Star Kitten (23 page)

After the first victorious
battle in which the unsuspecting pirate ship cruised right up to
the
Anarchy
answering its fake distress call, the Nausties found
themselves well-established in the piracy and smuggling business.
Within hours, the hidden brigade of Pumalar warriors and human
cutthroats inside
Anarchy
’s hold had sprung the trap
and fought their way onto the pirate ship to defeat the enemy crew.
Captain Snout then turned the quickly overwhelmed enemy pirates
into crewmen—those who’d survived the brutal combat onboard both
ships that is.

And with two fully complemented pirate space
craft, Snout then turned his attention to searching for new
targets. He directed his squad of two pirate raiders to major
shipping lanes and just waited for new prey. It didn’t take long.
Within a month they’d seized yet another Earth Freighter, and
plundered it. This ship was loaded to the gills with food, having
just left port with fresh produce, pressed sea plankton wafers, and
frozen fish. The resulting return to New Australia yielded a full
warehouse of food, which the planet desperately needed; and it was
distributed to a very happy population of Nausties who hadn’t seen
fresh vegetables and fruits in years.

The Tribal Confederation was thrilled with
the haul and promptly gave Terminal Chief Solomon carte blanche to
just keep on doing what was clearly working out so very well.
Solomon had assumed correctly, right from the start. All that
Tribal Confederation cared about was acceptable results; and
warehouses full of food meant everything to New Australia at that
time. Just keep on raiding, they decreed. The results were fast,
the manpower needs were easily fulfilled as well. Losses from
battle could easily be replaced the command center assured them,
and new crewmen could be trained quite easily. Confederation
Committees agreed. The numbers and estimates all made sense.

Captain Snout put replacement crews and
fresh troops right to work, and warriors for raids could now all be
armed with EIC’s and side-arms for battle, making spears, shields,
and daggers practically unnecessary. Tribal leaders returned to
their tribesmen ebulliently announcing that their days of glory and
riches were only just beginning. The galaxy was soon going to fear
the very mention of their name.

Business was soon booming too… practically
overnight. Snout continued his focus on raiding lone freighters in
space shipping lanes for a few months until he built up his
squadron into a formidable raiding force. This was needed at first,
just to make sure he could fend off attacks from any other enemy
pirates competing for prey. Gradually though… there were no other
pirate vessels truly capable of challenging him. Any challenges
from these “minor leaguers” as he called them, were quickly
dispatched. Accomplishing this eventually meant a virtual monopoly
on raiding shipping lanes. Snout could then start sending single
freighters back to New Australia laden with food and supplies while
keeping his main fleet out in space looking for new targets.

Next he turned his
attention to remote space colonies, and that’s when New Australia’s
fortunes really improved. The galaxy had so many logical targets,
and Snout knew exactly where to find them as well as how to attack
them. Kcsheeech, his first mate, was a big help to him too because
Kcsheeech had direct experience with
conducting
these raids. The old
First Mate’s resources were now far better than when he was a
Zorgolongian pirate. It was far easier to take on a remote space
outpost when he could unleash a thousand hardened warriors to
overwhelm its garrison quickly. Within hours they could hit a
planet and carry off shiploads of food and ammunition—tools and
materials—weapons and prisoners—before any alarm could be sounded
or distress signal answered by Star Fleet patrols.

Frabrak 3 became a perfect target for the
Nausties. It was a planet that had been steadily colonized by the
Porkonjii for many years. Tropical and lush with vegetation,
Frabrak 3 was the third planet in a star system which was dotted
with islands ranging from small atolls on up to isolated small
continents the size of Spain. Most all of these were volcanic
islands formed millions of years ago by massive now-dormant
volcanoes. At the summits of these mountains, the rains fell almost
daily, and fresh water would run off into valleys formed below,
creating fertile farmland and giant inland lakes which held
millions of fish. Porkonji farmers had cleared the land and began
farming the islands there a hundred Earth years ago, yielding food
and fish produce which was sold at markets throughout the galaxy.
This was a cornucopia of opportunity for the once near-starving
planet of New Australia, and the varieties of vegetables, fruits,
and fish were outstanding.

