The Yuthara Pact

Chapter 1: Flight of the Phoenix (Part 2/2)

By the time the Cataloger reached Kilik he was tired and ready to call it a day. He dropped off the prisoner at the nearest Yuthara Pact prison and sped off to the capitol building to report his findings, as were his orders. He was permitted into the council room almost immediately. As soon as he entered the room he removed his helmet and took a seat at the council table. All fifteen of the council members were staring expectantly at him.

"Cataloger, what of the Lulthrasi smuggler?" asked the head councilman Uurias Statei. He was the only non-human on the counsel and a native to Kilik. The Kilikans were naturally an ocean race, but could also breathe above and below water. The planet Kilik was like a sister planet to the old earth. It was almost exactly like the old planet except it held four-percent more water. Perhaps this is why Kilik was the capital of the Yuthara Pact government, which increasingly was dominated by humans.

"He is currently being held at a Kilik prison twenty-three miles away. Prison 56-234, cell block 11387" answered the Cataloger. "His ship is destroyed and he has taken minor wounds. He has one blaster shot through each hand and may experience pain and swelling in his throat and on his shoulder when he awakes."

He took out a data-drive from a pouch on his belt and inserted it into the appropriate slot on the table in front of him. Holographic screens popped up in front of each council member. "Here is an outline of his ship and a diagram of the weapons both on the ship and used by the mark. All information that was installed on his ship and all information I have found out about him and any links in his dealing are being downloaded now onto your database."

With this, the Cataloger stood up and took out another data-drive to insert into the slot. It asked for a password from Uurias, which he punched in, and 12,000 Yuthara Pact marks were downloaded onto the data-drive. With this complete, the Cataloger retrieved his data-drives, causing the holo-screens to disappear, and began to walk out of the room.

"Cataloger, wait" said Uurias. The cataloger turned around to face Uurias. "We have reason to believe that this Lulthrasi smuggler was the leader of a huge smuggling fringe group. Have you found any evidence to support this?"

"Everything I have found out about him is now on your database, but no, he seemed to be an everyday smuggler. Skilled, yes, but nothing else." With this he turned and left the room to go home and have a restful night of sleep. If the council needed him they could give him a call on the holo-caller. He did not like to talk to the council. He spent close to ten years running from them and had only been working for them for around a year. Something about Uurias just made him want to shoot him, but they paid extremely well and he was not about to throw away good marks for a single moment of pleasure.

The Cataloger still needed to dock his ship in a long-term dock, so he would have to take a slight detour and then take a shuttle to his home. The docking fee was a mere 100 marks, so he paid without hesitation. The shuttle ride to his home was not the most pleasant ride, but people tended to stay away from him as much as they could so he had plenty of room to himself.

When the Cataloger got to his apartment block he had to take an elevator all the way to the 892nd floor. Fortunately, his apartment was close to the elevator. When he stepped out of the elevator he was about to walk down the hallway to his room when he heard a familiar sound. It was a slight clicking noise. These clicks were the sounds of someone trying to manually slice past his security computer and break into his room. The sound was familiar because he used to do the same thing back when he was an assassin and a bounty hunter. He rarely had to do it anymore because the council had given him a key card that could override any security computer inside the core worlds, and the core worlds are where he did most of his work.