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    The Summons
    The Summons
    The Summons
    Ebook424 pages6 hours

    The Summons

    By Terry Compton

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    About this ebook

    Book 5 in the Alcantaran Series

    What nerve. Earth had been blockaded by warships from Uyoki and almost invaded by the Bugs, the Hanami Federation and pirates. Ron, Gus, Tik and their families with a little help from the Dar Es Salaam Traders had defeated all of them and then spent a month rescuing survivors from the battle. This should have been a major boost to the Charter Alliance but instead the Charter Council had summoned the trio and Earth officials to answer to charges of starting a galactic war. Would the Charter Alliance try to take away their space travel? Could the trio and their friends satisfy those who had brought the charges or would they wind up as a rouge solar system locked out of the Charter Alliance and their trading space?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTerry Compton
    Release dateFeb 28, 2012
    ISBN9781465961891
    The Summons
    Author

    Terry Compton

    Terry Compton has raced stock cars, rode horses across the Scapegoat Wilderness, fished and hunted most of his adult life while working at several different jobs. He is an Air Force veteran and served in the Air National Guard for several years. He is currently retired from being the owner, chief welder and installer for an ornamental iron business where he has made several award winning metal creations and is now turning this creativity to writing.Terry loves to read science fiction, westerns and mystery stories. Some of his favorite authors are Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Andre Norton, Poul Anderson, Robert Heinlein, Louie L'Amour, Zane Grey and Anne McCaffery. He is currently learning about 'indie' authors who are publishing e-books.Terry currently lives in Montana with his wife and a dog who thinks she is a short furry people.

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      Book preview

      The Summons - Terry Compton

      The Summons

      Terry Compton

      Published by Terry Compton at Smashwords

      Copyright 2012 Terry Compton

      Cover images courtesy of Yvonne Less & Dreamstime.com

      Cover by Joleene Naylor

      What nerve. Earth had been blockaded by warships from Uyoki and almost invaded by the Bugs, the Hanami Federation and pirates. Ron, Gus, Tik and their families with a little help from the Dar Es Salaam Traders had defeated all of them and then spent a month rescuing survivors from the battle. This should have been a major boost to the Charter Alliance but instead the Charter Council had summoned the trio and Earth officials to answer to charges of starting a galactic war. Would the Charter Alliance try to take away their space travel? Could the trio and their friends satisfy those who had brought the charges or would they wind up as a rouge solar system locked out of the Charter Alliance and their trading space?

      Smashwords Edition

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      This is a work of fiction. All characters or incidents are a figment of the author's imagination and any resemblance to any incident or any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

      Chapter 1

      Pete Collins was trying to get his wife, Linda away from their son, daughters and grandkids. They were the last to load into Auntie, the ancient Alcantaran spaceship Galactic Antiquarian, which Ron Calvin, Gus Ghaolh and Tik Michi had used to escape from the Bugs.

      Linda finally finished her good-byes and they both waved as they stepped out of the spaceport terminal to hurry out to Auntie. Pete could tell that she was crying as they walked and he watched as she dug in her purse for a tissue. He said, We aren't leaving forever and besides, with the new 3-D hook-up, it'll seem like they're in the room with us when you talk to them.

      I know, but it's still not the same as being here and being able to give them a hug.

      Pete gave up because he knew he couldn't say anything to win this argument. He looked around as he walked, but didn't see any more of the Alcantaran spaceships. The trio's families and friends must have flown them back to the Key or out to work on the salvage again. Pete tried to hurry Linda a little as they walked up the ramp into Auntie.

      Seeing Ron standing in the airlock, Pete thought about the last few months here on Earth. Ron had been a neighbor here on Earth before his capture by the Bugs. His partner, Gus, had been kidnapped from Prokne in the Coddington's Nebula while the other partner Tik had been whisked off Vesta IV in the Melponmene galaxy. The three had been brutally enslaved on a Bug mother ship.

