The small hover lectern

The small hover lectern before Sergeant Armar 'Wirebrush' Drexer whined in protest as the seven-foot Botnaar giant leaned on it with all of his impressive bodyweights. The tiny artigrav generators integrated into the lectern normally worked completely noiseless. Sergeant Drexler didn't pay any attention to the compensating whine of the lectern as he looked over the assembled patrol officers of the third shift. His small red eyes fixed their gaze upon a small framed human female in the first row. Wearing dress blue, white gloves, her sidearm in a completely impracticable flap holster. "Paint me an Ult we have ourselves a rookie. Aren't we supposed to get rookies always on the last day of blue week ?" "I am not a rookie, Sir." The female officer said pointing at her two corporal chevrons."I am a transfer from Splish-Splash, planet 11,334th precinct." "Listen, missy. This is Pluribus and not some backwater colony planet somewhere in the cold fringes. No matter from where you came here you are a rookie until I say otherwise." He rubbed is massive lantern jar with a hand that could crumble granite rock."Why am I always the last one to hear about transfers and such." "Because you scared the Lieutenant senseless last time he announced rooster changes." A tall Andorian with Captain rank on his collar said, sticking her head into the briefing room."Sergeant Drexer, this is Corporal Graham , please assign her to an experienced patrol officer. She will be with us for a few weeks for field experience before she goes to detective school." Drexer rolled his eyes."Ah one of those needs a baby sitter and all. Well, who do I stick her with?" The Bootnar looked at the only being in the room that made him look weak. Golor was a full size Pertharian, and member of one of the toughest and strongest warrior species within the Union. To the four-armed giant with six yellow glowing eyes, he said."Golor, you need a partner don't you?" "Oh no Sarge, Wrener is back and I have the best partner there is." Only now did Drexer notice the half meter tall furry being riding on Golor's wide shoulders. Drexer palmed his face."If I ever find that joker who decided to pair a 8 foot Pertharian with a Holdian ..." "No need to look further than a mirror sarge." The Pertharian said,"It was you! Besides Wrener is an excellent officer, he has yet to fail to get a confession out of a perp." "Yeah they all talk if they see his partner show up." Gemsen, the White Nogoll said in the third row. His comment caused laughter and similar sounds as it was not too far from the truth. Sarge Drexer pointed at a human in the last row. "Gordon, don't you try hiding behind Golor's bulk again and pretend just once to pay attention. The rookie is with you until I say otherwise." The slanky patrol officer collected himself into a more upright position and nodded."Aye, Sarge." Drexer straightened out, much to the apparent relieve of the hover lectern, as it returned to noiseless operations."Well now that we have this sorted out we can finally come to the shift briefing. Today is, as you of course now payday for Union employees . That always means more than the usual schemes and trickeries to separate those employees from their well-earned credits. As usual keep your eyes open for Gal Drifts, don't hassle them unless they panhandle aggressively. Finally, have a safe shift. Now get your bioframes of those cushy seats and keep earning your pay." Seven Seven Six, a Non-Corp rose from his chair with a fluid motion."Sarge I don't have a bio frame or bio anything, does that mean I can remain seated?" "Now that you mention it, Sarge,"a Blue made himself heard."those seats are anything but cushy. Do we ever get those vari form seats you keep promising us? We are the First Precinct and we should have them for about 3000 years or so." "And have you all sleep through my briefings, just as Gordon ?" Gordon, the tall human approached the new officer. "I am Corporal Ben Gordon, and I guess I am stuck babysitting you for a while." "I am Dallas Graham, nice to meet you." "Out of uniform and in a bar I might have said the same, but I dislike new partners, almost as bad as I dislike rookie partners from backwater planets ." Drexer the big Botnaar, stepped down from the podium and gave the female a long look."So you are a transfer from...Knish-Knash ?" "No Sir, Splish-Splash, 2nd planet in the Wixamroo system , Large Magellanic Cloud .11,334th Precinct , to be exact." "Well they had to name it something, I guess. I had no idea we had 11,334th precinct, no less in the Large Magelanic Cloud . As it may be you are no longer on Mish-Mash but on Pluribus and whatever you think you know forget it and start with a clean slate, maybe in a few year segments or so you be ready for detective school . Until then stick with Ben, he might have some issues but overall as experienced as they come." He was about to turn."Oh Ben, first thing I want you to take her to the quartermaster and get her real gear and out of that last century recruiting poster outfit. Otherwise, we get complaints about someone dying of laughing." Drexer