Pirates?

I've been thinking about a lot of things over the time I've been in space and it's come down to a lot of nothing. I seem to arrive at these conclusions because my mind seems to dislike finding solutions to things that disturb me. My parents, for one, are always on the periphery of my psyche. I can't seem to get closure on their absence. I am constantly walking around with a piece of myself suddenly missing; like some sort of me was zapped away the day my parents passed on. It feels strange and I wonder if it will ever go back to normal.

I've thought about trying to fill that missing piece of myself but after a lot of thought, arrived- well- at nothing. I think the only thing I can take away from that is these voids in ourselves have to heal on their own in time. Isn't that a bitch. I don't know anyone personally who've lost a loved one, although with the war raging now I'm sure that's gonna change soon.

The war has been really messing with metabands and FTL travel at large. Huge swaths of Commonwealth space now require a bazillion permits even to enter. They are mostly locations near the DMZ and the front lines. Although even traveling in neighboring sovereignties has had an impact as well. The Pelthorans have closed their borders to the Sprykon Empire and the Bekluri Commonwealth. I can't say I blame them.

There's a sixty second delay on FTL communications traffic via the metaband frequencies. The Starnavy and Government have procured a huge swath in order to deliver massive data packets to their fleets and such. The bandwidth throttling is something the current youth of the Commonwealth, including myself, haven't experienced this but the old timers from the previous Border War don't miss it.

It's a good thing I'm still in the Beta Sector. I've been spelunking around different Pelthoran and Owlnuran systems trying to find this scientist who has this so called FTL signiture of the stealth Sprykon fleet. I'm not sure how much of a big lead it is but it's better than trying to find that needle in a haystack, Davin.

I'll fill you in on the past few days.

I was docked at Isinn Station deep in Owlnuran country and I had been waiting for the Morningstar's repairs to be completed. We discovered this station had a foundry that was owned by Comco and we could make our way there to see what the hell it was that made the Morningstar sound like a dying pig.

The station was interesting if anything. It's hard to describe Owluran architecture as the Owlnurans are a people who don't see in the visual spectrum or any visual spectrum for that matter. They use an ultra sensitive form of sonar. I mean it's so precise it puts starship acustic waveform amps to shame.

Typically Owlnuran ships and stations are very dark and cold- not a comfortable environment for most sentient races. They come from an icy 'M4' class planet that's pretty much in a constant ice age. You'll never see an Owlnar roaming the civic centers of their stations because the temperature has to be safe for other races. There is a portion of these stations that are configured for an Owlnuran environment but I'd recamend bringing along extra thick underwear.

Because these people are for all intents and purposes colorblind, they use the same color for everything. Everything. It's as if you'd had purple paint and then poured in a little magenta and then slowly swirled it around to make this smokey streaks. The light they use is always a cool color like cyan or deep vivid blues. It feels very icy and cold in their stations even thought the temperature is a cozy sixtynine degrees fahrenhiedt.

Anyways, I digress. I was in the main promanade sitting on a bench and waiting for the page by the techs that the Morningstar was ready. I wasn't gonna be thrilled with the cost. Jan lay next to me, taking up the rest of the bench. Her sneakers occasionly would bump into my leg. I think she was trying to annoy me out of boredom.

"I hear MwithP is going to do a tour of the Beta Sector," Jan said. She never liked staying quiet for too long.

"How would anyone in this sector like those guys. Their music sounds like planet bombardment from inside a bunker." I enjoy any chance I get to rag on Jan's favorite band. It's almost like a hobby for me.

"They only sound like that because you don't give them a chance. And that you grew up outside of the cities." Jan moved a leg down to the floor, "Besides it's a way for me to relieve stress after fixing your 'POS' of a ship." Jan giggled a little shoved me with her other foot.

I caught myself and pushed her foot away from me. Jan always threw down the insults when I came at her. I guess it wasn't so much a hobby then. More like a game two siblings would playI suppose. Carefully, I stared her down but kept my bored demeanor. "The Morningstar is a great ship. And it's not a piece of shit."

"Yes it is, because I'm always fixing it," she quipped back as soon as I finished my words. By this time she had a big smile on her face. It was like she was pushing my buttons just for the sheer enjoyment of it. I was not going to fall for this.

"Yeah, well I'm going to head back to the foundry to check how much sweat this will cost me." I stood up and adjusted my jacket.

"Fine, you do that," Jan replied with a touch of disappointment in her voice.