      After a daring escape, the trio just wanted to use the ancient Alcantaran space ship Galactic Antiquarian or Auntie as they called her to trade with other planets. But the Bugs and their allies threatened Earth. The trio had been forced to step in to stop them. The ensuing battle had left over 300 damaged warships sitting not too far from Earth. The trio, their families and friends had spent a brutal month rescuing Bugs and their slaves off of those warships.

      All of them accrued a lot of flying time moving Bug captives to a secret POW planet. The Dar Es Salaam Traders had helped get all of the former Bug slaves back to their home planets, if they wanted to go. Some former slaves didn't want to go back to a backward planet, so they volunteered to stay. They helped salvage the damaged warships or anything they could do to stay in a spaceship.

      The Charter Navy had helped with the rescue and exchange of prisoners from the Hanami Federation battleships. The Hanami Federation had tried to protest and wanted their warships back, but Ron, Tik and Gus had already applied for salvage rights. They had people working on the ships at that point. Besides, the spaceships were in the Charter Alliance sphere of influence. Just their presence without invitation could be construed as an act of war.

      Instead of awarding medals to the ones involved in staving off this threat to freedom, the Charter Alliance had thrown a curve ball right after the battle when they sent an Admiral to arrest Elevin Shi, Kita ao Te Kinobala, and the trio. Ordering the Charter Navy to seize Auntie, as well as the people, the Council deliberately insulted everyone involved.

      Kita stopped the summons by forcing the Charter Navy Admiral to fly to the battle scene. He took one look and decided his five warships were nothing compared to the 143 Bug warships that had been destroyed -- supposedly by the Alcantaran Ghosts.

      Not wanting to anger these Ghosts, he agreed to let Ron, Tik, Gus, Kita and Elevin Shi come to Zeta Ophiuchi after they had finished the rescue work. The Admiral conveniently found his way to join the other Charter Navy ships flying rescue missions in the Hanami Federation battleships.

      With the crisis now averted and emergency rescues finished, Ron, Gus, Tik and the others were headed to Zeta Ophiuchi to answer the Charter Alliance summons. Their crews swarmed over wrecked spaceships, repairing or salvaging what they could.

      Pete recalled his talk with Ron, Kita and Elevin Shi. This summons could shatter the Charter Alliance leaving Earth, Prokne and Vesta IV alone against a host of other more advanced races.

      Ron stood at the door and greeted them, Hi, Pete, Linda. It's kind of tough to leave family, but at the same time it's exciting to be going to an alien planet. Kita tells me this is some planet, too. It's the center of the Charter Alliance.

      Linda said, Good-byes are always tough but I know Pete's so excited that he hardly slept last night.

      Pete said, And how did you know that I hardly slept?

      Well, I didn't either.

      They all three laughed and Ron closed everything up. He led them to the situation room on the lower level. As they walked, Pete and Linda marveled at all the things packed into the old trading ship. Linda saw the open door to the conservatory. She said, Look at all the colorful plants and flowers I always love to visit your conservatory. It feels so fresh and invigorating in there…

      Ron opened the door and ushered them into the situation room. Pete looked around and saw Colonel Mike and his two top aides already seated there. Jill came to welcome Linda as they came in and led her to a corner where Kikula sat. An ancient-looking Chinese man and a white man in very formal attire came over to greet Pete.

      The white man said in a very British accent, Hi, Pete. The closest one to the spaceport is the last one to arrive I see.

      Yeah, I can blame it on my wife since she's over there and can't defend herself. How are you doing, Mr. Ambassador? Hello, Ambassador Xibol Yuefsisu. Did they find a room that was suitable for you? Did you have any trouble transferring your Ambassadorship from the United States to the Charter Alliance?

      Yes, thank you, Pete. Please just call me Xibol. My last name gives many people a headache trying to pronounce it. My room is very satisfactory. My country considered it a great privilege for you to ask me to be an Ambassador to the Charter Alliance. I have been marveling at this spaceship all morning. Their robot Dolores has been showing me around and answering all sorts of questions. I'm not sure which is more interesting, her or the ship.

      Just don't upset her. I've heard wild stories about her herding criminals to the police station with a broom and a mop, Pete said.

