Chapter I

Due to the immense size of the intro of the last chapter, the author has decided to simply say THE FIC IS THE THING!

I had never been in such close proximity to a Cloppity, but I could tell one thing right off the greeting: they rarely showered. At least, this one didn't. He was only a little taller than I was, with a mouth that never seemed to stop talking. "What are you doing? Unhand me, knave! I am Ragadazar, high priest of Spode!"

"Yeah, yeah." Grejoni rolled his eyes as he drug the creature into one of my containment cells. "Here you go, boss," he said to me with a false smile. "Oh, and you might want these." He handed me a pair of earplugs.

I shook my head before walking into the room with the still talking Cloppity. "I demand to know the reason for this! I know my rights! This is the basis for war!"

"Do not speak to me about war." I sat down at a table, facing across to him. "Now, if we can speak civilly, I want to ask you about the dead creature in my ship."

He tilted his head in confusion. Then, he nodded. "Yes, I needed one to sacrifice to Spode. He does not enjoy waiting on his meals."

"I'll have you know that those creatures are meant to stabilize Terra-scores on colonist planets! That was the only male!"

"It had to be a male of carnivorous dietary habits."

I clenched my fist before letting it go and looking back at him. "From now on, go and hunt your own sacrifices. But while I have you here, I want to ask you something."

"Anything. Go ahead, Commander…"

"Asylon. Anyway, I hear that you have been spreading rumors about something called the Wized. What is that?"

Ragadazar leaned back in his chair. "Ah, an entity as timeless as Spode himself. Well, I suppose the proper term would be 'entities', since it is an entire race! They are the only recorded race to stand up to the-"

"Asylon!" Grejoni rushed in with an excited look on his face. "You should come and see this."

I sighed before turning back to the Cloppity priest. "We'll continue this later." I walked out into the bridge and saw what had excited him so much.

The Civer leader was up on the screen, and he looked… oddly overjoyed. "Oh great Boarin race! We have been greatly satisfied by our trade together, and have hereby decided to offer you our star system."

My eyes grew wide at this. Nothing like this had ever happened since we reentered the Space Age on Notzcar. My mouth was still hanging open when I worked up the energy to say. "Th-Thank you, sir! How much do you need in return?"

"Oh, none at all, good Boarin. You have been such a great help to us, and we have found a new planet to move our colonies to. Oh, but do not worry about have to set up colonies of your own. We are leaving everything exactly as it is, allowing your diplomats to populate the planet. Congratulations!"

The screen went dark as I tried to comprehend what had happened. Grejoni walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, smiling widely. "It's not much, but it's a start. And you're welcome for that."

"How in the world did you manage that?"

He gave me a sly look. "You said I couldn't have moments. Oh, and how much should I charge for a kissing booth?"

I let out a hearty laugh at this. "Oh, to kiss you? That's more of a punishment, isn't it?"

"Speaking of kissing… your new wife also contacted the ship. She's on her way over."

That made my expression drop quickly, as I had just remembered the Cloppity in our custody. "How long before she gets aboard?"

There was a short seven note pattern, which was our empire's anthem, before a door was opened. "Asylon? Where are you?"

I walked out to the loading deck with Grejoni to meet her. "I'm here, Kandita. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just felt like I needed to be here right now."

I was going to say something else when Lesofik made his presence known to all of us. "Sir! There's been a slaughter of one of my creatures!"

"Calm yourself, Lesofik. We've found the culprit and we were in the process of interrogating him right now. So just calm down and-"

Suddenly, the engine began to roar. The whole loading dock began to shake. Looking over to Grejoni, we all rushed onto the bridge to see that our captive was beginning the launch sequence.

I reached into one of my bags and pulled out a small gun, pointing it at the Cloppity's head. "Just where do you think you are going?"

"Shoot if you wish, Captain, but I shall get up and continue my search." The whole ship lurched into the air clumsily as he pulled back on the thruster gauge. Everyone that was standing was knocked to the floor as he entered orbit of Notzcar.

