Blackstar was unusual, at least when compared to a human. Blackstar was a Chakat, which is to say a creature that looked like someone had taken a cat, cut off its head, and spliced in a humanoid torso to create something like a feline centaur. Shi has an almost completely white fur pattern, except for a black star shaped patch on hir back. Shi often wears a vest that covers the star patch, as well as a utility belt. Shi jokes that the belt is like a superhero’s. Shi is unusually tall for a chakat at 5’10".
Blackstar was quite bored. Hir crew hadn’t had a job in weeks. Shi hadn’t even had a chance to take hir newly refitted ship out for a test run. The ship was provided to hir after hir last one was destroyed in a Star Fleet incident two months earlier. It was designed by hir and hir Skunktaur engineer, Sky, and was quite impressive for a private ship. Blackstar was head of a small security firm which shi had been building up slowly for over two years. Hir crew would provide escort for many freighter captains traveling through dangerous territory. The new ship was designed with this in mind and was capable of outrunning almost any civilian ship. The only exception Blackstar knew of was the Folly, an unusual cargo ship, but if the rumors were true Blackstar wouldn’t need to escort it anyway. In fact shi was certain Sky had tried to steal some of hys ideas from the Folly’s captain, with limited success. Sky was still angry about hys failed attempts at recreating something called a Zulu.
Out of boredom Blackstar decided to visit the closest thing to what shi considered to be hir hometown on Earth, a town averaging between 50 to 60 thousand people. This is why shi was at Memorial Mall that one fateful day. Shi was passing the mall’s equivalent of a food court, which was little more then a pair of restaurants near the main entrance. Blackstar’s excellent hearing overheard a group of collage students talking. "What are we going to do?" asked a vixen.
"I don’t know", replied a female wolf, "there’s no way we can raise up enough money. Where are we going to find a captain willing to go through pirate infested space on this kind of budget?" Blackstar looked around hoping to spot one of hir crew members trying to play a joke, but not one of them was in sight. Blackstar was actually surprised that shi didn’t spot Nightrose, hir Caitian partner, who rarely left hir for extended periods of time. The wolf continued, "I mean it isn’t like a Chakat is going to come up and ask, ‘would you like a cheap ride to Quenxel?’"
Blackstar’s sense of humor got the better of hir. Shi walked up to the table and asked, "Would you like a cheap ride to Quenxel?" The two canines looked at hir as if this was not something to be joked about. "I’m serious. I’ve needed a chance to give the engines on my ship a stretch. And I can do it cheaper then just about anyone. And we can carry a reasonable amount of cargo. Now mind filling me in on the details?"
The vixen replied, "Our professor wants to run an experiment but our university has a limited budget and can’t send us to the only facility that can help us. It’s on a backwater planet called..."
"I admit Quenxel is out of the way but I wouldn’t call it a backwater planet," interrupted Blackstar. "And I’ve been looking for a decent excuse to visit my sister without my partner having a cow. Which would be impressive considering shi’s a Caitian." After the looks shi got shi added, "I believe the word we’re looking for is, anyway. Now who do I talk to at the university?"
"Our professor is Doctor Oliver," answered the wolf. The name sounded familiar but Blackstar shrugged it off. Shi thanked the two canines and went on hir way. Shi knew that shi’d get an earful from Nightrose when shi got back about not discussing jobs with her before accepting it, but shi could actually excuse this one as a reason for a test flight of the new engines.
Blackstar walked over to the local university to take full advantage of the nice weather. It was rare weather in Sheboygan. It wasn’t long before shi found the facility. Shi asked around till shi ran into a human, "excuse me sir. Do you know where I can find Professor Oliver?"
The young man, who shi assumed was one of the older students said, "Sure. If you follow me I’ll take you right to him" After a few moments of silent walking the young man asked, "why are you looking for him anyway?"
"Well I overheard some of his students talking about him wanting to perform an experiment with them on Quenxel but didn’t have the budget. So I offered my services," said Blackstar. "So what do you do?"
