“WHERE IS THAT BITCH ” - Part 03

“I know you’re upset about what I said earlier but you’ll be doing it for Asora and for all of us. All you have to do is escort a shuttle to make sure it isn’t hijacked by pirates or something, that’s all.” said Delche.

“First, we’re all going together, and second, I know this planet has dozen’s of science vessels that can just as easily do the job. I’m not at all upset but I would have preferred to be consulted before I was ambushed,” I replied.

“Don’t look at it as an ambush, look at it as a favour to me,” said Delche.

I smiled and said, “Okay we’ll do it but it will cost you.”

“It always costs me,” he said.

I looked at Ori smiling and said, “What are you smiling about? You were in on this too weren’t you?”

“I’ve always wanted to travel to another galaxy,” Ori replied.

Suddenly the ship stopped and began to hover.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“We’ve arrived, take the ship out of autopilot and land it,” said Delche.

As soon as we touched down we got a call from Vieria. Ori put her on speaker.

“You did well,” she said in Macedonian and told Ori to turn on the news. “It’s all about you. The Macedonian colours were a smashing hit with the outlanders and I think we will make them part of the new uniform for the military fleet of ships we’ll be building in the future. This way the outlanders will know their voices have been heard. I hear you are soon going to venture into space? Good luck to you boys, and keep in touch,” she said and hung up.

“Does she speak Macedonian that well or did she just practice these lines for my benefit?” I asked.

“Never mind that, she called us boys. How sweet is that?” said Ori.

“Ah! Let’s get out of here. I need a drink!” said Delche.

It was past noon when we got back to the restaurant and we did exactly what we do best; eat and drink. Everyone in the restaurant was glued to Delche’s large viewing screen and watching the proceedings at King Velion’s party. It would appear that after we left they began to play loud synthetic music, which we could now hear blaring on the viewer.

“What are they saying on the viewer?” I asked Ori.

“One extreme side, the majority who are outlanders are behind us, they love the new colours, they see themselves as the colour splashed over the white, the beauty overpowering the mundane, and things like that. The other extreme side, a small minority see us and the ship as a threat to their way of life. They see the colours as the disease that has infected the purity of their white. And the stunt you pulled with the engines exploding? And with your guards drawing their guns? Well, some of the more conservative element on the planet, let’s say, are going nuts over that. And I don’t really want to tell you what they’re saying about you trampling over the sanctity of their culture with your barbarian boots…” he replied.

“Well, Ori, as I listened to you telling me all these negative things I felt angry. Yes, what they are saying is making me angry, very angry, angry enough to do something terrible. It’s human nature. But then that’s exactly what they would want me to do, do something terrible so that they can prove to the world how dangerous I am. That I am indeed dangerous and need to be put down like a rabid dog.

But, you know something? They’re the ones that are the dogs; they are all bark and no bite. By all means, let them bark all they want. If they could bite they would have done so already. They are just barking dogs,” I said.

“Stop listening to the idiot box and let’s enjoy our free time,” said Delche.

There was a huge outcry in the restaurant. People were cheering everywhere. We looked around. We saw Asora and Airam stepping out of the limousine and coming right for us.

Asora said something.

Ori translated. “First, I’m sorry for putting you on the spot today and second, we have a shuttle scheduled to leave for Barkon, the Karon planet, the day after tomorrow at ten o’clock in the morning. After the shuttle drops off our people on Barkon it will fly to the trader’s galaxy. We want you to escort it. Make sure you fully stock your ship for an eleven day trip. Use Vieria’s account if you need money”

After Ori was finished talking Asora and Airam quickly left and went to the back room.

“I don’t have enough rakia to last us that many days,” Delche said and added. “I’d better make some more tonight. Do you want to come with me and help?”

Both Ori and I jumped at the opportunity.

“We’d love to see Delche make rakia, it’s every drinker’s dream, and, by the way, a nice distraction,” I said to Delche.

Ori laughed.

We were so excited about it that we decided to leave right away. Delche took us along a hallway behind the kitchen and down some stairs and stopped at a metal door.

“It’s locked. I keep it locked because I don’t want anyone snooping, especially the authorities,” said Delche.

Delche opened the door, turned on the lights and shut the door behind us. Both Ori and I were amazed by the number of bottles on the big shelf leaning against the wall. I looked at them. They were all empty. I then looked over at the shelf on the opposite wall where there were only a couple of dozen bottles. They were full.

