by Clark Graham
“I’m not the mechanic. I’m a pilot,” Landris replied. “I fly escape pods, but not much else. I don’t know how to fix them.
“Could you not put as much down there all at once at least?”
“When I get the urge I go and I don’t go until I get the urge.”
“Maybe force it out in between once in a while?”
“Would you stop, you two? Change the subject at least, I don’t want to hear anymore about plugging up the head,” Lee complained.
“I suppose you’re right,” Zedra admitted. He made his way to the flight deck where he could at least sit in a chair. There were only two seats in there so Landris or Zedra would take turn flying or sleeping. They didn’t trust Lee to pilot because he might turn it around and go back to the space station. It had gotten a lot easier getting around in the cabin of the escape pod now that most of the supplies had been used up.
Landris lowered his voice, “how is that pump doing?”
“It’s running almost all of the time. We are getting more and more leaks and it’s hard to maintain pressure, but you don’t really need to worry about that because the engines will break down long before the pump gives out. I’m having to alternate throttling one or the other back so they don’t blow a gasket. I may have just killed the three of us by this hare- brained idea.”
“It’s a good goal and we’re not dead yet.”
Lee stuck his face into the flight deck and said, “I can hear you, you know.”
“I know,” Zedra replied.
“I was a hero on the station and now I’m going to end up as space debris because you two kidnapped me.”
It was more than Landris could take. He had had to listen to that same complaint for the last month. “You are only a level two hero; there are three levels higher than that. It’s not like you were the most highly decorated man on the station.”
“And what level of hero were you?”
“I am not any level of hero because I know to duck when someone is shooting at me.”
“Stop, you two,” Zedra said. It was his turn to break up the fight. Just then they passed a space buoy. The red light flashed through the windows of the pod.
“What was that?” Lee asked.
“That was good news,” Landris replied. “That means we are on the outward approaches to Ghant. We will be there in two days.”
“If this thing holds together that long,” Lee replied.
Zedra went back to check on the engines. The entry into the atmosphere of the planet was going to take a toll on them.
Landris made a hard left turn and then started following the navigation buoys into the space dock.
Two days later they landed at the port. They were planning to go find Darmid, but they didn’t have to as he had come down to the port when one of the men who worked for him called him and told him that the escape pod had landed.
While the three of them were getting out of the pod, Darmid was waiting for them outside. “I didn’t believe what I heard from my friend Jedin on Kaldus Prime. He said three soldiers were flying an escape pod across the sector. You made it. I will have to tell him.”
“Darmid, I assume?” Zedra said.
“In the flesh. Before we go any further, I have someone who wants to talk to you. You see when I heard three soldiers were escaping the war, I wanted to make sure they were not deserters. It seemed highly suspicious that you would have risked your life like that otherwise.”
Before the three of them could react, there were six deputies and a constable surrounding them with blasters pointed at them.
“I am going to have to look at your military chips, men. Just to see what is going on with you,” the constable said.
The three of them reluctantly handed over their military identifications. The constable scanned them on a hand held scanner. He then turned to Darmid. “They are all on furlough; they can travel anywhere they want.”
“What about the stolen escape pod?”
“No escape pod has been reported stolen. I see no reason to send these boys back to the war. I probably wouldn’t have sent them back anyway. It’s nothing but a massive slaughter out there. It’s going to take decades to find all of the dead bodies floating in space as it is now.” The constable turned to the three of them and said as he handed them back their chips, “You are free to go.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Zedra replied. He then turned to Darmid, “That isn’t how you treat customers.”
“I know. It was just very suspicious to me. I didn’t want to be charged with aiding and abetting deserters. Now that I know that you are on the up and up I can do business with you. As an apology, let me rent three rooms in the nearby hotel so you can get a hot shower, a good night’s sleep and some hot food in you. We will talk about your options in the morning.”
None of them had any reason to argue with him.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Ghant
Onderi Sector
After a good night’s sleep and a hot breakfast, the three of them made it to Darmid’s place of business. Darmid had already moved the escape pod there and he was looking it over when they arrived.
“It looks like to me that the engines are shot, the pressure pump is on its last legs and most of the caulking has come undone. You are lucky to be alive.”
“What’s your point?” Zedra’s good will towards Darmid was already wearing off.
“My point is that you need a new spaceship. I have a medium sized one for one thousand credits just over here.” Darmid started walking that direction until he noticed that no one was following him. He came back.
“We don’t have much money left. We are going to have to repair this one and be on our way.” Zedra knew that a thousand was impossible. They only had a hundred thirty two, a hundred thirty seven if they included what Landris had, and were going to have to purchase supplies with some of that.
Darmid snorted out a laugh. “You might as well kill yourselves now and save your money. You barely made it here. The next closest planet is Fledzin in the Mantoe sector and it is twice as far as you have come already. You will never make it alive.”