      The white man with the formal dress, the former British Ambassador to the United States and now the Ambassador to the Charter Alliance, was James Moreton, a career statesman. He said, I would like to hear that story sometime.

      Ron said, I hate to break things up but we'll be taking off in a few minutes. Pete, Ambassadors, I need to give you and Linda your shields and spacesuits. Everyone else already has theirs.

      Ron held out a small ball to each of the men. He explained what it would do and tried to prepare them for it. He mentally called to Jill to come get the one for Linda and told her to give her instructions for working it.

      As soon as Jill walked away, Ron told them how to put it on. All three men jumped when the ball unwrapped and connected to their arm and back. Pete, James and Xibol looked at their own shields and each other's. Ron could see the questions forming in their minds. He told them the shield was also a translator. He asked the Ambassador Xibol to say something in Chinese. Both of the others understood it perfectly. Ron said something in the Sandghost language and all three could understand it as well.

      James Moreton said, This little thing could have stopped a lot of wars. It could've eliminated a lot of misunderstood words.

      That it would, but I'm sure some people would have misunderstood them anyway, Ron said.

      That could be.

      Ron explained how the spacesuit part would work and got the rest of the equipment needed to make it fully functional. He explained a little more about the voorwarp units and then said he would work with them some more later. If they had questions now, they could talk to Jill or Kikula. He said he needed to head to the cockpit to get started. They had an extra stop they were going to make before they went to Zeta Ophiuchi.

      Pete and the two Ambassadors walked over by Colonel Mike and they started talking about the past month. Colonel Mike told about sweeping the Bug warships and rescuing the different alien races. James and Xibol asked a lot of questions about them and Mike said he would get Jill to help project some of the video footage after they had taken off.

      Ron walked into the cockpit and saw that Gus was already in the pilot's seat going through the takeoff checklist. Tik was in the co-pilot's seat helping him. He said, Almost like old times except we have a lot more people this time. You got everything set for Europaische?

      Of course, big boy. I'm here, Tik smarted back.

      That's why I'm asking. Sim is not here to keep you in line and I don't know where your mind might be.

      Come over here a little closer and I'll show you a little of where my mind is.

      Gus and Ron laughed and went back to work. Ron checked Auntie's computer to see what they had wound up with as far as trade goods. Seeing how much honey and tea they had, he whistled. He said, Wow, that's a lot of tea and honey. How did we get that much so quick?

      Gus said, That old man in the situation room must carry a lot of weight. When I talked to him about it five days ago, he said no problem. All of that stuff came in four airplanes yesterday, along with extra tea sets and a lot of Chinese goodies.

      Well, we have a saying on Earth, 'You'll catch a lot more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.' I guess this Xibol knows that, too. Let's see… yep, we have a lot of candy, too. We may just sweet talk our way into full membership in the Charter Alliance. Let our enemies try to top what we have.

      Tik growled, Let me have about twelve hours with them and their planets. Their planets would beg us to keep those idiots who signed the summons and take over the Charter Alliance as their grand leaders.

      Gus chuckled and said, Easy, little one. We only have three ambassadors to try to clean up your little endeavors…

      Tik gave him the raspberry and they went back to work. In a short time, Auntie was lifting into Earth's atmosphere and then into space. Ron flipped on the view screens in the situation room when they lifted off. He wanted their guests to see everything as they moved out. There were some big changes in space around Earth.

      James, Xibol and Pete were watching the view screens as Auntie flew out into outer space. James suddenly cried, What in the world is that? Is it as big as it seems or is it just the cameras?

      Colonel Mike answered, No, it's as big as it seems. That is a troop transport from the Hanami Federation. Ron and Gus said something about using it as a manufacturing platform. It's easy to set up vacuum chambers and different parts of the ship can be set to different degrees of gravity. How about it, Pete?

      That's right. Some of the computer chips and lenses can be made cheaper and better in zero gravity and in a vacuum. I talked to several computer chip makers that want space on that ship. I guess there are two of them and I think we can fill both in just a few months.

      Xibol said, My country is interested in space on there. We have a big interest in the computer chips. We also think that certain medicines would benefit from the same zero gravity and vacuum conditions.

