Galaxy of Empires- Space Pirates Episode #1 (7 page)

“My record is not very good with sorcerers,
so forgive me if I am jumpy around them. However, just a word of
caution, touching me in any fashion is lethal to sorcerers or any
magic-using creatures. I can sense magic from a great distance,”
Eve says in earnest.

Gothica says to her mother, “They just want
to make pictures, Mom. Chill out.”

“I apologize, but I am bit paranoid. I am
accustom to people trying to assassinate me. How would you like me
to pose?”

“Stand over there in the light and spread
your wings. Yes, just like that,” Gax says.

“Okay, so just stand here?”

“Yes.”

Gax starts painting on a large canvas with
some high-tech brushes along with a hover table with paint colors
on it following him around. Trished takes two globes and launches
them into the air. The globes are photo-scanning three-dimensional
images of Eve and Gothica. After about 10 minutes of scanning,
Trished turns on a machine on a table that shoots a laser that hits
a huge chunk of stone and starts carving the image the cameras have
just taken.

Gothica asks, “How long will it take to carve
that?”

“About 30 minutes, and then 15 more for the
paint job,” Trished answers.

“Okay.”

Gax says, “Will be finished about the same
time.”

Cos remarks, “Excellent!”

After about an hour passes, the artwork is
finished. The painting is a life-like representation of both
Gothica and Eve. The statue is an exact replica of both of them
with a nice coloring. They look at the two pieces in amazement.

“You are a very talented painter, Gax,” Eve
says with delight.

Gothica looks at the life-sized statue in
wonder and says, “They look so real. Very good job, Trished.”

Trished smiles at Gothica. Then Eve’s com
badge activates.

Meek says, “Lady Eve, we have loaded the
cargo, restocked, and fueled. We are ready to go when you are.”

“Thanks for the update. We are on the way,”
Eve says. “Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Cos. We need to get
going.”

“Anytime, Lady Eve. Thanks for stopping by.
Here is the information you requested,” Cos says as he gives her a
data crystal.

“Why, thank you.”

Tala enters the room and says, “Your ride is
ready, Madam.”

They go out to the front and get in the hover
limo. The limo takes off to the spaceport. Standing at the entrance
garden, Tala, Gax, Trished, and Cos wave as the limo passes by.

“I am glad they are gone,” Pirate Lord Tala
says with some irritation.

Cos says, “Why is that?”

“Because if I had to call you ‘Master’ one
more time, I would just lose it and start shooting randomly.”

“Ha-ha. You know you liked it,” Cos
teases.

“Next time, you are playing the butler and I
will be the Pirate Lord,” she says still perturbed.

Pirate Lord Gax pokes, “I thought it was
funny myself.”

Tala shoots the finger at Gax.

Pirate Lord Trished adds, “At least he didn’t
have you clean their shoes or something, ha-ha.”

“You are all wankers!” Tala yells.

They all laugh at Tala’s expense.

“Cos, you were playing it dangerously,
testing Eve. Even though we all are immune to mind reading, you
didn’t know if she is strong enough to overcome our immunity,
“Trished says.

“Well, I took a chance,” Cos says
smartly.

“You took a chance with all of our lives, you
wanker,” Tala is still in a bad mood.

“We are all still alive. Did you get anything
with the scans?” Cos asks.

Trished sadly informs, “Nope, just that she
is a very powerful morphic dragon. No weakness came up with the
scans.”

Gax says, “Well, she seems to favor our way
of life, so I don’t think she will be a threat to us.”

“I agree.”

“Me, too.”

“I glad, because to be honest, I don’t think
she can be killed—at least not by us,” Cos says ominously.

Tala says, “Well, we will let some other
sucker test that theory because it definitely won’t be us.”

The four pirate lords agree.

“I think those art pieces are about to go up
in value soon,” Cos says with a cheery attitude.

Gax says, “Ha-ha, I bet.”

They all laugh.

***

A few hours after Meek’s ship left, Cos’s
bracer starts to beep. Cos presses a button.

Cos says, “Yes. What is it?”

“Master, a large fleet with 50 warships just
entered orbit, and they are Elemental ships. We are now being
hailed.”