“Do you have any suggestions?” Zedra asked. He knew the ship wouldn’t make it, but he didn’t want to give up the idea of going home.
“Yes, since the war workers are hard to come by, I could use your friends for manual labor, a credit a week. You have more skills than those two. Your adaptations to the engines were simply genius. I would be willing to pay you three credits a week.”
“Five credits a week; that’s only enough to live on. I need to get back home, not be stuck here. I could have had free room and board for the rest of the war if I had stayed at the space station.”
“I have a small building that my workers bunk in. I supply the food also. I will apply all of your credits to a small transport that only costs five hundred credits. I will give you twenty credits for the escape pod. I have a friend who collects space debris. I will tell him that I found it in deep space.”
Zedra paused. It would take two years to earn that kind of money, but he wanted to play his cards right and see the ship that Darmid was talking about. “Show me the ship.”
“Follow me,” Darmid said. This time he looked back to see if the trio was actually following him. They were.
He led them to a small brown transport. Compared to the pod, it was like a palace inside. There was a galley with plenty of storage for food and supplies. It had four cabins with large comfortable beds. They wouldn’t have to sleep on their supplies anymore.
Landris leaned over to Zedra and whispered, “We could have hot food, no more of those cold rations.”
“We can’t afford it,” Zedra whispered back. He then turned to Darmid and said, “It’s not worth more than three hundred and fifty.” He actually had no idea what it was worth, but he figured with what they had and with a year’s labor they could be out of there, including supplies.
“You surprise me. For being a simple sailor yo
u sure seem to know your spaceships. I will tell you what, I will give it to you for four hundred fifty.”
It told Zedra that he was at least within range of the price otherwise Darmid would not have come up with a counter offer. “Four hundred credits and I want forty credits for the pod; the parts alone are worth that.”
“Fine, four hundred for the transport, but I will only give you thirty five for the pod. I need to make a profit.”
“It’s a deal, but give me a few days to raise the money. If I can’t then we are your workers for the next year.”
Darmid stuck out his hand. “It’s a deal, but you only have three days until you have to get out of the hotel.”
“Deal,” Zedra said.
When Darmid walked away Lee looked at him, “What did you just do?”
“I bought a space ship.”
“I don’t want to fly around space. I want to get back to the war.”
“It’s a beauty, Zedra,” Landris said. “The only problem is that I don’t know how to fly this thing.”
“We are going to have an entire year to figure that out.”
When Darmid walked into the office the bald foreman from Kaldus Prime was sitting looking at his monitor. He had seen the whole conversation. “What did I tell you about that boy?”
“Are you sure they didn’t see you following them?”
“That model of escape pod has no sensors. I could have been inches behind him and there would have been no way to tell I was there,” the foreman said.
“You were right; he’s a genius with engines and I am barely breaking even on that ship. Nobody’s negotiated that well against me in years. He is everything you said he was and more.”
“When are you going to break the news to him that he will be working for you on Andaria Major instead of on Ghant?”
“He has three days to come up with the money to pay for the ship. Of course, he can’t; they only have a little over a hundred between the three of them. I had the constable check when he had their military chips. When they fail, I will tell them the good news then.”
“Emor has already captured that sector. Are you sure he is still willing to sell you that shipyard that is under construction on their planet?”
“He already has. I want you to go with those boys to make sure they get there. That is the fastest ship I have, I want you to get there quickly. You are no longer the foreman of my parts yard. You are the new foreman of the shipyard at Andaria Major.”
Jardin smiled, showing his jagged tooth.
Chapter Thirty Nine
Ghant
Onderi Sector
The monitor in the room lit up and Zedra’s face appeared. “Greten, are you there?”
Majory came around the corner from the kitchen, “Zedra, you are safe! When we heard your sector had been overrun, we thought the worst. It is so good to see you!”
“Hello Majory, yes, I’m safe, but I need some galactic credits. Is Greten there?”
“No, he got called up again, even though his enlistment is over. The prince that is over our sector has been defeated, and all of his men have abandoned the planet. A rich merchant by the name of Emor is on his way here to take it over. Since you have been gone, all of the armies of all the nations have combined. They are going to try to stop Emor from taking over our planet.” She tried not to let her voice show how worried she was about the situation.
Zedra’s heart sank. He was going from one war to another one. If a galactic fleet attacked the planet, there wouldn’t be much left. Why couldn’t his home planet just realize how badly outgunned they were and give up? They had only lucked out the first time; they would not be so lucky this time.
“We don’t have any money from the Empire. Greten can’t help you anyway,” Majory replied.
“Thanks, Majory.” He was going to end there but he didn’t. “The planet has no idea what it is dealing with. The Empire just sent in a few men on transports the first time and it wasn’t backed up by a fleet. It will only take a day with the firepower of a few star battleships to turn our planet to dust.”
