Chapter 3: Welcome home

Authors note: This is the first of several chapters that will be based on Gantu's home planet. I have called it Shaelekar based on his species of alien. None of the events will be taking place on the planet itself at the moment, but there will be future events which might later on in the story. Anyway, enjoy chapter 3!

There was a valid reason for Gantu's disapproval of the Grand Councilwoman's decision to partner him up with another member of his own species. Shaeleks were a species accustomed to fighting and giving orders, rather than receiving them. Both of these were things Gantu was actually good at, because even though he had been taken out of the police force at an early stage of his career, he still remembered how aggressive his superiors were. And he had aimed to be like them himself. On his home planet, if you were a weakling who could not fight, you were vulnerable to being ridiculed and seen as a coward. That is why they were so harsh on their criminals. They viewed anyone who broke the law as a weakling, not being fit to be on the planet. Because of the harsh ways they treated their prisoners, the Shaelekean government and the Galactic Federation never saw eye to eye. Of course Shaelekar was still a part of the vast Interplanetary Galactic Federation and they had their own representatives who went to Turo for the extreme trials of criminals. But the Galactic Council had refused to employ any of the Shaelek species into the Armada, as they viewed them too wild and untrustworthy. Of course at the time Gantu had applied, the Council made an exception since he was young and unaccustomed to giving orders. And though Gantu had his moments, he was redeemed trustworthy and an excellent Officer. He had proven that his species were not all that bad, by rising through the ranks at a record pace and reaching the top as Captain of the Galactic Alliance. He was the only Shaelek to ever do this. But when he had slipped up, the Council were very harsh on him about it all. Gantu still remembered the time the Grand Councilwoman made it clear to him to not disobey the Galactic Federation. "If you proceed to follow the authority of those on your home planet and not of the rules we set here, you will find yourself out of the Galactic Armada, Lieutenant Gantu!" Those words had soon put him back in his place.

His reasons for disliking the idea of sharing his ship with a Chief of security of the Shaelek police force was simply as put; he would be too used to giving orders rather than receiving them. And by this, Gantu would feel inferior and even threatened. Call him stupid and weird for thinking this way, but Gantu had fought long and hard (over 15 years to be precise) for his position. He was not up for being challenged by any member of his own species, let alone a powerful Shaelekean Officer in a high position, like he himself was. However, as daunting as it sounded. Having another member of his species on board his ship may prove to be a good thing. Who knows, this Chief Zettar may be a pleasant sort of fellow. He may even be willing to be friends with Gantu. That was what the Captain had hoped for at least. If he could get on with his new Chief of security, that would prove a success in not just the capturing of the criminals, but also his own personal and professional security.

Gantu had spent the next two days preparing his ship for the journey to Shaelekar. Everything had to be arranged. His ship repaired and re-painted (since Zellious Glornack's escape had damaged the ship as well as its crew), the remaining crew all de-briefed on their next mission, supplies ordered and brought onto the ship. You name it! Reuben was no particular help. He spent most of his time either at that new Earth restaurant ordering a ridiculous amount of sandwiches and blowing all of his wages away, or talking to his buddies at the space port. The formerly-evil genetic experiment was surprisingly popular among some of the Federation's more active workers. Gantu couldn't imagine why. Perhaps it was his undying wit and his gossip that they were all drawn to. And of course, Gantu knew that he would be most likely talking about him. But his best friend backstabbing him was not a pressing matter on his mind right now. His new mission and his ambition to succeed had taken up most of his thoughts. He was NOT going to fail the Galactic Council a second time.

On the day of the launch, Gantu had a quick meeting with the Galactic Council, who each wished him luck with his new partner and his mission. Gantu tried to remain as calm and collective as possible, but he felt rather overwhelmed at the very thought of going back home in this sort of situation. He was not planning on making any visits to his former friends on Shaelekar itself. His goal was to meet the Commander, be introduced to this Chief Zettar, be assigned his first mission with his new partner and get on with the task at hand. It was not that he did not wish to see his former friends, but he was not keen on the idea of 'catching up' with anyone after he had just undergone a crisis in his line of work, which had almost cost him his job.

