5
Ni'Kar of the White Spot
(A Fan Fiction story based upon the Universe of the T.V. series "Babylon 5", created by J. Michael Straczynski)
Chapter One: Territorial Incursion
Ni'Kar of the Narn Regime directed his crew to move in on the cargo ship which was infiltrating Narn space. The white-spotted Commander of the Narn heavy cruiser did not want to have to bully a small cargo ship, but its Captain needed to be made aware of the boundaries which separated the nearby Narn colony of Richilari from the Human colony of Io. A treaty had been negotiated, but many Humans were not satisfied with the lines that had been drawn. Many felt that it violated their right of passage through traditionally used trade routes. Ni'Kar wanted to make sure he made a thorough attempt at diplomacy first before he descended into Narn intimidation techniques.
"Open a line of communication to the cargo ship," he told his comm officer, Na'Til.
"Line open, Sir," Na'Til responded crisply.
"Captain of the Io cargo vessel," Ni'Kar began, switching his speech to the Earth language, "This is Commander Ni'Kar of the Narn Regime, aboard the heavy cruiser Ta'Kel. I am here to inform you that you are in violation of the Io-Richilari Treaty, which clearly marks this area of space as belonging to the Narn Regime. I am authorized to escort you out of this zone and into neutral territory. I would very much appreciate your cooperation in this matter."
Ni'Kar waited for a few minutes, letting the Captain digest what he had just told him. Many Humans had been bitter and argumentative about the new boundaries, because they forced them to add more travel time onto their trade routes.
Finally, a return transmission was sent. An image of a grey-haired, dark-skinned Human appeared on the viewing screen.
"Commander Ni'Kar," the male Human responded, "This is Captain Jonas Rhodes. The zone that you are referring to has been contested by the people of Io. We do not consider it to be a part of the Narn Regime, but rather we believe it to be neutral territory. Many of us have used these trade routes for generations, and we don't want to change direction now."
Ni'Kar sighed. He was no doubt going to be in for a long argument. Most Narn Commanders would have fired a warning shot for such impudence from an unarmed Cargo vessel Captain, but Ni'Kar was not like most Narns. He was one who was known for going well out of his way to prevent violent confrontations with other species. Some Narn Captains felt that he went too far out of his way to oblige people who did not want to abide by the rules.
"But who makes the rules for the stars?" Ni'Kar would say in answer to such questions.
As a Councilor of the Fourth Circle and Fleet Commander for the Colonies and Outer Territories, Ni'Kar occupied a high enough political-military position to ask these kinds of questions; but it was nonetheless unpopular to do so, especially among officers of the Narn Military. In addition to commanding the Fleet Leader's heavy cruisier the Ta'Kel, Ni'Kar owned his own ship, the Nu'Ral. When he was out in the Nu'Ral, he did things in his own way, whether the Narn Military liked it or not. Ni'Kar had organized his own regiment within the Military Division, one that was dedicated to finding honorable solutions to political problems such as territory incursion by alien populations. Even so, Ni'Kar was a member of the Narn Military and had to comply with certain rules, especially when commanding a standard military vessel such as the Ta'Kel.
"Captain Rhodes," Ni'Kar replied in as jovial a fashion as possible under the circumstances, "We understand that the people of Io contest the territorial claims of the Narn Regime. But whether they agree or not, I must enforce the boundaries. My Regime requires it of me. If it were up to me, I would allow you to trespass as much as you wanted...but it is not up to me."
Captain Rhodes sighed, as if realizing that the fight was a futile one. Ni'Kar could tell by the sound of his voice that this argument, at least, would be a short one.
"All right, I guess I've got no choice," Rhodes conceded bitterly, "But I think you Narns are getting awfully greedy as you gain power. I'm going to file a complaint with your government. We have to travel through the neutral territory which is occupied by the diplomatic and trading outpost, Babylon 5. We will be sending a report to the Narn Ambassador who is living there, and we will underline your ungracious behavior towards us."