Raiding Frabrak 3 could become a regular
stop for Captain Snout if he didn’t take too many chances. After
each successful raid, the local Porkonjii forces would try to
reinforce the planet as best they could, but it was no use. When
Snout’s fleet returned, fully laden with shock troops to pounce on
an isolated island there, the reinforced Porko soldiers still had
no chance. Certainly, Porkonji colonial troops were some of the
worst warriors in the galaxy, so superior numbers and surprise
attacks were simply more than they could handle. Garrisons fell,
settlements were sacked, and surviving Porko female captives were
hauled off to waiting shuttle crafts which whisked them away to New
Australia.

Back on New Australia ironically it was the
Pumalar tribes who longed for the return of freighters from raids
on Frabrak 3. Fresh fish would be stored in giant tanks now welded
together on board the freighters. Sea Plankton wafers from Frabrak
3 processing plants would also be on board. Those were a delicious
supplement to their feline diet. But the Porko tribes on New
Australia as well… they couldn’t wait for the distribution of
captured Porko females to satiate their carnal desires. And
everyone else loved the fresh produce, healthy grains, and frozen
meat carcasses taken from Porkonji warehouses there.

Kcsheeech knew where most all enemy pirate
bases might likely be located and this was a great advantage to
Snout. Kcsheeech knew their practices and tactics well, so Snout
could be ready to take advantage of competitors at all times. It
wasn’t long before Snout was even directing raids on enemy
strongholds! At first to devastate them and eliminate them from
operational capability, Snout would simply time his attack
according to enemy pirate movement, knowing WHEN the base was
lightly defended by monitoring enemy pirate ship attacks in space,
then following them back to their secret bases.

He’d then order the fleet to ambush the
enemy craft in deep space as it neared its secret base, and load up
the captured craft with shock troops. Snout would send an
inter-space message back to the base FROM the captured craft saying
they were returning and to ready the port for landing. The enemy
pirate base would allow the ship to land thinking it was its own
craft… then Naustie shock troops would spill out and mercilessly
slaughter its defenders, with the rest of the Naustie fleet landing
to support the attack. Supplies and ammunition, as well as weapons
and female captives (if they had any females), would be hauled on
board transport shuttles while the base burned. Once the fleet’s
freighters were loaded to the gills with plunder and females, the
Nausties would hastily exit.

The big Porko Captain and his little Zorg
First Mate figured the Nausties could very well monopolize the
entire galaxy’s pirate enterprise within a few more years at the
rate they were going—but they wisely continued to avoid any direct
confrontation with Star Fleet itslef. It was far safer for Star
Fleet to never detect their movements or the size of their fleet…
only respond to the scene after the Naustie Pirates were long
gone.

But yet—not surprisingly—Terminal Chief
Solomon wanted something even greater for New Australia….

He imagined something even more grand and
ambitious than just pirate raids and plunder. Solomon appreciated
the performance of his Captain and First Mate—even recommended to
the Tribal Confederation that an official promotion be given to
Snout, making him Commodore of the Naustie Fleet. However, he saw a
future for his planet now that he gradually wanted to communicate
to others. Piracy was merely a means to an end. He actually—though
it was far from practical yet—wanted to achieve legitimacy within
the galaxy as a recognized independent planet in the Interplanetary
Authority. A real and accepted citizen planet is what he foresaw…
with political and diplomatic representation in the Galactic
Convention.

Such a vision was
ambitious, at the least. True, if they’d tried it when all they had
was the
Anarchy
,
and no other demonstrated ability to defend themselves, the IPA
would have squashed such a dream like a grape. The new “pirate
culture” made more sense to them now. The Galaxy didn't want them.
Their home planets discarded them. Now they were making everyone
pay.