“Those bottles are full, the others are all empty. I’ll start the distillation now and when it’s done we will take empty bottles from that shelf, fill them from the reservoir one by one and transfer them over to the other shelf. First let me dump the fermented juice into the boiler, once the boiler heats up to the right temperature the rakia will start flowing into that reservoir.

We helped Delche dump a number of barrels full of fermented juice into the boiler and then he turned on the power to heat it.

“Do you have any unbreakable bottles?” I asked Delche.

“Sure, lot’s of them, why?”

“If we take rakia on the ship we should put it in unbreakable bottles,” I replied and then said. “We also have a glass jug full of firewater in the ship that needs to be put in unbreakable bottles.”

Delche suddenly jumped and said, “You shouldn’t have that stuff in the ship, it’s very dangerous. If you break the jug and it spills inside the ship’s electronics it will ignite and explode violently. So, go get it and bring it here. We’ll put it in those small unbreakable bottles and secure them.”

Ori and I left immediately and went back to the ship. We took the bucket, the full jug, the jelly jars and the other things that didn’t belong there and brought them back.

After Delche poured the firewater into many small bottles he gave me one to take with us and told me to use only four drops at a time and only in emergency situations.

“It’s very dangerous and will fry your brain if not used properly.”

He then warned Ori to never touch the stuff.

After Delche gave us a tour of his illegal rakia making facility he said, “There’s no point in us staying here anymore. The distillation process will take all night before it’s done. The distillation machine will stop automatically when the reservoir is full. We’ll come back tomorrow morning and finish the job. Sometime in the future I’ll show you which fruits to ferment so that you too can make your own rakia. Now let’s go for a walk and see my friend about the supplies for our ship.”

Delche’s friend had everything we needed, especially after Delche told him he was going to pay for it.

Later, when we returned to the restaurant we sat down and tried to figure out how we could keep cooked meat fresh for eleven days.

None of us had any ideas. I then saw Airam open one of those jelly jars.

“We should be able to preserve the meat just like the jelly,” I said.

“Why don’t we ask my chef how it’s done?” said Delche and called him over. When he was free the chef came over and Delche described to him what we wanted to do. The chef told us that there was a factory that did exactly that and was within walking distance of the restaurant. The chef used to work there.

“The factory supplies food for the ships that go on long voyages.”

The chef then asked Delche how many jars he wanted.

Delche asked him how big the jars were and how many in a case. The chef said each jar contained half a litre of vacuum sealed cooked meat and each case contained 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 jars. Delche told him that we wanted fifty jars and asked him when we could get them. The chef asked for the money and then said he would be able to bring the jars here himself tomorrow morning when he came to work. Delche gave him Vieria’s account and told him the jars had to be shatterproof.

When we were done with the chef I said, “We accomplished a lot today. It’s getting late and I’d like to go to bed so I can get up early tomorrow morning and help you with bottling the rakia.”

No one had any objections so Ori and I said goodbye and left for the ship. I went to bed and Ori went surfing the channels looking for news on today’s events.

Preparing for the trip into deep space

The next day I was rudely awakened by my communicator. I looked outside, it was light and Ori was still sleeping. I answered the call; Delche was on the other side of the line laughing.

Before I said anything Delche said, “Where are my helpers? You told me you would be here first thing in the morning, it’s already mid-morning and why aren’t you here?”

“Good morning to you too, we’re coming right over,” I said and hung up on him and yelled for Ori to get up.

We quickly got dressed in our old clothes and ran to the restaurant. We left our new uniforms in the ship.

I put on my camouflage uniform and noticed it was getting dirty.

“We need to get some new clothes and wash the old ones.”

Ori looked at his civilian suit and said, “You’re right, we should mention this to Delche, maybe he can suggest something.”

“Guards, guard mode.” And the pretty girls following us turned into menacing warriors.

Just as we arrived Delche quickly took us to the basement and showed us how to fill the bottles and shelve them.

“Start working and I will go up and get our breakfast. We’ll eat down here,” said Delche.

Ori and I thought about how to do the work and decided to turn a one man job into a two man job. We began by me taking two empty bottles from the shelf. I placed one on the floor, removed the cork from the other one, filled it with rakia and placed it on the floor on the other side. Ori picked up the full bottle put the cork in it and placed it on the other shelf. While I was filling the second bottle, Ori brought another empty bottle and put it on the floor. So, with both of us working we were able to speed up the process considerably.

About half an hour later Delche showed up with Airam and brought us the food. Delche said he had already eaten his breakfast and took over for Ori. Airam looked around as if she had never been down here before and said something.

