VR-Spacebus-Ch4-bjh

Chapter 4: Leaving Cobalt Springs

Posted: 7/23/2019, 5:21:28 AM

GalNet

The Union Army Apache Gunship manufactured by Enroe was an excellent orbital assault support craft. It had six SII Long Range Plasma Cannons and could operate in almost any environment. Originally designed as a fast gun platform to support ground troops during orbital assaults, its plasma cannons could pour a lot of fire very fast into enemy ranks and fortifications. It was known as a superb battle walker and robot killer, but was never really designed to be a space fighter.

To adapt it to that role, it had been upgraded with four Sparrow ship to ship missiles, long-range engines and bigger fuel-tanks; as well as beefed-up ParaDim Shields.

Until the last Y’All Invasion over 500 years ago, the United Stars Army had only been used as a planetary defense force. After that war, the general public was eager to beef up military wherever possible and a clever army general used that sentiment to get the Assembly to broaden the Army’s scope and mission. It got a bigger budget and was charged to provide security not only to planets but frontier regions. It was the dawn of deep space forts and ‘cavalry patrols.’

By charter, the Army could not have space ships as that would infringe on the fleet and no one could make a logical argument why “two” fleets were needed. It was hard enough for the traditionalists to redefine the role of the Army in the first place. So they got around that by designating their space units as boats and barges.

Translocator cannons, Loki torpedoes and similar weapons were deemed too big and too powerful for planet surface fighting, and so the Army did have very limited faster than light weaponry and no faster than light platforms with capital weapons.

Their space forts and planetary defense units did have FTL batteries of course but Space forts were stationary and needed to be towed by Fleet tugs or barges to change location.

--””--

Captain Lodyn always had been a proud Union Army officer and considered the Army the elite of all military. This was especially the case just yesterday when he left Bumblebee with forty Apache Long Range Gunships, his own troops and those of the Bumblebee Garrison. A civilian craft had made it to Bumblebee and reported Shiss attacking Shallow.

They had reached Shallow and saw two Shiss ship flee the system as they came. Lodyn and everyone else believed the Shiss were fleeing because the Army had arrived. So he landed his troops and prepared for a possible orbital attack. Repelling landing troops was exactly what the Army was good at and trained for.

If the Shiss had taken the fight to the planet surface, things would have been different indeed, but Hazzzock came into the system with eighteen Kashir cruisers, the latest frigate sized Shiss warship designed to go against Nul and Union warships. They bombarded the Army base and the colony from space and forced the surviving Army gunships to take off and engage the Shiss in space.

The Sparrow Missiles were fast and most of them did strike their intended targets, but it took six hitting simultaneously to weaken the shields so the Plasma cannons could be brought to bear. Eight Apaches flown in precise unison could technically engage a Kashir with the hope to damage it, but it also put the Apaches well inside the range of the Shiss PEPA (Pulse Energy package) batteries. The Army was hopelessly out gunned and he had to admit outclassed.

No one would have survived, if not for the six Nul fighters that showed up giving Lody and the last three out of ammunition and damaged Apaches a chance to disengage and retreat. There was no one left alive on the surface of Shallow.

The glowing pieces of Army hardware floating now in orbit were testimony to the savage, merciless attack of the Shiss. They did not come to take prisoners or slaves. They came to destroy and kill.

He saw the last Nul fighter destroyed on his rear facing scanners. Their former enemies had fought like Banshees and destroyed four of the Kashir, giving hope there was a chance but then nine more Kashir dropped into the system banishing all hope.

To retreat and leave the field where his troops had died hurt him more than anything, but there was nothing he could do. The cursed GalNet network was still down and he could only reach his men. He did had the chance to learn the names of the six Nul that died fighting with them and he would make sure their names would not be forgotten, along with the names of his troops and the settlers that perished.

He hoped his engines held and he would make it to Benton’s Colony.

Captain Lodyn was no longer proud and he prayed to the Blue Virgin that she might speed up the repair of the GalNet network. As soon it came back on, he planned to call for back up and help, but not to Army Headquarters. The recent events had ripped all his delusional Army confidence to shreds, this was a job for the Fleet.

--””--

Shallow was a beautiful world with one large shallow ocean, filled with fish like serpents, no longer than a human’s arm.

These fish serpents, when grilled or cooked tasted delicious and were sold, battered, deep frozen, fresh and deep-fried as “Silver Curlers” at the local Xchange with increasing success.

