Zak Jahns

by Gregory Anderson

  “I still fear that Federated is going to cause trouble for the colony on Edahni, they will have to spend some of that new money on defenses.”

  Junes responded.

  “Do you really think that Federated would go after them. After all, Federated is all about controlling space and not planets.”

  “Edahni would be easy to take over and the colony would not put up a fight. They settled on that marginal planet so they could live in peace and to be left alone. I am afraid they will become slaves.”

  Gina was right, the hegmon and humans had chosen Edahni for a reason. It was distant, marginal weather and minimal natural resources. There were much better places to live. If Federated learned of the Azurite then Hallbrook might feel it was his for the taking.

  Federated had just sent down a shuttle, shooting at it all the way all the way. This was a ruse as the two humans on board claimed they were escaping from slavery aboard a Federated vessel. The kindhearted colony believed their story and invited them to join them. The Federated ship remained in orbit. The two believed that they were waiting for the shuttle to take off and try to escape. They also said the shuttle was too damaged to make orbit anyway. So they discretely set up comms with the ship. All the while learning how to operate the mining extraction equipment. It was all a mater of time.

  -8-

  Panther was a few days out from the successful meeting with the Moog when word finally caught up to them from the colony on Edahni. It was as Gina feared, Federated had found out about the Azurite. Even still, as Junes pointed out, the message was months old so there was no way of knowing what was going on now. Zak wondered why the message had taken so long. Granted it came from the other end of the galaxy but piggybacking on the Cyrillium network it should have taken half the time. Maybe the high council had been meddling. It was no secret that they objected the time Zak had spent helping the small colony. Now with the confirmation of Azurite it may be that the council had other ideas. Zak turned to Junes.

  “Someone on this ship must be leaking information to the council. Convenient how you came aboard at just the right time.”

  Junes just turned and left the bridge without saying a word which gave Zak his answer. Based on their past history this is how she acted whenever he did not believe her and in the end he always apologized. Junes did not lie, ever. This left the question, who was leaking information, it could be anyone on board, it was not hard to work the comms. Zak took a long walk to talk to Uhr.

  “We have someone leaking information to the Cyrillium government, do you have any idea who that might be.”

  “No but Dihr has had some concerns about Stak, he is just a regular labor and has been complaining about lack of work because we have not been doing any short hauls for awhile.”

  Dihr added.

  “He is a single man and when when on station or shore leave he just disappears.”

  Life on a trader was sometimes hard to take with long stretches of quiet followed by intense work dropping off and taking on product. That is why Panther as well as many other trading ships had families as crew but that still did not make Stak the leak. Gina had stepped into the engine room to find three silent people.

  “You two can go to the galley for food and then get some rest, I have the next twelve with Larry who is coming in shortly.”

  Twelve on and twelve off was a typical work cycle on Panther leaving two in the engine room most of the time.

  “Hello captain, it is good to see you aft. Did you come all that way just to keep me company until Larry shows.”

  Gina had become very confidant during her time on Panther. Uhr and Dihr nodded and walked out.

  “Yes I did come to talk to you and a few others, we have someone leaking information to the Cyrillium government.”

  “Not surprising, did Dihr tell you about Stak, you know he has been recalibrating the forward comm array.”

  This was another thing that Zak did not know, he was losing track of ship operations while concentrating on the colony and Azurite.

  “No I did not know this but I suppose Junes did.”

  “Yes well, you have had your mind on other things, did you ask Junes about all this yet.”

  “Yes, but we did not go into any details about it. So what do you suggest.”

  “Well, on Federated ships the truth always came out when you put someone into an outer airlock and started the decompression sequence. Although sometimes a captain asked the wrong questions and got the wrong answers then poof, sucked out into cold space.”

  Getting spaced was not a good way to go but was a universal punishment on ships of all kinds, including Cyrillium.

  “So you think I should put Stak in an airlock.”

  “No, you and Junes should put him in an airlock, that way you have documentation and a witness.”

  This of course was all expected by Zak as Panther belonged to the Cyrillium government and was only on loan. But Zak was the one to report what he thought was important and someone else doing it undermined the mission. It was just plain wrong but still did not warrant a death penalty. Nevertheless Stak was put in an airlock and confessed. Instead of being spaced he was confined to quarters while they looked for someplace to drop him off. A few days later the answer came on long range scans, a Cyrillium patrol ship. Junes hailed them and arranged a meeting to 'transfer a prisoner'. This was highly unusual thing to happen but because it was Panther and Junes, a listed Cyrillium commander, they had to accept. Once the exchange was made Panther changed course for a new destination on the Sagittarius arm. As much as Zak wanted to take the quickest route back to Edahni there was regular trade that could not be ignored. A scheduled pick up of ten habitat containers would be going to a new planet and were critical to settling in the new colonists, they were overdue.