“So, this is where all the nefarious activities take place?” Ori translated.

Delche said, “I brought her here to show her this place. She will have to take over for me when we are gone. I don’t trust the others handling my rakia.”

Delche said something and Airam left.

As soon as Ori was done eating he took over for me and I ate my breakfast.

Delche was impressed with the progress of filling the bottles and said, “We will be done a lot sooner than I thought.”

While I was eating Ori spoke to Delche about getting new clothes and getting the old ones washed. Delche said he got his clothes washed down the next block in the public laundry. As for new clothes, he recommended we purchase clothes from the same friend who would sell us supplies for our ship.

“He also sells used clothes for a reasonable price, good quality used clothes.”

Ori made a face and was unsure if he wanted to wear used clothes.

“If you are concerned about the clothes not being clean, we can have them washed,” said Delche.

When I was done eating I took over for Delche and he began to pack the rakia in a strong box which we were going to take with us on the trip.

“We’re taking thirty shatterproof bottles, one litre each. I know that’s too many but maybe we can trade some in the new worlds.”

Ori and I worked while Delche watched us. “I had to do this by myself you know, it’s a long and boring job. This batch should last us a long time.”

When we were done Delche asked us to wash our hands. He then asked Ori to make a list of what we needed to do and what we needed to take with us before we left for our trip.

“Don’t forget to bring your new uniform,” I said to Delche. “There maybe occasions when we may need to wear it.”

Ori and I picked up the box full of rakia and carried it outside the basement door. Delche locked the door. Ori complained it was too heavy to carry. I suggested that I ask the guards to carry it, they’re machines and should be able to carry it. No one objected.

After giving my commands in various ways the guards finally picked up the box. They grabbed it one on each side and followed me up the stairs.

Delche said, “Keep going all the way to the ship and then come back and have them carry the box with the jars of meat.”

Ori and I led the way and my guards followed. After we offloaded the rakia we came back and took the meat. Delche gave Ori his new uniform and Ori set it on his seat in the ship.

When we came back it was past noon and Delche asked us to lunch.

“My chef brought an extra jar of meat for us to try. Sit and he’ll bring it over.”

The chef came over with three plates and forks and set them on the table.

“The meat looks like the canned meat the military ate during the wars back on earth.”

Delche took a bite and said, “Not as good as mine but its better than the dry cubes they call meat around here.”

We all tried the meat and found it to be okay.

After we ate lunch we went back to the ship and took inventory of what was needed and made a list.

“We’ll need to buy straps to secure the boxes to the floor of the ship, we don’t want a mishap,” Delche said.

Ori wrote straps on his list.

We took a leisurely walk down the street to the supply shop and gave Delche’s friend the list of what we needed. After that we went to look at the used clothing and rummaged through the racks until we found what we wanted. The clothes were used but very clean, Ori said he would have no problem wearing them. Delche asked his friend where he washed his clothes. His friend said he had a machine in the back where he washed and dried the clothes for his shop. Delche told him that we had some clothes that needed washing and asked him if the public laundry was still working. His friend said the public laundry was filthy and we shouldn’t go there. He could have our clothes washed right here while we waited.

“How much?” asked Delche.

“Because you are buying so much stuff from me I’ll do it for free.”

We immediately changed into the new clothes we had just picked out and tossed our dirty clothes in a pile. Delche’s friend took them and tossed them into the washing machine.

He then helped us adjust our new clothes to fit properly and said, “By the time I get all your supplies ready your clothes will be washed and dried.”

We looked around the shop to see if we needed to buy anything else.

Delche said, “I have been here many times but I’ve never noticed how much junk my friend has accumulated in his shop. Once a week he goes around the markets buying stuff that no one wants, cleans it, fixes it and sells it. That’s how he makes his living. I admire him for that. He often comes over to my restaurant and while we drink rakia we philosophize about life. He’s not from this planet. I never did ask him where he’s from.”

“Your clothes are clean and dry and packed with the clothes you just bought. I put everything in one big box and its heavy, how are you going to carry it?” Delche’s friend asked.

Delche gave him the account on which to charge the stuff and told him to watch. He then pointed at me and said, “You’re on.”

His friend thought I would try to carry the box by myself and laughed. But then when he saw that my two guards, two skinny women, grabbed the huge and heavy box and hauled it out, he was awestruck.

“Straight to the ship,” said Delche.

The girls carried the big heavy box into the ship without breaking any sweat.