The growing 170,000 colonist town directly at the shore with Fish processing plants, warehouses, businesses and dwellings no longer existed.

The valley and shore now looked like the cratered waste land of a lifeless moon. Only a few smoldering ruins remained of Silver Curls as the town once was called.

Every outlying farm and ranch had been bombed and razed. After the Army fled, the Shiss did land and Hazzzock’s warriors stormed the few remaining structures, used scanners to locate survivors and dragged them out, ripping them apart with their claws. Torturing women and children in the cruelest fashion and hissing and chanting in delight over the screams of pain and sorrow.

On a shallow hill outside of town overlooking the destruction stood an especially tall and muscular Shiss, flanked by three similar looking specimen, clearly sub-servant to the one in the middle.

His spine comb was fully erected, showing agitation and pride. Even though four of the nine sharp spines had been missing for a long time, lost in the many fights and battles this Shiss had fought. His throat folds shaded in subtle shades of gray, only a few shades darker than the holy all white. His left two arms held Terran rocket launchers, his lower right clasped a Union Marine Chain-sword. Only his upper right hand was free.

He gestured over the burning valley. “Yazzathir is cleansed of that Union filth. This world sacred to the All Eating Snake and her children in the oceans is Shiss once more. No longer shall we hide in a distant star isle but retake what is Shiss, what is mine.” (It’s a really hard habit to break preceding but/and with a comma.)

Two of his warriors dragged a wounded, strong looking human between them up the hill and threw the bleeding and charred man before the feet of Hazzzock the Gray and one of them said. “There are still a few survivors. This one dared to fight and killed three of us.”

Hazzzock placed his clawed foot on the man’s head and slowly increased pressure. “Scream my name, beg for mercy Union filth and I will kill you quick. Do it not and you shall die slowly watching as I string your entrails around your own neck.”

The human made a laughing sound and then said with a labored voice. “Bask in your moment, scumbag, you can’t do more than kill me. Yet you’ve killed your species.”

“I have seen your defenses little human. We have been afraid for too long for nothing. We wiped your soldiers out of the sky and made the feeble rest run like Wulmizzzz.”

The man coughed and then said suppressing the pain as much as he could. “You have seen nothing. The Eternal Warrior will come and he will not stop until the last Shiss world is turned to atomic ashes.”

“You pin your hopes on a myth that doesn’t exist?”

“No Shiss, I die with the satisfaction that Admiral Stahl will avenge our deaths.”

Hazzzock growled in anger and crushed the man’s skull with a savage stomp. “Why can’t you Terran humans die like the rest? Humble, begging for your lives instead of repeating this tiresome litany of a mythical warrior and fantasy ship. It is nothing but clever propaganda that kept the Shiss from attacking you.”

There was a sharp crack and one of the Shiss warriors heads exploded in a shower of brains and blood. Followed by another crack splitting the head of the second like an overripe Kulzzz.

Hazzzock’s armor activated the shields not a heartbeat to soon as a third projectile impacted right before his eyes. The shields held but the kinetic energy ripped him off his feet.

He screamed in anger. “Triangulate on that Energy signature and kill these Benglozz!”

One of his entourage said. “There is no signature. The weapon appears of chemical mechanical nature.”

“Then drop a Thnhzz, by the All Eating Snake! I want them all dead.”

Before an orbital bomb obliterated the other hillside, the unseen Sniper had killed four more Shiss.

Juzzzahk the oldest Nestling of the nest of Hazzzock, stood not far from his glorious father and they all were almost drunk of power and success.

They only knew of the Purple Throat revolt and the resulting war with the Union from whispered stories. It was forbidden to talk about it, so all facts had been lost and all that remained were insubstantial tales of a human warrior that supposed to be immortal and command a ship so big and so mighty all the galaxy could not fight it. Except for a few Shiss raiders no war or battle had been fought against the Union.

The Shiss had not taken part in the 4th Intergalactic War as they were already committed fighting the Nul. Juzzzahk and the other younger warriors fanatically followed the Old Gray throat. They followed him as he retreated mad and angry into another galaxy. After the First Nestling succumbed to Union and Klack requests. Hazzzock did no longer really consider the All White his supreme, but secretly desired to change the order of things, with a Grey Throat occupying the sacred mound at Shiss-Taa.

Just as he was thinking about all that, a small, fast Shiss courier craft landed. The Seal of the First nestling emblazoned on the hull.