"I teach"
"You teach?" asked a surprised Blackstar.
"I teach the latest in cybernetic technology, but my students would rather watch vids. I’ve been working on quantum enhancer technology. Ah, here we are. This is Professor Oliver’s office." They entered the dark office and looked around.
"Where is he?" asked Blackstar.
"Hang on," said the young man. He sat down on the chair behind the desk, and turned around in it three times. Just as Blackstar was about to ask him what he was doing he said, "Hello. I am Professor Oliver, what can I do for you?"
"You’re just a little weird." Said Blackstar.
"Blackstar, I’ve heard about you and you crew, and of all people you should not be calling anyone weird." Blackstar had to admit that was true about most of the people that shi worked with. "And considering you’re not a normal chakat you’re the one people should be calling weird."
"How do you know so much about me? And what makes you think I’m not a normal Chakat?" asked Blackstar.
"I know that your "grandfather" was Starfox and that you carry many of hir genetic traits." Blackstar was becoming more suspicious by the second.
"I know my family history Dr. Oliver. I don’t need you to recall it," Said Blackstar. "Now, let’s get down to business."
Two days later...
The Blitz team’s newest ship, the MSS Mystic, was fully outfitted and ready to go by the time that Blackstar and Nightrose boarded her. Nightrose grinned, "I still can’t believe what you tried to name the ship."
Blackstar innocently asked, "What’s the problem with a patrol cruiser name Bob?" Nightrose shook her head in resignation. Blackstar was a good partner but shi could be such a silly Chakat. "Star Fleet let me name a planet George."
"That’s because you discovered it. Besides Star Fleet wouldn’t have to live on a ship named the MSS Bob like we would," explained Nightrose.
The Mystic’s forward section was a long shaft with a saucer shape at the forward section that served as the command module and main living space. The farther back the shaft went the wider it was, with several custom designed phaser canon emplacements along it. At the end of the shaft was the engineering section. The engineering section contained fuel, the main warp core, and a hanger space. The hanger carried five one-man fighters called Blades as well as Blackstar’s personal ship, the Midnight Star, when the occasion called for it. Extending from the engineering section were four "wings". These wings each held an additional mini-warp core and sub-light drive system. They all extended out to a point were the impulse engines were, and armed with beam cannons, a much more powerful version of standard phasers. Extended from there were a flexible arm that adjusted for maximum warp travel efficiency. The only real complaint Blackstar had about the Mystic was that it was not the most energy efficient ship. In full combat mode the Mystic was underpowered and had to rely on batteries for additional power. Sky estimated that the Mystic would last about a half-hour in one-on-one combat, before relying on reserve batteries.
"Well Nightrose, as punishment for disagreeing with your commanding officer you get to handle launching and all the paperwork," said Blackstar before shi ran off to the observation lounge. Nightrose was actually impressed. Blackstar was getting better with new way of giving her the horrible assignments and make it sound like it has legitimate reasons.
She reached the bridge and took a seat in the first officer’s chair. The Captain’s chair was taur-shaped and Nightrose still had bad memories of landing on her rump when using those. As with most bridges the command seats were at the center of the bridge, in this case they were on a raised platform giving their occupants a view of all station on the bridge. The three forward stations were normally used for, going from left to right, main sensor monitor, tactical, and helm. There were also stations behind the command seats but those were auxiliary stations, environmental controls, engineering, ect. At sensors was the new kid, a human named Neal Serge, about 17 years old. At helm was Trip, Blackstar’s kid sister who despite being the youngest crew member shi was actually one of the more mature ones. After an uneventful launch and jump to warp speed the bridge crew joined the other crew members and some of the passengers in the observation lounge.
Blackstar was watching several of the crew and passengers playing a game of poker when shi noticed that Serge was just looking out a window. Shi walked over to where Serge was sitting and put hir head on his shoulder. He asked, "What are you doing sir?"
