“WHERE IS THAT BITCH ” - Part 01

“WHERE IS THAT BITCH?”

“Who are you referring to?” Ori asked him.

Without answering his question, the man shoved the door wide open and grabbed me by the throat. My guards quickly holstered their weapons, grabbed him by his arms and tossed him out. He fell flat on his back. My guards then drew their weapons and were ready to fire. I raised my arm and they lowered their weapons. I could see fear on the man’s face. I asked Ori to tell him that he was not welcome here. The guards then picked him up by his arms, turned him around and shoved him forward. He fell again. His face hit the ground hard. My guards picked him up again and gently let him go. He ran as fast as he could.

Asora and Airam were behind us and saw the whole thing. They had just returned from the back room. Asora said something to Ori.

He looked at me and said, “Asora said she recognized the man. He intimidated her in prison and probably wanted to silence her.”

Asora again said something and Ori translated, “We need to get my message out as soon as possible because it looks like the police goons are making their rounds intimidating the activists in my organization.”

I asked Ori to contact Vieria and tell her what had happened here and that Asora was ready to make her speech and the sooner the better.

Moments later Ori handed Asora his communicator and said something to her. He told me that Vieria was in the process of making arrangements for a live broadcast right now. Vieria will be sending her crew here this afternoon, in about four hours from now, to do a live broadcast.

About ten minutes later Asora handed Ori his communicator and told him to tell me the arrangements had been made and she would be making her speech live here, today.

I asked Ori to translate for me, “Asora, it would be nice to have your supporters behind you cheering you on when the broadcast takes place. Would you be interested in that?”

She smiled, shook her head and ran outside. We followed her. She waved her arms for people to gather around and she spoke to them.

Without asking him to translate Ori said, “She told everyone to run back to their neighbourhoods and invite all their friends and neighbours to come here to hear her speech and participate in a rally which will be broadcast live on channel 45.”

After everyone left we went back inside. Ori and I went back to the table and resumed eating and drinking.

Just as Ori and I were finishing our third drink, crowds of people began to appear outside the door chanting “Asora, Asora, Asora”.

Delche jumped out of his kitchen and said, “There is no way we can accommodate all these people in here.”

Ori and I laughed. Asora explained to him what she was planning to do. Delche came over to our table and poured himself another drink.

About an hour later there were so many people outside they couldn’t even fit in the streets.

Ori and I went outside and looked around.

“What are we looking for?” he asked.

“We’re looking for a place where we can fit all these people so that they can be part of the broadcast. We need to show the world that real people actually support Asora.”

“What about the slope above the ship?” he asked. “There’s plenty of space there?”

I yelled, “ORI YOU ARE A GENIUS. We can have the crowd behind Asora and the ship behind the crowd. People will see the strength of her support.”

Asora and Airam ran outside to see what the commotion was about. Ori explained to them what we were discussing and Asora thought it was a good idea.

She raised her arms up and people began to come over. She told them to follow Ori and me to the ship and tell everyone to be there for a live broadcast.

When they heard the word ship the people became excited and wanted to see it.

On the way up people kept asking Ori questions about the ship, they seemed to be very interested in it. When we arrived in sight of the ship they all ran to it and began to touch it.

More and more people arrived. They all wanted to touch the ship. They began to chant “Dragon Fire, Dragon Fire, Dragon Fire.”

“What a horrible name for such a beautiful ship,” I said to Ori.

“What name would you have picked?”

“Probably ‘Phoenix Rising’, I said.

“I don’t understand? What’s a Phoenix Rising?”

Suddenly there was a big roar. The crowd came alive. Asora and the broadcasting crew were arriving. The crew told Asora to stand beside the ship and asked the people to stand behind her and around the ship. There were thousands of them.

When the cameras began to roll the crowd went into a frenzy chanting, “Asora, Asora, Asora”.

About fifteen seconds later, Asora raised her arms and then lowered them. The crowd went silent and she began to speak.

She was clear, concise and looked confident about everything she said. She pointed to the ship and its crew several times. When she was done, one by one the people came over, greeted her and then touched the ship and left. We were all very proud of Asora at that moment.

Moments later, after the cameras had stopped rolling, Ori received a call from Vieria. She wanted to congratulate Asora for her fine speech and all of us for supporting her. She said the rally was fantastic, better than she had expected. We had done a good job. Having the ship in the broadcast was genius. I told her the idea for that had come from Ori. She was very pleased and personally congratulated him. Ori seemed happy.