A lowly Red Throat wearing the Armor of the Pale Dune guard, identifying the Red Throat as an elite warrior in the employ of the All-White.

The guard rushed as fast as he could up to him and threw himself before the feet of Hazzzock. “I bear message from the All White.”

Hazzzock did not turn to face the messenger but growled. “So reveal it then and pray to the Invisible Lizard that I will like it.”

“The All White has called for ZUHM!”

Juzzzahk standing close felt strong pride and rage swell in him.

“The All War has been called. Every Shiss from this day on will do nothing else but fight or support the war until the Shiss alone are masters!”

The Red Shiss added.”The All-White declares you to be the War-Master. Hazzzock, the Gray. You are the Grzz-Taa-Zuhm.”

-””-

The air felt heavy with moisture and was pregnant with strong musky scents. Most of these smells percolating from the jungle swamps below were anything but pleasant. Two robots using high pressure hoses washed down the landing platform.

It was almost 0500 in the morning (when else would 0500 be?), the light conditions had not changed since the space bus landed, it remained dark, beyond the glowing halo spheres of the flood lights.

The bus had looked dull and dirty when it landed on Rico’s and now it looked wet and gleamed like a moist creature that had just climbed out of the water.

Baldy had slept only a little and was up early to check on the repair progress. The Archa engineer Frabbel was a genius in Baldy’s opinion. That friendly Spider being from the distant planet Archa could have worked for SII Gray Lines as Chief Engineer, yet the spider worked for Coreward Bus and stayed at Cobalt Springs.

Of course, Archa’s were known to be utterly dedicated to their friends and no amount of money could ever entice them to abandon friends to advance their own career. Frabbel was friends with many locals.

The arachnid raised his first pair of legs in a defeated manner. “I did the best I could but I can’t make a net without silk. The unit needs to be replaced, plain and simple. Problem is, I don’t have one.”

Baldy looked at the quite beautiful looking maze of stainless steel lines, field projector heads and platinum tipped line holders, that Frabbel and Emerson had exposed by removing panels and secondary insulation segments. “So will it hold to Benton?”

The Spider said. “If you keep your engines below red-line you could make it to Archa and back. If you need to run, don’t run for long or those who pursue you will be treated to a pretty energy cloud.”

Baldy sighed. “I can’t shake the feeling we will need to get everything out of these engines before I can sit down and tell all this to my grand children.”

Frabbel said. “That is why I go along for this run.”

Baldy could not have heard much better news this morning and said. “When are we ready?”

“Emerson and I are done with the repairs. All we need to do is put the panels back on.”

-””-

Wilcox shoved the cuffed Hawk before him onto the Slide belt and said. “Time to get you back to the Pen.”

A mellow voice behind him said. “I have great respect for the Union Ranger Service, but in your case it is diminishing every moment.”

The Shaill Sheriff was right behind the two and guided its hover sled onto the slide belt as well. “I decided to go accompany you all to Benton. Since we still have no GalNet, I think I too need to see the Judge.”

Wilcox shruged, “Suit yourself, it ain’t none of my business what a blind Mollusk does.”

“Not being able to perceive reflected photons as you do does not allow me to see as you do, but I am far from blind.”

Wilcox turned and stabbed his finger at the slug. “I don’t know what you keep trying to say with all that innuendo. I too know that there is much more to that story between that boy and the Carpenters, but I am not the Judge. I enforce the law just like you. He was convicted and sentenced. He jumped the pen and he makes no secret out of what he’s going to do. It is my job to prevent that.”

The Mollusk raised ever so slightly on his sled. “Enforcing the law is only part of the job. Making sure it is the same for everyone so justice can prevail is the other part. There is a wonderful Human saying. “All it takes for Evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing about it.”

-””-

Baldy himself stood by the ramp and was overseeing the boarding of the passengers.

Daphne looked a little disheveled as she came up the ramp. The strong moisture glued her tight dress even tighter to her body, revealing that she was not wearing anything else underneath, despite the transparent pink plastic coat and hood she was now wearing.

Right behind her were Hawk, Wilcox and the Shaill.

Daphne looked worried and asked Baldy. “Will we make it?”

Baldy shrugged. “I can’t say Ms. Storm, you’re welcome to stay if you like.”

Hawk behind her said. “I think we can get through all right. Once we are out of the system space is mighty big and chances for us to slip past the Shiss are not so bad.”

Wilcox grunts. “Get in the bus, any moment longer in this hell hole and I start growing molds behind my ears.”