I made it about ten meters before she shot up and chased after me. "Wait up, I'm coming too."

"Wonderful," I thought.

"Ohmygod, Owlnuran stations are boring as hell," Jan lamented outloud to herself.

It was only a few minutes later and we had arrived at the Comco foundry. It was big and looked out of place in the Owlnuran station. It was like a giant chunk of the station was removed and then all sorts of gantries and cables and birthing locks for ships were strewn about; kind of like a giant squid. I could see my ship and another, an Owlnuran cruiser in dock.

I saw a technician, another Belkuri, who was at a work station inputting data. He was wearing the usual Comco grey jumpsuit and cap with the corporation's trademarked Red 'C' on it. I approached him and asked what the damage was- to my wallet and the ship.

"Your ship's drive core's magneto parsers where shot and the FTL drum was rubbing against the inner casing. It'll cost about forty thou' to fix it," the tech said.

Forty thousand?? I slowly turned to look at Jan, who by the way, has the skills to fix something like that. I gave her a peeved eyefull. "What the hell, Jan?"

She looked at me like I had just insulted her mother. "Hey! I could have diagnosed the problem if you actually gave me one of two things- another engineeer to help pull out the inner casing- because, well you know, it weighs three tons. Or some equipment to actually allow me to do the job myself!" She then proceeded to shove me, "Damn, Jack you make this out like it's my fault, you cheap bastard."

Okay, maybe she has a point.

"Alright, alright already!" I shouted.

I turned my attention back at the tech and sorted out the costs. Forty thousand is a lot of sweat. But I can't do my job without the Morningstar, so I guess some days you win, others you loose.

We'd finally checked out of the station and headed off for Pelthoran space. The Morningstar purred like she was brand new. The techs had to replace the entire inner casing and the magneto parsers- bands of electromagnetic emiters that keep the FTL drum from ramming into the casing and rotates it at very high velocities as well to keep the FTL core charged.

I was able to recycle the old casing into base components and I have them stored in my cargo hold; ready to sell to the next merchant I encounter, or hell, I could keep them around in case I need to make repairs.

About four days later we reached the Anmel System, Pelthoran controlled and the location of a science academy. I'm hoping that there will be a register of scientists here that I can use to track down this guy I'm looking for. Anmel is a major academic system for the Pelthorans and ninety percent of their scientists come from here.

After a few identification checks with customs, because afterall, Belkuri aren't suppose to be in Pelthoran space because of the war, we were given permission to dock at their orbital station but not planetside. I guess they are a little distrustful. That's fine, though. I can access their database from the Morningstar's systems.

I dug around and found that there were only three waveform quantumologists who graduated in recent time. One was dead, the other two were alive and kicking. One went by the name of Thim, the other Grinn.

Thim was the closest; living in the Losa System only a couple days away and Grinn was- ah shit. Grinn was on the pirate station Thusk. "What the hell is he doing on a pirate station!?" I shouted at myself. I was sure the one I wanted would be the one with the pirates, it's just my luck. I decided to head to Losa instead since it was closer and to put off from having to deal with scum again. I must have been a pirate in a previous incarnation.


When we arrived at Losa we went through the same customs hooplah again and docked at the orbiting station. Jan opted to stay in the ship while I headed down to the planet surface. The shuttle ride only took about fifteen minutes and the pelthoran pilot was pretty good at keeping the turbulence at a minimum. Talented little gerbil. Well I wouldn't say little. They may be shorter than Belkuri but they are burly as hell. This guy could probably snap me in two. Did I mention Pelthoran shuttles are cramped?

The cabin of the shuttle rocked gently as the landing struts made a firm grip with the tarmac. The air hissed inside for a second as the air pressure equalized and my ears popped. Soon after the hatch opened for us to dissembark.

It was sunny without a cloud in the sky and there was a gentle breeze blowing over the spacious tarmac of the spaceport. I asked a Xiqett, who was travelling with me, where I could find the Iandi Tower, the place where Thim was staying. The tanned woman passager pointed over towards a butte off in the distance. Apparently there's a complex there for industry and living.

I didn't think the butte was all that big until I had approached it by tram. I was at least half a kilometer tall and sorta faded into the sky. The whole butte was called Iandi Tower. And here I thought it was a whole building. When I got inside I was able to quickly find a directory and ascertain where Thim was. The terminal gave me his picture and other information that I wasn't really interested in. Good ol' Pelthorans and their anal retentive nature.

