them. Afterwards, Maaz personally escorted Tzal back to where Akudavex was tied up in her ship bay to offer the crew his personal praise and reinforce Tzal’s order for complete secrecy concerning the new aliens. Coming directly from an OverFleet-Master, perhaps the hypnotic conditioning would be reinforced sufficiently to prevent the news from escaping. But then, one never really knew, where the immaturity of the Rak ego was concerned.
OverFleet-Master Maaz was still stinging from the extraordinary destruction of three complete Rak fleets, tentatively under his command. That any Rak ships had survived at all to bring invaluable information back was the incredible result of unthinkable personal initiative of a lowly squadron-master. Of all the ships under Maaz’ direction, it was now one of those same few ships that survived the catastrophe that brought back the location of yet another star-faring prey species. Maaz understood coincidence, but he didn’t believe coincidence could be stretched quite this far. It felt more like fate… an inexplicable conversion of events that literally reeked of manipulation by a higher power.
Ship-Master Tzal had displayed uncommon foresight in ordering complete secrecy concerning these new aliens. Maaz knew that his personal reinforcement of Tzal’s secrecy orders to his crew would not hold forever. He needed time to get this information to Quadrant-Master Raan when he returned from Raku, and so, he needed to get the Akudavex away from Troxia to help its crew maintain their silence by isolating them from other Raknii. Yet, he also wanted to keep Tzal close at hand to report directly to Raan immediately upon his return. How could he remove Tzal as a member of Akudavex ' crew and reassign the ship without making it appear as a disciplinary action for either Tzal or the crew?
The answer came to him in the night.
Although still somewhat drowsy, Tzal couldn’t help staring at himself in the mirror of his new quarters within the station proper. OverFleet-Master Maaz had shown up personally at the foot of the Akudavex’ boarding ramp with six female Dolrak in tow. Tzal had never heard of mass promotions given to an entire ship’s crew before, but that’s exactly what happened. One-by-one, each crew member was summoned to an isolated area of the ship and ascension rites performed. After the hypnotics were administered and their new rank-stones installed, imperial marines bodily carried each semiconscious crewmember back to their sleeping berths to recover.
Tzal went last. After seeing his deputy’s new amethyst ship-master’s stone shining from between and above Unak’s closed eyes, it gave him an odd feeling to know that he was losing Akudavex . But he knew it was doubly necessary, not only to allow him to assume his new duties, but to also give Unak the space to assimilate into his, without a senior master looking over his shoulder.
Tzal had been surprised when first awakening to find he was no longer aboard Akudavex , but was in station quarters uncomfortably similar to those he’d been imprisoned in — with imperial marine guards stationed at his door during the time he’d been quarantined prior to the inquest. When he managed to stagger to the mirror in the bathing area, he’d been absolutely shocked. His new rank-stone wasn’t the right color. It was a dark-blue sapphire… the stone of a squadron-master.
Tzal was astounded to find that he’d been selected to assume Drik’s old position as squadron-master of the 14 surviving ships of his Region-3 squadron, and was temporarily assigned to Maaz’ personal staff until the remainder of his squadron returned from their individual missions. It was reasonably assumed that Drik would either be promoted, or killed for his audacity in reprogramming his squadron’s computers. Only the supreme-master knew which, but either way, Drik would definitely not be returning to assume his old position as squadron-master, so the open
OverFleet-Master Maaz was still stinging from the extraordinary destruction of three complete Rak fleets, tentatively under his command. That any Rak ships had survived at all to bring invaluable information back was the incredible result of unthinkable personal initiative of a lowly squadron-master. Of all the ships under Maaz’ direction, it was now one of those same few ships that survived the catastrophe that brought back the location of yet another star-faring prey species. Maaz understood coincidence, but he didn’t believe coincidence could be stretched quite this far. It felt more like fate… an inexplicable conversion of events that literally reeked of manipulation by a higher power.
Ship-Master Tzal had displayed uncommon foresight in ordering complete secrecy concerning these new aliens. Maaz knew that his personal reinforcement of Tzal’s secrecy orders to his crew would not hold forever. He needed time to get this information to Quadrant-Master Raan when he returned from Raku, and so, he needed to get the Akudavex away from Troxia to help its crew maintain their silence by isolating them from other Raknii. Yet, he also wanted to keep Tzal close at hand to report directly to Raan immediately upon his return. How could he remove Tzal as a member of Akudavex ' crew and reassign the ship without making it appear as a disciplinary action for either Tzal or the crew?
The answer came to him in the night.
Although still somewhat drowsy, Tzal couldn’t help staring at himself in the mirror of his new quarters within the station proper. OverFleet-Master Maaz had shown up personally at the foot of the Akudavex’ boarding ramp with six female Dolrak in tow. Tzal had never heard of mass promotions given to an entire ship’s crew before, but that’s exactly what happened. One-by-one, each crew member was summoned to an isolated area of the ship and ascension rites performed. After the hypnotics were administered and their new rank-stones installed, imperial marines bodily carried each semiconscious crewmember back to their sleeping berths to recover.
Tzal went last. After seeing his deputy’s new amethyst ship-master’s stone shining from between and above Unak’s closed eyes, it gave him an odd feeling to know that he was losing Akudavex . But he knew it was doubly necessary, not only to allow him to assume his new duties, but to also give Unak the space to assimilate into his, without a senior master looking over his shoulder.
Tzal had been surprised when first awakening to find he was no longer aboard Akudavex , but was in station quarters uncomfortably similar to those he’d been imprisoned in — with imperial marine guards stationed at his door during the time he’d been quarantined prior to the inquest. When he managed to stagger to the mirror in the bathing area, he’d been absolutely shocked. His new rank-stone wasn’t the right color. It was a dark-blue sapphire… the stone of a squadron-master.
Tzal was astounded to find that he’d been selected to assume Drik’s old position as squadron-master of the 14 surviving ships of his Region-3 squadron, and was temporarily assigned to Maaz’ personal staff until the remainder of his squadron returned from their individual missions. It was reasonably assumed that Drik would either be promoted, or killed for his audacity in reprogramming his squadron’s computers. Only the supreme-master knew which, but either way, Drik would definitely not be returning to assume his old position as squadron-master, so the open
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