by Clark Graham
The city was large with lots of hotels and places to eat. Most of them looked deserted and Pethran thought that was odd. When the bus finally stopped it was in front of a building called the tourist bureau. The other passengers piled out and lined up in front of a long reception desk. Suddenly about twenty agents came out from behind a door and the other passengers walked up to them, so Pethran did, too.
“Where did you come from? We didn’t have any ships scheduled to land today,” the large man said. He was well tanned but had overindulged on the local food.
“We took a private ship,” was all Pethran was willing to say.
“What type of hotel do you want me to book for you? We are normally booked up, but since the war started all of our important guests had to get back to the real world to save their fortunes or fight their neighbors. War is such a terrible thing.”
“What can a hundred credits buy me for a month?” Pethran asked. He was out of his element.
“That will buy you a penthouse in one of our luxury hotels. Shall I book that for you?”
Pethran kicked himself again for his bad negotiating skills on the ship. He didn’t realize how much a credit was actually worth. Twenty five credits would have been plenty for the ride. “Yes,” he said absentmindedly.
“A word of warning. The protective fence around the hotel district is not working well and since we cannot get someone out here to fix it, it would be best not to go out at night. All of our predators are nocturnal so the daylight is safe.”
“You mean to tell me you have things out there big enough to eat people?”
“Our jungle is beautiful to look at, but it does come with a price. It’s just a precaution. The fence works most of the time but there have been a couple of lapses lately.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Pethran said as he swallowed hard. He wondered if any of those creatures flew and could get through glass windows.
He was escorted to his room by a young woman in a flowing white robe. His hotel looked out across the forest. The canopy stretched forever and it seemed to him that he was on an island in the middle of a large ocean of green. He was happy. Life was good right now, but he had a lot to worry about. Both of his sons were in danger. One by choice and the other by force.
He was glad he had listened to Zedra; this place was paradise. . He stretched out in his bed and fell right to sleep. He didn’t even take his clothes off.
He was awakened by the sound of someone moving around his room. He looked up to see another young woman in a flowing white robe placing a basket full of fruit on the table in the room.
She let out a slight giggle when she spotted him. “I’m sorry, Sir, you didn’t answer my knock so I thought you were out and about.” She then hurried out the door.
Pethran got up and tasted some of the fruit. There was nothing he recognized in the basket so he tasted all of it. Those he liked he ate and those he didn’t he put back in the basket.
Soon he was full and he sat down to watch the picture radio. The screen came when he put his hand on the pad.
“Hello, Pethran from Andaria Major, what do you wish to watch today?” A woman in white appeared on the screen.
Pethran jumped out of his skin when he heard his name. When he got his composure back he said, “I wish to watch the news of the galaxy.”
“Very well,” she said and then the news came on.
Pethran listened to it for over an hour. At one point there was a mention of a battle near the Onderi Sector, but since there were so many battles in so many places the news didn’t go into great detail. Pethran had hoped that the news would come back to that but the program ended before it did. He stood up, showered and got dressed. It was a good day to explore the city and he was excited to do so. When he was about to leave his room, a knock came on the door.
Pethran answered it. Standing in front of him in a fine black suit and pinstriped pants with a large gold chain around his neck was a tall man with a hooked nose and straight short hair. It was black but one could tell right away it had been dyed as it had nearly white roots. Pethran let out a surprised a chuckle when he saw the man. It struck him as funny that the man was trying to conceal his age. He regained his composure right away.
“I am Stanil Belsher, the mayor of this fine city. I always welcome our penthouse guests personally. They tell me your name is Pethran.”
“That is correct.”
“I have a wonderful lunch prepared for you in the Café Del San Trinto. Let me escort you.”
Pethran wanted to say he just had a large fruit basket for breakfast but that was over an hour ago and the fruit did not stay with him. He was feeling hungry at this point so he said, “that will be delightful.”
When he walked out the door he noticed for the first time that the two girls in the white robes were on either side of the mayor. “Are they eating with us?” Pethran asked.
The girls giggled so Pethran knew he had said something silly, but the mayor was one for never embarrassing his guests said, “they can, if you so desire.”
“I do.”
When they walked into the restaurant all four of them sat down at a long table. The girls were on either side of the middle and Pethran and the mayor were on each end. The servers brought out an array of meat cheeses and breads. There were some brown round things on his plate and Pethran had to wait to see if anyone else was eating them before he tried them. When he did he suspected they were some type of vegetable. They were delicious so he ate them all.
The servers kept looking at the girls like they didn’t belong at the table, but they didn’t say anything about it.
“Tell me, Pethran, are you a dignitary on that planet of yours?” the mayor said. He was trying to make small talk.
“No, just a simple farmer.”
“You are just being modest. A simple farmer could not afford a penthouse suite. You must be a land baron of some type.”
“I did have a lot of land, but I gave it to my son to work. I am now just a traveler looking for a quiet corner of the galaxy, away from the war.”