"Approaching the 3rd moon of the planet Shaelekar sir," Officer Hermi announced from behind the controls on his desk. All it took was a tiny glance out of the window to notice the very large planet with 3 separate moons orbiting it. The planet itself was a rather greyish colour, perhaps a reason why the Shaelek species all had grey skin. Compared to the size of the planet Earth, Shaelekar was double the size. And of course unlike Earth, it had 3 separate moons. Two of those moons were pretty much uninhabitable. One was a volcanic desert with constant eruptions taking place and the other a vast sea of gases and toxic waste. The other moon however, was in fact the place the BRB 11,000 was destined for. The police headquarters for the planet, on one big moon. It was the biggest of the three natural satellites orbiting the extra large planet. And of course, from the view of the window, a lot of small dots that could be made out as other ships made their ways in and out of the moon's main space port.

Captain Gantu sat in his high commanding chair and just swatted his hand as a signal for the Officer's to make preparations for landing. He hadn't slept well, again, so he was still groggy and irritable. He wasn't in the mood to meet his new partner today. But he knew he must get it over and done with at some point. And since Gantu's mood wasn't going to change any time soon, now was just as good of a time as ever. Reuben of course was not present on deck. He was below in the Galley managing over things there. Gantu hadn't said much to him since they had left Turo. They weren't mad at each other, nor was Gantu upset with his little yellow companion. He was just apprehensive about the whole affair before him. And when he was apprehensive, Gantu tended to shut everyone out.

"This is the BRB 11,000 requesting permission to land and re-fuel," Officer Hermi spoke through the ship's communicator. Gantu listened as his smaller Officer finally got through to the communications centre on the moon. The speakers were static for a moment after Hermi had requested permission for the ship's landing. Everyone on board the bridge waited impatiently for a response from the other end, and finally, after several seconds, a voice broke through the static and spoke back.

"This is the shuttle port bay of Shaelekar police headquarters to the BRB 11,000. Request to land and re-fuel granted. Landing coordinates being sent."

Both Officer Armilia and Officer Hermi worked on their computers preparing the ship for landing. The Captain kept his attentions focussed out of the window at their ship began to approach the moon's atmosphere. His mind wandered off to thinking about his short time as an Officer in the police force. He remembered his first time entering the space port of this very moon over 20 years ago. He was only a juvenile back then. A Rookie. He had acquired his first ever space craft license while on duty here. Of course, later on, he was able to obtain 4 more for several particular types of space craft, but his first one was still the most memorable. But his time here was short and sweet. Gantu had now become a successful Captain in the Galactic Armada. He wondered what ranks his old colleagues were in. Corporal? Lieutenant? Major? Well they could not possibly be Chief or Commander since both of those positions were filled by two Officers' whom he had never heard of before. He wondered what it took for Chief Zettar to actually obtain the rank of Chief of security. What was so special about him? Did he have an excellent record? Was his skills in hand-to-hand combat better than everyone else's? In any case, this Chief would probably be a very good ally for Gantu to work with, since it was extremely difficult to cut through the ranks in the Shaelek police force. Gantu himself doubted that he would have gotten any higher than the position of Lieutenant if he had stayed on his home world. Going through the ranks in the Galactic Alliance was pips easy when compared to the police force on Shaelekar. But remaining in that rank was a completely different story, as Gantu himself had found out from past experience.

"Preparing for landing on deck A sir," Officer Armilia called out as they headed inside the space port and prepared the ships wheels for the final landing. Gantu, who had remained quiet for pretty much the whole journey, finally spoke.

"Good," he nodded "make sure the ship's defence weapons are disabled. We do not want an accident to happen inside the space port." He was referring to a previous mission where he had returned to Turo and almost made a platform collapse when the laser cannons were not disabled from firing. No one had got hurt from that fiasco, thank Polluxar. But the Captain did have to explain it to the Galactic Council. That of course, was not a memory he liked to reflect upon.

"Yes sir."

After the landing, the crew reported to their Captain who had given the orders for them to remain on the ship. This was not going to be like their trip to Turo. They were strictly here to pick up the Chief and be assigned their first mission by the Commander. They would not be staying the whole day. He hoped anyway. Gantu and Reuben were the only two to be leaving the ship. And Reuben himself was kind of surprised at Gantu's request that he attended the meeting with the Commander and Chief. He wasn't expecting to be accompanying Gantu on this particular endeavour since the two had rarely spoken since Turo. But he did as Gantu had requested. He couldn't deny he was also curious. He wanted to see what the other Shaelek species were like. Were they all big moody blubber-butts like Gantu? He seriously hoped not.

"Remind me again," Reuben began as he and Gantu approached the main exit of the BRB 11,000. "Why do I have to tag along on this trip?"

Gantu picked him up by the shoulders and placed him on his right hand as he spoke "I need you to accompany me on this task, since I want your opinion on this Chief Zettar. Plus, you always tag along with me on things like this anyway."

