Part 7

HISTORY OF PYKE
The Hungo Warriors colonised Pyke 800 years before anyone in the New Realm ever heard of the planet. The legendary Hungo Warriors were known throughout the galaxy for their ongoing war with the Army of the New Realm. The Hungo won every battle they fought, but they were losing the war. They were a small tribe, and attrition had reduced them to a fraction of their original numbers. Still, they continued to fight on.

In 335 B.B., the Great Bass Nicolson (Dred Nicolson's grandfather) intensified his war against the Hungo and took over Pyke, one of their last strongholds in Gogg. The weakened Hungo gradually retreated back into the Galaxy of Pata Pata Pita, allowing Bass Nicolson to consolidate his hold over Kukubia.

Bass erected one of the first military outposts in Kukubia on Pyke. Because he needed a ready supply of weapons and military machinery, Bass encouraged heavy industry to relocate to Pyke. That is how L-Tech engines, the largest manufacturer of engines today, came to the planet. Originally, L-Tech only produced military engines, but recently they have branched out, selling their engines to commercial traders.

Pyke has been the target of a number of rebellions. The first and best known of these is the Chichi Bobo uprising. In 1 A.B., Chichi Bobo, an outspoken Imperial senator and indigenous creatures' rights supporter, broke from the Imperial rule of Hork Nicolson (Bass Nicolson's son and Dred Nicolson's father). She proclaimed that the creatures of Gogg should speak up and oust the corrupt Nicolson family.

With 10,000 supporters, mostly creatures native to Kukubia, Chichi Bobo stormed the military base on Pyke and took it over. Holding 21 generals hostage, she demanded that Hork Nicolson resign and allow democratic elections. Hork agreed to allow elections on the local level, but refused to give up his position as Supreme Commander, since he felt it was his birthright.

After a series of falied negotiations, Hork ordered a bloody assault on the base. Chichi and her followers were annihilated. This triggered a chain of events which destabilised the government and paralysed Hork. Hork, unlike his father Bass, was not too clever, and could not figure out how to keep things under control. The Mooglers, a motley group of anarchists, took to the streets to protest the government's brutal tactics.

Fearing that this uprising would spread to the rest of Gogg, Hork ordered the military to back off. Seeing Hork's weakness, the Mooglers became even more aggressive, burning banks, hospitals, schools and any other public institutions that they deemed symbols of Imperial power. At the same time, groups of rebels began forming all across Gogg, calling themselves the Chichi Bobo Freedom Fighters after the martyred Chichi Bobo.

With the New Realm disintegrating before their eyes, the Imperial Cabinet convened in secret and planned the assassination of Hork. That night, Hork was ambushed and killed on his way to Pyke. With the Supreme Commander out of their way, the cabinet ministers took control and began a harsh crackdown on anyone opposing the government. This worked for a time, until the various ministers began arguing amongst themselves.

For the next two decades, the New Realm stagnated as minister after minister took control and then was deposed and executed. Finally, the military stepped in and reinstated Hork Nicolson's son, Dred Nicolson, to the throne. Dred, with the backing of the top generals, quickly dismissed the entire Imperial Cabinet and began remaking the system.

His first symbolic act was to restart the Kukubian calendar, beginning with his birthday. He claimed to be the divine incarnation of his dead grandfather, Bass Nicolson, and he believed that it gave him the right to do anything he pleased. With the backing of the military, things quickly stabilised, and Dred, although far from brilliant, managed to bring some consistency to the New Realm.
Over time, as the army's top generals grew old and died, Dred felt comfortable enough to do away with martial law altogether and grant independent merchants the right to trade inside Kukubia.





Hey, there's a lucky break. Looks like we'll get a better price for those Frog Legs than we thought.
Mm. Let's just hope they have some other goods available, otherwise...



...yeah.
Crap.
What do we do now? There's no point in buying any of this.
I guess we'll just check the supply chart and see who's got something that is worth buying.



Ugh. Lava lamps again. What do people even DO with them? They just sit there and look tacky, for god's sake.
You're one to talk.
Hey, plasma globes are awesome. There's nothing tacky about them.
And yet you immediately knew what I was referring to. Even though I've never brought it up before.
Shut up. Pilot? Loro, please.
I'm afraid we can't go anywhere at the moment, sirs.
What? Why not?
The ship is out of fuel, sir.
Well why haven't you been refuelling it? You're the pilot, aren't you?
...I don't have the money for that, sir.
Oh. Yeah. Guess that's us, isn't it?



Uh, just so we know, what exactly would happen if we ran out of fuel in the middle of a trip? We'd just be stranded in space?
Oh no, sir. If that should happen, I can call someone out to refuel the ship for us, sir. Unfortunately, such services are very expensive, sir.
How expensive?
Very expensive, sir. I cannot give you an exact figure, sir; it would depend on current fuel prices and the like. But it could easily cost upwards of 100,000 kubars, sir.
Ouch.
Well, no big deal. We'll just make sure to refuel at every planet.
Oh, I wouldn't advise that, sir. Fuel prices fluctuate significantly from week to week, sir. If you don't wait for the right opportunity, you'll be spending far more money than you need to, sir.
So we should only refuel when the prices are low. Fair enough.
Yes, sir. But of course, if you leave it too long then we will end up running out, sir. Try to avoid being overly cautious, sir.
Trust me, if there's one thing we never have to worry about, it's Tark'la being cautious.
Hey!
What?
...nothing. Never mind. No way I'm gonna win that argument.



Man. Up to 2,000 kubars a ton? Good thing our fuel tank's a decent size.
What difference does that make?
Well, like the pilot said, you have to wait for a good price. If we had a small tank, we'd have to refuel more often, so...bigger chance of having to suck it up and fork out when it's still expensive.
Also, you lost so many masculinity points just now.
For what?
Come on. "What difference does having a big fuel tank make?" The difference is, it means we have a big fucking fuel tank. On our ship.
Oh. I see. Yes, I'm sure our enormous fuel capacity will be a big hit with The Ladies and such. Which is very important, because as you know, you and I are both all about The Ladies.
I'm starting to wonder, man. I really am.