THE RELIANT

PARLON'S RETRIBUTION

"Hello, Commander Steiner. It's so nice to see you again."

"Parlon Mostiv," Lisa said with a scowl on her face.

"You remember me? I'm so flattered."

The Reliant had responded to a distress call from the Alliance planet Anuk. The last time they answered a distress call was on the planet Navarro and John and Lisa ended up being cornered by Parlon and his makeshift army he had amassed. This was why John was hesitant about answering this distress call, but Alliance regulations stated that any Alliance ship within the vicinity of a distress call had to respond. And it just so happened The Reliant was the only ship within the vicinity of Anuk. Once they were in orbit around the planet, John had Lisa and Tamala transport down to where the distress call was coming from, which was the town of Vila, where they were immediately surrounded by a group of familiar-looking men wearing white body armor and matching helmets and aiming blaster rifles at them. After they were disarmed, they were taken inside this empty building and were both strapped down to chairs. A couple of minutes later none other than John's former disgraced lieutenant aboard his former ship The Pretorius walked in looking as smug as ever.

"Leave us," Parlon said to the two armed guards.

"So I take it you were the one who sent out the distress call?" Lisa asked him after the guards left.

"But of course," Parlon replied as he pulled up a chair and sat down across from Lisa and Tamala who wee both staring daggers at him. "Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't come down here himself."

"Actually, it was my suggestion that me and Tamala come down here to investigate the origin of the distress call."

"I see." He nodded. "Well, it's no matter. John will be coming down here soon enough."

"What do you intend to do with our Captain?" Tamala spoke up.

Parlon gazed at her. "Let me guess. You're the Alterian lieutenant onboard The Reliant. Tamala, is it?" Tamala said nothing as she continued to glare at him. "You know, I was once a lieutenant too. Until your Captain had me drummed out of the Alliance entirely."

Lisa couldn't help but laugh at that one.

"Did I say something funny, Commander?" Parlon asked Lisa as he gazed back at her.

"So it's all John's fault you're no longer an Alliance officer?"

Parlon smirked. "More or less."

"Didn't you kidnap an Ambassador's daughter?"

"There was no kidnapping involved. The girl came with me willingly."

"And didn't you take a swing at John after he busted you down to ensign to keep the girl's mother from filing kidnapping charges against you and that's what got you kicked out of the Alliance military?"

"I'm sure that's what John told you."

"I checked your record after our last encounter. That's precisely what happened."

"Regardless of what you may say or think, that still doesn't change your or John's situation."

"You didn't answer my question," Tamala said. "What do you intend to do to the Captain?"

"Well, my dear Tamala, since you asked so nicely, after I capture him, I intend on collecting the 10,000 bounty that's currently on his head."

"So, in other words, this is all just about money, right?" Lisa said derisively.

Parlon shrugged. "Isn't it always?"

"I'm surprised you didn't put up the bounty yourself."

Now it was Parlon's turn to laugh at what Lisa had said.