Baldy let them in and sold the Shaill a ticket.

The Shaill Sheriff said. “The molds of this world are particularly tasty and I can’t wait to get back.”

Sprewell also soaking wet, complained “We should not be forced to share this ride with a convicted felon.”

Baldy pointed at the settlement. “No one does Mr. Sprewell.”

The DeNoir manager grunted something unfriendly, clutched his briefcase and walked past the Airlock inside the bus.

Mr. Peacock arrived with a satisfied face pulling his sample case. “Oh I wish I could call in that order. This Mr. Boone turned out to be an asset after all.”

Boone too arrived but he was not alone.

He was accompanied by at least thirty kids of several races, all ages and several women.

The black haired wife of the Saloon owner came up the ramp with Boone right behind her.

Baldy said alarmed. “Ma’am we are making a dangerous trip and I don’t want to take kids along.”

“We know. “ She said, “but staying here could be even more dangerous. The soldiers are only one stop away. The parents here feel it is safer for the children to go to Benton than to remain here.”

He could not really argue against that.

Valthim and the Thauran Lady were the last and Baldy prepared for lift off.

–””-

Emerson helped the passengers get accommodated.” We have the kids bedded down on the passenger deck. So they can sleep and their mothers can care for them. This is why I am asking you to remain here in the lounge. We only got two bathroom facilities so be kind to each other and make the best you can out of the situation.”

-””-

Baldy gunned the main engines while still in the upper atmosphere and turned off the ArtiGrav lifters. It was against company policy but he simply wanted to get this trip over with.

Wilcox took the co-pilots seat again, just like he had during the first leg of the trip. It was technically Emerson’s seat but the Quadi-ped was with the Archa down in the small engineering section, just in case.

Baldy checked his scanners and didn’t see anything artificial within range and programmed the acceleration phase. Only after he committed the engines and he could see all indicators climbing exactly as they should, did he relax a little and say to the Ranger, “Leaving your prisoner down there all by himself?”

Wilcox said. “He isn’t armed and his wrists are tied. Besides there is a Sheriff down there. Not that I think Hawk will do anything before we reach Benton’s.”

Baldy relaxed even a little more as the Bus finally slipped into Quasi Space and left the star system behind. “Hawk is a good man, maybe a little rough around the edges.”

-””-

Sprewell stared at the cuffed man, who sat down on the floor as the seats of the lounge were taken. “So you’re the notorious Hudson Boy.”

Hawk looked straight at Sprewell, his voice casual. My friends just call me Hawk, nickname my grandpa gave me, my name’s Henry.”

Doc Boone scratched his beard stubble. “Seems to me I knew your family, Henry.” He rummaged through the pockets of his coat and finds a flat bottle filled with a greenish liquid. Still talking to Hawk he continued. “Didn’t I mend your broken arm when you were, o...” Boone held his hand about knee high above the floor. “ ... that big?”

Hawk looked at him, sizing him up with keen eyes. Then he grinned. “You’re Doc Boone?”

“I certainly am.”

Boone took a long drink from the bottle and then offered it to Peacock. “That’s liquor they make from a fermented moss, back at Cobalt Springs.”

Peacock sniffed at the bottle, then produced a tiny little plastic cup from his sample case and transferred no more than a few drops into it. “Thank you, Mr. Boone.”

Peacock sips and coughs. “No wonder I was able to sell them such a quantity of our wares. This is quite strong and perhaps a tad too aromatic.” Then he takes another little sip. “But I could imagine the Golden and the Blue would like this taste. It presents a potential sales avenue worthy of further consideration.”

Boone smiled, taking another draw and then went back talking to Hawk. “Let’s see, I‘d just been honorably discharged from the Union Fleet after serving forty five years and after the war against the Bisok had ended, nasty little conflict that was.”

Valthim turned to Boone. “Are you spinning tails of things you dreamt about? I never heard of such a war.”

Surprisingly Sprewell came to the Docs defense. “The Union fought the Bisok in the Andromeda Galaxy. A society able to stand against the Blue and the Petharians. Their tech as advanced as the Union. It lasted about five years as I understand but it was quite intense, according to the Company memos I read.”

It was clear to anyone seeing Valthim’s face that he didn’t like to be corrected so he simply added to the insults. “I still don’t think that our fleet would allow such a tramp among its hallowed ranks.”