“You wouldn’t believe what I would give to have one of these working for me,” said Delche.

We worked for hours restocking everything and making sure we had enough for the trip and plenty to spare in case we had an emergency.

It was evening by the time we were done and we all began to feel nervous.

“Does anyone know where we are supposed to rendezvous with the shuttle?” asked Delche. “What about the route we’re supposed to take? I need that information so that I can get you there.”

Both Ori and I shrugged our shoulders.

Delche then began to swear and curse in Macedonian. I was surprised that he even knew such words. I was about to ask him where he learned those naughty words, when Ori’s panel began to bleep.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s the coordinates and instructions for our trip. This information is for you, Delche. I don’t know what to make of it,” replied Ori.

Delche looked at it and said, “Finally, this is what I’ve been looking for. I’ll enter it into the navigation computer and then we can finally relax until tomorrow.”

“Who sent it?” I asked.

“It came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and bears Asora’s signature,” replied Ori.

“Are we done here?” asked Delche.

“Check your lists,” I said, “and see if we’ve covered everything.”

“Delche, check out the spare bed and see if it’s okay,” I suggested.

He lay in the bed for a few seconds and said, “It feels good to me.”

“Well then, let’s go back to Delche’s place and get drunk,” I said.

After spending some time in the restaurant eating and drinking Ori and I decided we should go to the ship and have a long rest. No one objected.

“Be here first thing in the morning for breakfast,” Delche said.

We said okay, said our goodbyes and left.

On the way to the planet Barkon

“It’s time to get up,” I heard Ori yell while I was having a dream about being home on my own planet. I often dreamt of being home in my village in Macedonia.

I tried to move but my body felt very heavy. I didn’t want to get up.

“We have less that two hours to get ready, have breakfast and be in outer space at our rendezvous place,” Ori said with a tone of urgency in his voice.

“Did we get any calls or new instructions from anyone?”

“No!”

I looked at Ori. He was wearing his new, slightly used clothes that we had purchased the day before so I decided to wear my new, slightly used clothes as well.

When we arrived at the restaurant the chef brought us our breakfast. Ori asked him something.

“What did you ask and what did he say?”

“I asked him where Delche was. The chef said Delche was with the wife spending quality time.”

I was about to say something but Airam showed up, gave us each a hug and left.

“Your people don’t hug. What’s that all about?” I asked Ori.

“Your influence! Probably something her father taught her to do, which he picked up from your planet.”

A little later Delche and Asora showed up. Asora greeted us with a smile and said something, probably good luck, and waved goodbye. Delche gave her a kiss and she disappeared into the back room.

“Let me say goodbye to my daughter and staff and then we will go.”

Moment’s later he came back and said, “Let’s go!”

I noticed that he too was wearing the slightly used, new clothes we had purchased the day before.

When we arrived at the ship we made sure everything was tied down and secure and began the countdown to our rendezvous. I was surprised that no one had called us.

I powered up the ship’s engines and ran all sorts of diagnostics. Everything was in working order. I checked the fuel gauges and counted the torpedoes. I then confirmed the numbers in storage with those in the computer.

“What are you nervous about?” Delche asked. “What’s with all the checking?”

“I’m just killing time.”

“Well, let’s get going, we can wait for the shuttle up in space. I’ve already punched in the coordinates, just punch autopilot and let’s go,” said Delche.

Ori was busy listening to the various media reports talking about our “historic mission” to the planet Barkon and so on and so on.

I raised the ship up, punched the autopilot button and the ship took off. I looked down at the planet and felt as if I was looking at it for the last time.

We arrived at our destination early and stopped. We were standing out in the open which made me nervous.

“I don’t like sitting out here in the open. Our ship is an easy target and it makes me nervous.”

“What do you suggest we do?” asked Delche.

“I suggest we fly around in random patterns. Ori you try and make contact with the shuttle.”

“I can’t, I wasn’t given any contact information or the shuttle’s call sign.”

I grabbed the joystick and began to fly the ship all over the place in random circular patterns.

“While moving we will be a difficult target to lock onto, especially from the surface,” I said.

A woman’s voice came over the speaker calling to make contact with the ship “Dragon Fire”. Her identity code popped up on Ori’s panel showing her to be the captain of the shuttle “Morning Star”.

Ori told the captain to stand by while he consulted with Delche and me.

“I suggest you call Vieria and find out what’s going on,” I said.

Moments later Ori gave us the thumbs up and went back on his communicator.