"Don’t call me sir. We aren’t in the military", said Blackstar, "I was looking for what was so interesting that you’re sitting over hear instead of playing poker or talking to someone, or not sitting here doing nothing."
Serge looked uncomfortable with the chakat being so forward. "Well, I don’t know any of them that well so I tend to avoid them. And I don’t know how to play poker."
"Well how are you going to get to know any of them if you don’t talk to them?" asked Blackstar. "If you really want to get to know people I got the perfect game. TWISTER!"
Less then half an hour later Blackstar, Nightrose, Serge, and Trip were a tangled mess. Sasha was caller and was amused at were Blackstar’s nose had gotten. Nightrose simply said, "oh, oh" before a she made a very recognizable sound. Blackstar said, "It’s nice to know some things stay the same in all species. Hey, Serge, what do you think of this crew now!"
"I think Star Fleet should adapt your methods for interrogation techniques," said Serge who was bent over backward, arching over Nightrose. "This was not mentioned when I signed on!"
"It could be worse," said Sasha, "Blackstar could have you playing strip poker like shi did when I signed up." The Rakshani did complain about that night but she had actually enjoyed it. That was when she began to like Blackstar as more then just a friend. She sometimes wished that she could give birth to Blackstar’s child, or just caring a child period. Sasha had briefly been in Star Fleet until she had been injured in a training accident, the same accident that had cost her any future children. After that she had left Star Fleet and had been an independent mercenary until she ran into Blackstar who instantly saw her potential. Sasha was now the Blitz team’s platoon commander. Of course under normal circumstances the platoon consisted of her and Blackstar, which was usually more then enough to defeat most pirates and slavers. "Okay, Serge, Left foot red."
The young human twisted his hip to move his leg to a red circle and touched it briefly before falling on top of Nightrose and they quickly degraded into a giant pile of limbs and fur. "Well that was fun," said Serge.
"Not if you were on the bottom," said Trip, who was unfortunate enough to be at the bottom.
Dr. Oliver who had watched the whole ordeal shook his head. Is this really the Blitz team I’ve heard so much about? How can anyone consider them a real threat? "Why don’t you tell us why such a lovely Chakat like you became a pirate fighter?"
Blackstar took a seat in hir favorite taur-sized bean bag chair. "It’s actually because of my father. He was a pirate fighter since he was a kid. He started out as a crew member aboard a ship called the FSS Angel Grove. He eventually began his own organization with his own ship, the FSS Eagle. Later on shi sold the Eagle to hir second in command, after acquiring the FSS Falcon. I grew up on that ship for most of my life before moving to Sheboygan back on Earth at age 15. Then at age 16 I tried entering the academy without my father’s permission. When shi found out shi got me kicked out. Then by shear dumb luck I ran into one of my father’s old crewmates, who offered me a job. So for about a year I worked as a defense force pilot for Tortuga Station. After I got enough money I started up the Blitz team. At first we only had the Midnight Star, but we soon expanded our operations. Our last ship, the Venture, was destroyed because Star Fleet intelligence screwed up. Star Fleet paid us enough for a new ship, and with some extra money I constructed the Mystic."
"So have you done anything, but fight pirates in your entire life?" asked Serge, who was now seated in a beanbag.
Blackstar thought about it, "yes, actually. When I lived in Sheboygan I did Illegal Street racing for a while. It’s difficult to avoid the police since all PTV’s are equipped with an AI, but we figured out how to bypass it. And then I was at Star Fleet academy for a while before my father screwed my life up."
"Wow, I didn’t know you did anything illegal," said Serge.
Trip added, "Shi also smuggled when shi worked on Tortuga." Blackstar gave hir a dirty look. "And soon shi might also murder me for not knowing when to shut my mouth."
Blackstar tried to downplay it, "it was only a few times, and it wasn’t technically illegal since the Federation had no authority in the sector at that time."
"Right," said Oliver, "so have you ever been caught doing this illegal stuff?"