      Pete said, I guess parts of the ships can be left at Earth-type gravity for the living quarters and we can run shuttles back and forth so people will only have to stay there about a week at a time. The only thing we're short of now is the shuttle pilots and where to get fuel.

      Jill, Linda and Kikula were talking about her due date for the baby. Kikula said, It'll still be a couple of months so I just wanted to stay near Gus. The kids are flying back and forth between the Key and the salvage operations. I know the twins are having a hey day with all the mechanical stuff. Xator is loving all the flying. She, Bri and Jessie are staying together and learning to fly the big warships. I think Ron is moving the warships as fast as he can.

      Linda asked, Where is he moving them to?

      Jill said, We're not sure. It's somewhere near Earth. He wants them to be closer so it'll be easier to make repairs and modifications. He thinks some of the smaller ships will make traders and the bigger warships will generate money when they're sold.

      Ron called Gus' twins, Xeter and Marin, as they flew out of the solar system. He said, Boys, we need to get as many ships as we can parked on the moon. Do them just like the Bugs did at Tarzana -- only use Alcantaran shields and make them invisible. I don't want anyone finding those ships anytime soon. Do five or six bases so it'll be harder to spot.

      Xeter said, We got it, boss. We already have about fifty ships on the moon. We'll have the shields up later today. Do you think you'll have any trouble on Zeta Ophiuchi?

      I hope not, but that's why we've left so many of you back here. You guys will be the rear guard and the first line of help if we need any. Who's flying all the warships?

      Marin answered, Apapa and Mikdo have been ferrying a lot of them. They've been training Jessie, Bri and Xator. The three of them have done about two each, I think. They'll get faster as they get more confident. Some of the other Dar Es Salaam Traders are supposed to move out there tomorrow. We should be able to move a lot of spaceships in a short time then.

      Well, just keep watch on those remote detectors and don't let the Bugs or Pirates slip up on you. I wouldn't put anything past them. Also, watch for that seventh spaceship that left before the battle. We still haven't found out who or what it was.

      Xeter said, We've got them set on auto alarm but we're checking every little bit. Hey, we found one oddity today on the Bugs' flag ship that was with the pirates. They were some of the warships left from Tarzana. You know how the Bugs have all those captive slaves? We found one guy that Apapa says looks like he came from Bfestig. The thing is that he was in a spacesuit and none of the other captives have anything like that. So far, he's refusing to talk, so we have him locked in a room all by himself. We may turn the girls loose on him later tonight. They have that Ghost thing down pat. If that guy can stand up to them for half an hour, he'll never break. I'd give him about seven minutes though.

      Marin piped up, I'd give him three if the girls really want to get answers from him.

      The trio chuckled. They knew the girls could really mess with the aliens' minds when they wanted to. Tik said, If they need any advice, tell them to give me a call.

      Gus said, They won't bite or claw like you do, so how will you help?

      Tik just growled at him and then ignored him. Ron told the twins to turn the girls loose and let him know when they found something out. Ron asked them to send an updated inventory of the damage for the Hanami Federation warships and the pirates' spaceships. He also asked for the damage report for the Bug warships that were with the pirates.

      As he finished his business and hung up, he said, I'll feel a lot better when they have the majority of those ships hidden. I don't trust that Ashrafi Huazhuang or the Bugs. The defeat we gave them will really dig into their pride. They'll have to try to get back at us.

      Gus said, Yeah, I just wonder if Ashrafi Huazhuang is pulling some of the strings to get us back to Zeta Ophiuchi. Seems awfully suspicious that we should get that call just as we finish cleaning out all of those warships. I just wonder if someone on Zeta Ophiuchi will try to stop the salvage and claim those warships for themselves.

      Tik said, Ashrafi Huazhuang's images are all over the databases in both mother ships. From what I can see, he wants to start his own empire and use the Bugs, pirates and the Hanami Federation as his shock troops. I don't understand how he thinks he can control all of them and not lose his power after this. Our little battle sure must have cost him face with all of his allies.

