Aces

by Alanson, Craig

  “Perfect timing.” Rick remarked. He glanced down at his suit’s oxygen meter. Twenty seven minutes remaining. And he had more than some others.

  The frigate docked with the freighter, and remained there for almost an hour. Gante next flew her ship over to Nightengale, took Valjean under arrest, then scooted off to pick up Nightengale’s overloaded shuttle. Tigershark’s lander came up from the surface soon after, and docked with its mothership.

  “Jen is going to be fine,” Capain Gante announced, as she came into Tigershark’s wardroom, “and we’ll take her to Aurora for treatment. Our doctor says she has a concussion, and she lost a lot of blood. Vassily’s condition is more serious, our doctor has put him into a temporary coma, to avoid brain damage. But his prognosis is excellent.”

  “Can we talk to Jen?” Kaylee asked anxiously, twisting a strand of hair with her fingers.

  “No,” Gante said gently, “not right now. In a few hours, perhaps. I'm sure she would like to see you.”

  “And that pirate, Haney?” Captain Schroeder inquired.

  “Taney. The one who was shot by their leader. He’ll be fine, he had strapped himself to the top of an access ladder, there were two tinos below him, and they'd broken off several ladder rungs trying to get to him. Surprisingly strong creatures, these tinos. I’ll have Taney out of sickbay and locked up in our brig, soon. The others, Dooley, he’s the one Kaylee, uh,” Gante nodded in the girl’s direction with a slight smile, “disabled, we found him trapped in a shipping crate.” Gante couldn’t suppress a snicker of laughter. “And their pilot, his name is Becker, the Navy has been looking for him for a while. Manny, you injected him with enough sedative to knock out one of those tinos.” She shook her head. “Our doctor administered an antidote, Becker is awake, and feeling very foolish. And very angry. I’ll have to keep their leader and the other pirates separated, because the other pirates all want to kill him. He shot Taney, and was going to abandon or kill all four of them. There is apparently no honor among thieves.”

  “And the tinos?” Manny asked hopefully. He didn't want to hear that the Navy crew had killed the tinos.

  Kaylee made a sour face. She had mixed feelings about the tinos. She had named them, and they were, after all, only animals. Her brother thought Tinos were cool. Her brother had not been chased down a dark corridor by the terrifying beasts.

  Gante smiled. “All the tinos are back in hypersleep containers. We flooded the ship with anesthetic gas after we got Jen out of sickbay. Three of the tinos were injured, from gunfire, and apparently from fighting with each other. It’s nothing serious, they are very tough animals. Would you like to meet the pirate leader, I think you know him as ‘Ted Miller’? XO, bring him in.”

  Tigershark’s Executive Officer escorted a very subdued looking pirate. Joy took a step forward, and raised her hand as if to slap him across the face, then dropped her hand, and went back to stand between her children.

  “This is Valjean D’Amonte. Among many other names he goes by.” Gante explained. “A career criminal, he’s been on the Most Wanted list for a decade.”

  Valjean lifted his head in a perverse pride at hearing Gante’s description of him. A criminal, a man to be feared. He met Rick’s eyes, glaring at him. “I’ll bet you’d like to kill me now, Mr. Sanchez? You’re too late, Captain Gante has to follow the law.”

  To his own surprise, Rick shook his head. “No, I don’t want to kill you. You’re too pathetic to bother with. You came here with a ship full of missiles and guns and killers, and your master criminal plan was beaten by two children.” Rick’s face broke into a broad smile of parental pride. He stepped behind his wife, and put his arms around his family. “Two children!” He laughed, and everyone joined in, everyone except Valjean. “Every criminal in the Milky Way galaxy will be laughing at you for the rest of your life. Good luck in prison, loser.”

  Valjean’s face twisted in anger, his gaze dropping to the deck. He knew Rick was telling the truth. The only way to retain any scrap of his dignity was to remain silent while he fumed with anger, so that is what he did.

  “Do you know who he was working for?” Schroeder inquired.

  Gante shook her head. “No, not yet. And he’s not telling what he was looking for.”

  “Oh, we know that.” Manny spoke up.

  “Yeah,” Kaylee added, “it’s some old alien thingy.”

  Manny took off his pack, and astonished all the adults, including Valjean. “I have it right here.” He reached in his pack, and pulled out the item Valjean had been looking for. It hadn’t zapped anyone since Kaylee got shocked the first time she touched it.

  Rick shook his head in amazement. "Kids, just when I thought you couldn't get any more incredible, you surprise me again."

  All the adults, especially Valjean, craned their necks forward to see better. “Here, Dad," Manny handed the object to his father carefully, "you’ll probably know what it is.”

  Rick took the item, and turned it over in his hands. He studied it, held it up to the light, then pronounced “I have no idea what this is. From the markings, it’s Kutoru, Second Expansion, probably over a hundred thousand years old, but I don’t know what it is.”

  All eyes turned to Valjean. He shrugged. “I was paid to get it. I wasn’t told what it is.”

  "Be careful touching it, Dad," Kaylee said, "the first time I touched it, it zapped me."

  "Zapped you?" Rick asked skeptically. Whatever the thing was, it was ancient, the surface was tarnished with a layer of corrosion. "What do you mean, zapped?"

  "Like an electric shock, but it was more, uh, I don't know. It was weird."

  "Kaylee, was it weird like, sort of hearing a voice in your head?" Captain Gante asked.

  "Yes! How did you know?"