  After two weeks at max normal speed they arrived to pick up the containers. These habitat containers were old and had been refurbished like so many others had been. The use of containers had fallen out of use in favor of the new super transports. The advantage of ships like Panther is that they are atmospheric capable. Panther could land two containers at a time even on heavy gravity planets. The process was hard on the crew as the gee forces of punching in and flipping one eighty to slow down was physically taxing on the body. Once in orbit Panther would gather up to ten containers and move them easily. Of the thousands of old containers scattered around the galaxy many had been scrapped but when there was a need their size and versatility could not be beat. Panther was one of the only a few ships that could handle them.

  “Attention crew, we are ready to do the pick up, do you want to do it all at once or take breaks in between.”

  Zak was pretty sure of the answer because they did this all the time and most just wanted to get it done then recover while traveling.

  Macy raised her hand to stop the seven women that were following her. It was dark and the women piled into each other as they stopped. Macy gestured for the woman to gather around her.

  “Okay, we have to be absolutely silent from now on. Watch for my signals and try to keep to the shadows. There should not be any guards but you can never tell.”

  They were in sight of the row of containers and Macy was unsure if this was such a good idea. Despite all the information that she was privy to, choosing the wrong pair of containers would be a death sentence. If they stowed away on any but the last pair they could not activate the inertial dampers and the gee force would crush them on lift off. Each woman carried a large duffle bag containing an evac suit, food and spare clothing. Leaving the planet Mart was an easy choice for them in light of their fate if they stayed. All but Macy were pledged to a group of men for entertainment purposes and would be sterilized. Mart's population was on the verge of overrunning the resources of the planet. There had been a zero population growth policy in place for several years. Now, with the settlement of a new planet there was a possibility for a better life. The way things used to be. The women and their bags were all charcoal gra
y, same as the outside of the containers. Only Macy knew that the surveillance covered the entire area and she instructed the woman to move slowly and spread apart. She hoped the lazy people monitoring the site were asleep just like her brother used to do before moving on to a hard labor farm. Macy had nothing to loose and would have made the trip alone except her former workmates pleaded to be taken along. As she stood in front of a container airlock she paused and said a prayer that her passcode still worked, it did. Macy and her fellows had worked on refitting of these ten old containers with Macy having to sign off on every phase of refurb. No one questioned when she decided to leave the gravity plates in place despite that they were going planet-side. She told them it would cost to much to remove them. This made it possible, if things went right, to survive the gee forces of the trip. She signaled for the woman to approach, once they were all in she directed them to the first room off the hall. The containers were configured with twenty small apartments on three levels making for sixty living units.

  “Get your suits ladies, check for seals and oxygen levels.”

  They had been planning for this trip for a year and then a further three months waiting for the overdue ship to show up. Now it would be down to hours before they were picked up. Macy and two others made for the utility rooms to connect the gravity plates for their room and test them out. Half a world away in a monitoring center an alert for the container site came up. The visuals did not show anything but this was not surprising. This was typical on remote unfenced locations because animals sometimes tripped the sensors. Had someone taken the time to actually review the video they would have seen the last two women enter the airlock. Macy did not have any idea what would happen now as she instructed the women to strap in and get some sleep. They had no idea exactly how long it would be. All they had heard was that the container ship was was going to be in orbit soon. Mart space control had acknowledged the approach of the ship. On board Panther Zak was in the pilot seat. “Attention crew, we will will be starting to pick up containers in a few minutes so get strapped in and be prepared for flip on my mark.”

  The dampers on Panther were better than military grade so no one should feel much until they flipped the ship for deceleration. Zak was one of the best in the galaxy at these types of high stress maneuvers and the crew was confident.

  “Mark.”

  Panther started the one eighty that would put the main thrusters down and slow the ship as the gee force exceeded twenty over for a few seconds. With only a few adjustments they were on target to pick up the first two containers. Zak brought the ship horizontal just over the containers and eased over them. The grapples and pylons anchored the two against the spine.

  “Containers secured captain.”

  “Lifting off.”

  The powerful forward maneuvering thrusters pushed Panther to vertical and the mains fired in full. Everyone took a big gasp as they were slammed back in their seats. On the ground, in the container they could not help but hear and feel the noise and vibration as the ship boosted out. They still had no way of knowing when their containers would be picked up. Macy prayed that theirs would be last. Mart space control was impressed at how fast Panther moved, much faster than the last ship had picked up containers. Panther wasted no time establishing orbit and dropping the containers. They went straight back down for more. After the second set Zak polled the crew to see if they wanted a break giving then two minutes to respond. As the crew waited Zak stood up from the pilot seat and looked at his second.

  “Junes, you have the con, lets get back to work.”

  She was surprised that Zak would trust her to do this as she had not done it before outside a simulator.

  “I have the con. Two minutes are up so here we go again.”

  It was true that Junes did not have practical experience but she managed to do the next pickup almost as fast as Zak. On the ground Macy talked to the women.