"Well yeah," Reuben shrugged as he was placed onto Gantu's shoulder "but since you have rarely spoken to me for the past two days, I thought you had fell out with me."

Gantu went to place his hand on the door button, but his hand slipped and fell back to his side as he let out a deep exhale. His features softened and he gazed across to his small little yellow friend in red uniform with a slight glum look on his face. "Look, I'm sorry I've ignored you. I'm just not particularly looking forward to this."

"I can tell," Reuben crossed his arms "but what is so bad about seeing the people from your home planet? They can't be all that bad... right?"

"I'm not sure," Gantu shrugged letting his head fall in a slight defeat "my species are very dominant and authoritarian. I guess I just feel ashamed of myself for going back."

"Why?" Reuben placed a hand on Gantu's tusk as his eyes widened in surprise. He was not expecting to hear that.

"I guess it's after what happened on Earth. Sure I've had a great reputation for the past 5 years, but since what happened the other day with Zellious Glornack's escape, I can't stop thinking about how I've probably brought shame among my own people for being such a failure. We're not expected to fail! And from what I have heard about this Chief Zettar, he has not failed a single mission. Me, I've failed hundreds of times. Twice in my career as Captain, and 625 times when I was working for Hämsterviel."

"Oh," was Reuben's only response. So this what was troubling Gantu all of this time? Him being worried that this Chief of security would better him at everything? It may have sounded petty to most people, but he knew that it was very important to Gantu. In some ways the little Galley Officer pitied his huge friend. He knew that he had a rough time back on Earth, and he knew that his mocking did not help his 'blubber-butt buddy's' situation one bit. But Reuben was made to be a snide little experiment. It was one of his many traits other than making sandwiches and being bone idle. It was what made him, him.

Gantu had given up opening the door at this point. He knew that the Commander and some of his Officer's, perhaps even Chief Zettar being one of them, were out there awaiting his arrival. But something held him back. He had never been this self conscious in his life! Reuben wanted to promise his friend that everything would be fine and that his species would be proud of him. But since he did not know Gantu's species that well regarding general expectations and accomplishing standards, he wasn't too sure if he could keep such a promise. But in any case, he needed to comfort his friend. So he decided to give him the words he needed to hear.

"Gantu, look. I may not be good at speeches. Heck, I'm even worse at giving good advice. But hear me out here. You have Commander Turak and his Officer's out there waiting for YOU. Not for me, not for the other guys in our ship. For YOU, and only YOU. Surely they must have some pride in you. You are after all, the only Shaelek in the Galactic Alliance. Therefore, you are representing them as a species. You've done so good as a Captain, and your reputation is formidable. And as for your so called 'failures' for when you were working for Rat face, they do not count as failures at all. They just proved that you sucked at being the villain. You're too damn soft in all that blubber to pull off being the bad guy. And surely what you say about the Chief isn't entirely true. Surely he's slipped up at least once in his career right? Everyone slips up every once and a while. Even the best, which is what you are! So go out there and make them proud! Make me proud! Do it for me, would you ol' buddy?"

Gantu's frown slowly, but surely, brightened and the encouragement from his friend suddenly gave him a small confidence boost. Reuben certainly wasn't what he claimed to be. He was actually pretty good at giving good advice. Of course Reuben's words were comforting, but Gantu's stubborn pride was always pressured by his own jumbled up thoughts. No matter what anyone said, he still viewed himself not good enough for his position as Captain. Before the entire affair with Jumba Jookiba's trial and the escape of experiment 626, Gantu was a very aggressive and proud Captain who was self conceited and rather stuck up at times about his highly ranked authority. But ever since he was retired and had all of that stripped away, he was reduced to being a soft sap who could take a verbal beating from anyone and did nothing to defend himself from it.

Gantu sucked up everything he feared, everything he dreaded, inside of him. He puffed out his muscled chest and held firm as he pressed the door button in order to exit the ship. As he slowly pressed down, he looked over at Reuben. He simply smiled in encouragement and patted his friend's tusk. Gantu then turned his head back to the door as it finally clicked. It was ready to be opened. He waited one more moment before mustering up the courage to step forward from the frame. And as the door automatically opened, Gantu was greeted with an unexpected and very sudden surprise.