Majory just sat there in shock and didn’t say a word. Zedra felt guilty for what he had said. “I’m sorry. I should not have said anything. It was nice seeing you, Majory.”
“Goodbye, Zedra.” She managed to get out even though she still looked like someone had slapped her.
Zedra looked back at the screen and hit the locate icon. The monitor beeped to life again. “Locate Pethran,” he said into the screen.
“Middle and last names?”
“None,” Zedra replied.
“One Pethran located on Denoris in the Keldar Sector.”
“Call,” Zedra responded.
The girl had just brought the morning fruit to Pethran’s room when she saw the red dot on the screen blinking. She went over and shook Pethran awake. “You have a call.”
Pethran just sat up in bed and said, “Go ahead,” so the girl pushed the button on the screen and it turned on. Of course the first thing Zedra saw was the girl and then he saw his father in the bed.
“Dad, what are you doing? Who’s the girl?”
It was then that Pethran realized how it looked. The girl just waved and giggled then left the room. “It’s not like--”
“It’s not like what?” Zedra replied.
“She brings me fruit in the morning, that’s all. I am so glad to see you. When I heard about all the battles in your area of space, I was so worried.”
“I survived. I am out of the war because I have been furloughed. I’m trying to get home but it’s not working. I haven’t even gotten out of this sector yet. Unless I can come up with a lot of credits in a few days, I will have to work off the price of a spaceship to get off of this rock. It will take over a year to do it.”
“How much do you need?”
“Two hundred and sixty credits would work. Do you have any idea how I would get that much?”
“I will send it to you.”
Zedra was amazed. “You have that much? How did you get it?”
“Never mind that; it just pays to have food when nobody else does.”
“Things got bad there?”
“Very bad,” Pethran replied. “But things are looking up.”
“No, they’re not. They are going against Emor. He will wipe them out if they stand in his way. You have to stop them.”
“I didn’t realize that. I knew Emor took over the sector, but I didn’t realize that our planet was going to try and fight him. I’m sorry but I can’t do anything from here. I’m stuck here. There are no transports out of here.”
“You’re in paradise; how bad can that be?”
“The fence is down, the predators roam the streets at night and there are some scary looking predators. Pick me up on the way through.”
“Okay, Dad, I will do that. Thanks for the money.”
“Love you, Son, take care.”
Chapter Forty
Ghant
Onderi Sector
The ship was stocked with supplies and was fueled up. Darmid had wanted the three soldiers and his foreman, Jedin, to get a quick start once the boys gave up on trying to get the money up. He was surprised to see them so soon, when they came walking in the gate of his lot when he opened for the day.
“Well, what a surprise, how can I help you gentlemen this morning? Did you change your minds?”
“No, we have come to pay you what we owe you.”
Darmid nearly choked because he was so surprised. “Um, how did you get the money?”
“My father gave me some. He’s been busy since I left. We will need to learn to fly the thing. Landris is our pilot, but he hasn’t seen this time of a ship. He is better with smaller craft.”
Darmid relaxed; this was his in. “I can even do better than that. As it happens, my pilot, Jedin, I believe you met him on Kaldus Prime, has some very important business in the Keldar sector. He can fly your craft for you. As a matter of fact, he was going to take it there
right away and has the ship fueled up and supplies laid in. I didn’t think you could get the money up for a year, so I was going to use this ship to transport Jedin and was going to get a brand new ship for you when you were ready to go.”
Zedra looked at Darmid skeptically. The man was up to something, but he couldn’t tell what. In the end he needed a pilot or some training. With a pilot he could leave right away; the training might take a few weeks. “How much am I going to have to pay you for the fuel and supplies?”
With a smile Darmid said, “Since my man will be using them too, they’re on me.”
This made Zedra even more suspicious but by that time Jedin was running out to get into the ship like he had just been summoned with some secret signal.
“Shall we go or do you need to get back to the hotel to get you things?” Jedin asked.
“No, we have our things here,” Zedra stammered out. It was all happening too fast. It was something he had wanted for a long time but now it was happening too fast.
“Let’s go then. I have to get there,” Jedin insisted.
“Alright,” Zedra said a little impatiently. Lee and Landris grabbed their bags from around the corner and they all headed into the spaceship and took off.
The craft was smooth riding through the air and as they gained speed and left the atmosphere of the planet all four of the occupants were inside the flight deck. Soon Landris and Lee went back to their cabins leaving only Jedin and Zedra in front.
“What is going on?” Zedra asked at last.
To his surprise Jedin put his finger to his lips in a hushing gesture. Then he pointed up to a switch on the top electrical panel. “I just need a ride. I will teach you how to pilot this ship on the way.” After that Jedin reached up and switched the switch to off.
Jedin cleared his throat. “Okay, we can talk now. Sometimes Darmid listens in for the first hour of two. You never know.”
“Why would he need to listen in?”Zedra asked.
“He is a very cautious man. One has to be, in his line of work.”