When I reached the observation deck I scanned the faces as I walked about trying to match them to the one on my tRib. Finally I saw him sitting a table by the large, observation window that filled the whole side of the wall. He was wearing expensive looking clothing and wore some jewelry on his chin. The furry strips of fur that shot out of his head like antenna were dyed bright orange while the rest of his coat was well groomed.

"Excuse me," I said as I approached him.

The man peered over at me and raised his hand upright; a common way of greeting a stranger. Pelthorans don't speek to strangers until you make your motives clear.

"I understand you're a Quantumologist. You don't happen do be studying the Kemal Expanse?"

Thim grinned, I think, and pounded the tabletop. "Ah sit down, sit down. You must be the contact I was waiting for." Thim scratched a tuft of fur above his eye. "Although, I don't remember my contact being Belkuri in my message from Antor..."

"I'm not your contact," I answered as I took a seat across from him. "I was shocked that I actually didn't have to go to the Pirate station. Today was looking up. "I heard over the Galnet that you accidently discovered the FTL signitures of the Sprykon fleet that attack the Jamul system."

Thim looked at me for a moment and then replied, "Oh haha! You must mean my partner, Grinn with the pirates!"

SONUVABITCH!!

Seriously, I was screaming in my head and trying not to make it obvious. I knew it! I knew it! My luck is never this good. I slouched back in my seat and tried to look interested.

Thim continued, "Grinn managed to work out a deal with some pirates to use their station as an observation post. He's always been a good negotiator, that one. There are no stars in our way that would otherwise cause unwanted lensing and spacetime distortion in that location to observe the expanse! It's guite a good streak of fortune for us.

"I'm sure," I said with all the gusto of a dead engine.

Thim stared out the window for a moment than turned back at me. "Say, if you come back tomorrow, I should have some time free for you to speak to him. Would that suffice?"

Well now. I would take that. Hell, the cost in fuel I'd save just getting there nevermind the not having to visit the place is enough for me. "Sure. That'd be great, Thim."

The Pelthoran shot his finger up in the air, "No, no, it's pronounced Thim."

"That's what I said."

He shook his head and corrected me again. This went on a few more times before I finally succumbed to his anal retentiveness even though it sound like we were saying his name the exact same way. Ugh Pelthorans.

I arrived back at the Morningstar about twenty minutes ago and my spirits are a little higher. I mean, I don't have to hang with pirates and I have a good chance of getting my hands on the FTL signiture tomorrow. Been a good few days. I think I'll hit the sheets and look forward to tomorrow.

J.

No Luck

It's been a while and we are still on the "hunt" for Davin. I suppose it was naive to expect him to show up at Rando Station at the exact time we were there, given all the shady places he could have been. But this unlucky for as long as it's been? Jan and I must really suck at this tracking business because I can't believe we haven't found this guy yet.

Jan did give the suggestion that perhaps we should check the asteroid field where we encountered him by accident, but the odds of him being there weren't any better than they were at Rando Station. At this point it's pretty much dumb luck if we happen across the bastard. I'm starting to wonder if expending the energy to find Davin is even worth it. We could do all this work finding him only for the guy to tell us to get lost.

I've been thinking of back up plans for ways of finding these Sprykon ships. The rumor mills on the news feeds is that these ships are using some kind of FTL cloak. That could put a bit of a snag on shadowing the Starnavy vessels because they may not even know where they are going. I'm sure that's got the Starnavy scared shitless now that the war's begun with the Empire.

Last week I was cruising around the Galaxynet and read a bulletin about a Pelthoran Waveform Quantumologist who accidentally recorded the trace signature of the Sprykon ships while doing measurements on the Kemal Expanse. The only problem with that is cloaked trace signatures look awfully similar background noise- they're supposed to. At any rate this guy is a possibility and I'm seriously thinking about ditching this hunt for Davin and going after this furry geek instead.

The Morningstar has been making some strange noises in the drive core lately. I'm not sure what it is as I've never heard it before. I know it's definitely not Kroaches. Those critters make a horrid noise when they infest drives and my baby has already had one infestation already.

Anyhow, Jan has no idea what the sound is either and she's done a myriad of diagnostics and taken apart several portions of the engine room too. Her professional opinion is to set course for a station or colony system that has a dry dock owned by Comco so that technicians trained by the manufacturer of the ship can work on it. Sounds good to me.

I'm also going to talk to Jan too about finding this Pelthoran scientist instead of Davin. I'm sure she'll put up an argument. I bet she lays in bed at night thinking of ways she could run away with the guy...

