TALES OF THE RELIANT

THE SHAMELESS OCANA

"Sir," Roger said to the Captain, "there is a ship approaching us."

"What type of ship is it?"

"Unknown, sir." Roger shook his head. "It's a small ship. Possibly a Class I or J type. The ship has no weapons systems and only has one small engine. There are no discernible markings anywhere on it."

"And you can't identify it?"

"No sir." Roger shook his head again. "But it's definitely not an Alliance ship."

"The ship is hailing us, Captain," Tamala said.

"Viewscreen on."

Within seconds, a strange man was pictured on the viewscreen sitting in his cockpit. He had a receding hairline and a paunch. He was also sporting a scraggly beard that looked like it had some old food stuck to it. And he was chomping on a big cigar that Captain Yager immediately found annoying. John arose from his seat and introduced himself.

"I'm Captain John Yager of the Alliance ship The Reliant."

The man took his cigar out of his mouth and replied, "My name is Jack Ocana. I'm captain of The Sparrow."

"What can we do for you, Mr. Ocana?"

"Well," he began, clearing his throat, "I was wondering if you could help me repair my ship."

"What seems to be the trouble, Mr. Ocana?"

"Well, I seem to have overtaxed my engines getting here and I blew out some components that I need to have replaced. Can you help?"

John nodded. It was Alliance custom to render aid and assistance to any ship regardless of whether or not it was an Alliance ship.

"Sure, Mr. Ocana. I believe that should be no problem." He looked at ship's pilot Zack. "Mr. Renjay, contact Mr. Langstrom down at engineering and have him come up to the bridge."

"Aye, sir," Zack replied as he flipped on the intercom.

As John waited for ship's engineer Ron to arrive on the bridge, he looked back at Jack on the viewscreen who already had that damned cigar back in his mouth.

"Mr. Ocana," began John, "would you mind telling me where you are from exactly? The ship you are flying is not recognized as an Alliance ship."

He took the cigar out of his mouth. "That's because it's not an Alliance ship, Captain. I came from the Delta system."

"The Delta system, you say?" John raised his eyebrows. "You're quite a ways from home, aren't you, Mr. Ocana?"

"Yes, I am, Captain." Jack nodded his head. Then he laughed, showing his stained teeth. "That's probably why I blew out my engine trying to get here."

"I see."

There was something about this Jack Ocana that John immediately found suspicious and off-putting, and it wasn't just his appearance.

"Tell me, Mr. Ocana," John asked him, "what brings you all the way out here to our system? Is it business or pleasure?"

Jack hesitated before he answered. "Hopefully a little of both."

It was right at that moment Ron stepped onto the bridge.

"Mr. Langstrom," John said to his engineer, "it appears Mr. Ocana over on The Sparrow is having some engine trouble and would like to know if you can repair it for him?"

"Sure, Captain," Ron replied. "No problem. Just have him send me over a list of what parts he needs and I can duplicate them over here and go to his ship and I should be able to repair it in no time."