“I don’t recall teaching him about the thumbs up. Did you teach him that?”

“No, but you did when you were telling him your stories about Vos,” Delche replied.

After he spoke to the shuttle’s captain Ori gave Delche the new coordinates of where we were expected to be minutes from now.

“Isn’t it a little early?” I said.

“I asked the same question and was told that we were leaving early as a precaution,” replied Ori.

“Okay,” I said, entered the speed and punched autopilot.

We were at the new rendezvous point in minutes.

The shuttle captain gave us a new set of coordinates, which pissed off Delche because he had already entered the old coordinates and had the trip planned out.

When we got a visual of the shuttle I decided to follow it and didn’t engage the autopilot.

“We can follow them without autopilot as long as we have a visual on them,” I said.

No one objected.

As we got closer I looked at the shuttle and said, “That looks like the shuttle that took me from earth when I had my first encounter with Anelia.”

“Probably not, they all look alike,” replied Delche.

The shuttle flew in front of us much slower than I had expected. I kept catching up to it and had to slow down. It was tiring and nerve wracking.

Delche looked at me and said, “Let me help you. Your piloting is making me nauseous. I’m going to lock onto the shuttle and we will automatically follow it without you having to do anything.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course! Just push that button,” he said and pointed at it.

After I touched the panel where he said, the ship locked onto the shuttle and the autopilot took over the steering and maintained a constant distance behind.

“That’s much better,” I said. “Vos never taught me how to do that.”

Everything around us was dark as we entered deep space except for the shuttle that reflected the sun’s rays and looked like a star. And

then there was the occasional asteroid we saw glinting in the distance.

“What happens if we collide with one of those?” I asked Delche.

“The ship’s sensors will pick it up and the ship will warn us if there is imminent danger. You then just shoot it out of the way or the ship will automatically swerve to avoid it.”

“That’s nice to know,” I said and asked. “Does the shuttle have the same capability?”

“Every ship does,” replied Delche.

“Ori, did you find out how many people are on the shuttle and who they are?” Delche asked.

“No. No one said anything to me. But from what I know those shuttles are pretty small. They can only accommodate eight people at most. I would guess there are two crew, two ambassadors and four aids.”

“Was there any information on the captain?” I asked Ori.

“No. Nothing,” he replied.

“So, we have no idea how many we are escorting and no idea how long the trip to planet Barkon will take?”

“That’s partly true,” replied Delche. “Based on the destination coordinates we were given and the current speed we are traveling at, we will arrive at Barkon in approximately fourteen hours.”

“So, it’s going to be a long, uneventful and boring fourteen hours,” I said.

Just as I finished saying that a call came over the speaker. It was the shuttle’s captain.

“What did she say?”

Ori said, “She said she’s spotted a ship in the distance coming our way and that we should be investigating it and see if it poses any danger to the shuttle.”

“How come we didn’t spot it?” I asked.

Ori checked and said, “You haven’t turned on your long-range sensors.”

“I thought they were always on,” I replied and turned them on.

“There it is,” said Ori. “It’s a pirate ship heading for the shuttle. It appears it hasn’t seen us yet, maybe because it has no long-range sensors.”

Open a channel and ask them what they want with the shuttle.

Ori did that and got a response.

“They’re telling us it’s not our business. They said the shuttle is theirs. And if we don’t get lost they will fire on us. They think we are chasing the shuttle.”

“Tell them who we are and tell them that we are escorting the shuttle on a peaceful mission to Barkon!” I said.

“They refuse to listen and are telling us to back off.”

I then told Ori, “Inform the captain of the shuttle that we are disengaging and going in pursuit of the ship that’s coming for them.”

I then armed all the energy cannons, armed the torpedo and grabbed the joystick. I asked Ori to contact Vieria, let her know what was happening and ask her what she wants us to do.

“Just fire a couple of blasts at them. Let them know we mean business. These troublemakers are lawless pirates and cowards. I’m

sure they will turn and run if they know we have weapons,” Delche suggested.

Ori made the call and Vieria said that we should destroy that ship the first chance we get. Those are her orders. According to Vieria that ship has been responsible for attacking many ships in this quadrant of space. It’s been nothing but trouble for everyone. It has attacked, robbed and destroyed many of our trading ships. She also warned that the pirate ship was well-armed and we were no match for it if we came within range of its cannons. We needed to fire at it from a distance.”

“There it is,” Delche said when he spotted it in the distance. “Holy crap, it’s a huge ship.”

