I like this story, although it really, really seems improbable. With a name like Casmir Dabrowski, you’d think he was a dweeb and couldn’t do anything. Well, you’d almost be right, but some how this guy manages to get things done in the most improbable way possible. He seems to be a young scientist and professor that was chased away from a rather dull university life to becoming a “friend” with a notorious pirate and bad guy, to capturing a rogue starship attempting to escape Kingdom space!
I wrote “friend” that way, because Tenebris Rache doesn’t have friends. Either you’re working for him, or you’re dead! Rache seems to like Casmir and even has a need for Casmir’s roommate, Kim Sato. She is also a scientist and academian previously working at the same university with Casmir.
After fleeing from the orbiting refinery that blew up, Captain Laser Bonita and her ship, the Dragon, were flying towards the Kingdom research vessel orbiting a frozen moon. They new that the research vessel once had a crew of mostly civilian archeologist who had found something on the small moon. As they approached the research vessel, they tried to make contact, but were unsuccessful. They didn’t know why, but were eager to find out.
They did contact a Kingdom warship that was captained by an old enemy of Casmir. His orders were to destroy the research vessel since he was told there was no one alive on-board due to some kind of contamination. He forbid the Dragon from docking with the research vessel, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t send over their android that Casmir had built for his self protection some while back. So, the android goes inside the research ship and finds a whole group of people clustered in a contamination free bio-hazard room with a magnetic shield around it. He also found a lot of dead bodies that were not in the protected area.
So, the Kingdom warship captain wants Casmir to come to his vessel so he can interrogate him using some powerful truth serum. Casmir really has nothing to hide so he voluntarily goes and submits to the interrogation. Meanwhile, remember Tenebris Rache? Well, he’s got a shuttle heading for the Dragon also and he wants Kim Sato. He gets her since there’s nothing aboard the Dragon to fight pirates with, so he takes her down to the small moon and into a deep, deep cavern. It’s here that Kim finally figures out that something with this ship or maybe even the stargate pieces Rache is seeking are giving off a deadly radiation; one that they can’t even see!
Well, the fun has started now. Casmir eventually talks his way aboard a rogue starship trying to steal parts of the stargate. Now he has to find a way to keep it from both the Kingdom and Tenebris Rache. He doesn’t really trust either party to use the stargate in the right way. Of course, this doesn’t make either party happy. I guess Casmir and Kim are no longer bored with life, right?