Page 14 of Neverwylde 6
“Lieutenant Kelen Chambliss, former pilot of the Terran military space craft,Manta.”
“Tell us your version of how your ship came to crash on the neverwylde planet.”
Kelen stared at them for a moment in stunned silence. “Pardon me. On the what?”
“On the neverwylde planet,” Duruk repeated.
“Pardon me, D’har, but we thought the planet was called Ganj.”
“That may be,” Duruk stated. “The term ‘neverwylde’ is what we call that form of spacial phenomena.”
Kelen stared at them wide-eyed. “What kind of phenomena, if I am allowed to ask?”
“Any planet that has undergone any sort of cataclysmic catastrophe, yet is somehow able to continue to sustain life.”
“Our scientists have been trying to study such worlds for decades,” commented one of the other Seneecians seated at the table.
Kelen latched onto that bit of information. More importantly, on the undisguised interest the Seneecians displayed regarding it.By golly, Dox had been right all along. It wasn’t so much the name of the planet, but what type it was.
“We are waiting for your statement,” Duruk reminded her.
Taking a Parade Rest stance, she assumed as diplomatic a face as she could muster. “We were ordered to patrol the Bav Tor Orris sector of the Plamof Nebula.”
“You do know that sector is under Seneecian rule, do you not?” another man at the table remarked.
She nodded. “It’s where Seneecian, Bav Torian, and Corrividite space intersects. We sometimes refer to it as the Plamofian Triangle.” She paused, waiting to see if anyone had anything to add to her comment. When no one did, she continued.
“We entered Bav Torian space. At that time we observed a Seneecian warship trespassing, in clear violation of the Plamofian Treaty. We attempted to make contact with the warship, but we received no response. We tried a second time, and that’s when the warship fired on us and took off for Seneecian space.”
“How far into the Bav Torian sector were you when you encountered the ship?” a fourth Seneecian queried.
“Less than two parsecs.”
“What happened after the Seneecian warship supposedly fired on you?” Duruk asked.
“We followed the ship to make certain it re-entered Seneecian space. It continued to fire on us. It was then that Captain Arvey ordered us to fire back. We continued to chase it, when we encountered what we now believe was a wormhole. It appeared without warning, taking the Seneecian warship into it. I tried to steer our ship out of its pull, but was unsuccessful. We were swallowed into it, where, eventually, we crashed on the planet at the other end.”
She noticed that none of the three faces in the holo view made any remarks, although they tended to display questioning expressions, or the occasional frown.
“We are interested in learning more about this supposed alliance between Terrans and Seneecians. Who proposed the truce?” the first man brought up. Kelen mentally dubbed him as Tiger, due to his dark bronze and brown striped pelt.How do I address these men? Are they all D’hars?She chose to play it safe and use a generic form of respect.
“Idid, sir.”
By the surprise on their faces, that was not the answer they were expecting or had anticipated.
“Go on,” Tiger ordered.
“We encountered each other in one of the temples on the planet’s surface. We were on the verge of attacking each other when I brought up the point that we all were survivors on this world. And if any of us expected to survive long enough to be rescued, we’d need to rely on each other.” She felt the tug of a smile on her lips. “While I was arguing that point, we were attacked by a large group of indigenous creatures, which we managed to fight off. It was then both sides decided on a temporary truce and to ally ourselves with each other until which time we were able to leave the planet and resume our regular lives.”
There were some murmurs exchanged, after which the second Seneecian, whom Kelen secretly dubbed Spot, spoke up.
“Do you have specific knowledge of how Por D’har Kyber Nau Kil was able to wrest his promotion from D’har Plat audo Reen?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Tell us about that.”
“D’har Plat, along with a few of his crewmen, met up with us. Plat insisted on negating the truce between species. Kyber refused. Their argument escalated to the point where Kyber was forced to fight him as per the rules of Tooth and Nail.”