“Turn away, turn away!” yelled Ori, “Another kilometre and we’ll be within range of its cannons.”

I turned the ship, circled around and put some distance between it and the shuttle. The pirates began to fire on us even though we were out of range.

I asked Ori to warn them one more time to stop the pursuit.

Ori put them on speaker and said, “They won’t listen, they’re laughing at us.”

“There is only one thing to do from this distance.” I said.

They both looked at me expecting an explanation.

I locked two of the cannons onto the pirate ship, told Delche and Ori to prepare for the boom and fired.

There was a huge bang. It shook our ship and caused a massive flash to fire forward.

“Direct hit, you blasted a huge hole right through the pirate ship,” Ori yelled.

I then locked onto the wreckage and fired a torpedo. A split second later the pirate ship was in pieces floating in space.

We heard the shuttle’s captain say something over the speakers. Ori translated.

“Nice shooting Dragon Fire.”

“You scared the hell out of me. What the hell was that blast? Energy cannons don’t explode!?” said Delche.

“Yes they do!” I said.

I then looked at Ori and told him to explain to Delche what happens when more than one energy cannon is fired at the same time.

After Ori explained Delche said, “That’s only in theory, it’s dangerous to do that in practice, nobody fires more than one cannon at the same time.”

“This captain is crazy, so don’t mess with him,” said Ori.

Delche looked at me and said, “You are a crazy bastard, I’m glad you’re my friend, I would hate to have you as my enemy.”

After we circled around and caught up to the shuttle we again locked onto it and continued to follow.

“Before I forget,” I said to Ori, “see if you can program the long-range sensors to engage when we power up the ship so that we don’t forget to turn them on.”

“Sure thing,” he said and went to work.

Delche got out of his chair and went to the food cabinet. He pulled out a small bottle of rakia that he had hidden there earlier, grabbed three plastic cups, filled them a quarter full and said, “Some elixir to calm our nerves.”

“To still being alive,” I toasted.

“To our crazy captain,” Delche said.

Ori smiled and said, “I’m so glad I met you guys.”

After a lot of sipping and a long silence Ori said, “What do you guys think the captain of the shuttle would say if she knew the crew of the ship responsible for her safety was flying drunk?”

Both Delche and I cracked up laughing.

“Who’s going to tell her?” I asked.

“If I wasn’t married that wouldn’t be my first thought,” Delche said.

Just then another call came in. It was our favourite captain.

“What does she want this time?” I asked.

“She said there are three objects standing in our path ahead, I see them on my panel, they could be rocks, debris or powered down ships waiting to ambush us. We won’t know until we have a visual,” Ori replied.

“First scan and see if there are any other objects around and behind us, then inform the captain that we will be disengaging to investigate.”

In the meantime I ran quick diagnostics on the cannons and then powered them up.

“According to my diagnostic report the cannons are operational and in good working order.”

Delche laughed.

“There is nothing around us,” interrupted Ori so I grabbed the joystick and flew the ship ahead and past the shuttle at maximum speed.

“They are rocks,” both Ori and Delche said.

“I see them. Should we blast them?” I asked.

“Vaporize them!” said Delche. “They were probably put there by the pirates so that they could hide their little attack ships and ambush unsuspecting ships passing by. Blast them; let’s see what this little ship can do. Maybe we can impress the shuttle captain again.”

“Okay,” I said and locked the positions of the rocks in my targeting computer, confirmed that the cannons were powered up and set to maximum power and fired on them one by one, one after another. There were three consecutive flashes and the rocks disappeared.

We then waited until the shuttle flew by and resumed our engagement.

The shuttle captain called and wanted to know what had happened. Ori informed her what we had done. She was not impressed.

The rest of the trip was uneventful except for the time when we spilled one of our jars full of meat on the ship’s floor. Delche, our genius who said he knew how to remove the meat out of the jar without scooping it out, in an attempt to show us how it’s done, turned the jar upside down. He then held it with one hand and with the other he tapped the bottom gently. When nothing happened he hit the jar hard sending the meat flying on the floor. I picked it up and, following the three second rule, put it on a plate, cut it into three pieces and said, “Dig in.”

Delche and Ori looked at me like I was crazy. I picked up one piece with my fingers, took a bite and washed it down with rakia.

“Not bad,” I said.

Delche looked at me and said, “What the hell.” He then picked up the centre piece and began to eat it.

Ori refused to take his piece until he saw the two of us eyeing it and decided to take it.

“Why not?” he said.

