“They did what?” yelled Zonar.
“They brought the object aboard my Lord Zonar.” said Tobaz.
“Why?” asked Zonar.
“It started to broadcast in the standard trade language of the Dicon on a tachyon pulse frequency but the device is not of Dicon Empire design my Lord Zonar.” replied Tobaz.
“What did the object say?” asked Zonar.
“I have no idea my Lord Zonar, the fighter crews only recognized the language not the meaning of it.” replied Tobaz.
“So those idiots could have brought on board a dangerous device.” said Zonar.
“I don’t think so my Lord Zonar,” said Taskeven “our scanner operators detected a network of these devices in this star system, there is at least 4 layers of it and we seemed to have penetrated the outer most layer.”
“Tobaz bring me those fighter crews and find out what the device is saying.”
“Yes my Lord Zonar” and with that Tobaz bowed and turned away from Zonar.
“Taskeven!” yelled Zonar.
“Yes my Lord Zonar” replied Taskeven.
“Check with the scanner operators to see if anyone is coming, we must triggered some kind of response by breaking through this outer layer” ordered Zonar.
“Yes my Lord Zonar” and with that Taskeven bowed and turned away from Zonar.
“Cor! Hor!” yelled Zonar.
“Yes my Lord Zonar,” said the two guards.
“Make sure that the blaster rods are fully charged.” ordered Zonar.
“Yes my Lord Zonar” said the two guards, they then bowed and turned away from Zonar to go to nearby storage space to get a blaster rod each.
Just then Tobaz and nine others entered the room. They lined up and bowed before Zonar, with Tobaz on the extreme right. For his part Zonar pointed to Cor and Hor to go behind these ten.
“My Lord Zonar,” said Tobaz “I bring the fighter crews that brought aboard the object that was blocking the fleet.”
“What were you thinking?” demanded Zonar
“My Lord,” said the third one from the left. “we detected no”
“Cor” said Zonar while he pointed to the third one from the left. Cor then took his blaster rod and touched it on the third one from the left. It made a loud ka-pap sound and the third one from the left fell to the floor.
“You always address me as Lord Zonar, anything less and you will die, do I make myself clear!”
“Yes my Lord Zonar!” said the remaining fighter crew members in unison.
“Now why was the object brought on board?” asked Zonar.
“My Lord Zonar,” said the third from the right “we detected no weapons on the object. It was broadcasting mostly meaningless messages then it started to broadcast in the standard trade language of the Dicon, then it started to broadcast meaningless messages again.”
“What did it say?” asked Zonar.
“I do not know my Lord Zonar” said the third from the right.
“Why not?” asked Zonar.
“I do not know Dicon” said the third from the right.
“Hor” said Zonar while he pointed to the third from the right. Hor then took his blaster rod and touched it on the third one from the right. It too made a loud ka-pap sound and the third one from the right fell to the floor.
“You forgot to say ‘my Lord Zonar’” said Zonar to the fallen third one from the right. He then moved over to the fourth one from the right and asked, “How do you know it was in Dicon?”
“Piyo said it was in Dicon my Lord Zonar.” said the fourth from the right.
“And where is this Piyo?” asked Zonar.
Fourth from the right pointed to the fallen form of third from the left.
“Do you know Dicon?” asked Zonar.
“Yes my Lord Zonar” said fourth from the right.
“What does it say?” asked Zonar.
“I do not know my Lord Zonar” said fourth from the right.
“And why not?” asked Zonar.
“Because my Lord Zonar I have yet to hear the message that the device is sending out.” said fourth from the right.
“Go back to the device and find out what it is saying.” ordered Zonar
“Yes my Lord Zonar” said fourth from the right. He then turned and walked away.
Zonar saw this, pointed to fourth from the right and said “Hor”. Hor then took his blaster rod and touched it on fourth from the right. It made its ka-pap sound and fourth from the right fell to the floor.
“He forgot to bow to me before turning away from me” said Zonar “are you all heathens, not knowing your proper place?”
“No Lord Zonar” said the remaining seven.
“Why did you just speak Tobaz?” asked Zonar.
“My Lord Zonar” replied, “I was here on this line, you had asked a question of this line, and I felt it was appropriate to speak with this line.”
“Go then to the device and find out what it is saying” ordered Zonar.
The remaining seven bowed to Zonar and then turned away to leave the room.
Taskeven then came into the room, bowed before Zonar and said “My Lord Zonar”
“Yes Taskeven” said Zonar
“My Lord Zonar” said Taskeven “our scanner operators have detected a ship approaching the fleet.”
“From what direction?” asked Zonar.
“It is coming from within the system my Lord Zonar” said Taskeven.
“How many ships?” asked Zonar.
“Just the one my Lord Zonar” replied Taskeven.
“So one wants to embrace death by my hands” said Zonar “bring the fleet to alert status and intercept this ship.”
“Yes my Lord Zonar” said Taskeven, he bowed to Zonar and then turned away to leave the room.
Posted by Helen at November 7, 2002 12:38 AM