When everyone had left, Delche and Airam went back to the restaurant. Asora stayed behind and wanted a tour of the ship.

She walked around it and inspected the guns and the torpedo tube. She then stepped back and said something which Ori translated, “The ship is so small and the guns are tiny.”

Then she came inside, looked around and went right back out.

“Not very impressive in looks but awesome in power,” I said and asked Ori to translate.

She gave me a quick smile and kept walking. Ori followed close behind. Waiting for the ship’s door to completely shut, I thought that Asora must be distracted with the great tasks ahead of her. I sure wouldn’t want to be in her shoes. I hope she would make time for Delche and her daughter. I felt responsible for loading her with this heavy burden. She was now caught in a situation not of her making, just like me.

When we got to the restaurant it was packed. People were standing inside and outside talking. Only those sitting at the tables were snacking and drinking. It was hard getting through the crowd because every person had something to say to Asora.

She said something to Ori and he translated, “I’m not cut out for this. I feel burned out on my first day. I feel this great weight on my shoulders and I don’t know how to get it off. What am I going to do? Am I going to disappoint everyone?”

I asked Ori to contact Vieria and let her know that Asora was about to have a meltdown.

We took her to the back room and Ori handed her his communicator and told her Vieria was on the line. Asora sat down in a soft chair and picked up the device.

We stepped outside and heard Delche yelling, “I need a couple of servers to help me.” Several people stepped up and volunteered.

“And here I thought he was calling us,” said Ori.

Ori and I stood in front of the back room door in silence. We both had the same thought. We didn’t want to be politicians.

About twenty minutes later Asora opened the door and pulled us in. She gave Ori his communicator back and told him to tell me that she was feeling much better after talking to Vieria. She also wanted one of these communicators so that she could have secure conversations with Vieria. I gave her mine.

It was starting to get dark outside and the people were already leaving. We said our goodbyes and we too left for the ship.

When we got back Ori powered up his screen and began to switch from channel to channel looking for news.

“After we bombed the building yesterday and Asora’s speech today, I figured there would be a lot of criticism from the rats, but it seems like they’re quiet,” said Ori.

“What are they saying on channel 45?” I asked.

“They are repeating Asora’s speech and taking calls from the public.”

“What are the people saying?”

“Almost all of them are looking for change and they seem to be behind Asora.”

Suddenly I had this uneasy feeling.

“Asora’s popularity will surely make her a target. I’m afraid she may be in danger. I’m certain the rats will come after her. She’ll need protection,” I said and then asked. “How safe is Asora’s home and the restaurant?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s that safe.”

“Do you think we can fit the ship in the space in front of Delche’s restaurant?” I asked.

“Maybe? It will probably block the entire street.”

“There’s no traffic at night. We’re going there and if the ship doesn’t fit we’ll find another place,” I said and powered up the engines, lifted off and took a wide approach to scout the road.

Just as I lined up the ship to land I saw a large vehicle with its lights off speeding towards the restaurant. It had a turret and a gun mounted on top. I powered up the ship’s guns. When the driver saw us, the truck sped up towards us and fired at us. I pulled up, turned around and went in pursuit. It again fired at us and drove at high speed trying to run away. The gunfire from the truck was ineffective against the ship’s metal hull. I had Ori contact Vieria.

Ori gave her a visual of the truck and she said, “Destroy it. The rats probably sent their assassins to kill you.”

“I think they were after Asora, they were headed for the restaurant,” I said.

Just as the truck came out into the open I fired one of the energy cannons at maximum power. The truck was vaporized.

“Send me the visual sensor logs from the time you saw the truck, to the time you shot it,” Vieria said and told Ori to report the incident to the police and ask them to send a clean up crew to clear the road.

She also said, “Stick around until we send guards to protect Asora and her family.”

A little shaken I turned the ship around and landed it in front of the restaurant. Ori, in the meantime, sent the logs, reported the incident to the police and turned to channel 45 for news.

I was lying on the captain’s chair looking at the ship’s ceiling when Ori spoke and broke my trance.

“There it is, the video I sent to Vieria of the truck we destroyed. It was broadcast on channel 45. The truck was identified as an official police vehicle belonging to the police department in one of the middle zone districts. The report said the vehicle’s presence at the restaurant was characterized as an assassination attempt to kill Asora and her family as well as kill the ship’s crew, that’s us, who at the time were participating in a rally.”