Sprewell agreed with a nod and a smile. “I do agree with my wife on that, Doc Boone is nothing but a shameful human wreck.” Sprewell looked at the smudgy looking Boone. “Maybe there is some sort of clinic at Benton’s.”

Hawk abruptly turned his head. “It is easy to insult a man when he’s down.”

Boone ignored Sprewell and continued. “After I was discharged and returned to Rico. One of my first patients was a small boy with a broken arm out from the Hudson farm.”

Hawk, still looked at Doc Boone with sharp interest. “That was my kid brother, he broke his arm. You did a good job on that, as I recall he was laughing and playing the same afternoon.”

“Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing.”

Peacock sitting right next to Boone nodded. “Yes, they are.”

Boone placed the bottle back into his coat pocket and said, “What became of the boy whose arm I fixed? He should be a grown man by now as well, right?”

There was pause and the smile vanished from Hawk’s face, his voice had become quiet as he looked straight ahead. “He had no chance to grow up, He was murdered.”

Peacock and Doc Boone looked down, obviously moved and Peacock offered Hawk a small bottle. “Why don’t you try this Mr. Hudson. It is our finest Kentucky bourbon.”

Hawk still stared at the floor, then sighed and took the bottle with his cuffed hands. He placed it in his shirt pocket. “Very kind of you Mr. Peashooter. I’ll drink it after I am done in Benton’s.”

Almost giving up, Peacock sighed, “It is Peacock, my name is Peacock.”

-””—

Lady Luna once again had removed herself as much as possible from the other passengers leaned against her padded headrest and stared out into the endless night of deep space.

Even though the Environmental systems working at full capacity the slowly drying clothing of the passengers made the air smell unpleasant.

Daphne didn’t really help as she used a small atomizer to create a cloud of strong smelling perfume around her.

The Shaill who appeared to be asleep on his hover sled moved his feeler stalks. “Ah the desire of the female humans to increase their attractiveness with scents has made many Shaill very wealthy.”

Daphne waved her hand before her nose. “It didn’t smell very pleasant in here.”

Valthim glared at her.”And now it stinks even worse, not all of us need to smell like the cheap trick you are. There is a real lady among us and you all should act accordingly!”

Daphne already down, not knowing what her future held, the sudden eviction and the less than perfect conditions of the trip, buried her face in her hands and said with a suffocating voice. “I am sorry.”

Doc Boone leaned forward and put his beefy hand on her knees, “Everything will turn out just fine. There are those who act so high and mighty and yet just three weeks ago I repaired the shredded back of a man, who was closer to death than life when he got on my table. He was shot in the back with a rocket coming from the Gewehr of such a Noble person.”

Valthim’s eyes blazed as he stared at Boone, half-rising in anger... “Do you mean to insinuate...”

Hawk got up and turned to Valthim his voice was calm but full of tangable authority and thinly veiled warning. ”Sit down, mister.”

Valthim sat down. His face rather put out.

Hawk cocked a one-sided grin at the pale Thauran. “Doc Boone didn’t mean no harm and I personally despise cowards shooting others in the back. So let this be a warning.”

The Shaill Sheriff interrupted. “I suggest you all reduce production of your Epinephrine neuro transmitter hormones and calm down.”

Peacock padded his forehead with a napkin. “What is it he wants us to reduce?”

Doc Boone smiled and said. ”Adrenaline, my dear friend. A Hormone of the human body. Our Shaill friend wants us all to cool our emotions and relax.”

The Shaill slowly declined his head and said. “You may call me He, Mr. Woodcock but we Shaill are hermaphrodite and have no distinctive cultural distinction of sexes so the proper word would be ‘It’”

Hawk also tried to calm the situation, asked, “Don’t be offended none, sheriff but I always wondered how a species without arms or eyes could even develop a civilization let alone a star faring one.”

“I am not offended by your curiosity, and you voiced the perhaps most common asked question about us Shaill.”

The Mollusk turned his hover sled a little to better face the group and said. “Our home world is very much like Cobalt Springs. It presents itself to humans as a dark, brooding hot and moist world. To us Shaill about as perfect as conditions can be.

We have no hands, no body weapons, no eyes and without these hover sleds we are slow as ... well as slow as snails.”

That actually made a few of the passengers smile. The monstrosity of a man-sized, naked, wet, shimmering slug slowly dissipated by the beings melodic voice and its sense of humor.

“You asked how we can have a civilization? Much like the Nublus of Thenta 8 or the Non Corps of Bright Star, we can do so in our minds alone.