  “Okay, this is it, we are the last so hang tight and pray the dampers work.”

  It was about forty minutes before they heard the rumble of the ship as it settled over the final containers, they would stay directly connected to the ship for the duration. The noise was deafening as the ship grabbed them and they could feel them tipping as they took off. Macy counted a minute and a half before the grav plates and then dampers kicked in. While she looked calm and conveyed confidence she was anything but. Before anybody could say anything the main thrusters kicked in and slammed them all down and all but Macy blacked out. Just hanging on she had one thought before she to blacked out 'we made it'. On board Panther the crew relaxed and groaned. Now it was time to pick up the other containers now in orbit. These containers locked onto the two on the spine. Zak had Junes complete the job as he left the bridge to get a drink and relax, he knew Panther was in good hands. In the containers the woman started to relax also but not so much because of the bulky evac suits. Mart space control was amazed at how fast it all went when Panther called for clearance to leave orbit, it was granted. Then space control relayed the information to government. Now Panther would start the two month journey to the drop off planet named Mart Two. It was a warm and pleasant planet though quite dry. It was deemed the perfect place for Mart to get rid of it's problem citizens. For the women stowed away in the container it seemed to be a better chance for life. Mart's caste society and strict population laws would be behind them and whatever lay ahead would be better. They only knew what they heard from Mart's media, not at all true. Now Macy had a big problem, how to tap into the ships power without being detected. Their evac suits were only good for a couple of days before the power cells ran out.

  The colony on Edahni now had bigger problems. Federated had blockaded the planet so no food or supplies could get in. Even with strict rationing they would be out of food in xix months. The planet's climate did not provide much in the way of edibles and the greenhouses did not yield enough to help much. Edahni was also a bad environment for manna, the high protein fungus that even grew on space ships. Despite being on the verge of becoming rich the colony might perish, no one was willing to give in to Federated. The comms system was being blocked so they could not reach out for help from Panther or anyone else. The unofficial second, Mack sat with Berdle having a cup of tea, the last of it. Repeated tries to cultivate any source of crops outdoors had failed and that included the tea they all liked so much. Berdle stated.

  “I am sure Panther got our last message, Zak is about the only hope we have.”

  At Colisus Two station Hallbrook was getting anxious.

  “MayBell, where is your boyfriend now.”

  “If you are referring to Zak I do not know.”

  “Well you can tell him not to bother with Edahni any longer as the planet will be empty before long.”

  MayBell was shocked but did not show it.

  “You may hear from him before I do but that is of little concern. It seems all the Cyrillium comm buoys in this sector of space are gone. Do you really want the Cyrillium in your territory.”

  Now Hallbrook did not show his surprise at this because he was responsible for it. He just did not think about the possible retaliation.

  “I don't think the Cyrillium would come all this way because of a few comm buoys, maybe an explorer ship will come by and plant some new ones but that would be about it.”

  “They have a empire ship along with four destroyers in the Mercid system right now, not that far away.”

  “I did not know that but is of no mater, they know they have to contact me before showing up.”

  MayBell had no comment to make and decided to leave early, she would send a comm to Zak on the system Hallbrook knew nothing about.

  Gina was the first to spot the anomaly in the power grid, it was small but still, it should not be there. She brought it to Uhr's attention.

  “It looks like someone may be taping in from the starboard container, keep and eye on it and let me know if it changes. I will notify the bridge. Good call Gina.”

&nbs
p; On the bridge Junes replied.

  “Could we have a stowaway. That seems unlikely but let's get someone to do a scan for life signs and let me know.”

  Panther had been cruising three days when Macy finally got a power tap in. Two of the suits power cells had quit working and the cold started to sink in. Macy had acquired the suits through a dubious source and the failures were not a surprise. Now the women were plugged in and warm plus, they had light although there was not much to look at. Macy was confident that no one on the ship would notice the small amount of power they were using but that turned out to be wrong. The planet Mart the woman had come from was not a real spacefairing world so their knowledge of other planets was almost nonexistent. Mart was largely a closed society with minimal exposure to other worlds or peoples. The government kept a tight reign on any who wished to go off planet. The new planet would serve well for those as well as criminals and others. Macy was getting concerned about the number of days they had already spent in the container and they really had no way of knowing the trip would last. Her sources had said the trip was only three days but that was wrong and the supplies they had were running out at seven days, including oxygen. Conversation had dropped to nothing as they waited so Macy asked.

  “I am sorry ladies but there is no way of knowing how much longer it will be so do you want me to contact the ships crew.”

  “But if the crew knows they may just send us back and that would be a death penalty.”

  “Maybe, but we are likely too far out to turn

  back so they may continue on and just report us.”

  “The ship was months behind schedule so turn around is probably not an option so I vote to wait another day. Then if we have not landed we should do it. I do not want to die in this icebox.”