  Gante exchanged a glance with her XO. There had been a Navy secret Special Bulletin a year ago, about people getting shocked by alien artifacts, and hearing voices, with some briefly seeming to sense an alien presence in their minds. Whatever was going on, people in the Admiralty were worried about it. Gante held out her hand, took the alien thing, and handed it to Ross. “XO, secure this in our weapons locker. And take him away.” She indicated Valjean with distaste. The pirate was led away, without protest. "Kaylee, our doctor will need to check you later, to make sure you weren't injured by being zapped by this thing, as you said."

  “What now?” Joy asked, directing her question to Gante.

  “Tigershark will stay here, until other ships arrive. The Navy is sending a cruiser to take charge here, it should arrive the day after tomorrow. Then, we’ll transport Jen, Vassily, and the prisoners, to Aurora.”

  Schroeder cleared his throat, and spoke. “My ship, unfortunately, will not be leaving here for a long time.” If ever. “The company is sending another freighter, Atlas Champion, to detach the cargo pods, and finish our original journey.” Schroeder knew that what the company would likely do is salvage the engine section, then scrap the rest of the ship. He needed to find a new ship to command. He turned toward the children. “I understand that Specialist Jennifer Tanner deputized the two of you as starship crew?”

  Kaylee and Manny nodded, their smiles turning to serious expressions as they remembered that moment. “Yes, sir.” Kaylee replied.

  “Ah. Unfortunately, Ms. Tanner did not truly have authority to make you, as we say, ‘Aces.’”

  Kaylee and Manny’s faces took on such a crestfallen look that Schroeder hurried to add “Howver, as Captain, I do have such authority.” He reached in his pocket, and pulled out two ‘Ace of Diamonds’ patches, and fixed them to the right sleeves of sister and brother. “Now, you are officially Aces.”

  “Cool!” Manny blurted out.

  Schroeder held up a finger for silence. “I am not finished, please.” He dipped into his other pocket, and pulled out two shiny, gold-plated objects. “Manuel Sanchez, this pin designates you as Pilot First Class. You have certainly earned your wings.” He attached the pin to the left front pocket of Man
ny’s shirt. “Nelson tells me that, in his opinion, you did a first class job of docking the shuttle to the command section. You do realize that, at the time, we were technically in the atmosphere? No? Well, I can assure you, that was excellent flying.”

  He turned to Kaylee, who let Schroeder pin to her collar a blue bar with two gold stars. “Kaylee Sanchez, after Jen was disabled, you were in command of the ship. You kept the ship, passengers and crew safe, in the best traditions of our profession. These stars designate your rank as Commander.”

  It was not clear who was more bursting with pride, Kaylee or Manny, as Schroeder clicked his heels together and saluted. They returned the salute, as solemnly as they could, considering their ear to ear grins.

  “Now, to answer your question, Ms. Sanchez, my company is sending the company yacht, to take you and your family back to Earth. The company, and all of us, are very grateful to you, all of you.”

  “A yacht? That’ll be fun, huh, kids?” Rick said with feigned enthusiasm.

  Kaylee and Manny looked at each other. “Aw, Dad, do we have to go back to Earth?” Manny protested.

  Rick was surprised. “You don’t want to return to L.A.?”

  Kaylee tilted her head. “Dad. Please. Earth is lame. Everybody knows that. We’ve been there, done that. We want to go to Valhalla.”

  “Yeah, Dad, you promised to show us alien stuff nobody has seen before.” Manny reminded his father.

  Rick looked to Joy for guidance. She smiled. “Hans, do you think your company yacht will bring us to Valhalla?”

  Schroeder nodded, and coughed behind his hand. “I think the company will bring you anywhere you want, frankly.” The company would probably give all four of them lifetime passes on its passenger ships, Starlight Lines. At least.

  “In that case,” Joy said, “next stop, Valhalla!”

  Epilogue

  London, Great Britain, Earth

  Dr. Nigel Watson had been hiding in his lab all day, and now the sun was setting outside, and he didn’t know where to go, what to do. He was perched on a stool in the corner of the lab, wringing his trembling hands, as he had been doing for hours.

  The story was all over the newsnets for the past month, the faces of the children everywhere Nigel looked. When he’d first heard, he had panicked and called in sick to work, then decided that would make him look guilty.

  The door to the lab slid open, and Nigel heard footsteps approaching, a steady, confident stride, click-clicking across the floor toward him. It had to be the police, Nigel knew.

  He would tell them everything. It wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t known. He was innocent.

  “Ah, the good Doctor Watson. How are you, Nigel?”

  Nigel spun on his stool in fright. Not the police! It was his boss, the oily Todd Martin. Martin carried a white container under his arm, he carefully set it down on a workbench. Nigel rose unsteadily to his feet, and pointed a shaky finger at the other man. “You,” he croaked, his voice breaking, “you did this.”

  “Oh, don’t be so dramatic, old man. Dash it all, Nigel, you look like hell. Bad image for the company, and all. Clean up, and get some sleep.” The other man said, while adjusting his necktie in a mirror.

  “You’ll pay for this. I’ll tell them-“

  “What?” Martin snapped. “You’ll tell them what? A nice fairy tale? The police have no idea who hired the thieves, and the thieves don’t know either.” He smiled disarmingly. “Now, down to business. The Navy took the device the thieves were trying to steal, but the Navy can’t figure out what it is. JST Research has generously offered to take a look at it for them.” He pointed to the white container in triumph. “Nigel, I wonder if you would be interested in examining the object?”

  THE END