The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One

by Gary W. Feather

  Erica checked the areas of the Guinevere, which it was her job to monitor. She had two visual screens that showed what was happening right now. They could be changed to other locations if needed. There were four data screens of different sizes that listed readings on temperature, humidity, lifeforms, air content, gravity, air pressure, movement, and other readings that could assist her monitoring job. One data screen told her about starship Guinevere’s currently location in the galaxy. She had jumped out of Hecate system hours ago and was close to emerging in the Lilith system.

  She felt an odd tingling shiver as the Starship Guinevere jumped out of hyperspace. Erica raised her arms to stretch. That always made her feel better after a hyperspace jump. Her neighbor groaned.

  “I hate that.” Heidi Williams gripped. “One of my moms told me when I was little that I’d get used to that. I’m twenty-five and I’m still waiting for that to happen. Arrg!”

  Erica laughed at Heidi despite her own depression. “We have made it safely out of hyperspace. I guess that’s a good thing.”

  “I guess.” Heidi back to the area that she was monitoring on her screens. There were over ten women working at the monitoring stations in the room.

  #

  Erica forgot about Heidi and her mind wondered back to Martha. She remembered how great it was at first when they started to make love in Erica’s bedroom. The kissing, the caressing, the kissing, the sucking, the kissing, the laughter, the kissing, and they may have kissed. Erica found herself smiling at that sweet memory. Then the shock of ejaculating almost as soon as Erica’s penis had entered Martha’s vagina. Goddess! Erica made a fist and wanted to punch someone. I would hit myself if I could!

  Calm down. You’re working. Calm down. Breathe. Breathe.

  Erica relaxed a little and glanced at one of her monitors when she heard voices coming their her earphone. She glanced at a visual screen that showed two women taking a shower together. One had short curly white hair, while the other had her hair in a gray crew cut. Oh shit! What did I do? The two women were fucking. That’s Ellie Williams! The senior captain’s XO-no now she is acting senior captain for the moment. But that’s not her wife! Is that Tawny Williams? The cargo chief of second shift? Ellie’s married. I met her wife once. Oh shit! This is bad. I’m not suppose to be doing this.

  “But do we really have to kill Alberta?” Ellie said. Tawny pushed away from her.

  “Yes.” Tawny frowned. “We have no choice. You don’t think she’ll let you be a junior captain when Alberta is made senior captain? No way. She’ll make her dear little sister Janet junior captain of second shift. Not you!”

  “True.” Ellie shivered, but it wasn’t because the water was cold. Tawny kissed her neck again and again.

  “Once that is done then no one will stand in our way!” Tawny hugged Ellie. “This starship and family needs new leaders. Leaders like you that aren’t weak and don’t let in any worthless strays like that Martha Clarke.”

  “Your right.” Ellie nodded. “It must be done.”

  #

  Erica looked around at the other women in the room. Did they see what she was looking at? Should I tell someone? I could get into some serious shit for just looking into someone shower, even when not in use. That’s illegal! Erica quickly turned it off. Oh shit! No one saw me. Thank you, Kannon! Thank you Amida! They’re planning on killing my mom! A junior captain on the Guinevere! Family! You don’t kill family! Family is starship! Starship is family! That’s the old saying that’s given to children. We’re all taught that!

  Erica found herself breathing hard. Slow down. Calm. Slow your breathing. She checked the console at her station. It was recorded. Erica grabbed an info chip and saved the shower recording to it. She looked around at the others and erased the recording on the console. I need to show that to someone.

  #

  Later that day in the cafeteria as Erica listened to Jessica Williams talking, she glanced over to where Tawny Williams sat with some of friends eating at another table. Erica decided she needed to keep an eye one Tawny and figure out who else is in on it. She also need to do the same with acting Senior Captain Ellie Williams. How could I do it without getting caught? I can’t just do that in the monitoring room. I mean eventually someone is bound to notice. Erica swallowed some hot tea.

  Erica suddenly noticed everyone at her table was looking at her. “What?”