"No," said Blackstar, "okay once. I called in a few favors, made a few deals so I got away with nothing on my official record."
"You’re not a normal chakat are you?" asked Sasha.
Blackstar gave Sasha a skeptical look, "you’ve worked with me for two years and you’re just figuring this out?"
"Well you’re the only chakat I’ve known other then Trip," pointed out Sasha.
"I think it’s because of my parents," said Blackstar, "my father didn’t want me to join any military service because shi didn’t want me to be ‘a dog of the military’. Since I was raised on combat I naturally wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. I decided that Star Fleet would be the best way, but things didn’t turn out that way."
"Well it could be worse," said Serge, "you could have been stuck with my parents." Blackstar gestured for him to continue, "My mother is a nymphomaniac/writer, and my father stars in a gay strip show in Vegas. I don’t want to talk about it," said Serge, "How about you Trip. So you’re small."
Blackstar stopped on the bridge during hir rounds and noticed that Trip and Sky were arguing with Sasha. "I’m telling you there is no way that‘ll ever happen."
"You’ll never know until you run the tactical simulator," said Trip.
Blackstar’s curiosity got the best of hir again. "What are you guys discussing?"
Sky answered, "We’re discussing the question as to which ship would win a fight, the Mystic or the FSS Pegasus."
Blackstar tried to recall what shi knew about the Pegasus. "That would be Kline’s ship, correct?" Several nods confirmed this. "Then Pegasus hands down. Kline has several family members on board making him all that more determined to protect them. Including at least two wives that I know of and the child he had with each of them. Not to mention the Pegasus has almost double the weapons we have. Our only real advantage would be our small size and maneuverability. Not to mention we have limited battery power when in combat mode."
"A human with two wives?" asked Sky. Few humans hy knew would take multiple mates for some weird human reason.
Blackstar nodded, "A Caitien, a Rakshani and two Chakats. And he’s had a child with each of them." Blackstar smiled at their surprised faces. It was understandable, after all, how often do you here about a human having children outside of his species. And the question of who would win in that battle was quickly decided, especially when a Captain bet against hir own ship. "So has anything interesting appeared on sensors?"
"No," said Sasha, "some denser then average nebulas, some stars with nothing noticeable about them. Oh, but there was another pirate attack on the frontier by a currently unidentified group. 15 fatalities, 7 serious injuries, and about 200,000 credits worth of cargo stolen."
"Great," said a sarcastic Blackstar. "Anything along our course?"
"Nothing worth," Sasha was interrupted by an alarm. "We’re being pulled out of warp! A massive gravity field has forced us to drop to sublight." She checked her consol at tactical. "Three ships are closing from 10 o’clock, 12 o’clock, and 2 o’clock. Two of them are unknowns. The middle one is a cargo ship."
"Pirates," spat Blackstar. "All hands to battle stations!" An alarm sounded and Blackstar took hir seat in the center of the bridge.
Sky then reported a big problem, "I’m running a diagnostic on the weapon control systems. We’re running on auxiliary combat systems. And those aren’t running at peak efficiency yet."
"Well we’ll just have to be a little sneaky." Sky quickly ran down to engineering, while Nightrose and Serge appeared on the bridge. "Alright. Here’s the plan..."
On the bridge of the lead ship the human commander was enjoying how well his plan had worked. Soon one the most powerful ships in the sector would be his. Soon he would be able to rebel against the Federation. "Target life support and engines, but don’t damage the critical systems."
The weapons officer arched an eyebrow, "how is life support not a critical system
"Sir, we’re receiving a hail. From the Mystic," reported the communication officer. "They are offering their terms of surrender."
The captain was confused. "Open a channel," a white chakat appeared on the forward view screen. "Do you expect me to believe that we defeated you so easily?"