“You have come to the right place. Just yesterday we were declared a neutral planet. The war will not come here.”
Pethran smiled. “I am so glad to hear that.”
“The only problem is that nobody can get here or leave here. The transports are being used up for the war or have been captured by pirates. I am afraid you are stuck.”
Pethran raised his glass of wine. “Here is to being stuck in paradise.”
Chapter Thirty Five
Star Destroyer Lectar
Onderi Sector
It wasn’t a normal day patrolling the sector. The enlisted men could feel that there was something wrong as all of the officers were having a long meeting in the ward room. They seemed tense after that and it was affecting the crew. It wasn’t long before each department met to announce what was going on.
The engine room master took his men aside and told them, “Our fleet was attacked by the twin’s fleet. It was a great battle and it lasted three days, but in the end our fleet was destroyed. The Prince has surrendered. We are no longer in this conflict. We have been ordered to proceed to the main star base and turn our ships over to the fleet of the Twins. We are all to be furloughed until the war is over.”
There was a wave of shock that went over the crowd. Zedra sat there in disbelief. How could a fleet so massive be destroyed in one battle? Now he and his fellow crew members faced an uncertain future. What did it actually mean to be furloughed? Without a word most of the men filed out. Zedra looked back at the master and asked, “What now?”
“Now you go home until the time the war is settled and your Empire calls you back to active service. The Twins don’t trust us. We have been fighting them for so long. All they want is our ships. They have lots of crew members left from the ships of theirs that were damaged or destroyed. They don’t need us; just our ships.”
“Go home? My home is half way across the galaxy! How am I su
pposed to get there?”
“You have others who are from that sector of space around. Pool your resources.”
Zedra left the room. He would have to think about that. He wondered if Lee was still at the main star base. He also thought about the new guy he met, Landris. It might be just possible to do what he needed to do to get home. His spirits were raised as he contemplated the thought.
It was two days later that the Lectar docked at the star base. Why they didn’t dock at the small one where the Lectar patrolled from, Zedra didn’t know, but when he saw the other patrol vessels from his fleet docked there he could only suppose that the Twins wanted them all in one place when they took over the ships. They could go and take possession of the small outlying star bases later.
The battleship was still docked there and the repairs looked to have stopped. None of the officers were that eager to order the men to fix a battleship for the enemy.
There was a general feeling of despair in the star base. Rumors were rampant that the Twins were going to intern the Prince and the whole army and that they would have to stay the rest of the war behind bars. The Twins’ fleet had not arrived yet, so no one knew for sure what was happening. The two twin princes were sometimes ruthless and unpredictable.
The first thing that Zedra did was to track down Lee. He was sitting in the enlisted men’s club having a drink at the bar. In fact he was having at least one too many drinks at the bar. When Zedra came Lee said, “Did I tell you that I was awarded for bravery?”
“Yes, Lee, you did.”
“How do you know my name?” When Lee looked a little closer he exclaimed, “It’s Zedra, my old friend!”
“Yes. We need to get out of here. Do you have a bunk I can put you in until I find Landris?
“Who?”
“Never mind, just sit tight. I will be back.” Zedra knew time was of the essence and didn’t want to waste a lot of time looking for a bunk. He knew Lee wasn’t going to be able to move fast.
“Sitting tight, Sir,” Lee said and then he saluted.
Zedra scoured the station for Landris, asking everyone who might know to no avail. Then he met his sweaty old bunk mate and asked him.
“He is in a game of the Cassada down in the hangar deck.”
“Isn’t gambling against the rules?” Zedra was surprised.
“Nobody cares anymore,” was the simple answer.
When Zedra found him, he was in the middle of a losing streak. “Landris, we’ve got to go.” He said it in their native language, hoping nobody else understood.
“Nowhere to go, but since I’m losing, sure why not.”
When Landris stood up he paid up his losses and then left. “Where are we supposed to go, Zedra?”
“Home.”
Landris was shocked. “How are we going to do that?”
“We need to buy, borrow or steal some transportation. We’ve been furloughed. We are no longer part of this madness.”
“Escape pod.”
Zedra looked at him. “Escape pod?”
“Yes, there is a way to deactivate the pod launch warning. A group of us go down to the local planet sometimes where the women are friendly and the alcohol is outstanding. We always get back before they get a clue that we’re missing.”
“That just might work. I will meet you down there I have got to get Lee.”
“That stuffed shirt? He is military, by the book, all day long. He won’t even talk to me.”
“He’s drunk, by the time he sobers up we will be on the planet.”
Landris laughed, “Man, you are just full of good ideas today.”
Lee was still in the club when Zedra got back. “Come on, old buddy, we are going for a ride.”
“Zedra, long time no see. When did you get here?”
Zedra didn’t bother to answer but just put his arm around him and led him down to the escape pods. Landris had already deactivated the launch warning system.