      Ron said, Oh, he'll probably convince them that it was their fault and not his. He'll say he was back on Zeta Ophiuchi taking care of business and they didn't follow his instructions. Kita says he's very persuasive and a very strong personality. People just naturally follow him.

      Gus announced that they were at jump speed and were going to hyper-space. Auntie jumped and as soon as they double-checked everything, they knew they were done in the cockpit for a few days. Gus had set Auntie to arrive at Europaische the day they left Earth, but there was travel time for them. They were all going to use it to catch up on some sleep and practice with weapons. They all got up from their seats and headed to the situation room.

      Everyone in the room talked excitedly. Kikula and Jill were the only two who had watched hyper-space jumps and everyone else made excited remarks about different things they saw. When the trio walked in, most of the men crowded around to ask how long it would take and where they would come out of hyper-space.

      Ron answered, We're going to take a detour. You'll all get a taste of trading on exotic planets. We're headed to Europaische before we jump to Zeta Ophiuchi. I'd like to take one more jump, but I don't think we can take the time.

      Pete asked, What are you going to Europaische for?

      We need to pick up three or four more Dolores-model robots. They have some ready for us and I think we might need them to help cook for everyone.

      James asked, Where else would you go?

      I'd like to go to Fen Avholog to get some more spices. My biggest worry about there is that things were very unsettled when we left and I don't want to chance sitting down in the middle of a civil war.

      Gus said, Yeah, we have enough trouble of our own right now.

      Tik agreed and so did the rest of the men gathered round. Mike excused himself to go check on the rest of his troops. Ron walked out the door with him and noticed that Mike looked near the point of exhaustion. His two aides in the situation room had also looked worn out. Four weeks of driving uncooperative Bugs from crippled warships took a toll on a body.

      When they were outside the room, Ron asked, Mike, what do you have for uniforms? Were you planning to wear uniforms when we get to Zeta Ophiuchi?

      I hadn't thought about that. I guess we'll be the color guard for Earth's Charter Alliance delegation though. I think all the men brought the regular Army dress uniform. Why?

      I was thinking of having something done up so you'd knock the eyes out of people on Zeta Ophiuchi.

      Where will we find uniforms to fit twenty people out here?

      Oh, we have a place where we order them and they are custom made to fit the individual. Would you be interested in a custom-fitted uniform for all your men? We could get your men and the ladies to design something. There are some pictures of other races' uniforms to give you some ideas, too. This planet we're headed to has some very unique material you could use. I think it would be really durable, too, if you had to wear it during an exercise.

      That sounds good to me. I'll talk to the troops to see what they think. How long do you think it would take to get twenty uniforms made?

      It should only take about two or three days at the most. The robots do the sewing and work round the clock.

      We'll look at the pictures you have and try to come up with something then.

      A couple of other things, too. Dolores can make meals or snacks anytime your people need them. If anyone feels claustrophobic or homesick, send them to the conservatory. With all the greenery and colorful flowers in there, it helps a lot. We also loaded a bunch of weapons on here from the different warships. You should take a look at them and get new weapons for your men. If they polish them up a little, they would go along with your new uniforms…

      Will the Charter Alliance allow us to carry them?

      I'm sure they will when all of our official Charter escorts lose their weapons to the Ghosts. If they try to block us carrying weapons, we'll file a protest that they are trying to harm our Charter Representative and trying to incite a galactic war. I think they'll back off pretty quick. Once you issue weapons, we'll set up targets for everyone to become proficient with them. I know Gus, Tik and I want to get back into practice.

      Yeah, like you three need any practice, Mike snickered.

      That's how we keep so good – lots of practice. One of the things we may do is find some concealed weapons for you and your squad leaders. They might come in handy sometime.

      You don't trust too many people, do you?

      No, and I go armed all the time now. The Bugs or their allies will find that I'm a lot tougher to capture now. Our families go armed, too. They keep practicing to become as proficient as we are.

      Well, I think we need to follow your lead in that. We'll be here for practice as soon as we get those new weapons.

      Talk to your people about the uniforms and then meet me at the armory to the rear of the cargo bay.