The Chakat replied, "You caught us off guard and our systems haven’t been fully tested yet. Our shields were still in test mode. And our primary weapons control was going through a diagnostic. And you scored a lucky hit on our auxiliary systems. I’m surprised we lasted this long. I’m willing to offer you this ship in exchange for safe passage of my crew and passengers to the nearest Stellar Federation planet. Will this be acceptable?"
A human male appeared from the right side of the screen. He was talking very loudly with the Chakat, "you can’t surrender the ship. They’re pirates, the second they have the ship they’ll kill all of us."
The Chakat rolled hir eyes, "well at least you’ll be quite. Now get off my bridge before I stick a foot up your ass." The human ran off screen very quickly. "Sorry, about that. Feel free to kill that guy when you board the ship."
"Okay. Give a moment," he muted audio. "Sensor’s, what is their status?" The sensor officer reported that the Mystic’s weapons and shields were off line. He re-engaged audio, "we accept your terms. My support ships will board you from either side." This is almost too easy
"Very well." Shi cut the channel. Blackstar smiled to hirself, "that was almost too easy." When Serge reported that the two support ships were now docking with the port and starboard docking ports Blackstar gave the command to execute hir plan. "Looks like our new friend want to talk." Shi answered his hail, "is there a problem?"
"What have you done to my ships," demanded the human.
"What do you mean?" asked Blackstar in an innocent manner. "I handed you my ship. Oh, did I forget to mention my ship’s counter measures. The Mystic has the latest in computer counter measure. When it detected a hostile computer interacting with it, well it took over your ship’s computers."
"You will surrender and return control of my ships to their crews!" demanded the captain.
"You’re not in any position to demand anything. You made a very basic mistake," explained Blackstar, "your support ships have the command codes for your ship. My sensor officer was able to infiltrate your ship’s computers. Your ship is now under my control." Serge cleared his throat. "Under our control. I could destroy you with one command."
As Blackstar smiled in triumph the enemy captain checked with his officers. The human captain slammed his fists against his chair’s armrests in frustration. When he was done having his, as Serge described it, his hissy fit, he surrendered his ship.
Since the Mystic was limited in her carrying abilities Blackstar called in Star Fleet and was surprised when an old friend showed up. Blackstar wasn’t too surprised when shi found an older Caitian in the observation lounge. "Well, I must say that I’m surprised to see you on my ship. I thought you had other officers handle public relations," teased Blackstar.
"Well, I made an exception for you," replied the old Caitian. This Caitian was the Captain of the FSS Pathfinder, which was one of the first ships to respond to Blackstar’s call, as well as a Fleet Admiral. Fleet Admiral V’Les has been quoted saying, "the pay for this rank barely compensates for the paper work." Despite V’Les being a Caitian she was the lifemate of Blackstar’s grandfather, Starfox, and Blackstar occasionally called her Grandma despite the fact that she would be barely old enough to have a grandchild, and that she was currently childless. "I thought you might be interested in what your call for help sounded like backwards."
Blackstar rolled hir eyes. V’Les claimed that she was up to her eyeballs in paperwork yet she still had time to make these jokes. She hit a button on her PADD and Blackstar recognized hir voice calling Star Fleet for help followed by a much deeper voice saying, "you will give me the blood of 50 healthy young men and serve Satan for all time." Blackstar couldn’t help laughing at the obvious joke. "I have played my messages backwards and I know I sound nothing like that."
"Forgive me Blackstar, I couldn’t resist," said V’Les. "But in all seriousness, what are you going to do with your new little fleet." V’Les was referring to the slaver ships which now belonged to Blackstar.
Blackstar shrugged, "I haven’t really thought about it. I could sell them for money, start my own transport company, or even convert them for combat duty." Blackstar honestly didn’t know what shi was going to do with hir new fleet. "You know if Star Fleet hadn’t kicked me out of the academy I would be in my fourth year, or at best serving as an ensign on a starship. But instead I’m the captain of my own pirate fighting ship, and a small fleet of cargo ships."