“Send it to my office viewer,” Cos
replies.

“Understood.”

Cos walks down a hall and goes into a huge
office with a large glass desk and high-backed chair. There is a
large screen on the desk that activates in front of Cos as he sits
in his chair. A male human in wearing a military uniform appears on
the screen.

“I am Admiral Specs of the Elemental Navy. I
am here to collect a wanted terrorist for high crimes again the
Elemental Empire. Our informants have told us she is here.”

Cos says with a slickness about him, “Glad to
meet you, Admiral. As far as your request, you going to have to be
a little more specific, as there are lots of wanted people on my
planet.”

“Don’t toy with me, Pirate. We are not here
for your little deviants or operations, but if you refuse to give
her to us, then we will become interested in your business real
quickly.”

“I assume you are referring to Lady Eve, but
you are too late: she left hours ago, headed to Undead space, if I
am not mistaken,” Cos lies.

“If you are lying, Pirate, we will open
fire.”

“Such hostility. You can scan the planet if
you like. There are no space dragons here.”

“We are scanning it now.”

“Very well, and I have some ladies who can
take care of the stress, Admiral.”

“I am not interested in your cesspool.
Nothing come up on scans, fortunately for you.”

The screen deactivates.

The first officer says, “I think he was more
afraid of her than you, Sir.”

“Probably, but he was lying about something.
He is a pirate.”

“Do you want to head to Undead space and look
for her?”

“No, I don’t feel like fighting vampires;
let’s just head back for now.”

“Roger that.”

Chapter 4

After arriving at the spaceport, Eve and
Gothica got of the limo and started heading to the landing pad
where Capt. Meek was waiting for them to take off. On the way
there, Eve giggles to herself then laughs aloud.

Gothica asks, “What is so funny?”

“Space Pirate Lords pretending to be
servants.”

“How do you know they were Pirate Lords?”

“I read their minds. They were pretending to
be servants, and I was pretending that I couldn’t read their minds.
They have a natural immunity to a normal telepathic mind reading.
That only works on PSI 15 or less. They were playing the
‘information game’ trying to get as much information without giving
much away. I am use to playing that game with Cos. Reading their
minds gave me more information than what I gave in return. They
only seem interested in whether or not I am a threat to their
interests. I am not at the moment, so they are not alarmed.”

They both walk up the ship where Doc is
waiting for them, as well as Che. They go up the ramp and into the
cargo bay of the ship.

Che asks, “How was your visit with Lord
Cos?”

Eve says, “Interesting. It is like a
cat-and-mouse game with pirate lords. You just have to make sure
you’re the cat and not the mouse.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Indeed.”

“Are we flying dragon style or slow-ship
style? Will take four weeks to get to the Wolfkin capital the slow
way,” Che says with interest.

“I need to rest some and review some stuff. I
prefer the four weeks, as it will take some time to prepare for my
arrival in Wolfkin territory,” Eve says.

“Okay, we are taking off in about five
minutes after I finish the preflight checks.”

“Okay.”

Che goes to the bridge, while the other three
head to Eve’s room.

Gothica says, “I bet you are excited to see
your home world again, Doc.”

“Yes, it has been awhile. There is a few
things I need to attend to that I left undone when I left a year
ago,” Doc says with a hint of sadness.

“Her friend died in a hover car accident last
year,” Eve tells her stepdaughter.

“Oh, I am sorry. When I am sad, I sing,”
Gothica says.

Eve says, “Hmm...I didn’t know you could
sing.”

“Well, I don’t sing in front of people. I am
too afraid I would be rejected, ha-ha.”

Doc says, “I would like to hear you
sing.”

They enter Eve’s room and sit on the sofa.
Gothica sits on the chair in front of them.

She clears her throat and begins to sing. Her
voice sounds heavenly as she sings a wonderful ballet song. She
continues to sing which causes emotions to swell up in all three of
them. Doc switches on a recording device on her wrist that at the
same time activates the ships comm. Gothica’s melody flows through
the intercom system like smooth melted butter.

“Wow! Someone can sing,” Cogg remarks.

Che says, “So pretty.”

Meek says, “Who is that singing?” As he wakes
up from napping in the captain’s chair, trying to cover the fact
that he had nodded off.