  “I asked you question, Erica.” Jessica said. She was Erica’s younger sister, who’d recently returned from the University on the planet Yin.

  “Sorry.”

  “Where’s your mind, Erica?” Tilly asked. Mindy Bettencourt giggled as Martha sat down beside Erica.

  “Hi, everyone.” Martha smiled. She squeezed Erica’s hand with a gaze into Erica’s eyes. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Erica felt the heat of blush covering her cheeks and ears. Jessica joined Mindy in a giggle fit. Erica frowned at them. Her mind was on a dozen things such as; the funeral of her grandmother Audrey Williams, which she missed when she and Martha were kidnapped on the planet Knight’s Tale, and the funerals for the three security women/cousins who were killed fighting on Knight’s Tale. Of course she was thinking about Martha too. I should be getting a headache soon.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDFOUR

  Prison break

  Erica watched the prison breakout through her binoculars. Now I know what they’re up too. I hope I’m not too close. I don’t want to alert Tawny and her friends to my presence. She had connected the binoculars to her tablet so that what she was watching would be recorded for evidence. Tawny, her daughter Tea, and Dorthea Zhou were all dressed in black like amateur ninjas. Erica was reminded of the ninja named Demon, who’d murdered Erica’s grandmother. She pushed the depressing thought out of her mind. In Tawny’s case they weren’t here to kill, but to break Dorotea’s sister out of prison.

  Tawny had figured out a brilliant solution, which included sneaking pellets of sleeping gas into just about every part of the prison. The pellets had timer, so that they’d go off at the same time. At the moment Erica was two blocks from Baltimore City Prison standing on the roof of al-Hazed Hotel. The prison was a medium security prison in Baltimore City on the planet Jezebel. She lowered her binoculars to look around the roof. Damn it. Again Erica pushed her long brown hair back from her face. I should have brought something to tie my hair back. I keep forgetting I’m not bald. No one is here. No one is going to sneak up on me. Stop being paranoid, Erica.

  Erica pushed her hair back and looked through her binoculars. The pellets went off in prison just as Tawny had planned it. A smart move I have to admit. Everyone in the prison breathed it in; guards, medical staff, prisoners, visitors…everyone. They three of them ran inside with oxygen masks. Erica switched on the infrared, so she could see them moving through the prison complex. The prison was full of human beings with heat signatures. I hope that means they didn’t use poison, just the sleeping gas that hoped they had. Bad enough the bitch wants to kill my mom, but I don’t want innocent people hurt too. They’re might be children inside visiting a parent in prison. They stopped somewhere inside to lift a body and carried the body outside. Once Tawny and her friends had carried the body outside Erica switched her binoculars to regular view. It was Rosemary Zhou, Dorothea’s twin sister, that they were carrying. Erica was already sure that was who they were after, but her suspicions were confirmed. I knew it! I need to tell someone. I have some evidence to convict Tawny with. Should I go to my mother Piper or Keiko?

  “Freeze, police!” She heard someone behind her shout out.

  #

  Erica lowered her binoculars and her hair flew across her face. Some tips of her hair got into her open mouth. Oh shit!

  “Raise your hands! Now!”

  Erica obeyed.

  “Now slowly turn around!”

  Erica carefully turned around. She stopped her hands from shaking by controlling her breath. “Hello, officer.”

  “What are you doing here?” said t
he policewoman, who had her blaster aimed at Erica’s chest.

  “Just bird watching, officer.” Erica explained. The lame excuse sounded better when she thought it up in her mind. Now that she actually spoke it out loud it seemed lame.

  “Really?” The policewoman frowned. “Birdwatching? Like I haven’t heard that excuse before.” She shook her head at Erica then pointed at the tablet. “I wonder what evidence I’ll find in that tablet that’ll tell me what you been up to.”

  Shit! Erica sighed and reached for the tablet.

  “Slowly. Very slowly.” The policewoman warned. “Idiot. You think your the first person to come to scope out the prison from this high roof. It’s the tallest hotel in Baltimore City.”

  “Uh, bir-”

  “Shut up.” She snapped.