There was a knock on the ship’s hull. Ori jumped up. I got out of my chair and opened the door. It was Delche.

“Come on out,” he said in a jovial voice.

I stepped down and my guards followed behind with weapons drawn.

“You don’t need those, look around,” Delche said.

I signaled my guards to lower their weapons and what did I see? The street was full of people staring at us. “I have never seen anything like this in my twenty years here, people walking the street at night. We all saw what you did and so did the entire planet,” Delche added.

We waved at everyone and the silence turned into a low roar of chanting. I told Delche to tell the people to go home and stay home; it’s not yet time for celebrations. I also said, “You go home too and stay with your family. We will stay here until your guards arrive.”

I was about to say something else when Delche said, “Okay then, I’ll do that and go home and I will see you later.”

He then said, “Oh yeah, we got a call about the guards from Vieria a little earlier. We also saw what happened with the truck from our window. The first burst of fire from the truck woke us up.”

After Delche spoke to the people they began to disburse. We waved at Asora and Airam watching us from the second floor window. They waved back and we went inside the ship.

Some time later we got a call from Vieria telling us that a truck full of her guards was approaching our position and not to shoot it. We were then ordered to leave and go into outer space in orbit and wait for further instructions. She gave Ori the coordinates.

Moments later the truck arrived and parked on the road behind our ship. After the guards took their positions around the restaurant we took off.

Encounter with the destroyer

When we arrived at our destination I asked Ori if he had entered the coordinates in the ship’s navigation correctly. He said he had.

“Why?”

“Well, we’re sitting ducks out here in open space.”

He didn’t know what that meant. I guess he wasn’t familiar with earth expressions.

“Sitting here at this distance in open space we’re targets. We can be shot at by a torpedo directly from the planet’s surface or obliterated by energy cannons from a ship moving by fast. We need to hide somewhere where we can’t easily be ambushed. Call Vieria and let her know what I said and verify that she really wants us here at this position.”

Moments later Ori looked at me and said, “She said to use our own discretion. She asked that we keep our long range sensors active and watch for large ships approaching this planet. And to stand by for more information.”

“We need to hide somewhere. Do you know the coordinates for where this ship was hiding before the Karon attack?”

“No. But I can find out from the logs.” Moments later he said, “The coordinates are locked in, just set the speed and activate the autopilot.”

I did that and moments later we were there. “We are now a speck of dust among the rocks in this massive debris,” I said.

We sat in our chairs quietly. Neither one of us felt like talking.

“It’s late, I’m going to bed,” I said even though the sun was shining on me through the ship’s window here in outer space.

We spent three boring days out there in outer space with nothing to do. We were exhausting our ship’s crappy food reserves. The only thing that kept us sane and stopped us from becoming claustrophobic was the rakia Delche had given us, which we had to drink with fruit jelly. It was a horrible combination. We were also running out of water.

The call we were expecting finally came on the fourth day.

Vieria said, “There is a large warship, a destroyer, coming from the next galaxy. It’s coming under the pretense of attacking our planet. But that’s not true. The big ship is coming here to destroy your ship. This is part of an agreement the rats made with the traders from the other galaxy. All the traders want is to expand their trade rights to include our three planets but, so far, the rats have kept them out.

Now, it appears, the rats want to trade but under the condition that the traders destroy your pesky little ship which, according to the rats, stands in the way. That’s why they sent their destroyer, one of their three big ships. According to secret information we obtained, the rats told the destroyer’s captain that the little alien ship has become a pest and is holding our planet hostage. They predict you will either flee this sector of space or fight and be destroyed.

Without your ship we have no defenses and the rats will use the opportunity to force Asora’s fledgling government to surrender and Asora and all the other activists will most likely be executed for treason or sent to jail for life.

Just remember a couple of important things. One, the destroyer will not attack the planet; it’s coming to destroy you. The second thing to remember is that the destroyer is very slow moving in comparison to your ship. Its weapons are very powerful but sluggish, designed to hit very large, still targets. But the destroyer has well-armed little ships inside which can be deadly once released through a hatch. They will outmaneuver you and destroy you if you let them. I’m sending you the destroyer’s specifications right now.

It’s all up to you to defend us, so do your best, we are counting on you and I have faith in both of you. And remember, keep me

informed. And as they say on earth, Good luck!” and then she closed the channel.

I looked at Ori, shook my head and smiled.

