King Kruag turned when the Comm Officer, Zelastess, said, "Captain! We have a message on the Psycho-line! It works! It's from Little Sister." Kruag blinked and grinned. "Let me see it." It read of sabotage and disaster. Kruag's rage filled him. He bit off, "Get me Hera Kragg, Chief Inspector at the Judge Advocate's General's office! He spoke quickly, outlining what he wanted. To his surprise, she agreed. He turned to his chief engineer and asked, "Engines ready for FTL?" Lieutenant Argess nodded, and said, "Engines at your command, your majesty, erh...captain, King Kruag!" Lt Zelastess smiled and muttered, "Smooth!, really smooth!" Argess glared at her with his green Cyclops eye as she suddenly said, "Sky-Marshall Reinz wants to talk to to the Captain!" Kruag waved a hand at her and said, "Tell him I'm taking a crap and will be with him in a moment!" She giggled and relayed that, while he asked his secong in command, Commander Hawkwing, "What's the status of our Rangers?" She turned her decorated, hawk-painted head and said, "Dragonfly two just docked, We're ready to leave anytime, now." Kruag nodded and said, "Well then-- RED ALERT! All hands to battle stations! Arm all missiles, and open all missile tubes! Charge all weapons. Comm? Put Reinz through, now." The eldery Commander in Chief of USCOMM forces appeared in holo-form on the bridge. He was furious. He started off, "What in hell are you doing, going to battle-stations? You haven't even cleared Gateway station's air control area!" Kruag stated, "We're leaving to engage the Asuran Battle-ship. We've received word of Space-Battleship-1's sabotage. We're going to lend aid." Reinz exploded, "You CAN'T! You are to defend Balaam from the enemy, NOT go traipsing off to dance with the enemy in deep space! You are ordered to stay on station!" Kruag smiled a smile that had become infamous in the history of Balaam. "YOU planted a spy system, AGAINST YOUR OWN LAW, on Battleship-1! As far as I know--you sabotaged it, too! Hera Kragg from the JAG office is going to arrest you within ten minutes. I trust you know the Inspector General of JAG of the GAO? "One more thing...You can't order ME about! I'm a KING, you fucking MORON! You should turn on communicator about now." Zelastess said, "Laser message from SB-1!" Kruag said, "On port viewer." Dokka Tkarro appeared, looking grim. He said, "Our comm is out, and some of our engineering crew are Missing in Action. We can't fight or move. This is NOT due to enemy action, this is due to sabotage. Someone placed metal hydrogen explosives on board, set to explode when we exited from Hyperspace. We request any aid possible. We'll hold out as long as we can." His image was replaced with diagrams of bomb locations, and wiring of them. A nav chart came up, followed by the damage reports. Reinz looked shocked and exclaimed, "I'm no dirty saboteur! I had nothing to do with that!" Kruag said mildly, "Prove it. You are in command, for the next couple of minutes at least, so you ARE responsible for the atmosphere of prejudice and 'HUMANS FIRST'! You were an active member of that group, until three years ago when you became Sky-Marshall. Isn't that so?" "You may not have planted the explosives, but your underlings DEFINITELY did. The only thing you hate more than us on THIS ship were the human 'traitors' mingling with the non-humans on SB-1! As my Friggian allies put it--YOU are WITHOUT honor!" Reinz looked enraged and spat out, "ANY USCOMM officers in the range of my voice, TAKE THAT SCAV BASTARD INTO CUSTODY! He's lost his mind!" Zelastess shook her head and chortled. Hawkwing turned and said flatly, "I'm Cyclops. I do not stand on formality. YOU are so full of crap, you may be mistaken for a colostomy bag.I respectfully refuse, sir." Kruag waved at him, "Buh-bye! Send me a letter from prison! Engage FTL!" The Nautilus disappeared into Hyperspace. --TO BE CONTINUED!--