"That’s because you have a problem with authority. You’d be spending a lot of your off duty time in the brig," said V’Les. Blackstar let it go because shi knew it was true.
V’Les said, "Could you send Nightrose to see me."
"Sure, no problem. But why?" asked Blackstar
"Oh, I just need to discuss a few things with her." Explained V’Les.
"Did she find your spy cam?"
"Now, Blackstar, we’ve discussed the moral repercussions of this before." Blackstar stared at V’Les for a full minute. "She actually hasn’t found it yet. I want to know why she’s off her game so far on this trip." Blackstar shook hir head at yet another one of V’Les’s pathetic jokes. Or at least what shi hoped was a joke.
On hir way to the transporter room Blackstar stopped by Nightrose’s quarters to tell her that V’Les was looking for her. Nightrose sighed. She knew that this was going to happen sooner or later. Nightrose walked down to the observation lounge. Before she could even say anything V’Les said, "You still haven’t told hir have you?"
"No. Why do you care," asked Nightrose.
"Because shi deserves to know," said V’Les, "you guys are a team and you shouldn’t be keeping secrets from each other."
"I’ll tell her when I’m ready, now leave me alone," and with that Nightrose stormed out.
"Do I have to do everything myself?" V’Les asked out loud.
Somewhere in deep space...
Faera groaned as she picked herself up of the deck of the Torrin. The injured felitaur turned her attention to what was left of the control console. "Computer, damage report." She recognized that her voice was dry, probably from the smoke being emitted from what was left of the sensor display console. The computer reported that all weapons were either disabled or out of ammunition and shields were no longer operational. "Computer, prepare to engage slipstream drive."
"Warning, enemy vessels are attached to the hull. Engaging warp drive will risk severe hull damage."
"Really? No kidding. Thanks," said Faera, "if I stay I’m dead, if I go I’m dead. Well, everyone has to die someday, and I’d rather go down fighting. Engage slipstream drive!"
Sky was shaking hys head in dismay. This was the third time hy tried to explain the Skimmer drive to Dr. Oliver’s students. "Okay. Think of it this way. Subspace and Hyperspace is like water and air respectively. Although travel in only hyperspace would be faster, it would also be more dangerous because it would be almost impossible to navigate. But we’ve created a skimmer like warp drive. Like a skimmer vehicle this new drive will skip along subspace, relatively speaking of course. There is a lot more to it then that, but that’s the essential concept behind it."
One of the students, a Voxxan tod, asked, "But if your analogy is correct then a disruption in subspace could result in serious trouble."
Sky smiled. "A good observation. To prevent that problem we launch a modified probe to smooth out subspace in front of us. And if necessary we can modify our own deflector array to smooth out subspace. Despite the increased energy we can reach much higher speeds then with normal current warp drive technology with much less energy. However, Star Fleet is concerned that this ‘experimental’ drive is too dangerous to use on their ships. But it is easier then trying to figure out how to replicate the Midnight Star’s slipstream drive or making it able to work on larger ships like the Mystic."
"Slipstream drive? What is that?" asked the Voxxan
Sky sighed, "I wish I knew. The only one who has any real idea about it is Blackstar, but shi has refused to reveal its secrets." Sky wanted to be the first engineer to replicate the Slipstream drive, the fastest known FTL drive in the federation. The Star could go from Quenxel to Earth in only three days if necessary, but Blackstar had only done that once. With that ability a ship could reach the Furrderation in less then a month instead of the half-year normally required by Star Fleet ships. However the Midnight Star was limited because of her small size with a maximum standard compliment of ten and an emergency load of thirty. To Sky’s knowledge the drive was only limited by fuel. If stripped down and turned into what was basically a flying gas can Sky estimated that it could maintain the equivalent of warp 9.985 for twelve hours.