Paging Davin Caracas...

I've been staring out my window at Rando Station for the last few days waiting for a certain person to arrive who, by our most recent information, should have been here already. I've forbidden Jan from leaving the ship on her own because I just don't trust the inhabitants here. The only one I would trust to leave her alone with is, ironically, the Sprykon cafe owner, Granth. He and Jan have developed quite a repertoire for having only met twice. But given our 'mission' this friendship between them has actually proven fruitful- I hope. Let me explain.

The Morningstar screamed toward the Sommath Rift, a massive spacial wake; the leftovers of a hypernova- something only an ultramassive star could create. Huge cliffs of dense gasses stand like solitary giants thousands of miles tall on the far side of the rift, where at the center lies a maelstrom of turbulent spacetime and vivid blue green electrically charged arcs of gaseous rhodite erupting like a dead tree from the middle of the havoc.

I had to be careful to plot a course around the rift towards Rando Station that sat half concealed by the gas bank on the far side, but not get sucked in. I've heard stories from some of the locals here about pilots who come too close to the event horizon only to be snagged by an electrical discharge of the gaseous rhodite and tugged inside as if it were a sea vessel caught by a kraken of pure energy. The ship just floats helplessly twirling around the singularity at a tortuously slow decay rate. If they are lucky the electrical arcs haven't completely killed their systems and they can just scuttle themselves and the ship. It doesn't happen often but when it does, the local gambling guild here goes berserk and people start betting on how long it'll be until something happens. Jan says the rift looks beautiful and I guess she's right, it can be a beautiful thing to see but I prefer to just get on with things and not tempt fate.

As the restraining calipers snugly snatched onto the Morningstar's hull I disengaged the drive system and put her in standby. I remotely paid the dockmaster his fee, which was robbery by the way given how much he charged, then Jan and I disembarked.

As we strode down the gantry the familiar odor that is so unique to Rando station filled my nose and I couldn't help but flinch. It's pretty noxious, mostly because of the high concentrations of Rhodite in the area. Inhaling the stuff can't be good. Thankfully once inside the station the air purification systems make the atmosphere- tollerable.

In the main causeway of the station, I stopped and grabbed Jan's shoulder. "Soo where do we start? Coming to this shit hole was your idea. This is your show, Jan."

She thought for a moment while studying the different directions we could take in the station.

"Uhmm..."

"Don't make me start thinking you're doing all this by the seat of your pants, Jan. I'm only here because I trust you," I snapped at her.

"I'm just doing what you'd do, Jack,"she retorted while smirking at me. "Let's just pick a direction and go. See what's there." Jan randomly pointed in a direction down the causeway and began to walk off.

I rolled my eyes pondering how I get myself into these situations and slowly shuffled close behind her.

The station's passages were filled with the usual riffraff I'd seen the last few times I was here. And they all looked the same- it was like you had to wear certain stuff to look the part. Clothing that appeared dated accessorized by cultural trinkets and gadgets dangling and holstered on which ever part of the body that wasn't already used by something else. I tried to not look anybody in the eyes, careful to try to keep as low a profile as possible but I imagined that was probably already blown considering I'm walking around with a woman whose plucky stride, curious gaze, and 'Messing with Pixels' rock tour shirt made us look like a neon sign shining in the dark. Jan was just fearless with the way she strode down the causeway. I mean, she did not look like she belonged here and I kept thinking at any moment some cretin would approach her.

After what seemed like we'd walked half the station and I was about to tell Jan what I thought of her plan, she slapped me on the chest and pointed over to a shop. "There we go!"

"A cafe?", I said having not entirely expecting that. I thought we'd have to go to some grungy cantina and find some shady local sitting in a booth... what do I know... I think my experience from watching movies had biased me a little.

I'd remembered this cafe before. It was owned by the Sprykon, Granth. My only conclusion was that Jan planned on talking to him since trying to randomly chat these folks up probably wouldn't have been the brightest idea.

As soon as we entered the establishment Jan burst out a big smile and called out to Granth who stood at the door to the back room of the place. I followed up behind her. Granth, like all 'konnies, with their great penchant for remembering faces, gave a smile and waved his mammoth hand at her. I've never really felt all that comfortable around his race. You can't blame me. Ever since childhood it's burned into our skulls that the Sprykon are assholes.