The automatic gravity kicked on, allowing me to run up and knock Ragadazar to the floor. "Okay, now that this problem is solved, answer my question: Where the heck are you going?"

"Okay, okay! Get off of me." I lifted my foot, allowing him to sit up. "I'm looking for Spode's chosen warriors. I'm looking for the Wized."

I cocked my head to the side. "The Wized?"

"Aye. A race that is said to have a vicious bit, claw, and blast. They are bent over, allowing them to have a further reach with their clawed hands. Two magnificent wings are on their backs, letting them fly even without the usage of ships. Oh, if only I could meet one of them."

(Wized: They have a shark-like head, two large wings, clawed hands, and are my personal favorite race to destroy my enemies with… The Boarin are my peace makers).

Grejoni walked up and kicked the Cloppity in the side. "These… Wized are not a good enough reason to steal our ship!"

"What else was I going to use? My own ship was shot down in orbit of this planet. How else was I-"

"Wait a minute." I held up my hand. "What do you mean 'shot down'? We don't have any turrets around our cities."

"I didn't say you shot me down. It was a Grox ship! They found out what I was after and shot me down."

My pulse quickened when I heard this. If the Grox shot him down here, then that meant the Grox knew where our home planet was. "But we didn't register any foreign ships in our atmosphere. We assumed that you were left from an old colony on this planet."

"Of course you didn't register it! The Grox have cloaked ships, as well as the technology to cloak any ships they choose in the surrounding area. But this means that I am separated from my people, even if I don't seek out the Wized. I've had no contact with anyone from Cealinis in the entirety of my time here. That's why I'm taking the ship."

I looked over at Grejoni and Lesofik, and then nodded them over to a corner. Lesofik instantly began attacking the priest. "I don't trust him at all. He destroyed my creatures and possibly the Tribelo population. And for what? A fake ideal? Something that we can't prove?"

Grejoni nodded. "Not to mention that he stole our ship… with us on it!"

I shook my head. "Listen, guys. I think we should possibly cut him some slack."

My friend knocked on my head. Putting an ear to it, he nodded to himself. "Just as I thought. It's hollow, my friend. Are you even hearing what you're saying?"

"I am, and I believe that, at the very least, his return could earn us a new trade route."

"A trade route? He steals the ship and you're suggesting a trade route?"

"We don't have a lot of options here. If we return him, he's their problem and we possibly get something out of it. If we keep him here, he may steal the ship again." I looked over at Lesofik. "If you can look past your specimen, Doctor, what do you think?"

He put a hand to his head. "You do raise a good point, Asylon. But we can't just let him roam about the ship. We are the only three who are supposed to be aboard, so technically even…" he looked over his shoulder at my new bride, "… Kandita is here illegally. Several of our laws are being broken just by our loitering in our atmosphere."

"Then let's get out of our atmosphere. Besides, this gives us a bit of an adventure. Returning a marooned Cloppity. Chasing after the Grox! This is something out of a child's adventure book, yes, but we are the characters now!"

My crew looked at each other before shaking their heads in sync. "Well, you are the captain, Asylon." Lesofik laughed. "If I don't listen to you, then I'm out of a job."

"And you know you can't get rid of me as easily as an old horror story." Grejoni put his hand on my shoulder. "You're the boss. Besides, I might meet a few more females on our travels."

I laughed at this remark. "Remember our talk, Grejoni. The only female I hope we see is Kandita, and even not her at this moment."

"Oh, all three of us know you want to see Kandita right now."

I shook my head as I walked over to the Cloppity. "Ragadazar, as captain of the Boarin's Revenge, I welcome you aboard as we look for your home planet."

His face lit up with a smile of surprise. "Oh, thank you. Thank you a million times. May the grace of Spode lie on your shoulders."

"I may need more than that."

Chapter Complete. Yes, it is the second chapter, meaning this is the second ending. So, R&R AND ADIOS!