In the confines of a police station back on the giant hub planet of Nexus One, Joval was talking to Saleek. They were not alone, however – in the same room were Patrick, Kracht, Ellu and the police officers Le’Mi, Tylorran and Hazir too.
Joval started off by saying, ‘Well, you’ve done some pretty wild things Saleek, but this has to be the craziest thing you’ve ever been involved with.’
‘So far. Gimme a ship with a full tank of fuel and a couple of weeks and I’m sure I could top it,’ replied the lyan who was looking at Joval with a cheeky grin on his face.
Joval let out a small sigh in exasperation before continuing. ‘This might be a game to you my friend, but it’s not to me. This is my job – I follow the law and I have to act accordingly if I catch someone who has broken it.’
Ellu shared a worried glance with Patrick at this but kept her lips sealed and said nothing. Saleek appeared unfazed and leaned back in the chair in which he was currently sitting.
‘C’mon, man,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to gimme this speech every time you pull me in here. You know the deal as much as I do, so let’s get down to it.’
Joval now let out a louder sigh and clenched his jaw in irritation at the lyan’s flippant behaviour. He looked hard at Saleek before pointing at his fellow police officers, who were standing patiently behind and to the right of him.
‘You see these people behind me, Saleek?’
The spiky alien nodded once.
‘They are good, honest, hard-working police officers who operate under my command. We are a squad, I am their leader and as such I have to set an example for them to follow. I cannot allow them to see me turning a blind eye to those who break the law, no matter how close to them I may be.’
Saleek snorted. ‘Man, you’ve really gotten uptight since you made Sergeant, haven’t you?’
Joval rolled his eyes at this. ‘Saleek, I want you to take this seriously for just a few seconds. Do you think you can manage that?’
Saleek looked at the floor, then at Kracht, then at Ellu, then at Patrick before turning back to look at Joval once more.
He said, ‘OK fine. Lay it on me.’
Joval paused before saying, ‘All right. You have become mixed up in something that is so big and shrouded in so much secrecy that I don’t even understand it all myself.’
Saleek’s forehead creased and he leaned forwards in his chair before saying, ‘Huh? What are you talkin’ ‘bout?’
‘I do not have any charges, as such, to press against any of you,’ explained Joval, hoping that this would make Saleek and the others relax and become more cooperative. ‘The only thing that I know is that you have stolen an item from Mr Vallan. However, that item does not even belong to Mr Vallan in the first place so you can’t really have stolen it from him. You were in a fairly remote star system aboard your own ship and minding your own business as far as I can tell. So, once all this is over, I am going to let you go. Just drop the attitude in future, will you Saleek? Then we won’t have any problems.’
The lyan was slightly taken aback by this but upon reflection he considered Joval’s request to be perfectly reasonable and so he said, ‘OK, that’s fair. No problem. But what were you talkin’ about when you said, “we’re mixed up in something big”? ‘
Joval smiled.
‘Now, allow me to explain a little more. Mr Vallan is up to no good and we have known that for years. Unfortunately, the Galactic Police have never been able to arrest him and charge him with any offences because he is always one step ahead of our investigations and so he always appears clean, at least in the public eye. Now, after conducting an off-the-record investigation into various people, including Vallan, we know why.’
‘What did you find out?’ piped up Ellu, becoming more interested in the conversation.
Joval looked at her with big, dark eyes. ‘Mr Vallan has paid off a lot of people to help him cover his tracks. When I say “a lot”, I mean a lot. From what we can gather, Vallan has paid off many people in the Galactic Police, people who work for Justice Centres and many more besides. That is why he has never been arrested – he has contacts and moles within the Galactic Police ourselves.’
‘Really?’ said Ellu.
‘Unfortunately, that is not all,’ said Hazir. He remained stony-faced with his arms folded as he said, ‘We believe he also has contacts in multiple governments across multiple star systems. To say his influence is great is a considerable understatement.’
‘So....what? You think Vallan is up to something big? I dunno,’ said Saleek, shaking his head. ‘I’ve known the guy for a little while and he’s a textbook creep but I doubt he has plans that are above running his criminal gangs and rakin’ in some credits.’
‘One does not need contacts in governments across half the populated galaxy if one is merely a local crime boss,’ stated Joval very matter-of-factly. ‘I suspected Vallan might have been up to something before all this even started but I had no idea that so many people were involved. The fact is, I believe he is working for someone else and I believe that they are planning something big – something that at the very least, could change the political landscape across the galaxy and, at worst, could result in large-scale conflicts across the galaxy.’
Saleek considered this for a while in silence, whilst Kracht looked bored, Ellu looked thoughtful and Patrick looked like he had no idea what was going on at all.
Eventually, the lyan spoke again. ‘You guys got any hard proof of any plans?’ he asked.