“What are we going to do?” he asked in a sober tone of voice, knowing full well that this could be the end of us, our ship and our friends on the planet.

“We’ll do what we always do, lie, bluff, shoot and run,” I said.

“I’m being serious,” he replied.

“Don’t worry we’ll do the right thing and we will win. Mother Nature didn’t put us in this situation so that the bad guys could win. What I want from you is to be brave, act quickly and follow my orders. United we will stand. Do you trust me?”

“Yes I do.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” I replied, wondering why I was telling him not to worry but I was shaking. My heart was pounding and all I could think of was that I would never get to go home. I thought about Vos and the good times we had together, Delche, his restaurant, how eloquently he spoke Macedonian… I couldn’t imagine losing all that.

And then I heard myself yell, “WE WILL FIGHT!” and added, “Freedom or Death.”

I glanced over at Ori who was already looking at me and said, “That’s what my ancestors used to say when they went into battle,” and smiled.

Ori wasn’t happy. The way I acted calm and nonchalant worried him. He hadn’t take this assignment to die. He saw himself as a simple interpreter and not as a pawn in some political game.

He said, “We should seriously consider the option of fleeing. I don’t want to die. There is no way we can win against a destroyer. He then got angry and yelled, “Are you out of your mind?”

I said, “We are soldiers and we aren’t going to disobey orders. But if you want to call Vieria and get her permission for me to drop you off on the surface of the planet, I’ll do it. I will fight the destroyer by myself. I’m serious.”

I know he was scared but so was I; what else could I have said?

We sat there in silence. I spoke first. I said, “I will tell you a secret, size and strength matter, I’m not going to tell you that they don’t. But what matters more is how you use them. A sword is a powerful weapon in a strong man’s hand. But let me ask you this; do you think a strong man can kill a fly with a sword? Can you kill a fly with a sword?”

Wondering where all this was going, Ori gave me a strange look and said, “No?”

Why not?

“Well, because the fly is too fast and a sword is simply too slow.” He then thought for a moment and said, “Yes, a sword can kill a fly if it develops enough momentum before the fly detects it.”

“What if the man doesn’t see the fly in time and can’t develop the momentum?” I asked.

I could see that Ori was getting frustrated and before he had a chance to answer I said, “There are ways to overcome our problem and we can beat the destroyer, we just have to figure out how.”

I then asked him, “Are you in or out?”

He said he was in and asked me to pour him a shot of rakia.

I then told him to look over the destroyer’s specs and point out its weapons, launch bays and any weaknesses it may have.

After what I’d said, Ori must have thought I was either very brave or very crazy. I was playing with his life and mine, as well as with the lives of our friends… and what seemed to him, without a care.

There was nothing more I could say to him. If we were killed none of this would matter. If we survived he would be grateful. As for me, I didn’t know what I was doing, I was truly an alien caught up in a situation where someone else was pulling the strings and I was just reacting. None of this seemed real to me either and the longer it went on the more I felt I was in a dream. I took my last gulp of rakia, pushed my captain’s chair back and told Ori to wake me up when something happened.

I don’t know how long I was asleep when Ori yelled that there was a bleep on the screen and the sensors showed it was the destroyer.

“Can the destroyer see us?”

“No. There’s nothing powered up that can emit the ship’s signature. As long as we lay low it will pass over and not even notice us,” he replied.

“Then we have the element of surprise. Do we have the destroyer on visual?” I asked.

“Yes we do, it’s the only object in the sky.”

“Then let’s turn off everything, including all communications and sensors. Is the destroyer scanning for anything?”

“Yes. Almost every second.”

“Good, then it will never know what hit it,” I said and asked him to give me a breakdown of the ships weapons and bays.

He told me there were four massive energy cannons, one in each corner of the ship and only one launch bay at the back of the ship.

“So, what’s the plan?” Ori asked.

“When the destroyer is at close range we’ll power up our ship and fire a surprise blast at it from this position. As I push the fire button, I’ll slide the ship out of the debris as fast as possible. I don’t think the destroyer’s sensors will be operational while it’s absorbing the blast from our cannons. As a result the destroyer won’t see us leaving the debris. Then, as the destroyer trains its guns on the debris we’ll move fast behind it and attack its cannons. I predict the destroyer will train all its cannons on the debris thinking that we’re still hiding there and will commence firing. In the meantime we’ll make our approach from behind the cannons and take them out fast before they have a chance to aim at us. They won’t know what hit them. By the time they realize their cannons are down we will position our ship in front of the launch bay. Then, when they open the bay to launch their little ships, we’ll fire a torpedo inside it and disable their ability to launch.