"Jan, how are you this evening?" Granth asked in the bass voice characteristic of his species.
"I'm doing well, Granth. You know my friend, Jack here?" she gestured back to me and I just half smiled and waved with my eyebrows. I wasn't motivated enough to take my hands out of my jacket pockets.

Granth shuffled over to a computer terminal to enter in some receipts from the day's business. "So what brings you to the Rift? It's not a place you should be visiting, Jan." Jan giggled, "Oh Granth you're like my Dad. I'll be fine!"

Jan obviously had this show so I took a seat at a table nearby and kept my eyes open. As the conversation between Jan and Granth continued I found myself slowly sinking into my own thoughts. It seems every time I have a moment to myself the thought of my parents comes pounding in consuming me. I couldn't really think of anything when they were there. It's just a catastrophe of flashing memories and emotions from all the different points in my life like time didn't matter. Its so much that I didn't really have time to feel anything. Like, I was trying to catch up with all this feeling. Trying to savour every bit but it rushes by too fast. Every other moment I kept wishing I had one more chance to see them. Or what if I had decided to stay with them when I visited. Myself and Jan could have been those killed too. There's so much to think about that before I knew it Jan had broken me out of my revere.

"JACK!"

I blinked and twirled my head over to her. "Eh? What? What's up?"

Jan continued. "Granth says that he's seen Davin on the station many times."

I leaned up in my chair and looked over at our unlikely friend. "Have you spoken to him? Do you know how we can find him?" I commanded.

Granth shrugged a little and spoke. "I have not spoken to him personally but I know that he usually arrives two to three times a week. For what, I do not know."

Jan sat down with me and seemed to have an eagerness that was infectious. "Granth says that Davin is likely to dock his ship in the same bay where we are. And since we know what his ship looks like we can just wait for him there."

I slowly nodded as I thought about it all. "Okay. Okay. So when is he likely to show up again? How long do we have to stay here?" I asked Granth.

The Sprykon leaned his bulk against the wall and thought for a second. "He was last here two days ago, so it's possible he may be back today or early tomorrow."

"Ok great. Let's go, Jan." I stood up and prepared to head out. Jan stood up with an annoyed look at me and then hurriedly turned back to Granth with a big smile and thanked him.

She caught up with me outside in the causeway. "What the hell was that, Jack?" She ordered.

"What?"

"You didn't even thank Granth for helping us. You were a total prick to him!"

I honestly didn't mean that. Actually the thought never crossed my mind to thank him. "Well what do you want me to do, Jan? Go back in there and kiss his big, red ass?"

Jan stepped in front of me, jammed her hand flat on my chest and looked me in the eyes. "Granth didn't kill your parents, ok? He didn't desserve that back there. He's a kind person and you were being a dick. Not all Sprykon are bad people." She promptly turned around and stomped off down the causeway. I stood for a moment and then continued after her but she made me start thinking about myself.

We've been here in dock for about twelve hours now and still no Davin. There's only four docking ports in our section of the bay and they are all empty except for us. I'm starting to wonder if Davin is ever going to show up. I've been here at my desk in my quarters slouched in my chair staring out the window that those empty ports. The bluegreen flash of the rift outside occasionally lit up the station and tiny ships crawl back and forth in the background.

Jan came in a little bit ago and gave me some coffee. I don't want to sleep because I can't risk losing this one lead we have. And even at that we don't even know if Davin would help us. I was about to start some small talk with Jan but she fell asleep on my bed so so much for that chance at passing the time. C'mon, Caracas. Where are you...

Just No.

We've been on our way to the Iodem Empire via Pelthoran space. I've been listening in on the Trade Industry chatter and they are saying the Pelthorans have increased security checks of ship traffic since they share a border with the Sprykon and Belkuri. I shouldn't have any problem getting through when we arrive.

Our ultimate destination is the Somath Rift. For a place I dislike so much I'm really frequenting it a lot lately. Jan suggested we go there first since Rando Station is likely to have some leads as to the whereabouts of Davin. I said if went asking around people could become suspicious of us and just give a bogus lead in the wrong direction. "Criminals stick together, Jan," I explained to her in all my life experience. She just looks at me with this 'yeah, sure' expression every time I try to grace her with my seasoned wisdom. Anyway...

Jan and I had been sitting in the galley of the Morningstar discussing what Buck said lastnight. I sat in the far end of the table leaning back on my chair; rocking it gently while I held my hands behind my head. Jan sat a couple meters away with a glass of Paama Juice. The Morningstar's drivecore hummed gently in the background.

