TALES OF THE RELIANT

MASSACRE

"Captain," ship's pilot Zack said, "you have a private message coming in."

"Who's it from?" asked John. "Admiral Flagg? Your father?"

"No, sir," Zack replied, shaking his head. He turned around in his chair and faced John, his eyes wide. "It's from Captain Tolar."

"Captain Tolar?"

Zack nodded. "Yes, sir."

After a brief pause contemplating why the Karnin Captain he had faced during the Karnin war whom he had fought and surrendered to would be contacting him, John nearly leapt out of his chair and began to walk off the bridge.

"I'll take it in my office," John said.

"Aye, sir," Zack replied.

John entered his office and sat behind his desk. He switched on his computer console on his desk. Within seconds, the face of Captain Tolar appeared on the small viewscreen at the top of the console.

"Captain Yager."

"Captain Tolar. It's good to see you again."

"I wish it was under better circumstances, Captain."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Witnesses have reported that a ship matching an Alliance Class A ship has been spotted within Karnin space."

"I take it no one in your government has allowed an Alliance ship to enter Karnin space."

"No, they have not. As you know, if these reports are true and an Alliance ship has entered Karnin space without expressed permission, that would be a direct violation of the treaty the Alliance signed with our people."

"Yes, I realize that, Captain. Have you contacted Alliance command about this?"

"Frankly, Captain, I do not trust Alliance command. I do, however, trust you. That is why I am allowing your ship entry into Karnin space."

"What do you want me and my crew to do, Captain?"

"I want you to investigate whether these reports are true or not."

"With all due respect, Captain, but wouldn't a Karnin ship be better suited to do an investigation?"

"Normally, I would say yes, but so far this ship has eluded our sentry ships. And I'm concerned if any other Karnin ship were to search for this vessel and it did turn out to be an Alliance ship things might escalate whereas another Alliance ship might be able to deescalate the situation."

"Say no more, Captain. With your permission, The Reliant will be within Karnin space shortly."

"Thank you, Captain."

The viewscreen went blank. John sat at his desk for a moment to contemplate what Captain Tolar had just told him. If these reports he spoke of were indeed true and an Alliance ship had indeed entered Karnin space without their permission, this could have severe repercussions for not only the Alliance but with the rather fragile peace the Alliance had made with the Karnin empire, a peace John was partly responsible for.

There were many within Alliance command who wanted the Karnin war to continue and for the Karnin to be destroyed, especially John's former friend Richard Flagg. Flagg always insisted he hated the Karnins after a rogue Karnin group attacked an Alliance outpost where his wife and son were killed. But John always suspected Flagg used the death of his family to hide his true xenophobic intentions. He remembered how Flagg would often joke how, after the Alliance won the war, he would see that the Karnin people would be put in chains. Looking back, he wasn't so sure that Richard was joking. That along with other reasons was why he surrendered to Captain Tolar at the final battle with the Karnin fleet when he was only moments away from destroying Tolar's ship The Prefector. John knew he had made a lot of enemies within Alliance command when he made that fateful decision, which harmed his career and was why he was no longer commanding a Class A ship. He only hoped one of those enemies, like Admiral Flagg, wasn't behind what was currently going on within Karnin space.