When the ship’s defenses are disabled we’ll open communications with the destroyer and offer its captain two options; leave peacefully and go back to where he came from or we’ll blow up their engines and repeatedly attack his ship until it disintegrates. I’ll do the shooting and you’ll do the talking.”

“Fair enough,” replied Ori and turned off his communication panel.

I turned off everything else including gravity and climate control and we both buckled our seatbelts.

“Is there any way we can estimate how long the destroyer will take to get here?”

“It will be in firing range in three minutes. We have enough air for twenty minutes.”

This was the longest three minutes of my life.

When the destroyer came into range it looked like a mountain made of solid metal. My heart began to pound. I looked at Ori. He was looking at me. I whispered it’s time and powered up the ship.

Everything was online and operational. I powered up all cannons and set them to maximum and then armed the torpedo.

“We’ve been spotted!” yelled Ori.

I fired the first energy cannon and pushed the joystick forward to its limit. We were behind the destroyer. It began to fire all four cannons at the debris at random. I maneuvered our ship and after locking onto the destroyer’s cannons I fired my energy guns several times until I saw each cannon drop down, one by one. After I’d destroyed the last cannon I quickly turned our ship around and went behind it facing the launch bay. Only one of their little ships had flown out. I fired a torpedo into the destroyer’s launch bay and watched it light up. The little ship that was out fired at our engines but missed.

“Ori, Mother Nature is on our side,” I said.

We went after it. It may have had the maneuverability but it looked like its pilot was inexperienced. I targeted his ship, locked on it and fired one of my energy cannons. Direct hit. It was vaporized. I turned our ship around and went in front of the destroyer and told Ori that he was on, to do his thing.

Ori spoke long and very slowly. Moments later the destroyer turned around and left in the same direction it had come from. I sat there pretending to be calm, cool and collected waiting for Ori to tell me what he had said to the destroyer’s captain to convince him to leave.

I looked at Ori.

“Give me a minute to calm my nerves. I’m not like you. I get very nervous.”

“Take your time.”

After taking a few long breaths Ori said, “I first gave the captain the two options like you told me. After that I told him that he was being dragged into an internal dispute and used as a pawn to bring change to an internal matter. I then simply told him that he was being used by the current regime to squelch a rebellion on the planet. I told him

that we knew of his secret plans to destroy this ship so we had no choice but to preempt his attack. Basically that’s all I told him. When the captain heard all that he apologized, turned his ship around and left.

“Congratulations you’re a genius but you’d better report this to Vieria and fast. Also send her the ship’s logs before we both get into trouble.”

Ori looked nervous. He wasn’t sure if he had overstepped his bounds and if there would be consequences from it.

“Just remember you are a soldier who acted on orders. Let the politicians take care of the politics. You did what you were ordered to do. You did well.”

After contacting Vieria, Ori turned to me and, with a big smile, said, “The entire planet is celebrating and we are invited to be the guests of honour. The people below can’t believe what we just did.” He paused for a moment and said, “I’m very sorry for doubting you.”

As soon as he told me that, Ori turned to his panel and began to listen to the news.

Minutes later he jumped up and said, “I can’t believe what is happening on the planet. There are hundreds of indictments being issued against high ranking police officials. They are accused of being involved in illegal activities and various conspiracies. The police are turning against themselves and arresting many of their own who were involved in the conspiracy to bring Asora’s party down. It looks like it’s over for them.”

I interrupted him and asked, “What did Vieria say, what are our orders?”

“Vieria didn’t say anything at all.”

“So, unless you want to stay here then call her again and find out what she wants us to do next?”

Ori apologized and said, “Yes Sir!”

Moments later he said, “Vieria said we are invited to a celebration organized by King Velion in his garden. We should dress formally and are to go and purchase clothes, she gave me the coordinates, and she will pay for them. The party will take place in four days. She gave me the coordinates for where to land the ship. In the meantime we are free to do whatever we like.”

“So, we have four days to kill. Why don’t we go and see Delche?” I asked.

