Thanks for the compliments. Next one is coming.... now.
January 2, 2226 (Terran Standard). Drengin Command Center in the capital of Caph I, former Drath world.
Lord Naosk stood, rising from his throne-like chair. The doors to the inner control room opened and Carkon o'Vrask, warlord of the Ornak clan, strode through, escorted by guards. The two Drengin soldiers had plasma rifles strapped over their shoulders and were carrying ceremonial spears.
"Ah, Naosk. I will be taking command over the battle from here," Carkon said smoothly. The Drengin lord bowed, and nodded. Carkon did not move, his face expressionless. "Get out of that chair," he finally hissed. Lord Naosk nodded and moved into a second chair in front of a terminal.
The Warlord looked around, and asked for a progress report.
"My lord, we have begun to study Drath science, and have an understanding of how they think. This 'Xeno Research' will better our scientific laboratories, such as the one being built on the Precursor remains," Isik, the Drengin Science Chief reported.
"We are producing a colony ship in the starport as ordered. Time to completion is unknown," the Chief Engineer added.
Carkon clenched his teeth, and nodded, reading through reports of the other departments and of the plans for the Drengin colonization of Caph II. The Tir'Ah would arrive in two weeks.
January 5, 2226 (Terran Standard). The Xanthos, leaving the Caph system.
Captain Vaxor looked down at his interface terminal, leaning back in his throne. Sensors had spotted a floating piece of rubble, and their job was to investigate things like that.
"Navigator, set course to intercept rubble. Pilot, power up the It'In Ion Drive Mechanism now. Full speed ahead. Oh, prep a shuttle to probe through the debris. Get to it!" Vaxor ordered to his crew. They jumped and started to work.
Down in the shuttle hangar, a team of scientists, engineers, and soldiers had assembled in one of the Aktar-class shuttles. These craft carried no hyperdrive, just sublight propulsion. They did have two retractable arms that could take debris in, and they were small enough to do asteroid manuevers.
After the ship arrived near the rubble and the ion drive powered down, the captain of the team flipped a switch, and the roar of electrical thrusters began. It shot out of the doors and straight into the asteroid field. In seconds, they had retrieved a piece of debris.
"What is it?" asked one of the engineers. Another took the device, attached it into a scanning mechanism, and hooked the scanner into the ship's computer. Letters and words in Genr, the written language of the Drengin empire, flashed over the screen.
"It's a device- or what's left of it- that creates soothing sound waves. They relax people and make them less stressful. It would be useful in keeping occupied races under control and happy with our government," the second engineer answered. "Let's get it to Caph and our clanleader."
January 8, 2226 (Terran Standard). Xanthos near a meteor above the Caph system.
Back onboard the Xanthos, Captain Vaxor had made another find. They had retrieved a machine that implanted thoughts. It would improve influence, and might help Carkon when he negotiated with Lord Drimm of the Korath clan. The ship headed away to find new debris in space and test it for usefulness.
The artifact had been brought by shuttle to Warlord Carkon, along with the other one, and he was pleased- as pleased as a Drengin can be, that is.
More to come later, maybe even later today. I know it was short.