“No time like the present,” Landris said.
They both helped Lee into it. When he looked around he said, “Isn’t this an escape pod?”
“Yes, Lee, it is. The space station is on fire, and we need to get out of here,” Zedra replied. He nodded over to Landris who grabbed the controls and launched.
“How long until we get to the planet?” Zedra asked.
“A couple of hours. We usually do this right after they run their diagnostics at seven. They do it every day so that gives us a full day, but since it’s already three we will only have four hours until they know we are gone.”
“It will have to do. I hope they won’t care enough to come after us.”
“They won’t know where we’ve gone.”
Chapter Thirty Six
Kaldus Prime
Onderi Sector
The store foreman looked dubiously at the space shuttle. “What did you say you were going to do with this thing again?” The shuttle was just a long tube with a small window up front and a tiny engine to get survivors to the nearest planet or rescue craft.
Zedra cleared his throat. He was getting impatient with the man. Why couldn’t the foreman just sell him the parts that he was asking for? “I am going to boost the output by vectoring more thrust through the primary engine. I can do this by a turbo booster fan, ducted between the two bipolar pumps.”
“Why would you do that? You can’t take this thing into deep space or anything like that. You are just wasting your money.”
“Why can’t I take it into deep space?”
The foreman looked at Zedra. “So, that is your plan. Boy, you are crazy. This thing will fall apart; it isn’t designed to go great distances. How far were you trying to go?”
“Keldar sector.” Zedra didn’t have to listen to the man’s comments because he saw the utter shock in the man’s face. “Okay; what do you suggest then?”
The man shook his bald head and his bushy beard swished back and forth. “If you are going to go crazy, you will have to caulk every joint on this ship to keep the air in. You will have to upgrade your pressure pump, because the ship will leak anyway. I would not go all the way to the Keldar sector, I would just go to Ghant.”
“Ghant isn’t on the way.”
The man shook his head again. “It isn’t out of the way, either. You will have to go there because you will be out of supplies by the time you get that far, if you can make it at all. If you try to go further, you will be out of fuel and food. You can’t go straight across five sectors. There is a war on and all of those sectors currently have different navies controlling them. We are not even mentioning pirates. They have gotten busy now that the Empire no longer patrols their old stomping ground. Although I doubt they will waste their time on an escape pod.”
Zedra was embarrassed with himself. He had not planned out logistics well enough. “I guess we will be going to Ghant.”
“Do yourself a favor when you get there. I have a friend named Darmid. Look him up, he has small transports that he sells. All of the large ones have been procured by the navies, but a proper spacecraft is what you need more than anything.”
“Darmid, got it; now can I have my parts? I will take some caulk and a heavier pump, too, please.”
“It’s a deal,” the foreman said. When he smiled it revealed a cracked and jagged tooth that Zedra had not seen before.
Landris showed up with Lee in a hovercraft. The two had been arguing and their faces were red.
“Is there a problem?” Zedra asked.
“He wants to go back, but if he does he takes our only means of transportation with him,” Landris explained.
“You can’t go back; they will throw you in the brig for stealing an escape pod. They might even take your medal away.”
Lee was still frustrated. “You lied to me! The station wasn’t on fire.”
“You were drunk, how do you know what I said anyway?”
Lee couldn’t answer Zedra. He couldn’t believe he had let himself get drunk. Now that he was sober, he was a
deserter in the company of two soldiers he considered beneath him.
“Let’s get these supplies packed. The foreman is going to want his hovercraft back,” Landris said.
“How much did it cost?” Zedra was worried about finances now that he had to buy extra parts.
“Twenty credits,” Lee interjected. “Spend- thrift here had only five credits so I had to pay for it.”
“Five credits?” Zedra said in shock.
“Wine, women, and song are my downfall. I did get us out of the space station, though, didn’t I?”
“You forgot to mention that you’re a bad gambler too,” Lee said sarcastically.
“That doesn’t help, either,” Landris had to admit.
Their conversation ended when the foreman came up with a load of parts. “I will help you install all of this. I don’t have many customers since the war started anyway.”
It took three hours for them to get all of the parts installed and the supplies into the pod. There wasn’t much room for anything. The inside of the shuttle was small to begin with and there was no storage for the supplies so they had to stack them on the floor. This brought the level up so far that when they left the flight deck of the pod they would have to climb the pile of supplies and crawl along them to get to the lavatory or the engines.
The foreman shook all their hands one by one and said, “Good luck. I don’t know anyone who’ll need it more than you do.”
“Thank you for all of your help; we could not have done it without you.”
“You might not do it even with all of my help. Are you sure you want to go? I can use some strong backs around here to help me organize this place.”
Zedra was adamant, “No, we are going home.”
The foreman shook his head as he walked away.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Deep Space
Onderi Sector
Zedra dried his hands as he came from the lavatory. “I unplugged the head for you again. I don’t know why you can’t fix that yourself.”