Python adds, “Sounds better than that disco
crap the boss plays.”

“Ha-ha, you got that right,” Chad laughs.

“Sounds like Gothica singing,” Che
reveals.

Sean interjects, “Sounds so relaxing.”

Back in Eve’s room, Gothica just finishes the
song. She hears clapping over the intercom and the crew requesting
more songs.

“You had the intercom on? I am so embarrassed
now,” Gothica says with shyness.

Eve says with certainty, “You were amazing. I
didn’t know you were such a song diva. I think you should record
all of your songs.”

Doc says, “I have some recording stuff in my
room because my brother is in the entertainment business. H gave it
to me for my birthday to record lectures. I think you should make
some song recordings. Your voice is magical and you bring out the
emotions in people.”

“I don’t know. I am nervous singing in front
of people,” Gothica says in a nervous voice.

Doc reassures, “You will be fine. I will help
you with overcoming shyness. It is a common problem with newer
singers. Just relax and sing just because you like it.”

“Okay, will try it.”

***

Over the next four weeks, Eve studies the
information Cos gave to her trying to memorize it. Learning all of
the political systems for each empire and the current position
holders is quite a task. However, learning the schematics for each
warship currently in use by each government is considerably harder.
Doc spends most of her time with Gothica recording songs, but does
not tell Gothica she has been sending the recordings to her brother
to get his opinion.

“Okay, we just broke into the atmosphere,
beginning decent, control tower said to use Landing Pad 34,” Che
announces.

“After we land, we are just refueling and
getting food and then taking off. Do not go through customs unless
you want the police to pick us up,” Meek commands. “We are just
here to drop off the passengers.”

“Roger, Boss.”

“Landing now.”

The ship lands and begins powering down. They
go down to the cargo area and open the doors. Eve, Doc, and Gothic
go down the ramp first with their hover luggage following behind
them. The rest of the crew piles down the ramp. Meek notices on the
observation level that overlooks the ships coming and going that
there is a very large crowd looking down on the arrivals. Many of
them have signs, and he sees media reporters as well.

“Whoa, people, stop. There must be some sort
of event or VIP coming through this port. Stay here. We don’t need
to be on cameras,” Meek blurts out.

Che exclaims, “That is a lot people; must be
someone famous. I wonder who it is.”

Doc says with a smirk, “Yes, someone very
famous. They are here to see Gothica. I sent the recordings we made
on ship to my brother who is in the Wolfkin entertainment business.
He has been playing them on live broadcasts all over the Wolfkin
Empire to see what kind of reaction they would have. She became an
overnight success, she is a superstar here.”

Gothica suddenly freezes faster than a deer
in headlights. She turns around to go back on the ship.

“I can’t go up there—too many people. I can’t
do not, sorry. I am too afraid,” Gothica says with a face full of
terror.

Eve grabs her arm and says, “Sweetie, they
won’t bite you. They love you and came to see you.”

“Don’t make me do it, Mom. I can’t, please,”
Gothica begins crying.

Sean whispers, “I have never seen a case of
stage fright this bad.”

Doc hugs Gothica, “It’s okay. We not going to
make you do anything you don’t too.”

Che goes and comforts Gothica, “They are just
people like you. They will not harm you.”

Eve says, “Doc, maybe you should give her a
sedative or something.”

“Probably right,” Doc says reaching into her
bag. She pulls out an injector and gives it to Gothica.

“Your mother and I will be with you all the
time,” Doc, says, “We can’t stay on the ship, the Captain needs to
leave.”

“Okay, I am feeling better now. I will try,”
Gothica sobs wiping her face with a cloth.

Eve says, “She has always been a shy one.
Come... hold my hand and we will walk together.”

People on the observation deck begin chanting
Gothica’s name. The Morphic Dragon, the Arachnid, and the Wolfkin
walk through customs. After being scanned, the three go up the
stairs to the observation level where mobs of people are waiting.
Eve spreads her wings out as the people swarm toward them and wraps
them around Gothica in a protective circle. The crowd have never
seen a Morphic Dragon. They start scan photos of Eve and Gothica.
Reporters start asking questions.