‘We don’t have much...at the moment,’ admitted Joval. ‘However, we have recovered some limited information from the settlement you showed us on that planet in the Barren Lands. From this information we have been able to decode some encrypted messages that Vallan has sent to people, and we have acquired information from some other sources as well. Suffice it to say that I am rather worried about what might happen, unless we do something.’
‘I’m almost afraid to ask this question,’ said Saleek as held Joval’s gaze, ‘but what does all this have to do with us? What can we do about it?’
‘Right now, I am not certain. However, here is what I propose: I am going to let you go but I want you all to remain in contact with me and my team as criminal informants. You will have no blemishes on your records from this incident. I am confiscating the artefact that you took from Mr Vallan and I am giving it to the Natural History Museum of Nexus One-’
‘Hey, you can’t take that artefact! That’s my ticket to gettin’ paid! You think I rescued the human for the good of my health or somethin’?’ exclaimed Kracht suddenly. After a few moments of awkward silence with everybody looking at him, the large buskpod reluctantly sank back into his chair and muttered, ‘Ah, forget it.’
He crossed his muscular arms and sulked quietly on his own as the conversation continued.
‘I’m sure that the archaeologists in the museum will be thrilled to have an actual specimen of Darforian culture. That should keep them busy for months,’ continued Joval. ‘The area of land known as the Spay’Ar dig site, where Mr Vallan originally excavated the artefact, has been abandoned. I have ordered some junior officers to patrol the region and maintain a continuous presence there in case anybody such as Vallan decides to come back and visit the site again.’
‘Why a handful of junior officers and not full teams with tactical support?’ asked Ellu with a confused look on her face.
‘I think I know the reason,’ said Saleek as Joval paused for a moment. ‘You’re still doing things off the record, aren’t you?’
Joval sighed and replied, ‘Unfortunately, that is the case. With Mr Vallan having so many contacts in so many different organisations across so many different systems, I don’t know who to trust. Right now, the only people who know about this are the people in this room and few other officers from another precinct. That’s it.’
‘While I understand you’re being cautious, I fail to see how a handful of people like us could make a difference against someone like Vallan,’
said Ellu.
‘As much as I hate to say it, Joval,’ said Saleek, ‘Me, Patrick and the others ain’t police officers like you guys. We don’t have to investigate criminals and bring ‘em to justice. This all sounds really dangerous and not worth all the hassle, to be honest. I have enough trouble keeping my ship fully fuelled and my belly full of food these days.’
‘You never seemed to have a problem with danger before,’ challenged Joval.
‘That was when I knew what I was gettin’ myself into,’ argued Saleek. ‘I like havin’ a pre-planned escape route and I hate not knowing what I’m involved in. I’m not gonna spy on Vallan or any of his cronies for you – Vallan is seriously pissed at me and wants me either dead or locked in one of his torture chambers. Sorry dude, but the answer is no.’
Joval was briefly taken aback by the human slang with which he was unfamiliar but quickly regained his composure.
‘All right, Saleek. All right,’ he said. ‘I get your point. You don’t want to put yourself at risk without me doing the same. I get that. OK fine, I’ll move on the info that I already have. I will publically arrest those police officers and others that I know to have received payoffs from Vallan and I will make this all public. Everyone will know.’
Everyone in the room remained silent at that until Saleek piped up one last time. ‘And?’ he prompted with an arched green eyebrow.
Joval let out a small chuckle and said, ‘And I promise I’ll try to be a better friend in future. I have been too wrapped up in my work and neglected too many aspects of my life because of it – including my friends. So I will try to change that. And the first thing I’m going to do is give you access to a credit account – whenever you need money for food or fuel or anything like that, you can take it from that. I don’t want you pulling ridiculous stunts like this just to scrape together enough credits to refuel your ship. No matter what crazy things you do or how you live your life, we are still friends. Agreed?’
Saleek couldn’t help himself and grinned. ‘Agreed, good buddy. Let’s shake on it!’
The lyan held out his hand. Joval looked quizzically at it before holding his own hand out. Saleek grabbed it and shook it forcefully.
‘It’s a human custom. Somethin’ they do when they reach an agreement,’ explained Saleek with a smile.
‘Curious,’ commented Joval. ‘But oddly enjoyable. So we understand each other? No more double-crossing crime lords from now on? If you ever need help, come to me first, OK?’
‘Can’t promise “forever”,’ said Saleek with a wink as he withdrew his hand from Joval’s grip and ended the handshake. ‘But “for now” sounds about right. I’ve had enough excitement for a while. Think I’ll lay low for a bit.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ said Joval as he stood up from his chair and motioned for everyone else to do the same. ‘Come on everybody. Let’s get you signed out and then you’re free to go.’