Unlike the living clouds of Nublus who are able to see and have the ability to speak and hear and unlike the Non Corps who can manipulate any form of energy and thus find conversation very easy; we can talk to each other only by actually touching our feelers. The voice you hear is generated via an implant and a small computronic. It is sadly not my real voice, as I don’t have one. The same technology allows me to hear and extend the range of our feelers so we can feel our surroundings in an approximation of sight. Evolution or whatever power decides those things, made us grow and become big, bigger than most of our natural predators and with larger neural centers we made the step to sentience and that is all we were. Very aware that we had no real way to manipulate our surroundings and thus become a real civilization. We could not share our ideas with larger groups at once, everything had to be transmitted Shaill to Shaill. This prevented any form of centralized leadership, of course it also prevented us from ever developing anything like wars.”

It had become very quiet in the little lounge. Everyone, even the pale Thauran lady was listening to what the Shaill was telling.

The Shaill had made only a minute break in its tale and continued. “It took us millenia to finally develop a way of communication, our sense of smell developed far beyond that of any other known species. Our olfactory senses are milllions oftimes more sensitive then the famous noses of Terran Bloodhounds. You can differentiate millions of color shades. We can distinguish billions of scents, different to another by a single molecule. We learned to identify each other by smell.”

Daphne burst out. “That must be fantastic and this is how you got a civilization?”

“No sadly not. Scents travel not very far and how can you gather a crowd when it takes them weeks to cross a distance of a mere mile?” Besides smelling is not producing. In order to use scent as a language you must be able to produce certain smells that mean the same to everyone on command.”

But eventually our bodies developed glands that could produce any scent we wanted. Scents are biochemical compounds and some were very poisonous and had other effects than mere communication meanings. Millions of years passed and we became living Bio Chemical laboratories.

Our home world is not all that far from here but it is at the outer gap of what the Humans call the Orion Spur. It is the outer Arm in the Upward Sector, far removed from any other space faring civilization. Our sun’s next solar neighbor is over 120 ligh- years away.

Then about 8,000 standard years ago the Shiss discovered us and loved the taste and they did not care about our obvious sentience and intelligence. The Shiss enslaved us and breed us for food.

It was a Yellow throat Shiss, a scientist who begun to experiment. He introduced a new gene sequence allowing some of us to see and improve their eyesight.”

Peacock said. “I have friends who are Purple Throats so I can’t say I hate all Shiss, but the more I hear about them the harder it gets not to get very strong feelings against these scaled menaces.”

Hawk said. “I care none about how someone looks or what they are, but I don’t like it none when freedom and liberty is denied to one group for the benefits of another.”

Daphne said. “Please Sheriff Glombh finish your story, it doesn’t end there does it?” She was the first who actually said the Shaill’s name indicating that she knew it from somewhere.

The Shaill said. “No it does not, because as impossible as it seems one of these enhanced Shaill managed to escape and due to the fact that we are hermaphrodite it was able to spread the genetic improvement over a large group. We then build our civilization with every bit of information we could steal from the Shiss. We even managed to steal a few of their robots and use them for hands.

The Shaill that could see developed a sign language and we revolted by poisoning every Shiss on our world and eventually became a separate sub species, known to you as the Shail.

Then, a Union explorer entered our system only a few revolutions after that poison attack. We did not trust the newcomers and used Shiss weapons to severely damage the Explorer ship and kill many members of its crew. The Commanding officer had to emergency land an escape pod with the survivors of his ship on our world.

First hunted by the Shail, the Union crew prevented the returning Shiss from retaliating and punishing us. His name was Captain Dirk Percy, he was able to contact Fleet command to get help.

Both the Shail and the Shaill received much aid from the Union, including hover-sled boards and mechanical arm attachments allowing us to move faster and manipulate our environment.”

Daphne blinked.”There are two kinds of Shaill then, the difference is a single letter?”

“A single sound in vocal terms yes, a complex meaning in our way of expressing things.”

-””-

Up on the flight deck, Baldy usually had the computronic take over and catch a little sleep when he was between Cobalt Springs and Bumblebee. This time he was wide awake and divided his attention between the engineering read outs and the scanners. They had barely spoken a word since they had left the wet Jungle planet behind.

Baldy cleared his throat, inviting conversation, but Wilcox paid him no heed. Finally Baldy couldn’t stand the silence and turned as if Wilcox had spoken.”What’d you say?”