"You know, I've been thinking and no offense to your Granddad, but- he's a loon," I said plainly.

Jan looked at me with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "What, because of the things he said?"

I leaned forward and landed on all fours of the chair. The legs made a thud as I placed my arms on the table. "He told us the Border Wars were cover ups."

"Give him a break, Jack. He really did work for the Information Ministry and probably did know some pretty covert things. How do we know?"

"There's no way the Border Wars were cover ups. Even the Sprykon acknowledge the Border Wars. That would mean that our government and the Sprykon would have to be sharing the lie." I leaned back in my chair, convinced, at least for myself that I was right. "That would never happen."

Jan thought for a moment. "Maybe it's so important to the the Empire and us that both sides couldn't afford to let the information out. Maybe other races would have become involved if they knew."

I stared blankly at Jan, unphased by her explanation. "The Sprykon hate our guts. There's no way they'd collude with our government. Hell, even the Pelthorans moderated a peace summit between us and the 'konnies before the second war. That would mean they'd have to be in on it too."

"Not if we and the Sprykon lied to them."

I waved my hand, unimpressed with what Jan had to say. "No way; just no. I'm really doubting this whole thing Buck said. He's wearing his tinfoil hat to tight."

"Well it's better than nothing," Jan snapped. I think she was getting a little offended. I decided to lay off the subject- after all I had made up my mind so arguing it further would just piss off Jan more and I don't want a pissed off woman on my ship.

Now things have blown over a bit. The discussion was only twenty or so minutes ago and we're in our respective quarters right now. At least Jan had a half decent idea of following the navy ships. That might actually work. I wish I could have thought of that. Maybe I should have told her that after shitting all over her kind Granddad.

Bucks not bad guy, I just don't believe what he said. It just sounds... well it sounds like bullshit. It's so far out there that the odds of it being true, well I think I have better odds of having coffee with an Empyrean before his theory is correct.

Anyways, I think I'm going to take a little nap before we make a fuel stop at Port Vanity.

J

The plot thickens. I hate it when it thickens.

It's late here at Jen's Grandfather's home. I've been up for thirty hours and the stimulants can only keep me coherent for so long. We arrived about eight hours ago and Buck, Jan's Grandfather, greeted us at the gantry for the Morningstar's birthing gate. He was a short man, obviously Aikoo, and wore humble clothes of khaki trousers and striped shirt of blue and white. His eyes were worn out but still had a spark of life left after what I could only imagine having seen so many amazing things. His hair was jet black and short, but manicured in a casual, carefree manner. When I shook his hand it was firm and confident and he looked me dead in the eyes; something that I wasn't normally accustomed to having done to me. I suppose it's the rift between his generation and my own.

We traded formalities and quickly segued into chit chat while we made our way to the tram carousel. Buck, as it was his nickname from childhood, explained all kinds of jokes and fun experiences that he'd had the pleasure of keeping. His charm was quiet infectious and I couldn't help but want to know more about the stories he told. Jan was quiet and listened; probably long used to the tales by now.

Anyway, we arrived in Tyr Square, the center of Hamar, the colony in the Sacha System. It was not a large metropolitan city like I am used to. This place was large, but had a homey atmosphere all about it. The buildings were older, constructed long before the the First Border War- many generations ago. Life here was simpler and the relaxed expressions on peoples faces showed it. Buck explained that Hamar is an agriculture colony and mainly exports produce and cheeses, but recently a hydroponics company had established a foundry here and brought quite a bit more of the younger crowd.

I won't bore you with any more details of the day so far, but I can tell you that eventually, and it was a long eventually, Buck and I finally got down to business- the Sprykon ships that attacked Jamul and killed my parents and many other innocents.

We talked after dinner as Jan and I sat at the counter and Buck leaned against some cupboards; the remnants of our meal sat cold on the plates.

"So what's this information you know about the Sprykon?" I said it with a bit of a skeptical tone. I couldn't help myself. I mean, how the hell would this old guy have anything important? Buck seemed to ignore my verbal demeanor and plowed ahead. "Before I retired, I worked in the Information Ministry on New Haven," Buck frenetically waved his hand, "not the public affairs division; the one that worked covertly with the Starnavy and Marines."

"What does that have to do with the attacks a few days back? You were in the government long before any of this," Jan retorted.

"A lot," Buck huffed back.

