“Is this enough!” I shouted. “Have I won yet? I beat him with fists. I beat him with powers! Are you all satisfied,” I screamed, “Or do you require his death, as he required mine?”
“You have done enough!” Moulagg shouted back. “We apologize for the criminal actions of the traitor, Maukarr. He should not have used his powers and has brought further shame to our people. And to one who would treat us as equals!” He addressed everyone in the stadium.
I walked over to the barrier where my friends had moved down to greet me, while Moulagg continued his speech. “Not only will 30 of our warriors come with you now, should you ever need the services of more Torax going forward, you need only ask. We are indebted to you for this grievous injustice.”
“Thank you, Moulagg. But I don’t hold the Torax accountable for that abomination's actions.” I thought about him dropping to the floor like the sack of shit he was, and freeing him from the paralysis. Again it worked. I was really cursing not spending every waking minute clearing my mind at every opportunity, now. My control over the powers had been unreal.
“Fear not, Captain Shaun. We will not be lenient with his crimes.”
I looked over to Dolegg, and he was a pale color. I didn’t understand why he seemed to be here in an honored position, but I didn’t give a damn either. I wanted to get my new men and the Suldr, then get the fuck off this oven of a planet. Calegg would tell me anything I needed to know later.
We left the arena, and I refused any offer of celebration, food or entertainment. I wasn’t alone in wanting to get straight back to the ship and out of the oppressive heat. Moulagg came along, as did Koparr, who was apparently coming with us.
We discussed the plans they had in place to discreetly move the new crew off the planet, which madly involved crates being loaded onto the ship. It was weird, and I felt a little uncomfortable putting people in crates like they were animals, but I just let them get on with it. To be fair, I wasn’t comfortable with animals being kept in crates either, but there you go.
By the time I’d had a shower, the Torax and the fire gems had been loaded aboard the Uprising. We were ready to go. Moulagg was here still, so I spoke to him briefly, “Just so you know without a doubt, it was Dolegg who ordered Maukarr to kill me. I hope you manage to deal with that poisonous shit-stain. He’s a curse on your people.”
“Don’t worry, Shaun. He may still roam free at the moment, but that won't last for long. I am onto him now, as are a few others. There are clearly some of the Council members in either his pay or the Empire’s. But I will be sure to root them all out. I also have friends.”
“Well, good luck Moulagg. We’ll be back, and if we can, we’ll offer more aid next time.”
“I look forward to it, Shaun. Ember,” he nodded to her, “look after yourselves. Until next we meet.”
“You too, Moulagg, you too,” Ember replied.
With that, we left Moulagg and Torax. I wasn't sad to see the back of that hellhole.
C5
Caught at Last
We flew away from Torax at a fairly leisurely pace. All in all, it was a job well done, even close to how I thought it was going to go. I just hoped our next plan, to find some Veiletians, would be a little easier. At least this time it was only me in any danger.
We were heading to a Veiletian enclave – as Elyek had described it – hidden on a moon that was habitable only because of the domes that had been erected to stop everyone floating off into space. For once, speed was not essential. It was more important that we got to know our new crew mates.
The addition of the new Torax crew members had certainly added a fresh dimension to life on the Uprising. I was getting to know Calparr and Koparr very well. They were both good guys. We could see great potential for the Torax to be useful members of the crew, so we did some focused sessions with the few laser-rifles we had on board in the training room. They were mastering it all just fine; the rifles were little different from the ballistic ones they had been used to, in the sense of simply aiming and pulling a trigger. Calparr ran training drills with them, which gave Ember and me plenty of opportunity to hone our own skills, although we did join in with them now and again.
Calegg taught a few of the quicker-witted Torax how to operate the various ships and weapon bays. One of our main concerns, up until now, had been that despite having six weapon bays, there would not be enough crew members to man these, should we be attacked. Ten in all showed some aptitude in learning the basics of the controls, although I could see Calegg becoming frustrated from time to time. Fortunately, Koparr seemed to take to it like a duck to water, and he became a full-time bridge crew member.
By the end of the fourth day of travel, I felt as though we were all getting on well. I’d even remembered everyone’s name – mostly – and obviously there was a much better atmosphere than on the Thoth. Which was really fantastic, considering what happened next.
We were blithely Sunday driving through the stars, when out of nowhere a small fleet of large vessels appeared around us. “Dunno who these guys are, but we should fold the fuck out of here,” I shouted at Calegg.
“Shaun, we have to wait for the drive to power up!” Calegg snapped