As Gantu stepped out of the doorframe of his huge ship and his large feet made their way onto the ramp, he was greeted with a sound he had not heard in a very long time. Applause! There, right before his eyes, was a sight he had least expected. A crowd of his own species, each of various shades of grey, all in blue police uniform, cheering for HIM! Gantu immediately felt like an idiot for expecting the worst from his fellow Shaelekeans. He wasn't expecting a royal welcome such as this. The whole space port were all in applause as the tall Captain and his little Galley Officer, who remained on his shoulder throughout, made their way down the ramp to greet the Officer's below. Gantu felt a feeling he hadn't felt in years, a sense of honour and pride. It felt good. Very good! Obviously they weren't disappointed in him at all.

"Captain Gantu!" A voice called out from within the crowd. Gantu waved at the crowd of Officer's before him as he made his way down the ramp. And once at the bottom, he heard the voice call out his name and title. Gantu peered curiously as a small group of Officers at the front of the crowd made way for a taller and much older Shaelek who was striding, very proudly, towards him. "Captain Gantu of the Galactic Alliance," the male Shaelek stepped forward, making himself known to him. "We are honoured to be finally acquainted with you!"

Gantu studied the older Shaelek who stood before him in a very high and proud stance. He was taller than Gantu, about a foot or so higher. And much like Gantu, he had muscles which matched his physique and height quite nicely. Gantu could tell he was an older member of the police force, due to the lines on his facial features. Like most alien species, Shaelek's aged with lines and wrinkles developing around their eyes, mouth and on their tusks. And the eyes of the Officer were worn and had lost their bluish glow. Something which Gantu still had, since he was not even reaching the middle age of his species. Actually, Gantu would still be considered a young adult by most of his species since Shaeleks had a rather long life span and did not start looking aged until they were at least 80 years old. This Officer was obviously of higher rank as his uniform was slightly different to the other Officer's beside him. He also had a golden name badge which Gantu could not read from the distance he was stood away from him. The Officer took out his hand and offered it to the younger Captain. Gantu accepted of course and shook it firmly whilst grinning. The Officer shook it for a couple of seconds as he introduced himself.

"I am Commander Turak," he spoke, his other hand placing itself on his chest "we have been awaiting your arrival with great anticipation."

"Have you?" Gantu's eyes widened as the Commander nodded and let go of the handshake.

"Yes sir," he grinned, remaining in his tall stance throughout, "the Grand Councilwoman has told us nothing but positivity's about you and your crew."

Gantu was shocked. Actually, shocked was a bit of an understatement. The Grand Councilwoman hadn't told him of anything bad? Wasn't he aware of Zellious Glornack's recent escape under his charge? Surely it was all over the Intergalactic news. Stories like that usually made it on there. Gantu was still getting over how long the news story on the jailing of Jumba Jookiba and the escape of his experiment 626 had lasted for. Gantu hadn't heard the end of that one. It was on every station. He hoped he wouldn't have to re-live that again with his other escaped convict. Gantu suddenly shook his head 'Positive!' Gantu mentally scolded himself 'think positive, Captain Gantu!'

"Well I am honoured that you think my services to your satisfactory sir," Gantu beamed as the Commander placed an encouraging arm around the Captain's shoulders and guided him forward through the crowd of cheering Officers.

"Come," the Commander said as he gestured for his Officer's to step back in order to make way for the pair "let's get you away from this busy crowd and discuss your return to Shaelekar."

Reuben was just as stunned as Gantu to be greeted with such a warm welcome. Of course he hadn't been greeted personally since it was Gantu's turn in the spotlight. But he didn't mind about that. He was happy that his friend was receiving such a warm welcome from his own species. This would surely boost up Gantu's ego and make him a little less of a manic depressive grump now. And this brought a sense of peace to Reuben's small mind. Reuben himself was actually in a sense of awe at the crowd of Shaeleks. He watched them with an eager curiosity. All of them looked like Gantu, but some were smaller, some were taller, some were thinner and some had huge muscles. Either way, he was surrounded by a sea of Gantu's. Where were the whale or shark jokes when he needed them? There was something Reuben noticed which peaked his curiosity further. He could not see one female Officer within the crowd of males. Reuben had only seen one female Shaelek in his whole lifetime, and that was only for a brief couple of seconds. He still shuddered at the very thought of seeing Gantu's ex-girlfriend stood before them dressed in nothing but a dressing gown with a bunch of curlers springing out of her head. He wondered if all of the female's all ended up as ugly as she did. Perhaps that was why there were no females present. Perhaps they were too afraid to show their ugly faces around other people. Or, a more logical explanation being, the police force did not consist of female Shaeleks. Perhaps it was just a male dominant thing.

"Captain Gantu, it's an honour to see you!"

"You're giving us a great honour sir! I tip my hat to you!"