      Mike went to talk to his troops but ran into a problem. All of his troops were in their beds sound asleep. Mike called his two aides and filled them in on what Ron had said. He decided he was going to join his troops and catch up on some sleep while he had the chance. His aides said they join him.

      Ron headed to the armory where he started sorting through the boxes of weapons Gus had brought on board. He had Auntie retrieve information on each weapon. He told her to be ready with the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon and to form some suggestions for each of the National Guard troops.

      Ashrafi Huazhuang paced in front of the audience of Bugs. His face, livid with rage, showed why he had to keep his distance from the Bug warship Captain who was speaking. If he came any closer, he might kill it. He didn't care if there were enough blasters in that room to kill him ten times over; it would be worth it to put some fear in that Bug and some others. How could they be so incompetent?

      The Bug Captain finished its report on the space battle and started to move away. Ashrafi Huazhuang blocked its path and screamed, How could you lose almost 160 warships? How big was the opposing force? How many of theirs did they lose?

      He towered over the Bug and his hands were swinging so close to the Bugs head that the Bug's hood was moving. Ashrafi Huazhuang wanted to smash the Bug so badly he could taste it, but somehow he controlled his temper. The Bug Captain, sensing danger, skittered to the side and moved far away from him.

      The Queen Mother Bug hissed at him and said, Ashrafi Huazhuang, why don't you tell us why the pirates attacked the Hanami Federation warships? The Federation has been calling and complaining about the unprovoked attack. They want to know who will pay for their lost ships and what you plan to do about the pirates. They say if the ships are not replaced, they are through with us and will treat us as enemies.

      Tell them we don't need them as allies. If they don't know friendlies when they see them, they're no good to us. Why did they fire on the pirates? I think they wanted to take them out so they could be the ones to capture that old Alcantaran spaceship. I still don't understand how three beings from backward planets could learn to fly that thing and escape from a mother ship. Did you actually have Charter Alliance agents on your mother ship to help them?

      We don't have the Queen Mother here to question, but she assures me that there were no agents. It was just an unfortunate accident that those three escaped. Our scientists looked that ship over for several years and most of the ship was still inaccessible. We don't know how to explain it.

      One of Ashrafi Huazhuang's minions muttered softly, It was the Ghosts who helped them. They'll get all of us.

      Ashrafi Huazhuang heard the minion and whirled to back-hand him but the minion was out of reach. He glared at the man and, if looks could have killed, that man would have been dead several times over. The man moved as far to the rear as he could and tried to become inconspicuous. He was going to stay away from Ashrafi Huazhuang as long as he could.

      Ashrafi Huazhuang said, I have one lead that I'm still tracking down. When I find it, we may have some answers. What do you suggest we do now?

      The Queen Mother said, "We have three or four planets we need to check out. They have most of the raw materials needed to build more warships, but we want to make sure the general population already there won't give us the problems that happened on Chartura.

      "We Challeka Traders of Elgebar V plan far in advance and when we have a setback, we go to the next plan. We will set up one of those planets to start rebuilding warships. In the meantime, we will pull all of our ships except a few scouts out of the Charter Alliance sphere of influence.

      We will continue to look for the ancient Alcantaran ship and any others like it. We lost the old Charturan spaceship when the second mother ship was captured, so that doesn't help either. We would like to find out if our people from the mother ships and the warships were all killed or if they could be rescued. Now is the time for us to start rebuilding and then we can move into conquest again.

      Ashrafi Huazhuang said, I'll head to the pirates area and start rebuilding them. How are you going to get modern spaceship-building technology onto the planet you choose?

      We have our ways and will have the plants in operation in a short time once we pick the planet. We will also heavily defend this planet.

      Once I get the pirates regrouped, I'll start trying to set up an area for the Mesilou Group to start building their territory. We'll have to find a planet we can take over that already has spaceports and governing capabilities with a reach into outer space. I'll stay in touch.