Triumph over the rats

On the way down to the planet’s surface I asked Ori to contact Delche and let him know we were coming. We decided to take a slow ride down to enjoy the scenery. I was feeling good and from what I could see so was Ori. Our worries and anxieties for the moment had subsided. We believed we had reached an understanding with the galaxy traders and neither of us believed they would come back and attack in retaliation. But something had to be done to avoid that for sure, to make sure it didn’t happen. I should have a talk about that and the Karons with Asora, I thought. Starting some sort of trade with them should alleviate the tension we had caused recently and focus attention on trade instead of retaliation.

As we approached the usual landing spot on the level part of the now famous slope near Delche’s restaurant, Ori spoke up and said, “Look down, we are going to have company, look at all the people running, you’d better land this thing fast before they all arrive and block us.”

I put the ship down and checked the ship’s surface temperature to make sure it wasn’t too hot because I knew the people would want to touch it. The surface was cool.

“The surface temperature on the outside of the ship could get very hot when we travel through the atmosphere fast,” I said to Ori.

“Don’t worry we are well-insulated inside and besides, atmosphere control will keep the temperature cool inside.”

“I was thinking of the people outside touching the ship and getting burned.”

“Ah, you’re right,” he said and checked the outside temperature.

When the people arrived they went wild with excitement. More people kept arriving and so did several news mediums including some from the rival parties. The people were jumping around and chanting and some were calling out the ship’s name.

“How are we going to get past the cameras and crowds without getting mobbed?” Ori asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been in a situation like this before.”

Ori began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“The mighty Commander Otsiron, Captain of the most powerful ship in our planetary system who defeated the Karons in battle, broke the regime’s backbone and sent a destroyer packing doesn’t know how to handle a mob of people who worship him? That’s a first!”

“I’m still your commanding officer!” I said and suggested that we arm ourselves to look official.

He stopped laughing and apologized.

“We’ll have my guards draw their weapons as we walk outside and you tell the people to stay back because the guards are programmed to shoot anyone who gets closer than a metre, and then apologize to the people. If the news people ask questions tell them that we are not authorized to comment and that they should contact Asora for information. This will tell them and the world two things. One, we get our orders from Asora and two, Asora is now the new authority.”

I pushed the open door button and Ori raised his arms. After some yelling and chanting the people stopped talking. Ori spoke to them and they moved out of the way. I pushed the close door button and waited for the door to fully shut. Ori took the lead. I followed right behind with my guards. They had their weapons drawn and walked on either side of me but one step behind.

We walked this way all the way into Delche’s restaurant. I felt very nervous and uncomfortable.

When we arrived we were greeted by Delche, Asora and Airam. After we hugged I asked Delche, “What are you doing out here, who is running your restaurant?”

“It’s run by volunteers, I also hired a chef. You won’t believe how many people want to work here for free now.”

“Did you tell these people we were coming?”

“Yes, there were too many of them here in the restaurant so I told them to go and greet you to get rid of them.”

Asora invited us in and took us into the back room. There was a table set there with six chairs and plenty of food and drink. Asora said something.

Delche translated, “You boys were very busy this morning, too busy to eat I assume, so I’m sure you’re starving. Delche has prepared something special for you. We also have a special guest with us today.”

Ori and I looked at each other and swallowed. We both felt nervous.

Moments later after we sat down, Asora came back into the room with Vieria. We all stood up. She said something and then came over and pinned a medal on my chest over my heart and tapped my right shoulder. She did the same with Ori and Delche. After that she turned around called in one of her assistants, a young lady with a big smile. She handed us each a package. Vieria then said something to Asora and was about to leave.

“Wait!” I said in Macedonian, “Give me a few seconds of your time I want to discuss something with all of you.”

Vieria turned around and I asked Ori to translate.

“For political reasons I believe it would be a good idea for Asora, as a representative of the interim government of this planet, to contact the galaxy traders and the Karons and open communication channels with possible future trade agreements. This will focus their attention

on peace and trade instead of retaliation for what was done. This will also definitely strengthen Asora’s position in foreign relations and further weaken the regime which, after this, will have no allies.”

Vieria looked at me, then at Asora and said, “It’s an excellent idea, call me if you need help.”

She then said goodbye and walked away into the back.

Both Ori and I took a deep breath and sat down.

I looked at all the platefuls of meat and said, “Now that Vieria is gone there’s more meat for us.”

They all laughed and Asora said something.

Ori translated, “That’s why I like you, you always joke just at the right time.”

Airam said something and Delche told her off.

Ori translated, “What’s in the packages? Don’t be rude.”

