Page 121 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

the feeling Bella liked me, though as old as she is, she may still remember me. Some very dodgy
practices went on in the old days” he said, and chuckled.
“I see where you’re headed; the Unat had far better algorithms for their translators, they needed
them as the Gantrax language is so complex. We could probably adapt them to operate on our
translator system. I’ll get right on it. Oh; it looks like they’re ready to launch the speeders” she
replied. Mortimer left to watch the launch.

The scout ship Vuelvo returned to the Luna Mechia with the latest signal captures. Pilot
Giovani had not been informed that a full translation of the earlier captures had been performed.
When he heard the translations and the implications of them sank in he felt proud that it was on his
watch that contact had been made. He rushed to the Coms deck with his latest transmissions. It
could be an hour before these were translated so he headed to the Mess. He was greeted with the
usual salutation by the other Scout pilots. He ordered a Stygian tea and some Telvia Biscotti then
headed over to the table that his sister was sat at. Krysta was also a Scout; and a year older than Gio,
as she called him, she was tall, slim, blonde and very “street savvy”. She had one of the other “boys”
move to let Gio in.
“Ah; my hero little “brother”. Have you heard the latest from Home World? They have a possible
name for the race that built Atlantis; they’re calling them the Kryst. Lyris sends her love by the way”
she pinched his cheek playfully. He squirmed and reddened, embarrassed by the attention.
“We’re just friends, sis, she hasn’t decided whether-or-not we are an item, but I’m sure you’ll be the
first to know if she does.” He said and sat down with the four of them. The others jeered. As he
drank the other scouts regaled their stories. Hugh had discovered the remains of a small vessel in a
binary system; it seemed to have been a drone
“This thing is being dissected as we speak. The tech is way beyond anything we have” he finished
and drank up the last of his draft of wheat beer “I’m going to get some down time while they service
my craft. He made to leave but Christo; the other scout at the table made him sit down.
“I can top your find; unless Gio has a new one in his latest captures. I intercepted a live Bakra
creature on that rogue planetoid the Jugo came across. It’s only a youngster and its parent had been
killed, savaged by something much bigger. Bio Labs have it, it’s an herbivore. The mother was
undergoing autopsy when I left. If the bite marks are anything to go by, the killer was thirty feet at
least. Lots of teeth and claws; wouldn’t want to come across that in a hurry. Now; Gio what do you
have?” Christo asked. Gio slowly sipped his tea and munched on Biscotti before answering.
“Apart from some new intercepts from outside The Wall, I too found a derelict, one of ours this
time. Remember when Darius Blake made his attempt to follow that creature back through the rift
and his ship bounced off the wake field? He barely escaped in his life pod. Well; I found the remains

of his ship. Salvage ship Carpathian should have it in tow. Darius will
be pleased to know I salvaged something for him!” He reached into
his flight suit and retrieved a medallion “His Star of Juran service
Medal. He always placed this on his console; before setting out, his
good luck charm he called it. Not that it helped him when he
bounced. But I thought he’d appreciate having it back instead of it
going to salvage”. He held the medallion up for them to see.
“Whoa! You’d best not let the Captain see that. You know that’s
classed as treasure trove. Put it away before someone sees” Christo
hissed. Gio put it back in his shirt pocket
“My brother the sentimentalist; though this time I have to agree with
him Darius should have it back. There are precious few of us lower
mortals who have gained such a high honour. Keep it safe for him till
you get back to Iona City” Krysta said smiling over the rim of the
tankard of beer she had been drinking. It would be a day or two
before they would be back on duty again; so it seemed only just that they celebrate. A dark voice
came from a table behind her.