  With a swift flick of her wrist Erica toss the tablet at the policewoman. Erica rolled to her left. The tablet struck the policewoman’s eye. The blaster went off. She missed! Erica stepped in close. She grabbed her wrist at the pressure points. A quick twist caused the policewoman to drop the blaster. Erica hit a pressure point under the other woman’s ear. The policewoman fell just like her blaster. Erica caught her and lower her to the ground. You’ll be find, officer.

  Erica gathered up her stuff and put it in her tote bag. With a last glance at the policewoman she left the roof. She took an elevator down to first floor. She walked calmly through the lobby. She was dressed in a plain brown business pantsuit. Erica handed a paper to a girl, who went to get Erica’s hovercar. She smiled and gave the teenage girl a nice tip. Once Erica was four blocks away from the hotel she pulled into restaurant parking lot. She lowered the hovercar and her vehicle wobbled a little on the broken concrete. They need to fix this rotten place. The place was closed and the sign had been removed. This looks like the right spot to change. She reached up and pulled her face off. The mask was similar to the lifelike artificial skin that her aunt Doctor Amy Menendez used on patients in her sickbay. Part of her security training had been to recognize ways people used to disguise themselves, such these kind of masks. Erica’s fake face had been recorded by the hotel’s security, but there be no way they could identify Erica from that face. It had a longer nose, no chin, and smaller ears. A very different woman.

  Erica looked into the mirror. There I am! She pulled off a bit of hanging skin. Better. Now what am I going to do?

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDFIVE

  Erica gets caught

  Erica went through the recording she’d made on her tablet. She turned it off and thought about her possibilities. Erica had placed a bug on Tea’s arm a few days ago back on Guinevere in the cafeteria. She’d casually walked up to Tea to say hello to her and thanked her for helping with the kidnappers on Selene. It had been easy to slip the bug into her skin. Erica had worn a ring with a nano-sized needle that injected the bug on contact. I can still follow them. She checked her tablet and found where Tea was. There they are. I just tag along from distance, but first I need to tell someone.

  Erica sighed and called her mom Piper Williams.

  “Hello mom? This is Erica.”

  “Hello Erica.” Piper replied. “Where are you? Martha has been asking around about you. She seemed worried. Is everything okay between you too?”

  “Sure. Everything is cool, mom.” Erica nervously twisted her hair in her fingers. “I have a confession to make.”

  “Is this a ‘please don’t record this’ kind of confession?”

  “Uh, yes.”

  “Great.” She could tell from the sound of her mother’s voice that she wasn’t happy.

  “Go ahead.”

  “When I was on duty days ago I accidentally turned on a camera in Ellie Williams’ shower.”

  “What the fu-”

  “I didn’t mean to. But she was taking a shower with…uh…Tawny Williams. They were having sex.”

  “Huh?”

  “The reason I didn’t turn it off immediately was that they talked about planning to kill mother Alberta.”

  “What?”

  “I recorded it.” Erica explained. “Then I followed them on the planet where they were to the Baltimore City Prison to break out Rosemary Zhou.”

  “Shit!”

  “I recorded all of this for evidence and I’m sending it to your tablet on Guinevere.”

  “Goddess help us!”

  “D-did you received what I sent you.”

  “Uh…yes, Erica. I got it.” Piper replied. “Now return to the Guinevere and we’ll get this settled.”

  “I can’t I need to continue following them.” Erica replied. “I’m sure there’s more to this than Ellie and Tawny making a coup on mother.”

  “No! Erica! No!”

  Erica turned off her tablet. This is the right thing to do. I can do this!

  #

  Erica followed the bug on Tea with her tablet to a bar. Tea, Tawny, Rosemary, and Dorthea meet with Ellie Williams, Judy Williams, and five other women from Guinevere. A robot meets Erica at the door and escorts her to a table.

  “Please bring me some Jacobian tea.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The robot bowed and rolled away.