I had already forgotten about the packages and the medals Vieria had pinned on us.

What are they for?” I asked.

Ori translated for Asora, “The medals are for bravery and your voluntary service to this planet. The packages are the military uniforms you are to wear in four days at King Velion’s garden party.”

Seconds later Asora and Airam excused themselves and left the room.

“They are going to work on your ideas,” said Delche, raising his eyebrows, smiling and pointing at me with both index fingers.

“I’m not going to say it (there is more meat for us)!” I replied and smiled.

“It’s been hell for me and my family,” Delche said. “A lot has been happening and very fast. All the news is about Asora, you and the ship. The regime has been very quiet even after all those indictments were issued. I just don’t trust the police doing their own policing. What if they are cooking something up? They still have the power and they can use it. I’m really nervous and don’t know what to do. This whole thing hinges on one person, my wife. It will fall flat if she is out of the picture. And if I know that, they know that. What if they make an attempt on our lives at Velion’s garden party? It would be a perfect place for an ambush. They can remove us all with a single shot. It’s too early to celebrate.”

“And here I thought the three of us were going to have a nice time. I don’t know about you but I can think better on a full stomach and slightly drunk. I’m going to eat, drink and enjoy myself today, while I am still alive,” I replied.

Ori piped up and, with his mouth full, said, “Delche has a good point, maybe we shouldn’t go to the party, maybe we should park the ship on the street and guard Asora.”

“And what would that tell the people? What kind of message will we be sending? That we are afraid? There has to be something better we can do,” I replied.

“You have a good point too,” replied Ori.

We all stopped talking.

We ate and drank in silence with the occasional toast.

I broke the silence when I asked, “What are governments most afraid of?”

Both Delche and Ori shrugged their shoulders.

I said, “From the people, without the support of the people they are nothing. So, try to think how we can use the strength of the people to turn the government into nothing?”

Now let me ask you this, “What gives the regime its power?”

Both Delche and Ori again shrugged their shoulders.

“Weapons, they have the weapons. So, if we find a way to take their weapons away from them they will lose their power?”

“And how are we going to do that?” both Delche and Ori asked at the same time, then looked at each other and laughed.

“It’s not going to be easy,” I said, watching Delche fill our glasses with rakia. “We will convince the people to storm the regime’s stronghold, I believe there are two strongholds. After they enter the stronghold yards they can demand the weapons be surrendered. If they refuse, we will bomb their buildings to hell. I know Vieria has her own special forces which can protect the people if the regime decides to retaliate. Protect them long enough until we arrive and obliterate them.”

“That’s too violent and I don’t want blood on my hands,” said Delche.

Ori echoed his sentiments.

“I guarantee you there will be no bloodshed. We will offer those who cooperate with us leniency. These people are cowards and opportunists and they will do anything to save their skins. Do you remember the look on the big guy my guards threw out of your restaurant, you know the one who called your wife a bitch? He practically shit when the guards pointed their guns at him. They are all like that, all of them.”

“Oh, yeah!” said Ori, “I remember that, we didn’t tell you because we didn’t want to upset you,” he said to Delche.

“One more thing! We must somehow keep the attack a secret and surprise the regime. If they know our plan they may turn their guns on the people and spill a lot of blood. I’m sure they know that they are finished without their weapons. And we need to do this before Velion’s party.”

What was supposed to be a casual visit we turned into a brain exercise.

“I have another idea,” said Delche. “How about we organize a massive and peaceful demonstration around the two largest strongholds and tell the people to demand more rights from the regime. Simple things like higher pensions, free education, cheaper transportation and so on. They should be yelling, ‘if you don’t give us these things now we will vote for Asora’s party’. Hidden in the crowd we will have Vieria’s armed forces dressed in civilian clothes. Once the regime sees that the demonstrations are peaceful and relaxes, Vieria’s forces can go through the crowds and occupy the stronghold. If the regime resists we’ll call on the ship and they know what will happen next. We can then have the ordinary people assist with emptying the warehouses and driving the armed police vehicles out of there and into our hands. What do you think?” Delche asked.

“It’s a better plan, not as risky. We should talk it over with Vieria and Asora. There are a lot of details to be worked out. It also needs to be well-coordinated and with great secrecy,” I replied and Ori agreed.

After we had eaten everything Delche stepped into the restaurant to see how his new staff was doing and came back with another plateful of food.

“They’re doing great out there,” he said, put the plate on the table and added, “here is some more food to go with your drinks.”

