8 Parting Gift

After the meeting with old Rong, obliging with multiple scans of the Nuwan cyberneticist and a small blood sample taken, I returned heavy-hearted to the war cruiser to perform the docking separation from the Imperator ship.

The last farewell with Rong made me wonder what the future has installed for me. When he dies, the Tengshe system will no longer be safe to enter.

Nuwans may honor old alliances way back when my group of Kamuy possessed military strength until the destruction of the Kamuy system.

Rong and the other Nuwans, who remembered us during our heyday in a now non-existent planetary system, differed in attitudes from the newer generation of Nuwans, especially his great granddaughter.

In her eyes, I represent a relic of the past and an object of medical curiosity - a disposable tool, with no clout, to use in her political struggle for power.

If not for the cautions and reminders of the infamous Kamuy 'self-destruct' legend by the fearful Nuwan medical scientists, Senator Zhuyin would drain my entire body out of blood for them to study.

The lack of special qualities in my blood sample would dismay the scientists now. Not one atomites percent, just good ole Kamuy blood, not worth the smallest payable unit of aurum.

The tingling sensation within my body and aching arm stemmed from the atomites stimulating blood production in my bone marrow to replace the blood drawn by the Nuwans.

Then again, why do I care?

*Click*

The hatch sealed tightly. With the green light confirming the locked airlock, I held my sore arm up while trudging towards the flight deck of the ship.

*Buzz*

Behind me, the drone swarm buzzing into the deck with Arabaki's voice, "did they do something to your arm?"

For a split moment, Arabaki almost sounded like a humanoid with feelings and the ability to show care to others. Oh god, I'm mad. The droid swarm didn't ask out of concern but curiosity from observation, part of the droids' programming.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. The Nuwans drew a blood sample from me, to see if they can discover something to help old Rong," I replied, stifling my laugh at the ridiculous thoughts.

I sat on the pilot seat to prepare for the disengagement of my war cruiser from the Imperator docking port.

"Heh, the atomites in your body will destroy their medical equipment," Arabaki pointed out.

The atomites in my body could poison both machine and flesh. I have seen them under the electron microscope destroying blood cells which didn't belong to me.

"I withdrew the atomites from the bloodstream. That's why my arm is sore," I said.

"Serves you right."

"Did you deploy the bug successfully into their comms system?" I ignored Arabaki's snarky remark.

Arabaki projected a holographic rotating, twisted corkscrew shape of a Kamuy scripted code within the little spying droid bug, now settled in the Imperator ship.

He pointed to the green spikes in the corkscrew code as it continued rotating. "Integrated successfully into their circuits and infiltrated their comms system. The bug will transmit information when the Imperator ship sends or receives out messages."

The rotation of the code makes up the modulating frequencies to camouflage the bug's presence.

"You could have sent this bug around fifty galactic cycles ago," Arabaki said.

Perhaps sentiment made me hesitate to bug the Nuwan Imperator's ship in previous meetings.

However, with Rong's impending demise, better safe than sorry.

My self preservation instinct is stronger than following some age-old tradition of honouring war buddies.

Logic in calmness must come first in all decisions - a training ingrained into all former Kamuy Elite Operatives. It is ok for other Kamuy to show some emotions in the face of danger or a serious threat but not ok for us, the elite operatives.

On top of military fleet duties, we performed espionage under the directives of the then Kamuy High Command. The High Command used us to spy on other spacefaring species and even on each other.

The four fundamental processes of espionage were to infiltrate, integrate, innovate and investigate. I added the fifth process, imitate the ignoramus - pretend to see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.

Trust no one, including our own - that's the lesson I learnt. Even good allies can stab another in the back.

Infiltration into and access to the Nuwans' communications in the Imperator would provide me with the necessary information to barter when push comes to shove, and alert me to potential danger posed by the Nuwan side.

An early warning of danger meant the difference between life and death in the Great Swirl Galaxy.

Knowledge is power over one's safety and survival.

Even within Arabaki's complex code, I created a back door code in the droids coding structure, should the droid swarm reach the capabilities to pose a threat to me.

"Nuwan Imperator to Kamuy war cruiser, prepare for dock separation, over," a gruff Nuwan voice muttered over the transmitter.