Wilcox looked at Baldy as if he was crazy, “Nothin’.”

“Oh, excuse me. Well, why don’t you say somethin’? A man gets nervous sittin’ here like a stuffed Ult and thinking about the Shiss.”

Wilcox rasped in a grumpy tone, “You say somethin’. You been talkin’ all day without makin’ any sense.”

Belligerently Baldy responded. “All right, here’s somethin’ that makes sense. If I was you I’d let ‘em shoot it out.”

Wilcox returned the seat in a more upright position and asked. “Let who, do what?”

“Hawk and Luke Plummer of course.”

Instead of answering, Wilcox simply stared at the Scanner screen.

Baldy determined to get an answer said. “There be a lot more peace in this Fringe Space of ours if that Luke Plummer be blasted to atomic ashes. He thinks he can bully anyone with his money.”

The Union Ranger said. “I ain’t sayin’ I don’t share your sentiments, Baldy, but you’re a born fool. First place, Luke would kill Hawk in a fight because Hawk fights fair and Luke doesn’t. Second place if Luke did get killed he’s got two brothers just as ornery and rich as he is, and if Ike Plummer didn’t kill the Kid then Hank Plummer would, or they hire someone who can. It all escalates in a lot of violence. Nope, safest place for Hawk is in the pen and I aim to get him there all in one piece. Time he gets out Luke Plummer will have picked a fight with the wrong man and it’ll all blow over.”

Baldy was looking at Wilcox with a puzzled look. “Well, I’ll be blasted. I done you an injury, Wilcox. I thought you were bought by the Carpenters.”

The Ranger snorted and snarled with a reproachful tone in his voice. ”The darn Shaill seems to think that too. Why, Hawk’s old man and me were friends. I can’t worry about Hawk who has a temper to shoot things up in Benton’s when I try to find evidence Luke killed Hawk’s brother and was responsible for that mine accident that killed Peter Hudson, the kid’s old man.”

“But you let him be arrested. He didn’t do nothing and everyone knows the story of Luke was poppycock.”

“Hawk is no angel. He is as rough and tumble as they get and he is awful quick with his double TKUs. It would only be a matter of time he killed someone for real and then neither you or me could save that stubborn fool from a Federal Executioner. No, I figured he cools off in the Pen, gives us a chance to get Luke. Why do you think we had two Federal Deputies in town, they aren’t after Hawk.”

-””-

The story of the Shaill had managed to keep them silent and content only for a little while. Sprewell getting himself another drink was addressing everyone and no one in particular. “I can’t get over the impertinence of that young lieutenant! I’ll make it warm for that shave-tail!”

Doc Boone appeared to be the only one really listening, drained the last of his green liquor. Sprewell not even noticing that he didn’t really have an audience continued in his blustering fashion. “I’ll report him to the Assembly. We pay taxes to the government and what do we get? Not even protection from the Army! I don’t know what the government’s coming to. Instead of protecting businessmen, it’s poking its nose into business. Claims they want filed, mine workers conditions checked. Why, they’re talking now about having safety inspectors even out here in the fringes and what does our Corporate HQ do? Send out memos for us to comply.“ He snorted. ”... as if I didn’t know how to run our mining business.”

In all his self important bluster he finally noticed that no one really paid attention to him so he huffed and stared at the main view screen.

Peacock comfortably resting however noticed Doc Boone’s longing stare at the sample case. Using his foot he pushed the Anti Grav assisted case around and nods. “Go ahead Mr. Boone. Select 56 and it should please you.”

Boone was all smiles as he rubbed his hands, “Fifty Six, don’t mind if I do.”

The smudgy unshaven Boone made a sound of joy as a full size bottle of the Rye he had tasted first, dropped into his hands.

Peacock watched as Boone took a sizable drink.

“You claim to be a physician and a Union Fleet Medical Officer on top of that and yet you are obviously an alcoholic, a mental chemical addiction that is so rare nowadays. I only know of it because selling alcohol is my business. Should you not be able to see those symptoms and take steps to cure yourself?”

It was Daphne not Boone ,who answered. “He really was a Union Fleet MD, Mr. Peacock. While he was serving the fleet in another Galaxy, his young wife and four kids on their way to Rico’s Colony fell victim to a Pirate attack, all hands lost.”

Peacock suddenly looked quite guilty and whispered, but why Rico?”