"Yes," Ni'Kar responded in a friendly tone of voice, "The Human space station. My pouch-brother G'Kar is stationed there as Ambassador of the Narn Regime. We are also due to arrive at Babylon 5 in a few days. Perhaps we will see you there, and G'Kar will punish me for my ungracious behavior towards you."
"Fat chance," Rhodes muttered, glowering at Ni'Kar, "But we're filing the protest nonetheless."
"Please do, Captain Rhodes," Ni'Kar encouraged the Human, "If no one files protests, the Regime will think that everybody agrees with its policies."
Rhodes' image faded from the screen. Ni'Kar was not being sarcastic when he told Rhodes this. He secretly wanted the alien governments to challenge the Regime more vigorously, for he himself did not like the aggressive and often dishonorable strategies that his government had been putting forth recently. Most of the alien governments, however, were too afraid of the Narn Regime to seriously challenge it. Even the once-great Centauri Republic had lately been backing down in the face of Narn territorial ambition. The latest incursion into Centauri space had taken place around an agricultural colony named Ragesh 3. Ni'Kar had participated in the assault on the colony, and he had aided and abetted the bullying and harsh treatment of the unarmed Centauri colonists there. The Human Commander of Babylon 5, Jeffrey Sinclair, had thankfully blackmailed his brother G'Kar with some damning information about the Regime's practices around supplying arms to Raiders. The Raiders were dishonorable pirates who stole whatever they could from innocent Cargo vessels such as the one that Captain Rhodes commanded. Because of this threat on the part of Sinclair, and because his government was under scrutiny and pressure to move out of Ragesh 3, G'Kar had ordered the Narn forces to abandon the mission.
Ni'Kar had secretly arranged safe passage for some of the colonists to Babylon 5 in order to escape the wrath of the incursion, but it did not excuse his own participation in the "dishonorable and cowardly raid" on a civilian population, as Sinclair had referred to it. Ni'Kar felt ashamed of himself for having been a part of it, but he truly had been given no choice. Because he was constantly attempting to find honorable ways to deal with enemies, he also constantly needed to prove his loyalty to his Regime in order to prevent himself and his immediate family from being arrested and possibly executed for treason.
Ni'Kar had many enemies within the Regime itself, Narns who felt that he was "too soft" and therefore a danger to Narn aspirations in space. There were times when even he and his brother G'Kar found themselves on opposite ends of political arguments. The reason that he and his brother were not enemies was that they had grown up together during the brutal occupation of their world by the Centauris when they were both young pouchlings. Ni'Kar had protected his little brother, then named Rai'ko, from the cruel dictates of the Centauri Master, who had ordered the execution of the boys' father for the "crime" of spilling hot jhalla on the Mistress of the Household in which their families had been serving.
G'Kar had never forgotten Ni'Kar's love and protection during that awful time, and he had later returned his debt to Ni'Kar by protecting him from political enemies within the Narn political culture. G'Kar had risen far above Ni'Kar's position to become a member of the Third Circle and a ruling member of the Kha'ri, the chief political body on Narn. As such, he had the authority to provide protection for Ni'Kar, especially when he performed actions which were unpopular or unwise. Ni'Kar had owed his life to G'Kar on many an occasion during their adult lives. G'Kar, on the other hand, would not have survived to adulthood had his older brother not been there to soothe the ruffled egos of the Centauri Masters whenever his younger brother so much as growled at them. Ni'Kar would use a mixture of jovial humor and negotiating skills to convince the Centauris not to imprison or kill the young Rai'ko.
Ni'Kar brought his awareness back to the present moment as his navigator, Kar'Lonn, asked for direction.
"Let us set course for Babylon 5," Ni'Kar commanded him, "Open a jump-gate point, Kar'Lonn. I wish to speak to my brother G'Kar in person about this business of territorial incursion."