"Now if you could please follow me, we’ll take you down to Quenxel," Sky led the group of students to the Geelong-class runabout. Blackstar had a tendency to name Blitz team ships after rivers, especially ones in Wisconsin. The current runabouts were named the Mullet after the Mullet River that flowed through Plymouth, and the West Twin. The West Twin was originally called the Kickapoo, but Serge kept laughing every time someone said it. As the runabout descended to the spaceport Sky noticed a familiar ship. Despite the extensive damage to the ship Sky recognized it as the Torrin. Hy didn’t expect Faera to be in the area. Last hy heard was that Faera was running a route near Starbase 3. Oh, well. At least things would be interesting for a while if she was around.
Blackstar took the rest of the students to the surface in the Runabout Sheboygan and was walking through the spaceport when shi saw a familiar wolftaur. What is she doing here? Blackstar signaled to Nightrose and Serge to come over. "Do you see what I see?" Nightrose nodded, "what do you say to introduce ourselves?"
Nightrose shook her head. "Must you say lines that sound like they’re from Serge’s 20th century cartoon shows?"
"Well I do have a utility belt like those lame superheroes of his," said Blackstar indicating the multi-purpose belt around hir waist.
"Why are you two always bashing my cartoons?" asked Serge.
"I find his cartoons quite interesting actually", said a fourth voice. Nightrose and Serge whirled around to see who had spoken. "And it helps to prove that Serge is still immature."
"Are you saying that I’m immature Faera? After all, I enjoy those cartoons as well." asked Blackstar who still had hir back turned to the young felitaur. "And here I thought I had earned your respect. You know, after saving your life?"
"Why, I meant nothing of the sort," said Faera, "you know the bitch is going to run the instant she sees us. You and I can keep up with her, but I’m afraid your biped teammates won’t be able to keep up. I recommend that they provide assistance from your runabout."
Nightrose glared at the felitaur. She didn’t like the idea of leaving her partner alone, but had to admit that Faera had a point. She got close to Faera so that only she could hear, "you had better bring hir back alive, or not come back at all. Got it?" Faera nodded, "good. Because if you don’t I’ll hunt you down, kill you, and use you as a throw rug."
Faera nodded again. As Nightrose began returning to the Star, Faera shook her head. That Caitian was scary sometimes, even to a mercenary as experienced as her, when it came to her partner. Faera returned her attention to the old wolftaur bitch that she and Blackstar were about to take on. She noticed another taur talking to the old wolftaur for a minute before handing her something and leaving. From this angle, and the clothing of the taur Faera couldn’t tell who it was. Faera shrugged it off.
Blackstar noticed it as well, and figured they would find out soon enough who it was, once they captured her. She was the only criminal that had evaded Blackstar more then five times. This wolftaur was Parishka, the mother of Snowfall, Blackstar’s sister and Denmate. Parishka was also a wanted criminal, charged with, kidnapping, assault on officers of the law, assault on civilian and Star Fleet ships, and attempted piracy, among other things. It had all started two years ago when the old wolftaur’s daughter ran away from home, and sought help from a team of mercenaries. It wasn’t long before Blackstar began working on finding Snowfall’s closest relative through a DNA test, only to learn that the two closest relatives were Stareye, hir father, and hirself. After attempting to negotiate some sort of solution with Parishka, she tried to kidnap her own daughter. After she was arrested, Parishka broke out of prison and began trying to get revenge on Blackstar for embarrassing her and for kidnapping her daughter, or so she claimed. It was after the first battle between the two that Star Fleet authorized Blackstar to apprehend Parishka by any means necessary.
Faera noticed that Blackstar was deep in thought, "are we going to sit on our tails all day or are we going to take that bitch down?"
Blackstar grinned, "So, we split the bounty fifty-fifty?" Faera nodded. "Then let’s do it! You should take her from the opposite side. She’ll be less likely to notice you, whereas she’ll be on the look out for me." Faera agreed and began maneuvering to the opposite side of Parishka. While Parishka was deep in thought Faera and Blackstar approached her. "Parishka, you are under arrest on multiple charges of assault, kidnapping, arrest, and do I really need to tell you everything you already know about? Now surrender!"