stomped away. Dallas looked after the big being. "Everyone here is overflowing with a charming personality." "He might be as abrasive as his nickname, Corporal Graham but he always has your back. I am just abrasive. I did tell you I don't like partners right?" He then made an inviting gesture. "If you would follow me, so we can get our workday started." They left the squad briefing room and stepped on the mezzanine of the second floor above what the first precinct called the 'loonie-pen '. A rectangular room with the booking cube, work desks of the beat detective s and the holding tanks for those in line for PMaT (Prisoner Management and Transport ). Every Union police precinct had such a pen, but she was certain none as loud or as busy. Towards the main entrance arguing with an Info bot, a group of beings all wearing the same top shirt, clearly a travelers group from another world, perhaps for the first time at the very center of the Union. Two uniformed officers guided a Sojonit sister to a desk, she was wearing a few pink veils and not much else. A Kilonian centipede was arguing with a Xiptin, a similar multi-segmented life form, both were supporting whatever argument they tried to make with most of their legs. There were hundreds of beings more, an almost visible cloud of smells and noise above it all. Ben said."You will have plenty of opportunities to gawk at loonie pen chaos . Either processing or later as third-grade detective, listening to yet another story of someone's pockets picked or souvenirs stolen. But let's move on shall we?" Dallas did not expect sugar-sweet treatment, but she had to admit her new partner seemed to get out of his way to be rude in a subtle sort of way. Every gesture and sentence appeared to underline his extreme dissatisfaction to being stuck with her. He more or less pushed her into the next Inter building transport tube and stepped right after her in the spacious capsule."Quatermaster's" While the IBT car shot down through the vacuum tube. She took a closer look. Ben Gordon looked four times her age from the way he looked. Not that looks and physical age had much in common, but he didn't seem the type who cared about cell renuvies. She estimated him to be at least 100 years of age. He had short-cropped dark hair and brown eyes and his cleft chin sported that faint bluish tint, hinting on the next crop of beard follicles soon to penetrate his skin. Still a common sight with men who did not use beard grow control or opted to permanently eliminate facial hair grow altogether. He was taller than her and she had to admit quite handsome in a no-nonsense kind of way. He wore dark blue uniform pants, calf-high black polished Terran All-terrain boots, his upper body in a black turtleneck sweater and a dark blue uniform jacket over it. On his left leg, low slung and attached to his utility belt, the auto draw holster for a McEnroe LawmanIV and in a similar rig on his right leg, with a military-grade sidearm. She was certain the handle belonged to a Union Army Springfield Thermo Bolt. The belt also held a Nul Shock baton and other closed pouches. He had taken the short moment to take stock of her as well. "Just as she, he had a hard time pinpointing her age, but judging by her rank and overall feel he didn't think of her as much older than perhaps thirty. She had a light complexion, her hair was hazel brown just as her pretty eyes. She wore it in a short bob that suggested she might had some Saran blood in her ancestry. As they exited the IBS on the seventh subfloor of the 600-meter tall spindle-shaped building, both were almost stomped to mush to by a monstrous APE , worn by a bald-headed man who's head looked small and only exposed to his nose. The seven foot ten Armored Police Exoframe was basically a paramilitary version of the space marines Quasimodo destroyer battle suits. It was painted shiny midnight blue and had the letters PUPD in bright yellow across its enormous smooth chest and back. Ben yelled."Hey Bowser , watch where you step in that thing. You almost mashed my new partner. Getting her all bruised up before we hit the streets might cause her to go back to Swish Swash, and we wouldn't want that now would we?" "Don't get all uptight, Ben. I saw her and you. There was plenty of room, at least ten centuries. Besides she seems alright, it's you who's doing the complaining as usual." "What you doing down here at this hour anyway? Aren't you supposed to stomp some law and order in your friendly neighborhood?" "I am on my way to collect Dent my partner. Tech fixed him up good and gave it an upgrade as well. Better take care of your partner, she looks like a noob rookie even at ten clicks distance during overnight on Pitchblack ." "That's why we are here, take care Bowser." The man wearing this serious hardware waved with his augmented huge arm and disappeared through the armored doors of the robotic department. Dallas looked after him. "I have heard about APE-frames, but I never believed they are actually fielded or used, especially not on Pluribus ." "Believe me, where he patrols this isn't too much protection." Her