At about the same time Asora and Airam came back. Asora said something and Delche went back outside.

“We ate their food,” Ori whispered to me.

Delche came back with two plates of food, set them in front of Asora and Airam and began to talk. He got Asora’s attention.

“Let the woman eat first, then you call tell her whatever it is you want to tell her,” I said,

He looked at me, smiled and said, “Who are you my mother?” He then said something to Asora and she began to eat.

“Ori and I are going outside to give you some privacy for a while. Apologize to your wife and daughter for us leaving.”

“Okay then, I will join you later,” Delche said and sat down.

Ori and I got up and left.

“I overate and drank too much, I feel tired and sleepy,” I said.

“Me too,” Ori replied and suggested that we go back to the ship and have a nap.

When we arrived I sat in the captain’s chair, tilted it back and lay down. Ori went and lay on his bed.

The next thing I heard was a knock on the ship. I opened my eyes and looked through the window. It was dark outside. I got out of the chair and felt a pounding headache coming on. My mouth was completely dry.

I pushed the door open button. It was Delche. He was holding a bottle of rakia in one hand and dessert in the other. He walked up the ramp. Ori was still sleeping.

“Ah, no more rakia, please!” I said. “We need water; our water supply here has dwindled.”

“I’ll bring water and restock the ship another time. I know a grocer who will give us stuff for free if we pose with him for some pictures. But I’m not here for that. Where’s Ori?” he asked.

“He’s sleeping in his bed.”

“Wake him up,” he said and yelled, “Ori wake up!”

“Is it morning already?” Ori asked.

“Yeah, it’s morning,” said Delche.

“Listen, I told my wife what we discussed about the demonstration and she loved the idea. After that she contacted Vieria and Vieria approved the plan. She will give us two teams of her armed forces and they will attack the strongholds simultaneously but two minutes apart. The moment the forces attack, Vieria wants our ship to make its presence known and show force, first at one stronghold and then at the other. Vieria thinks the rats will think we have multiple ships and will likely surrender. The key is to get from one place to the other fast. That’s why the attacks will be two minutes apart. Vieria and Asora want to know if that’s possible.”

“Delche, you’re our navigator, sit down here and do the calculations. Enter the coordinates and speeds and let them know if it’s possible,” I replied.

Delche took his seat, did the calculations and said, “Yes it can be done”. He then added, “I’ll have to come with you so that you guys don’t screw it up.”

“So, when is this going to take place?” I asked.

“You haven’t been listening to the news, have you? It’s taking place tomorrow at noon!”

He then handed me the bottle of rakia and said, “We’ll be drinking this tomorrow after our victory. You should come to the restaurant for a good breakfast tomorrow morning.” He then left.

Ori and I drank the remainder of the water supply from our reserves and went to bed.

The next thing I remember was a knock on the ship. I looked out the window. It was daylight outside. I opened the ship’s door and Airam was there.

I called Ori and said, “Airam is here, see what she wants?”

Ori spoke to her and said, “She said her father sent her here to get our asses out of bed and join him for breakfast at the restaurant.”

I looked at Airam, she was smiling.

We had no water, not even to wash our faces. We got off the ship, closed the door and followed Airam back to the restaurant.

“She’ll make a nice bride for you,” I said. He gave me a swift kick on the leg.

Moments later we were in the restaurant and there was Delche arms wide open wearing an apron.

“Are you drunk?” I asked him.

“Yes I am, with adrenalin. I didn’t sleep at all last night.”

We didn’t say anything. We sat at the table and he brought us fried eggs.

My stomach was a bit squeamish but after I started eating it was fine.

When we were done eating he gave us a bagful of food and water and told us to go back to the ship.

“Are you kicking us out?”

“Yes. I need to prepare this place. I will be with you in an hour or before eleven o’clock.

I grabbed the bag, thanked him and we left.

As we walked back to the ship I said, “This is the most crucial moment in everything we have done so far. If we fail we’ll be screwed. A lot of people will die.”

“I know, I pray everything will work out for the best without bloodshed.”

When we got back on the ship we restocked our empty cupboards.

“This should last us for a few days.”

Delche arrived a lot earlier than we expected.

“A lot more people showed up to demonstrate than we expected.”

“That’s good, isn’t?” I asked.

“Yes!” but…

I interrupted him and said, “You have to have faith. When you do the right thing things will work out.”

“I hope so, I hope so.”