I took another sip of my drink and jiggled the ice around in the glass while listening to Buck explain. "The 'konnies are looking for something and they think it's in Belkuri space." As soon as he finished I promptly looked up at him. "The Sprykon wiped out three colonies and my folks looking for something? What could we possibly have the Sprykon would desire other than the systems near the DMZ that have been the cause of the last two border wars?"

Buck came over to the counter and placed his hands on the surface and leaned in to say something. His eyes narrowed to almost slits as what I could only assume was that things were about to get more serious.

"The Border Wars are bullshit."

"Huh?" It was all I could say, because, frankly I was expecting something else.

"Whadd'ya mean the Border Wars are Bullshit," Jan replied.

Buck huffed again, somehow connfused that no one understood what he was saying. "The wars are lies. They were made up to cover the truth."

"But that's illegal, the Information Ministry isn't allowed by the Articles of Government to spin or alter information to the public."

Buck smirked. "Tell that to the Ministry, Jan." He tugged on his trowsers and continued. "The wars were made up to hide something else. What it is I don't know. But the 'konnies are willing to start another-" Buck raised his fingers to mimic quotation marks "- Border War to find it."

"I don't understand the connection between them wiping out some colonies and this thing they are looking for," I spat. I was getting a little irritated. "Besides, I thought you were going to tell me something about where the Sprykon ships are."

"You know more now than you did eight hours ago, didn't you?" Buck snapped back. I think he too was starting to get a little frustrated. I didn't care.

Jan spoke up. "Listen, listen. This still helps us, Jack."

"How?"

"If the Sprykon are looking for something we have they may not have left the Commonwealth yet. They could still be here."

"But where, Jan? You know how many damn systems there are out there?" I threw my arm out into the open space as if trying to help my explaination.

"We watch the movements of Starnavy deployments. And look for the largest concentration of ships and follow them."

I momentarily glanced at the floor before looking back up at my first mate. "No one but the military knows the metaband frequencies, and even if we did they are encrypted." I paused for a moment. "Unless you know them, Buck?"

He shook his head. "The metabands have changed several times since I was working."

"Great! So what the hell do we do now?" I lamented as I leaned on my arm and slouched over the counter. You know, I was really hoping something would come from this. I definitely couldn't think of anything and was glad Jan at least knew someone who might be able to give us a lead and even that didn't really help.

It was quiet in the kitchen for a few moments as everyone thought. "I know," Jan said. "I think I know someone who can help us with that." Jan shrugged, "well I don't know him but I think he could probably help us out."

"Who?"

Jan suddenly began to glow. "Davin Caracas!"

"NO! No way, forget it, Jan," I was not going to let that scoundrel get anywhere near me and especially Jan. Not to mention he was a criminal.

"C'mon! He's got to know! Remember when he hacked our comm systems? He's got to know something or someone who can help us." She pleaded.

Buck folded his arms and resigned back to the cupboards. "I think you two should let the Starnavy do their jobs."

"Jan, no way. He's a criminal and probably an asshole."

Jan made that look on her face when she's pissed and has a point to make. I hate that face. "You have no other leads. If you want to do this we have to find Davin."

I rolled my eyes and stared off into space and made clear to everyone that I wasn't happy with the direction things were going. I want to find those Sprykon but not at the cost of involving criminal elements. But Jan was right. I didn't have anything else to use and I'm not exactly a sleuth at this stuff. I chart systems for God's sake.

"Alright," I threw my hand dejectedly and let it slap down on my thigh. "ok, Jan, we'll find Davin. But you are not going on his ship alone or, hell, even allowed to be alone with him, got it?" There was no negotiation on this part. Jan was my sis and those criminal types are always trouble with women.

"Fine, sure," Jan quipped.

So that was that. Now we have to track down a person who excells at not being found. How the hell do we do that? Jan was pretty excited, even if she didn't show it. I've known her long enough to catch the subtle ques in her body language. I think she brought up this Caracas guy just so she could meet him again. What the hell is it with young women being attracted to these asshole types? Trouble and nothing else. I've gotta be on guard when and if we find him.

I'm pretty beat now and I'm going to turn in. Jan and I leave Hamar tomorrow to head out and find this guy. I have a feeling I'm going to be going places I often avoid. I've thought about what Buck said. That the Border Wars were cover up for something else. What is it? And what is it that would make the Sprykon risk all out war to venture deep into Belkuri space to try and find it? All I want to do is find those ships.