  Erica lower her sunglasses down her nose and glanced over at Tawny and Ellie holding hands as they planned their next move. Before entering the bar Erica had stuffed her long hair into the wide-brimmed hat she wore. The hat was tilted slightly to the left in the current style worn by the top Yin actresses in movies like Angelique Tann.

  “Hey, sexy.” Whispered a familiar voice. Erica looked up into the beautiful eyes of Martha Clarke.

  “What the fu-”

  “Shhhh.” Martha held up her hands and pushed down as if turning down the volume on Erica’s voice. She wore a backless white dress with high heels and white stockings. “Not so loud, Erica. They’ll hear.” Martha down in a chair across from Erica. She leaned her elbows on the table.

  “How did you find me?”

  “It was difficult at first.” Martha smirked. “Actually it was easy. I followed your tablet. You need to get better safe guards for that thing. Any dirty girl could find you. Luckily it was just this dirty girl.” Martha winked. “So what’s up?”

  The robot returned with Erica’s tea. Martha ordered a beer.

  Erica told her about everything. Tawny and Ellie’s plan to kill Alberta and break Rosemary out of prison. As she explained it Martha must have removed a stocking foot and rubbed underneath Erica’s pant leg. Not the time for this! Oh that’s hot! No! Not the time. Erica pulled her leg away from Martha.

  “What?” Martha snatched up one of Erica’s hands.

  “This is dangerous.”

  “I know. It turns me on a little.”

  “What?” Erica frowned.

  “Well.” Martha shrank back. “It does.” Martha shrugged. “Anyways. Why did they need this Rosemary Zhou?”

  “She’s a computer expert and hacker. She got caught by Yin authorities and she’s been in prison for six years now.”

  “Interesting.” Martha nodded. “How good is she?”

  “I’m not sure.” Erica admitted.

  “She must have some talent and skill if they went to all of this trouble.” Martha’s finger traced the edge of her ear.

  Erica dropped her jaw. Tea was standing nearby them.

  “Hello, Erica. Martha.” Tea frowned turned quickly into a fake smile. “What are you two doing here.”

  “Uh…I…well…it…” Erica stumbled horribly over her words

  “Date. We’re on a date, Tea.” Martha quickly saved the day. My hero!

  “Sweet.” Tea waved and walked back to speak with her mother.

  “How long were she there?” Erica forced down the last lunch she’d ate.

  The robot came by to place a beer glass before Martha. Martha quickly swallowed a third of the glass. She breathed out. “Sure you don’t want anything stronger, Erica?”

  “No.” Erica glanced over at angry looking Tawny. “Maybe we should go.”

&nb
sp; Martha looked. “That’s okay with me, darling. I came here by motorcycle. What about you?”

  “I have a car outside.” Erica frowned. “Where did you get it?”

  “I have my ways.” Martha giggled. Erica face palmed.

  #

  Erica and Martha raced for the hovercar in the parking lot. Tea, Judy, and four other women chase after them. Erica fells the heat of a deadly blaster bolt zip by her ear. Shit! They’re trying to kill us! I’m their cousin! We’re family. Several more blaster bolts buzzed towards them. One of them must have hit the hovercar in a vulnerable spot like the fuel tank.

  Erica and Martha dived to the concrete. The hovercar exploded.

  “My elbow hurts!” Martha whined when she stood.

  “Where’s your bike?” Erica yelled.

  #

  Their attackers had also hit the concrete when the car exploded. Now the were getting up. Martha grabbed Erica’s stunner out of her shoulder holster. Judy fell backwards on the concrete. Martha pulled on Erica’s hand towards the motorcycle.

  “Got you, bitch!” Martha ducked as a blaster bolt from Tea burst through the window. “Fuck you! She almost hit me!”

  Erica hopped on behind Martha and took the stunner from her. Erica shot down Tea with the stunner. Still the other women fired at them, while Martha burned rubber to get them out of there. They tried to kill me! We’re family. You don’t kill family. Steal from them, cheat them, but never kill them. Family is starship! Starship is family! That’s the rule we’re taught as children. You don’t break that rule. Ever!

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDSIX

  Piper finds out about Ellie