even be wrong, as english is not my native language...but shouldn't that be written as one word? " full fill" -> "fulfill"?

Screet

You're not wrong...

[_ds_]

the Silurian centaurid

… er, probably not

(Usual .odt/.pdf will follow later today.)

[overmage]

It would be exponentially more difficult to keep a lid on the kirin the more ship yards received the plans.

Might need something to connect it in the middle. Something doesn't ring right about the structure. 'the more' is used often with another 'the more'; it might help if an 'if' were substituted like so

It would be exponentially more difficult to keep a lid on the Kirin if more shipyards received the plans.

or if another 'the more' were placed at the front:

The more shipyards received the plans, the more difficult it would be to keep a lid on the Kirin.

Also, Kirin is uncapitalized, and shipyard/ship yard... the accepted convention is 'shipyard', but if you're planning for a different style, then i'll retract that

Any news of a sizable invasive action would take time to reach Aleusqu, then maybe a day to a mass a fleet not to mention the travel time.

I think 'amass' rather than 'a mass' is the correct spelling here.

It was he mused an assassination disguised as a war.

Run-on sentence, the sentence doesn't really have a clear meaning without the commas unlike the preceding sentence:

It was, he had to admit, far fetched but it...

similarly, that sentence could be better written as

It was, he mused, an assassination disguised as a war.