I could hear the other Nuwan crew giving instructions to the escorts in the background. From the front viewer, the escort ships begun moving away to provide the distance for my war cruiser to steer away.

*PUCK*

The war cruiser shuddered slightly from the withdrawal of the Imperator's airlock port.

"Kamuy war cruiser to Nuwan Imperator, received, initiating separation, over," I replied as my finger touched the command panel on the arm of my pilot seat.

"Dock separation initiated," the war cruiser's automated voice echoed. "Activating thruster control sequence for separation."

My war cruiser started shifting away as the thrusters fired gently to push away from the enormous belly of the Imperator.

"Dark Matter Shields activated," my war cruiser's automated voice announced. "Disengagement completed."

"Kamuy war cruiser to Nuwan Imperator, separation completed. Set vectors for safe distance."

Safe distance is the direction I should take to prevent a collision with a bigger ship, like the Imperator.

"Nuwan Imperator to Kamuy war cruiser. Transmitting vectors for safe distance now."

"Safe distance vectors received. Standby," my war cruiser's automated voice announced as the front viewer calculated the movements of the Imperator and compared it to the vectors.

<Initiating safe distance sequence> popped the all-clear signal on the front viewer as my war cruiser's thrusters rumbled louder, for full power.

"Kamuy war cruiser to Nuwan Imperator. Good to go. Over," I spoke to the transmitter.

"Imperium Chancellor Rong of the Nuwan Imperator requests to speak to… um… First Fleet General Tuku Genja of the third Kamuy Elite Battalion, please stand by," another voice spoke via the transmitter.

I waited for Old Rong to speak.

"… um… your Grand Excellency?…*cough* MOVE *COUGH* OFF,… Rong…*cough*… bids Genja…*cough*… peace… general," the transmitter carried old Rong's voice.

I could almost imagine the chaos from Rong's presence in the Imperator's comms room right now.

From the faint voices in the background, I could guess that Rong whacked one with his hand while throwing something at the other.

"Tuku Genja of the Kamuy bids the Imperium Chancellor Rong. May you have as many descendants as the stars. Over," I replied with the traditional Nuwan farewell.

His next generation of descendants should number in the thousands by then. I lived almost like an immortal with the atomites in my body, but a part of Rong will continue living forever with multiple backups of his genetics.

"Take… care…*cough*" Rong's voice lowered into a whimper while someone persuaded the old Nuwan to rest.

"Um… Nuwan Imperator to Kamuy war… OWCH… First Fleet General Tuku Genja, have a good journey. Confirmed departure. Over."

Old Rong probably smacked this poor communications officer, judging from the earlier thump.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Our youth passed so fleetingly like the ever changing four seasons on the planets.

"That's a feisty one you know," Arabaki said.

But not for long. Rong was a wonderful gift when I lost everything.

All good things must end.

Nothing remains constant in the universe.

Everything is impermanent, and one must go with the flow of impermanence.

***

Both of Arabaki and I watched the shrinking view of the Nuwan Imperator ship and its armed escorts heading towards the other end of the Tengshe planetary system, where the surrounding nebulous clouds awaited their grand exit.

"The Nuwan Imperator ship - be nice to get some of their torpedoes," Arabaki pipped.

I straightened my back and looked at the droid swarm before speaking. Why the sudden mention of Nuwan weapons?

"They have 150 loaded in the bay… neuranium warheads, too. Makes a good boom," Arabaki added, while I remained silent. "Plasma rail guns on auto recharge… hey are you listening?"

"What else did you do?" I asked.

"What else could I do?" Arabaki countered. "Got the deactivation code for their dark matter shield."

The droid swarm's revelation almost made me lose my composure. Arabaki added additional coding without my instructions.

"Why stop only at comms systems when I can take over their ship if I wish?" Arabaki continued as I widened my eyes at the brazen droid swarm's audacity.

It almost sounded like bragging. I knew Arabaki possessed the potential to turn into a loose cannon a long time ago.

Now Arabaki is a loose cannon of droids crawling all over my war cruiser.

"By the galaxies… what have I created…" I muttered, smacking my forehead.

"Me, what else?" Arabaki retorted. "Besides, the spying droid is going to gift us more goodies."