"You go Captain Gantu, you're the best!"

Those were just some of the comments he had heard as he walked past the variety of male Shaeleks who stood before him clapping with pride. Gantu hadn't felt his highly honoured or admired in such a long time. No one on Turo welcomed him like this after he had returned there with the bad guys. This was a very nice change indeed. He had pretty much forgotten all that he was concerned about moments ago. He was being more than just appreciated by his own kind, he was being idolised.

"This way Captain," the Commander gestured whilst opening a door at the other end of the port. Gantu entered first and thanked the Commander before the older male continued to speak. "I trust you had a pleasant journey since your departure from Turo?"

"Oh, yes sir," Gantu lied. He hadn't had a very pleasant journey at all. His apprehension had made him a sack of nerves. he couldn't eat, sleep or even shower without worrying about this whole business. But he did not wish to admit that to the Commander.

"Good, good," the Commander grinned as he gestured the Captain to sit down. They were now in some sort of office. Gantu guessed it was the Commander's, judging by its size and by the contents which were displayed throughout. Awards and trophies displayed on shelves and in frames on the wall. Various paperwork's and digital holograms scattered about on the desk. But what was the dead giveaway was a picture hologram on the Commander's desk. There, on the hologram, was a picture of an older female Shaelek, a younger female and an even younger son (or perhaps grandson?). The Commander noticed Gantu's eyes upon the picture frame and smiled proudly as he held it up to the Captain to get a better look. "My family." He grinned "my wife, our daughter and her young son. My grandson. Do you have any family Captain Gantu?"

Gantu suddenly felt a sudden rush of sadness wash over him. "No sir," Gantu simply responded, not wanting to go into too much deal about his personal life.

"Well Captain," the Commander spoke highly as he placed the picture hologram back on the desk gently "when you have kids of your own, you'll realize how precious your time is."

Gantu simply nodded at the Commander's comment about children and family. He had never experienced it himself, so he had no opinion on the matter. But there were times he did wonder about it. Was he father material? Heck, was he even husband material? He hadn't spoken to a female Shaelek in years! Nor was he ever likely to, since there were no females present, from what he had gathered, on the space port. Gantu shook off the very thought of families and everything relating to that subject when his Galley Officer, who had strangely remained quiet for such a long time, finally spoke.

"Hey, Commander?" Reuben questioned. The Commander suddenly turned his surprised eyes to the direction of Reuben who waved casually his way. The Commander stepped closer and analysed the small yellow experiment with his squinting eyes.

"What in Blitznak are you?" He questioned, his voice rather bellowing in surprise "a yellow mutant teddy bear or something?"

Reuben's brow arched in some sort of insulted manner. He didn't see that coming. Sure the little spiteful and mean Earth girl, Myrtle, had once described him as "a guy who looks like a teddy bear, but smells like baloney" But how in the Andromeda Galaxy could the Commander of the Shaelek police force mistake him for a teddy bear of all things? Did they even know what a teddy bear was? Oh wait, he forgot. Gantu, the big baby he was, slept with one. Of course they did!

Gantu spoke up as the Commander's head tilted to Gantu's shoulder as he studied the little yellow creature whom he had just referred to as a "yellow mutant teddy bear." Gantu raised a finger and cleared his throat before speaking. "Commander Turak, how rude of me to not introduce to you, my Galley Officer, Reuben. Aka, experiment 625."

"Experiment?" The Commander questioned, head leaning back in a slight surprise.

"He's one of Dr. Jumba Jookiba's, sir," Gantu explained "he's the cousin of the famous 626."

The Commander immediately got it. Who hadn't heard of experiment 626? "Oh, I see. May I ask why he of all creatures, is your Galley Officer?"

"Funny you mention that. I-" Reuben stood to speak, only to have a huge hand shoved over his tiny mouth very rudely. It took all of Reuben's strength not be shoved off of Gantu's shoulder by his enormous three fingered hand. He shot Gantu a very low scowl as he was shut up. Gantu did this so he could explain it all to the Commander without any snide remarks coming from the mouth of his Galley Officer. He didn't need Rueben to interject and ruin his chances of making a good impression on the Commander now.

"I was stuck with him during my time on the planet known as Earth. And when I was reinstated as Captain, I gave him the opportunity to put his powers to good use. He has all of the powers of experiment 626 and is a very loyal Galley Officer."

"I see," the Commander nodded, his face rather unsure of what to make of Reuben's position. He merely shook it off. He couldn't judge someone, or something, he didn't know. He was here to view the strapping young figure who was representing his force in the Galactic Armada. Who he saw fit to employ in his crew was none of his business or concern.