The hours passed much faster than we expected or maybe we fell asleep because the next thing I remember was hearing our friendly captain’s voice on the speaker and Delche declaring that we had arrived at the planet Barkon.

Ori said, “Our orders are to stay in orbit until the shuttle returns in a day or two.”

“Whose orders?” I asked.

“I don’t know whose orders. That’s what the shuttle’s captain said,” Ori snapped.

“And since when do we take orders from her?” asked Delche.

“I don’t like this,” I said. “Sitting stationary in orbit will make us a target. Also sending the shuttle down unprotected into a pirate infested hostile environment is reckless. But, it’s not my call.”

I then asked Ori to contact the shuttle and confirm those orders.

Moments later we received a reply. The orders had come directly from the ambassador. We were ordered to stay in orbit until further notice.

“They can do whatever they want. But we are not staying in orbit. This place is infested with pirate ships which wouldn’t hesitate to fire on us. I fact, given what we just did to that pirate ship, they would be heroes if they fired on us.”

Then, just as I was going to spring out of orbit, we got a distress call from the shuttle. The captain reported that a small pirate ship had fired on them and was requesting our assistance.

Delche entered the shuttle’s position into the navigation computer and I punched the autopilot button. We flew at the maximum safe speed for flying in the atmosphere but by the time we got there the

pirate ship was gone. Unfortunately before we could get back into outer space we were caught in a tractor beam. I struggled to get us free but it was useless. The beam kept pulling us into the side of a mountain.

I looked at Delche and Ori. They were both looking back at me.

“Any suggestions?”

They both shook their heads. I could see panic in their eyes.

“This is serious, very serious,” said Ori and Delche agreed.

We were being tossed around like a kite in the wind as I kept struggling to escape. My fear was quickly turning into anger.

“THIS IS RIDICULOUS,” I yelled and powered up all four cannons, set them to maximum and armed the torpedo. Then, instead of trying to get away, I turned the ship around and steered directly towards the tractor beam.

I looked at Delche and Ori. They were both holding on to their chairs. They were probably thinking that I was crazy because my actions were going to result in suicide. Things were happening very fast and there was no time to explain.

I was tempted to fire all four cannons simultaneously but at this close range the blast would have destroyed our ship for sure. I took my chances by firing one cannon directly at the source of the tractor beam. The disruption freed us momentarily and gave me enough time to move away. I then fired a torpedo and took out the tractor beam. After that I made several passes and took out the entire installation and punched a hole in the side of the mountain.

We quickly flew up into outer space and hid in a pile of debris.

The three of us sat in our seats quietly trying to process what had just happened and waited for our hearts to slow down. No one said anything and no one wanted to say anything. We were surprised that we were still alive. I was wondering what they were thinking,

particularly of me after I pulled that stunt. And to be honest, now that I think about it, the move was suicidal no matter how you looked at it. I decided not to explain myself. I just didn’t know what to say.

The ambassador didn’t report the attack on the shuttle to the Karon authorities and, according to Ori who caught a media report, our incident was reported as a devastating gas explosion that left an open crater in the side of the mountain.

“These poor creatures will be manipulated by just about anyone. I’m having second thoughts about Asora opening trade with them,” I said.

Delche said, “We did what we were asked to do and that’s all we can do. It’s not our concern what others do to the Karons. I’m sure it wasn’t the Karons who attempted to trap us with the tractor beam. Had we been put out of commission I’m certain the rats in our home planet would have gotten back in power in no time. I’m fairly certain they were behind this.”

Delche then smiled and said, “I’m not good at giving compliments but I have to say, once again, you saved our asses. How did you ever think of pulling such a stunt?”

“It was common sense to try and pull away in order to escape but you know that would have been impossible because the harder we pulled the more the tractor beam intensified. But, when the ship stopped struggling, the tractor beam loosened up enough for me to turn the ship around,” I explained.

“Should we contact the shuttle and find out how they are doing?” asked Ori.

“Is there any point?” I asked.

“Maybe Ori likes talking to the captain,” said Delche.

“Maybe I do, so what?” replied Ori.

“Guys, please, we’ve just experienced a traumatic event, do you want to talk about it. About what happened down there?” I asked.

They both said no.

“So, do you want to get drunk again and forget about it?”

They both said no.

“We are alive and well aren’t we? And our ship is intact. So what’s there to talk about?” said Delche.

“I have to agree with Delche. Let’s just eat supper and go to sleep,” said Ori.