      Ashrafi Huazhuang turned and stomped from the meeting room. His minions followed but not too close. He still had that look of rage on his face. Once he was back on his spaceship and heading out of the mother ship, he growled to himself, I won't wait for years and years for the Bugs to rebuild their Navy. I've got to find a way to do it a lot faster. Maybe by using the pirate ships, I can capture spaceships quicker than I can build them. Then all I need to do is arm them. If I play my cards right, maybe I can even hi-jack some warships. I want my empire to start growing now, not ten years from now. It's my destiny. I'll get Kita Te Kinobala, Elevin Shi and those meddling vermin on that old spaceship. They'll rue the day they interfered with me. If it wasn't for them, I'd still be the Charter Representative for Bfestig. One day, the Charter Alliance will bow to me and call me Emperor.

      The Bfestig Representative went to his room and started composing messages to be sent once they came out of hyper-space. He wanted his former associates to turn up the heat on this summons. He wanted Elevin Shi, Kita ao Te Kinobala and the trio on that old spaceship disgraced and in jail. If they managed to escape, they would become hunted criminals just like he was now.

      Elevin Shi, the Director of the Charter Alliance Intelligence Service, was bone tired. He was supposed to sit in his office and direct operatives in intelligence gathering but instead he had been helping the trio rescue the trapped combatants in the damaged warships.

      So many of the Bugs didn't want to be rescued though and tried to stay on the crippled warships. The Earth's National Guard had had to drive them from each deck and sometimes from each room. He didn't know how they had done it. It had been such exhausting work but they kept at it day after day. Ron was right when he said not to mess with the Earth's National Guard.

      Elevin Shi hadn't had a chance to catch up on his sleep and now he had to hurry to Zeta Ophiuchi. Kita had wanted to send one of her crew with him but he wanted the extra protection of the man's weapons with her. He had stressed that his ship could do most of the piloting and he could sleep during hyper-space.

      Kita Te Kinobala was leaving in a few hours and he wanted to beat her back to Zeta Ophiuchi. He needed to personally set up a security detail for her because he knew that her life was in danger. The two of them were part of the summons to appear before the Charter Council. There were dangerous precedents involved here which he didn't like.

      He knew it would be better for the ones who had forced the summons through for her not to appear. He had tried to warn Ron, Gus and Tik about it but they had made that strange laugh before they said, Let someone try. They'll get to meet the Ghosts and I don't think the Ghosts will be very nice.

      Elevin Shi had just seen an example of the Ghosts taking care of warships which threatened Earth. He could only imagine what a person would look like after the Ghosts finished with them.

      Lifting off of Earth, Elevin Shi set the spaceship to fly itself to speed for a hyper-jump. Setting the auto-pilot to warn him ten minutes before jump speed was reached, he turned to download some data from the secure point that Mikdo's people had set up for him. He wanted to search for a couple of things that had come up in the last month and which had been blocked in the CAIS computer before.

      Elevin Shi used the new secure point to make his request and also ordered an update on all the news from the CAIS spy networks. He asked for the same information from his duly authorized point as the Director of CAIS because he wanted to compare the two. While he was waiting for everything to download, he checked his recent messages.

      Most were messages from his office asking questions about everyday procedure. He ignored them and kept scrolling. He stopped at the message from Chartura Farm Equipment. Grinning, he remembered how that company had come into being over ten years ago. He, Mikdo, Qing, Sionn, Ettari and Gaubert had used it as a front while they were on Chartura trying to find out how a planet went from sailing ships to spaceships in only ten years.

      The Bugs had had their hand in that planet as well. The group of them had suspicions about Bfestig and Uyoki but they could never really prove anything. Oumar, Chartura's new leader, had been very grateful for their help in freeing his planet. He had set everything up so that they owned the farm equipment manufacturer.

      Qing, Sionn, Ettari and Gaubert had stayed on Chartura to help the plant grow. They had accomplished that and even expanded into other areas. All that expansion was now starting to show a decent profit for all of them. Qing, Sionn, Ettari and Gaubert were also part of another enterprise, Shadow, Inc. that he and Mikdo had set up.

      Elevin Shi remembered the mess he had inherited at CAIS when Ashrafi Huazhuang had

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