New Names, Old Crimes: Vay Ideal, #2

By Jall Barret

The previous captain, Fen Sanders, gave the Scampering Pete a reputation. Every desperado wants a piece of what's on the ship. Jesper hopes to trade the ship for one without a reputation. When they land on Chewa Fal, the crew face a situation they never could have anticipated. People are going missing. No one's allowed to leave until the mystery is solved.

The search turns desperate when one of their own goes missing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jall Barret
• Release date: Dec 7, 2025
• ISBN: 9798232791902

Jall Barret

I write science fiction, fantasy, bizarro, and other genres. I'm a cat person. By which I mean "I like cats." But I could be a person who is also a cat. Who knows?

Book preview

New Names, Old Crimes

Vay Ideal, Book 2

Jall Barret

Published by Jall Barret, 2025.

Copyright © 2025 by Jall Barret.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

No part of this publication may be used for the training of large language models or other generative models without prior written permission of the publisher.

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

First edition. 2025.

Cover is the original artwork of Jall Barret.

Font IBM Plex Sans is copyright © 2017 IBM Corp. This Font Software is licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. For full license information, see https://openfontlicense.org/documents/OFL.txt.

Table of Contents

New Names, Old Crimes

Last time on Vay Ideal …

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Next time on Vay Ideal

About the author

Last time on Vay Ideal …

The captain was laying on his back on the floor. They hadn’t seen much of him since they’d started the trip but Jesper recognized him all the same. A little tubby. Hair thinning up top. Thick, unruly mustache and a few days of stubble. He was breathing. His lips had turned blue and his eyes looked like they were bulging a bit.

"Damn!" Jesper said.

Quiet! Please! I’ve never done this with a human before, Nassadra said. She ripped the captain’s shirt open and pulled an instrument out of her bag. She injected him with something and then pulled out a complicated looking device.

God, I hate this part, Jesper said quietly. He had to stay. He knew he did. No one else had run into the fray. He looked around the cabin, trying to find anything that might … help in some way.

He found a button for the public address system. He pressed it.

"This is Jesper. Don’t rush the control room. Nassadra is trying to save the captain from … I guess a heart attack? If there’s any additional qualified medical personnel aboard, please make your way to the forward compartment. Otherwise, stay out." He pressed the button again to stop broadcasting.

---

Lia felt confused.

You want Jesper to be in charge?

No, Greis said. Or, not exactly. In Duwgian organizations, we all participate in day-to-day decision-making. In occasions where it is simpler to pretend we have a leader for others’ benefit, then Jesper could take that role. He looks like a very respectable and very competent person. For other cases, we can temporarily make a person the leader if the situation calls for it. He turned to Nassadra, If the situation is medical and needs one person to make the decision, obviously that should be you making the choice. Not me, Jesper, Lia, or Juan.

And the same thing if it’s engineering? It would be me?

Yes, Greis said. "We don’t have the same hierarchical structures in our daily lives that are common for humans. I know this can be uncomfortable for humans and some other species. That’s why Jesper could be our ‘face.’ But, for the rest of the time, I think it makes more sense — given our general concerns — that we specifically agree that neither Jesper nor me are the real captain. We don’t have a real captain. Can we agree on that?"

---

The locals gave the ship a good bit of space, looking and walking around it without getting very close. A voice came over the comms.

We need help getting in, Scampering Pete.

Amateurs, Jesper said. He hadn’t turned on their transmitter after powering the systems down. He connected to them. This is Jesper Klausen. I’m heading toward the forward port entrance. It’s behind the first lifeboat on the bottom deck. I’m not armed. I will take a dim view of it if you shoot at me. He clicked the transmitter off. If they did shoot at him while he was out of his armor, it didn’t really matter how dim a view he took of it.

He stood up from the chair, walked around the conference room, down the hall, took the last left and took the lift in the middle of the next hall. He turned around and took the narrow walkway to the door. He turned the heavy handle and the mechanism released. He pulled the door open with his free hand raised.

One of the locals grabbed his hand and spun him around. He was cuffed and lying on the deck in an instant.

---

How did you get me out? Juan caught up to Jesper.

I’m not sure you want me to say that out loud, Jesper laughed. The short version is … there’s a certain event that has happened every eighteen and a half years for a long time. I got out of school one time because of it.

You knew this whole time? Juan felt the blood rush to his head.

"No. I didn’t know until you said your full name. Knowing what I know, it didn’t take me much to persuade them that your ID wasn’t fake."

I guess I owe you one, he said.

Ha, Jesper said. You probably owe me two. I know you’re good for it, though.

Chapter 1

Do you have anything fun planned for your birthday? Persis Antonopoulos asked.

I hope so, Anne said. Mom and dad are still worried about the disappearances.

Oh, Persis said. She looked out the window over the kitchen sink. Nino, walk Anne home, would you?

That’s ok, Mrs. Antonopoulos, Anne said. It’s still light out.

I insist, Persis said.

Come on, Anne, Nino said. It’s not so bad. Besides, she’ll make all of us come if we wait too much longer. The man was tall, slender, and had dark eyes and a wry smile.

Oh, fine. Good night, Sarah!

See you tomorrow, Sarah said.

She hugged Sarah quickly and followed Nino to the street.

The sun was below the high wall of the city but only just. Everything was filled with a golden light. The exterior lights would soon come on. Everything seemed completely familiar. The same city she had always lived in. Every face familiar in some way. She missed running through the streets after dinner. Her mother kept telling her things would get better when the kidnappings were solved. ‘Everything seems so far away when you’re a kid,’ she’d say. Adults had a warped sense of time.

The streets were still full of people moving around. As far as anyone knew, none of the kidnappings had happened in broad daylight.

Mr. Diebord waved at her or maybe at Nino.

Anne stopped. Nino looked annoyed.

Hi, Mr. Diebord!

Good evening, Anne. You should be getting inside, you know.

I know. Nino is walking me.

Diebord looked up at Nino with a smile and then back at Anne.

That’s good but you know some adults have gone missing too. You shouldn’t dally. Let Antonio get back to his family before the sun sets completely.

Yes, Mr. Diebord. Do you think Amy will be able to come to my party?

Yes, probably, Diebord nodded. Would you like me to tell her you said ‘hi’?

Anne’s