J

Needle In A Hay Stack

I've been having nightmares lately. I keep dreaming I'm outside my parent's home just before it's struck by the energy blast. My Mom is outside gardening and my Pop is on a holofon relaxing on a patio chair. I'm trying to tell them what's coming, to come with me, but they either don't acknowledge my existence or they don't believe me. It's frustrating. I always wake up in a frenetic spasm that nearly tosses me out of bed right when the blast comes. Every night. I've never been the kind of person to dwell on things, to hold grudges, but this is so different. I think about the event sometimes analyzing why I feel the way I do; why I feel this sense of helplessness; even after my parents are gone.

Jan says that it's just my way of dealing with the trauma of losing people so dear to me. The logical side of me agrees with her, but my emotions- all they want is to find those Sprykon bastards and squeeze some kind of rightousness out of all the hurt. They robbed me of something that can never be replaced. And the part that really pisses me off is that they attacked a backwater system without any defenses and of no tactical importance. I feel like I've been singled out; that those 'konnies, for some reason, came after me. I know that's not true, and I know that millions of other family members lost loved ones as well. But it just nags me why those ships would do something like that- it doesn't make sense. Was it a statement they were making? The Jamul system is on the other side of the Commonwealth; almost the furthest Belkuri colony from the Sprykon Empire. Maybe they wanted to show us that they could attack us with impunity. To scare us maybe? For all I know those ships could be making a bee line for the DMZ by now and me and the Starnavy will never see them again. I dunno.

I've been doing some research in the public database in the Civil Ministry for anything I can find out about the Sprykon. I doubt they'd release acute information about the attack but I have to start somewhere. Meanwhile, we're heading for the Sacha system where Jan's Grandfather lives. She says he might know something about the rogue ships. How he knows anything about this is beyond me but I guess we'll find out when we arrive in three days.

It's On.

It's been a while, and I apologize, but like you know from the last entry a few weeks back, things have been getting crazy. I am currently in the Jamul System and, through some help from LR, a follower of my journal, has used some contacts to get me past the strong blockade the Navy has set up.

It has been an emotional few weeks. The colony that my parents lived in was completely obliterated; just totally decimated by the bombardment. The Sprykon are notorious for their planetary attacks and therefore survivors are few. Many Colonists have gone unaccounted and AID workers have administrative personnel are still trying to sort this whole mess- two other colonies in the system were hit.

CANN journalists were crawling all over the place. It just blew me away that the Navy would allow these people in here given all the death that just transpired. Some how it just all felt disrespectful to the innocent people who died.

Jan has been a saint and really been helping through all this. She stayed behind with the Morningstar to use the ship's computer to gather information on the galaxynet while I made my way to where my folk's home was located.

There wasn't anything recognisable remaining of my parent's place. As I stood in the remnants of what once was my parent's bedroom pondering the unfairness of the universe, the sun kissed my face and the familiar, cool breeze that spawned so many good memories here brought me to an emotional buckling that I couldn't stop. So I sat in the rubble and let it out. I mean I had to, you can't bottle that stuff up. I stared up in the beautiful blue sky and tried to convince myself that they could still be alive. But it didn't really help. I knew they were gone.; vaporized by the energy fire. The AID administrators knew it and wouldn't say a damn thing for whatever reason.

As I sat there feeling alone for the first time in my life, I mean really alone, I felt a hand on the back of my head. It felt good. It kind of reminded me of the way my Mother would caress me; and my stomach squirmed in a mixture of joy and pain because I knew it wasn't my Mom but felt so great.

It was Jan.

She is such an amazing person. She sat down next to me, arm wrapped around me and leaned her head onto mine. She really knew what I needed. And she revealed a part of herself that I suspect many to don't get the privilege of experiencing.

We sat there for what seemed like hours under that blue, peaceful sky. She was really supportive and I appreciated that a lot. Jan's my lil' sis. My family now. She helped me collect the spartan items still salvageable in the home and then we headed back to the ship.

That was a few weeks back. Now we're docked at the Templeton Station a few hundred lightyears from the Jamul System. I've had a lot of thought and I've talked it over with Jan and she's with me whatever decision I make. I'm going to temporarily put my cartography on hiatus, and I don't give a damn what the ACA says.

I'm going to find those Sprykon bastards. I'm not sure how, but I'm going to do anything I can to make sure they are found and are dealt with. My parents deserve some kind of honor out all this senseless madness.

The Commonwealth is likely headed to war with the Sprykon Empire now, that is for certain. And my days from here on out are likely to not be filled with the monotony of yesterday.

Time to ship out.