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Authors: Vaughn Heppner
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fighters who swarmed the bigger ships like fleas. The Starkiens came in a crescent formation just as the Spanish Armada had come against the English in 1588.
I had ten old Lokhar cruisers and missile-ships to face the Starkiens. Most of my vessels were bigger than theirs were. Their largest, however, dwarfed mine. Ella informed me that in tonnage the enemy beat us eighteen to one.
I wasn’t going to win a Jutland battle or a Midway victory today. Bluff was my only hope…unless I could think of something better fast.
Pushing myself off my chair, I strode toward the screen. I’d chosen blue naval uniforms for the guardians. It gave us a sharper image and a link to extinct Earth fleets. Glowering at the Starkien, I said, “Are you the Baba-creature?”
The Starkien stiffened. “How dare you insult me? Do you have any understanding of my exalted rank?”
“Lord of all Smells?” I asked.
“Is that an insult?”
“Will you look at this,” I said. “You’re too stupid to understand that I am indeed demeaning you before your face. You are the Lord of Starkiens after all.”
He opened his snout, revealing his dental work. I could only imagine the fogging he’d give anyone near enough to smell his breath. For a moment, I expected him to howl with simian rage.
Instead, Baba Gobo regained his self-control, closing his snout without uttering a hoot. I reexamined his white mane. With age came wisdom. Perhaps the saying was as true for Starkiens as it was for humans.
“You do not appreciate me naming you as a beast, do you?” he said.
“I am a man,” I said.
The Starkien nodded. There appeared a depth to his dark eyes then. I fixated on that, and a chill worked down my back. Baba Gobo was intelligent. Worse, he had cunning. Combined with self-control that was a dangerous mixture.
“Why do your ships block my passage to the Sol Object?” he asked.
Once, the artifact had been known as the Altair Object. At the time, the Lokhar Fifth Legion had guarded it, along with a greater number of starships than I possessed.
“We are the object’s guardians,” I said.
“Ah,” he said, before making barking sounds. I recognized it as Starkien laughter.
“I choose who can and cannot approach the relic,” I told him.
“What gives a beast the right?” he asked.
I stared at him.
He made a complex gesture with his left hand. “Let me rephrase my question. What gives you the right? Surely, not your puny number of warships.”
“The artifact once rested in a portal planet,” I said. “The planet was in fact a Forerunner machine which the object powered. That opened the way to the Karg Universe. Abaddon would have crossed to our space-time continuum and hunted down all non-Karg life, eliminating it. I stopped that by talking to the relic. Among other things, the object told me its name.”
Baba Gobo’s eyes shined wetly, greedily. He leaned toward me. “I have heard this story. It cannot be true, though. One such as you cannot possibly know the name well enough to repeat it.”
I smiled. “Is this the extent of your guile, how you attempt to trick me into revealing the ancient name to you?”
Hooting sounds came out of the background behind Baba Gobo. The Starkien commander whirled around. He beat his chest and screeched.
“He’s excitable after all,” Rollo said to my left.
I turned around. Rollo was my best friend. Of all the guardians, he most resembled a gorilla with his thick neck, massive shoulders and muscles. The man had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. I wondered why he was here instead of commanding his starship, the Thomas Aquinas . Before I could ask him, Baba Gobo cleared his throat to my back.
I faced the view-screen.
“I have grown weary of your vanity,” the Starkien told me. “It is time for us to reach an understanding. Several years ago, you slew my great-nephew, Naga Gobo. He dealt with the Jelk, which was an evil deed. I deplore his memory because of that. Yet, he was kin to
I had ten old Lokhar cruisers and missile-ships to face the Starkiens. Most of my vessels were bigger than theirs were. Their largest, however, dwarfed mine. Ella informed me that in tonnage the enemy beat us eighteen to one.
I wasn’t going to win a Jutland battle or a Midway victory today. Bluff was my only hope…unless I could think of something better fast.
Pushing myself off my chair, I strode toward the screen. I’d chosen blue naval uniforms for the guardians. It gave us a sharper image and a link to extinct Earth fleets. Glowering at the Starkien, I said, “Are you the Baba-creature?”
The Starkien stiffened. “How dare you insult me? Do you have any understanding of my exalted rank?”
“Lord of all Smells?” I asked.
“Is that an insult?”
“Will you look at this,” I said. “You’re too stupid to understand that I am indeed demeaning you before your face. You are the Lord of Starkiens after all.”
He opened his snout, revealing his dental work. I could only imagine the fogging he’d give anyone near enough to smell his breath. For a moment, I expected him to howl with simian rage.
Instead, Baba Gobo regained his self-control, closing his snout without uttering a hoot. I reexamined his white mane. With age came wisdom. Perhaps the saying was as true for Starkiens as it was for humans.
“You do not appreciate me naming you as a beast, do you?” he said.
“I am a man,” I said.
The Starkien nodded. There appeared a depth to his dark eyes then. I fixated on that, and a chill worked down my back. Baba Gobo was intelligent. Worse, he had cunning. Combined with self-control that was a dangerous mixture.
“Why do your ships block my passage to the Sol Object?” he asked.
Once, the artifact had been known as the Altair Object. At the time, the Lokhar Fifth Legion had guarded it, along with a greater number of starships than I possessed.
“We are the object’s guardians,” I said.
“Ah,” he said, before making barking sounds. I recognized it as Starkien laughter.
“I choose who can and cannot approach the relic,” I told him.
“What gives a beast the right?” he asked.
I stared at him.
He made a complex gesture with his left hand. “Let me rephrase my question. What gives you the right? Surely, not your puny number of warships.”
“The artifact once rested in a portal planet,” I said. “The planet was in fact a Forerunner machine which the object powered. That opened the way to the Karg Universe. Abaddon would have crossed to our space-time continuum and hunted down all non-Karg life, eliminating it. I stopped that by talking to the relic. Among other things, the object told me its name.”
Baba Gobo’s eyes shined wetly, greedily. He leaned toward me. “I have heard this story. It cannot be true, though. One such as you cannot possibly know the name well enough to repeat it.”
I smiled. “Is this the extent of your guile, how you attempt to trick me into revealing the ancient name to you?”
Hooting sounds came out of the background behind Baba Gobo. The Starkien commander whirled around. He beat his chest and screeched.
“He’s excitable after all,” Rollo said to my left.
I turned around. Rollo was my best friend. Of all the guardians, he most resembled a gorilla with his thick neck, massive shoulders and muscles. The man had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. I wondered why he was here instead of commanding his starship, the Thomas Aquinas . Before I could ask him, Baba Gobo cleared his throat to my back.
I faced the view-screen.
“I have grown weary of your vanity,” the Starkien told me. “It is time for us to reach an understanding. Several years ago, you slew my great-nephew, Naga Gobo. He dealt with the Jelk, which was an evil deed. I deplore his memory because of that. Yet, he was kin to
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