Page 73 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Claiming the Vegimal Property

Molosh bid him farewell on the platform, then returned to the
submarine workshops of the Pogim. Kaga boarded his ship and
keyed the coordinates of his next scheduled destination into the
navigation unit. Just as he was about to blast off, the deepspace
ComSet came to life.
“Captain Kaga on PKU vessel Hubble: please acknowledge.”
Kaga stopped the countdown and responded to the call. “Captain
Kaga here. Go ahead.”
“This is General Kosla at GHQ. There is a possible incident on
planet Q75-29 in the Outer Periphides. Our representative there has
failed to file his regular report. The local that’s working at the post
claims that our man went off into the bush voluntarily several days
ago. However, the PKU has no official status on that planet as yet,
and some of the indigenous groups are very hostile. I personally
would like to send in a battleship and teach those bloody Vegimals a
thing or two: our boys haven’t seen any action in a long time.
Headquarters, however, prefers to send you in first, in the slight
chance that military intervention is not required. But I must warn
you: if we have not heard from you in 48 hours...well, then, we’ll
come in with our laser cannon blasting! Do you read me?”
“Yes, sir, loud and clear. I’ll leave immediately,” said Kaga. Then
with a sudden sense of foreboding, he added, “Do you happen to
know the name of our representative on Q75-29?”
“Yes. I have it here somewhere. Hmm, yes, it’s Lieutenant Lugo.”
The voyage to Q75-29 did not take long; Captain Kaga briefed
himself en route by viewing the preliminary planetary report. From it
he learned that contact had been made only recently; as General
Kosla had said, no deal had yet been made with the intelligent species
on the planet. The exploratory mission, while in orbit, had discovered
nothing of value to the intergalactic economy except traces of
snorfogium, an extremely rare mineral in great demand on certain
other worlds. The deposits were limited to one small island in the
temperate zone, so the PKU had landed there and established a base.
The report continued:

The inhabitants of Miglig, as they call their island, are a
race of semi-vegetable, semi-animal creatures which
the landing party has dubbed Vegimals. Their peculiar
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