While Delche was divvying up our food I made sure all sensors were operational and started a full diagnostics on the ship.

“The ship went through a lot of trauma down there and so did we,” I said.

I got no response.

We ate our dinner in silence, without a single drink and then went to bed. No one offered and no one drank any rakia.

The next morning we were awakened by a female voice coming out of Ori’s communications panel. Ori was still sleeping so Delche answered the call.

“It was the shuttle captain. She called to let us know that the shuttle would be leaving the surface and coming our way in outer space in the next couple of hours.”

I got dressed and immediately went to check on the results of the diagnostics.

“Well?” asked Delche.

“Everything is okay? It’s still okay even after the beating this little ship took yesterday. Vos did tell me that it was built to endure.”

Delche looked at the heavy boxes tied to the ship’s floor and said, “I’m glad you insisted on shatterproof jars, if any of the bottles of rakia broke we would have had one hell of a fire inside here.”

“Ori!” I yelled.

“Let him sleep, I know he didn’t say anything yesterday but he felt like this was the end for all of us. I could see it on his face,” said Delche.

I powered up the ship and checked the sensor logs. There was nothing there.

“We’ll fly around for a while to kill some time and have a look at the planet now that its surface is visible.”

Delche took his seat. We were both surprised at the devastation. The planet’s surface was full of holes and the planet looked lopsided. There was hardly any green anywhere.

“What did you expect? It has been mined for millennia,” Delche said.

Ori was up and getting dressed.

“Where are we? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“We’re leaving the planet in a couple of hours,” I said as he took his place in front of the communications panel.

On the way to the trader’s galaxy

Ori too was horrified by the devastation the millennium long mining had left on the surface of this once beautiful planet. Everything was stripped except for the rocks and barren soil.

“I’m amazed that anything can live here on this wasteland,” Ori said.

Moments later the shuttle captain called and gave us the coordinates for where to meet and the time.

Delche plotted the course and said, “Punch it any time you’re ready.”

Moments later we flew over the side of the mountain that had tried to swallow us the day before. There was a fire still burning and smoke coming out of the crater we had created. We all looked but no one said anything.

I turned the ship around and asked Delche for the appropriate speed to get us to the rendezvous point on time. He did a calculation, I entered the number and punched the autopilot.

“Moving at this slow speed in a straight line is making me nervous, keep your eyes on the sensors,” I said.

This time they didn’t mock me.

After flying in silence for a long time Ori said, “There it is, it’s the shuttle. I see its signature on my panel.”

“Contact them,” I told Ori, “and ask them to give us the coordinates of their destination. Also ask them how things went on the planet.”

The shuttle sent us a text message with the itinerary for the trip and a note attached to it that read, “We can’t talk about it.”

Just as the shuttle flashed in front of us I went in pursuit and locked onto it the same as before.

“We now have a long trip ahead of us flying in the dark with nothing to do.”

“I get it,” Ori said. “In the dark, meaning in dark space and in the dark, meaning without information.”

“You are quickly becoming one of us kid,” said Delche. “Welcome to our cynical world. All you have to do now is be rude and you’ll be one of us.”

“Seriously guys we need to find something to do, besides eating and drinking, or we’ll become stir-crazy,” I said.

“Perhaps Delche can talk about his adventures back when he was serving on the science ship,” suggested Ori.

“No, Delche is not going to do that,” replied Delche.

They both then looked at me.

“That leaves you. Why don’t you tell us something about your experiences and adventures in Macedonia or perhaps something about your people?” Ori said.

“There’s not much to tell. We lived in hardship and our history is full of tragedy.”

They both gave me “the look”.

So I said, “Okay, okay,” and began to talk.

“I don’t know how much you know about earth and how much of what I’m going to tell you will make any sense to you but things are different on earth. The planet is divided into many countries and each is governed by its own government and type. It wasn’t always like that but that’s how it is now. Each country also has its own culture and language more or less derived from the majority of people who lived there. There have been many wars and conquests over the years and the borders of countries have moved. Some

countries were even completely occupied by other countries. Macedonia is one of those countries, which has been occupied by four different countries.

The tragic thing about Macedonia is that attempts have been made to erase the Macedonian culture and get rid of the Macedonian people. The countries that today occupy Macedonia have made many attempts to assimilate the Macedonian people. But, as you already know from your studies, Macedonia is an ancient country and its people have a long and proud history which they don’t want to forget or abandon. And the harder Macedonians try to resist, the harder the occupiers try to erase them. This of course has led to hardship and tragedy.