Free SODIUM:6 Defiance by Stephen Arseneault Page A

invited him on the Saxon for our travels to the other planets. He was the first Kooze to have ever flown at 1,000 times the speed of light. He was extremely impressed by the minimum of our technology we had decided to reveal, and was particularly fond of our BGS suits. The next two months were spent touring the Kooze systems and establishing relations with the government of each species. Again, it was an anthropologists dream.
    We had soon moved on from the Kooze system on our continued exploration mission. Our next stop was the Trapezium. Again, it was a system of young stars which would not normally support life. Upon our arrival it was determined that there were no habitable planets, but there was a cluster of five large stations that were held together with a series of tubes.
    The five stations each had a different appearance. The largest of them was green and had the look of hundreds of bubbles that had formed together. What appeared to be gun-ports lined each of the docks where freighters and transports came and went in a continuous stream. Several large cruiser class military ships were parked just off its main transportation hub as an obvious deterrent to attackers.
    The next station to its right was a pristine white. The rounded modular sections that comprised the station were topped with spires that protruded deep into space. Again, traffic moved about and was guarded by more military craft.
    The third station was a dull gray and its construction was a series of tubes that were bound together similar to an old style pack of hot dogs. Tubular dull Gray military ships were camped out on its exterior.
    The final two stations were similar in appearance with boxy structures built upon boxy structures. Some wore paint while others displayed the look of stainless steel. Hundreds of much smaller destroyer sized craft were parked in rows in a semi-circle going out from the final two stations. Large tube shaped connections bound each station to the next.
    We parked and observed for five days until Harris had enough of the language decoded that we could attempt to communicate. Fifteen minutes later an ambassador was offering a greeting as a military commander asked questions of our business. We were explorers, who came with the purpose of establishing relations.
    Ambassador Shizen of the Remmik was standing with his aid when we stepped out of the Saxon. His long spindly gray fingers extended in a welcoming gesture. I returned a wave as I looked around the space-dock. Two other ships were unloading cargo while one boarded passengers. The Remmik station was the white one with spires. The modular buildings that lined the floor of the port were similar to the external architecture of the station.
    The Remmik were the keeper of faiths for Bolin Station. Nine species of beings made up the five stations that had joined together 4,244 Earth years before, during the Bolin Adjournment. Except for the Remmik, their histories had been broken with no known planet of origin. They each had existed on their station for thousands of years, drifting through space from parts unknown before joining with the Remmik.
    The Freg had been the first to arrive and when the two stations combined the Bolin calendar was set at the year zero. They were followed by explorers from the Girris and Delwins whose station joined 322 years later after a lengthy maneuver. The Berbas, Mellonians and Joggs joined in 1277 followed by the Rhus and Teagree in 1589. All nine species adorned the archway at DaCuban.
    The stars surrounding Bolin Station had been plagued with pirates for centuries causing each station to struggle to exist at times. With their resources and fleets joined they eradicated the pirate threat and had lived in peace for thousands of years. The Berbas were adept at science and the Delwins at engineering. But neither species excelled at theory leaving the conglomerate of stations with very little evolution from the time of the Adjournment.
    During the