Boone said, “It might be a fringe world to you, Mr. Peabody but I was born there and I wanted to have my practice there after I was discharged.” Boone looked at the bottle. “To bear life and not commit suicide, I chose alcohol as numbing agent. The alternative is Psycho surgery and I do not want to erase the last thing that is left of my family, my memories of them.”

--”--

Wilcox leaned over and looked at the Navigation read out. “Say Baldy, this isn’t the regular course to Bumblebee.”

Baldy grinned. “Everyone knows the bus comes down the same course at the same time. I am using my head. I made a little detour over to 56454, that is a planetless white star. No planets means no one cares and no one’s there.

I be coming into the target system from the Z plane and not the outermost orbit of the Y plane.”

Wilcox nodded. “Good thinking but 56454 is a Main Sequence star and one of the real big ones. The stellar matter will tax our shields,”

“I can reset shields after a solar flare, I can’t reset shields in a Shiss attack. If they are waiting for us along the way, they wait forever.”

--””--

Sprewell sat in his seat, with an unpleasant frown on his face clutching his brief case close to his chest as the hours dragged on.

Daphne just came back from the bathroom where she had changed and freshened up. Her blonde hair nicely done with some fresh make up in her face, she looked kindly at the pale Thauran woman. “It is surprising just how good it does to freshen up a little. Would you like to borrow my Channel Box, you look very tired.”

Lady Luna pulled herself together and her cool tone rebuffed Daphne... “No, thank you.”

Daphne shrunk back into her seat, flushing.

Valthim leaned forward. “You should ask for permission first to address a lady of such stature and her beauty does not need gaudy clown paint like you do.”

Hawk looked up. “You insult that girl one more time and they’ll have a real reason for locking me up.”

Doc Boone also leaned forward. “This isn’t the Thauran Kingdom. We give a hoot about Nobles and the self-righteous high born.”

Even meek Mr. Peacock had something to say. “Didn’t Federal Police arrest the last Thauran Emperor and a group of his advisors for conspiring against the Union by doing business with the Worm and oppressing their own kind? From what I read it didn’t sound all that noble to me and if I understand the commoners on Thauran worlds were quite pleased when he finally got strung up”

Valthim’s hand flashed to the handle of a small Walther Laser he carried in a shoulder holster. The Shaill Sheriff said. “Pull the weapon, Sir and I will arrest and restrain you.”

Valthim glared with unveiled hatred at the Mollusk, but sat back down.

Lady Luna however fought hard to keep her composure and not burst into tears, because the words of the drunken doctor and the liquor sales mn hit close. They could not know that her own father was one of the Nobles implicated in the criminal activities. Activities she despised but had known about herself.

From the passenger deck a crying child could be heard. Valthim got up and closed the access door that separated the lounge from the short staircase that led up to the actual passenger deck. Then he walked bored as he was over to the public GalNet terminal.

He was still angry and brooding about the insults, but then he noticed the green blinking light and with an excited, for him a totally uncharacteristic scream he pressed the activation control and the terminal came on. All the passengers, as if electrified got up and stared in his direction as he activated the field screen. A voice came on repeading the message that was flashing over the screen in Standard Union. “GalNet services for the Upward / Coreward region five remain interrupted due to external vandalism. SII GalNet and SII Security are dispatched and work as fast as possible to restore full service. GalNet has increased broadcast energy to all unaffected transponder stations and basic broadcast channels can be received. Currently, no two-way communication or enhanced data services will be possible. We would like to ensure our customers that everything is being done to ensure fast restoration of all GalNet services.”

Lady Luna who had also risen from her seat said. “Is there any news of the Army? Please call for Captain Lodyn.”

Valthim said. “I am afraid this is not possible, GalNet is able to broadcast but no one in this region can send messages but I am sure it is only a matter of time now.”

Valthim switched to Union One, the official Government News Channel. The terminal informed him that visual or Avatar services were still not available, but audio was. “Here is GalNet Channel 1, the voice of the Union. A State of War has officially been declared between the United Stars of the Galaxies and the Shiss Empire. Civilian Traffic to the Coreward sector is rerouted through the space of our new member society, the Nul.

All communication to the Big Corridor area has been lost, as all GalNet Communication extenders have been destroyed by Shiss forces. Army units in the region are assumed to defend the affected settlements in the region. The Assembly security council is currently being addressed by Admiral McElligott in a closed session. We will bring updates as soon as more information becomes available.”

Boone’s eyes sparkled. “Finally the Fleet is in charge.”