face fell and her eyes glared at him in disbelieve as they approached a door marked Weapons & Equipment. "This is Pluribus ! The very center of the Union, we are a lawful society. What kind of law is he enforcing, his?" "Missy, you are indeed in for a ride. Yes this is Pluribus and yes this where the Assembly meets every day. Yes, we are a lawful society, perhaps the most lawful and content in known history. Only about one percent of Union citizens ever break the law. Even less do it deliberately but this damn ball has a permanent population of almost 500 billion beings. Add to it billions more that commute daily from other places to work here. Not to mention the streams of visitors and tourists coming and going. One percent of all this is still a very big number. Bowser patrols the Subzones where you can hire a Connector to get everything you ever wanted, especially the fringe legal and illegal stuff ." He snapped his finger. "Oh, and I did forget to mention the Union residents and the Non Cits who are also part of the population but not part of the official crime statistics." She swallowed."That sound's terrible!" "It is and it isn't. I was born here, to me, it is just the way things are." Again he shoved her with gentle persuasion through an opening door. "Hey old insect, we got us a transfer from a fringe world. She needs real gear." The room behind that door was utilitarian in character. The floor was duro crete and the walls perforated steel plates. The facing wall had a big opening and a counter. Beyond that counter floor to ceiling shelves. from underneath the counter, two antennae appeared and then the triangular head of an ant-like Klack, that this Insectoid was of advanced age was apparent by the dullness of its red chitin armor. The being held a plastic box in one appendix and a set of charge cells in another."Greetings Ben. Is that the rookie?" "I am not a rookie." The female protested, but then, Dallas sighed."Yeah, I am new alright." Ben took the box right out of the insectoids' manipulator and said."Finally, I am down to my last two charge cells." To Dallas he said."This is T'Thching an old and gnarly Klack who should have retired decades ago, but he knows weapons better than a Terran and has the memory of Bellebee when it comes to details about them." She greeted the Klack who tried to mimic a facepalm as he looked at her. "You are not serious, female? A Bofors Zephir II in an actual pseudo leather flap holster?" "We hardly use the official sidearms on Splish Splash. We carry Nuc Flamers everywhere, but they did not let me bring mine." "The queen groans ! Nuc Flamers? What kind of criminals are you roasting on that world of yours?" "We have very little offenders that need to be controlled by force or with weapons. Actually none as far as I recall, but we got slimerbugs everywhere and the best way to control them is a short burst of Nuc flame." Ten minutes later Dallas was wearing tight leggings and a body-hugging dark blue top made of flexy armor micro-mesh, over it a black syntho leather patrol jacket . In an auto draw leg holster slaved to her Neurolink a modern Enroe Lawman IV, with eight non-lethal and one quite lethal setting. A shocker baton, a can of Sticky net and a multi-utility tool in belt pouches. She also received a very good flashlight and a Robo drone center. Able to deploy a variety of drones. Ben put on his patrol helmet, identical to the one she had received and nodded approvingly. Now you basically have the same stuff I carry. Over time you will know what works for you and what doesn't and each officer gravitates to his or her own mix of equipment items. Of course, high and mighty detectives don't need any of this stuff." She had thanked the helpful Insectoid and followed Ben all the way to the roof of the building. Which was, as buildings went on Pluribus not very tall or big. Here on the roof, she heard the mental message announcing rain in the next five minutes. She had heard of automated Psionic messages, but this was the first time she received one. While she still marveled at Utchat's voice in her mind, a Sunblazer patrol flier was pushed from an opening trap-door into the open. Ben said."No better way than learning your new patrol area than flying yourself, so hop behind the controls, disengage auto flight while I take a look at the call board. You are cleared on cruiser operation right? If you screw up it might convince the captain I don't need a noob partner" "Yes. All we have are two old DeNoir Prowlers but I am cleared. You object to me being your partner, Sir?" "Very much so. I need a partner, especially one that is as wet behind her ears as that planet you call home, but you saw and heard our Sarge. he won't give me a real partner until you either screw up, shove of to detective school or ask for a transfer. My personal bet is option three is the most likely possibility." Just as she had taken off, Ben said."We are called to assist at a 44-40 at the Luminated district ." The computronic took over controls. She glanced over to her new, angry at everything partner. "44-40 is homicide is it not?" --""--