But still, Solomon felt it was time to
consider the long term.

To go from convicts, to prisoners, to
rebels, to pirates… then seek diplomatic recognition and political
sovereignty… from the very planets they were warring against? That
was completely—or at least practically—impossible. Yet Solomon
envisioned it for his planet someday. He needed others to grasp it
too. And there was only one being on all of New Australia that he
could confide this in and seek counsel.

Solomon spoke privately on numerous
occasions with his old friend and spiritual mentor Architeuthis.
Sometimes only Architeuthis could really understand the creative
mind Solomon had for planning and devising. Despite being from two
vastly different species, there was so much of his own younger self
that Architeuthis could see in Solomon. The two actually had a lot
in common, in that Solomon had once been dictator of a small
African nation back on Earth, whereas Architeuthis had once been in
charge of a Slartigifijian government agency tasked with fighting a
terrible plague that eventually wiped out millions on his planet
before a vaccine was developed.

The wise old Slart that Solomon had
befriended… was in those days just a young, naïve, and rather
overwhelmed government administrator. In the end he did finally
oversee the development of the vaccine which might stop the spread
of the plague, but by then millions had died already.

By the time his scientists were distributing
syringes to hospitals proclaiming a “scientific breakthrough”, it
was basically already quite clear the threat of global epidemic had
passed. Architeuthis was perceived by his colleagues and the public
as essentially having failed. Millions had already died, and the
public’s attention turned from desperation for survival to grief
for all their loved ones who’d perished. That grief eventually led
to recriminations toward the government for taking so long to
develop a vaccine. An inquiry was conducted… and heads were sure to
roll.

Architeuthis was discharged and eventually
as a result of this “government inquiry” he was quite unjustly
banished to Rijel 12 for “three years”. Disgraced and humiliated,
Architeuthis saw himself (at first) as a failure who’d “allowed”
millions to suffer death from the plague while his staff labored
tirelessly to try and save the planet. But the banishment merely
made him more determined than ever to seek fairness. Indeed, his
scientists really did develop the vaccine that would have saved his
planet from species extinction, if the plague hadn’t run its course
already. His banishment was, in his mind, merely his own government
looking for someone to blame, and it truly wasn’t fair. The plague
did all the killing, after all. Not him.

To Architeuthis, Solomon’s past was so very
similar. As a rebel leader, he led his men to overthrow a brutal
dictator, and when he couldn’t hold onto power any longer he had to
abdicate the presidency. But in the end he got blamed for causing
the events that led to the tribal violence and massacres of
innocent people. Back on Earth, they just needed someone to blame…
someone to take on all the responsibility for the civilian deaths.
Tribal death squads did all that, not Solomon. But the World Court
Judges needed someone to “swing for it”, as Solomon said to him
jokingly once. And Solomon was the most recognizable figurehead
from the disaster that could be blamed… in an effort to satisfy
public outrage.

Therefore, they were both once high profile
beings on their home planets who’d done what they thought was right
at the time for their people or country—and by failing—they’d found
themselves both sent here, to this awful barren planet to die.

Solomon confided in Architeuthis privately,
“Old friend I don’t know much about your planet’s history, but on
mine, robbers and thieves sometimes became princes and kings. I’ve
turned our planet into nothing more than a global pirate base—and a
darn good one at that—however I’d like to accomplish so much more.
I really do see a future for New Australia as a respected planet
within the Interplanetary Authority.”

Architeuthis was intrigued. His human friend
was so incredibly talented and clever. But was he really suggesting
that New Australia could seek legitimacy in the galaxy or for that
matter even independence? Right now New Australia’s "independence"
was only a myth in their own minds… a reality only because the
Interplanetary Authority had no definitive knowledge of their
existence (merely considered them officially to be a quarantined
planet and publicly assumed that the last of the planet’s
population had starved to death when the food ran out).