Commander Turak sat down behind his desk. He edged his chair closer to the desk and grabbed some documents and placed them together. Taking a glance at the paperwork, he merely chuckled and placed it to one side. "That's the problem being the Commander of the police force on a huge planet Captain Gantu," he smiled "too much damn paperwork."

Gantu let out a suppressed chuckle and nodded. He knew what he meant. Even the Captain of the Galactic Armada had paperwork all of his Officers pressured him into signing. It was one of the disadvantages of being in any high position. Gantu watched as the paper was placed at the end of the desk. A sudden thought reminded Gantu of what his real reasons for being here were. He decided to make it known to the Commander in the hopes of easing his currently pre-occupied mind.

"Sir," he began slowly "Forgive the sudden change in subject. But I must enquire. When will I be making the acquaintance of my new partner?"

Turak did not tense at all. He actually smirked slightly and shook his head in amusement "Oh you youngens," he chuckled "never have time for your elders."

"Sir, I did not mean any offence!" Gantu jumped in, thinking he had offended the Commander. Turak simply shook a single finger his way and smiled softly.

"No, no, Captain. I was merely joking. I understand your eagerness to meet our Chief of security. And you shall very soon, I promise you."

Gantu was now a bit more at ease, he was still very eager to make the acquaintance of his new partner, since he barely knew anything on his character or anything about him in general for that matter. The Grand Councilwoman was very brief in her description of the guy. Explaining that he was an excellent Officer who had made all of the arrests of the gang members he sought after, interrogating each of them extremely and obtaining pretty much all of the knowledge that the Galactic Council were willing to share with him. Having such an excellent record meant that Gantu would have a better chance at taking the prisoners down with the combined forces of his own security crew. And if this Chief Zettar was as strong and tough as he had hoped for, he would be in for a good show. Surely no criminal could take down two Shaelek's and an entire armed guard of highly trained aliens.

Just before Gantu could respond with his relief in the situation, a sudden loud static sound broke through the speaker on the Commander's desk. It was not your average sound of interference. It was loud. So loud in fact that it made all three people in the room cringe. Reuben in particular.

"OW!" He whined, bringing both of his paws to his ears "Jeez! Blitznaking hell! Guy with sensitive hearing present."

"I apologise," the Commander turned the speaker down with the small dial "we're having temporary technical difficulties with our communications relay at the moment. We're picking up nothing but static and robotic sounding voices."

Suddenly a voice broke through the speaker set, sounding very much like the Commander had just described. Very robotic sounding. "Commander Turak," they could make out "Come in Commander Turak."

The Commander picked up his microphone and spoke into the speaker hastily. "This is Commander Turak. Go ahead."

"Commander," the voice began, the static interference making it difficult to make out "You are required in the command centre. The arrests being made by Zettar's forces have suddenly took a surprising turn. A big police pursuit is now underway."

"Blitznak!" The Commander slammed his fist down and gently caressed his large head with his immense hand. His other hand was still holding the microphone and the person on the other end could barely make out what he had just cursed.

"Sir?"

Turak briefly passed a glance over at Gantu who merely watched the Commander with a concerned eye. This was reminding him all too much of the events of the other day when he himself was commanding a pursuit which had gone awry. Now it seemed it was happening again, this time with the person who was about to be placed among his crew. Turak brought the microphone back up to his mouth and spoke clearly "We will be right there. Tell Chief Zettar not to make any sudden moves on the pursuit until I give the command. I don't want any casualties as a result of the force's recklessness."

"Yes, sir!" The line suddenly went back to static before switching off entirely. Commander Turak placed the microphone back on its stand and gazed back at the awaiting Captain and Galley Officer. He stood, urging Gantu to stand with him.

"Looks like you will be seeing your new partner in action after all, Captain," he began, a hint of distaste behind the cheery demeanour he was trying so hard to portray. He then grasped the shoulder of the younger Captain and ushered him out of the office as they both headed towards the command centre with great haste.

Authors note: The events in the next chapter were originally meant to be in this chapter, but since it is more in-depth with details than compared to what I originally intended, I have decided to split it down the middle and put the police pursuit in the next chapter. I hope you all don't mind. Anyway, Chief Zettar will be making an appearance in the next chapter. In the mean time, I would really appreciate some feedback on my writing style. I don't want to bore you guys if you think the events are going slower than they should. Please tell me what you think. Thank you and I will be sure to update very soon.