The old wolftaur laughed, "Do you really think that you will succeed after you failed so many times that I’ve actually lost count. Although I must admit you have avoided my traps on many occasions. In fact you even seem to come out stronger then before. Perhaps I should finish this today. But to be honest I can’t wait to show you what I have in store for you. Once you’re dead, Snowfall will return to me."
Blackstar shook hir head, "Listen to yourself Parishka! You need help, you’re mentally unstable. If anything, you causing my death would actually push hir farther away, assuming that’s possible of course. I don’t know what you did to make Snowfall so angry with you that shi would run away, but all you’re doing is pushing hir farther away. If you really want hir to come back you should surrender."
Parishka shook her head, "no, no, no. You’re lying. Those are all lies! You may have turned my daughter against me, but I’m not the only one who’s been betrayed. You are foolish to trust a crew of mercenaries that’ll do anything for money."
Blackstar could hardly hold hir temper in check. Hir crew would do a lot of things for money, but they would never do any illegal jobs. They might occasionally break laws but, usually there was a good reason behind it. "It doesn’t matter. I’m still taking you down."
"No, I think not," said Parishka. "One, I have complete technical readouts for all the ships in your little fleet, and I will soon exploit their weaknesses. Two, you’ll have to catch me first." Parishka ran away at full speed, and Blackstar and Faera gave chase.
The old wolftaur was just out of reach of the mercenary’s reach, so Blackstar pulled out hir stunner, but Parishka took a pock shot and Blackstar lost hir grip, dropping the weapon. Dammit, thought Blackstar, I should have brought more fire power. Blackstar may not have had any weapons with hir anymore but there was more to hir then meet the eye. Shi put on an extra burst of speed and got ahead of Parishka and quickly cut hir off, bringing the chase to a dead stop. Before the old wolftaur could respond another grey blur was on her back with an arm around her neck. "It’s over Parishka."
Parishka just laughed, "You’re right. It is over, for you. Look were we’re standing." Blackstar looked down and saw nothing but the people on lower levels. This entire section of flooring was made out of some type of glass. Parishka, struggling for breath, pulled out an odd looking device. "Good-bye, Blackstar."
She pressed the one button on the device, and it created a loud screeching sound. As a reflex Blackstar covered hir ears, but it did little good as the floor literally fell out from underneath hir. Time seemed to slow down as the two felines and the old wolftaur began to fall through the shattered floor. Faera couldn’t believe that after everything she had done that she would die during a simple job of catching an old wolftaur. Her mind quickly went to all her unfinished projects, all her unachieved hopes and desires, and how she would never achieve them. As the ground rose up her world faded to blackness.
Author’s Notes: This story basically covers the basic background of the main characters, and introduces some secondary characters. Faera is the alter-ego of my best friend, and is a grey furred female felitaur. My own alter-ego is Blackstar, a white furred chakat with a black star-shaped fur patch on hir back, hence the name. Nightrose, is Blackstar’s partner, the reason will be explained later. After all I can’t explain everything now, then what reason would you have to read the rest of the story? Will Blackstar survive? Will the Blitz team capture Parishka? Will people stop making fun of Serge’s cartoons? If Blackstar dies will the series be over? Find out next time on Blackstar’s Adventure’s!
Continued in Episode 2
Story and Characters are copyright of Alex Wiegerling unless otherwise stated.
Faera is copyright of Ileah Pankratz and used with her permission.
Chakat universe is copyright of Bernard Doove.
Boyce Garald Kline Jr, Rosepetal, Zhane and family are copyright Boyce Garald Kline Jr.
The Folly and her captain are copyright of Allen Fesler.
Skunktaurs are copyright Bob Reijns.
If I’ve managed to step on anyone else’s toes (or paws, claws, tails, or other various appendages) let me know at chakatblackstar@notmail.com and I’ll either give you credit or change my ‘tale’.
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