by Jim Rudnick
“Captain, Sir,” said the voice from his right.
Tanner turned and gazed at Lieutenant Sander, his Adept officer.
“Yes, Lieutenant, what can I do for you?” he said as he peered at the young man beside him. His face still looked like it’d never been shaved with a wisp of hair at the chin, and his height as an Issian was somewhat short as he was eye-to-eye with his Captain perched on the stool.
“Sir, may I join you for a moment, and speak freely?” the Lieutenant asked.
“Surely,” Tanner said, “sit down right here.” He twisted around to face the stool beside him.
The Adept sat and cleared his throat.
“Sir ... I think that ... well, freely, Sir?” he queried once more.
“Speak up, Lieutenant, as freely as you want,” Tanner replied and leaned toward the young man. He put down the glass and sipped the water that came with his Scotch for a moment and then leaned even closer, trying to create a small, intimate area that the Adept would perhaps feel comfortable enough to speak in.
“Um ... well, Sir, it appears like you’ve just spent some time here and you still sit. Did we come twenty-eight light-years to drink Scotch?” His tone was pointed but Tanner could see he was going somewhere with this line of talk.
“Or, did you just realize that the method in which you accomplish our mission will be very much a part of the solution itself.” He smiled, and Tanner could see that he had just opened up to his captain. That took a degree of trust, he thought and took a moment to compose his answer.
“The thing is, Lieutenant Sander,” he said as he was nodded to, “is that I have, yes, just thought out that to uncover the tracks of our quarry, so to speak, that as a Navy man that may be impossible. And as yet, I don’t have an answer for that problem, but have thought that an opportunity might present itself either to a non-Navy man, or to one that is obviously not acting like a Navy man. This is where I am right now. Your opinion, please?” he asked, thinking that as an Adept he’d maybe known this all along.
Sander nodded at his captain, as if to agree with him.
“I understand that, and yes, I too do see that there is a bit of a problem that lies ahead in your thinking. After all, soon as someone sees me coming with those little ringed planets in my collar, they begin to recite nursery rhymes to try to wall off their thoughts. And while that does work for a time, eventually whatever is lurking there will surface and we can generally see what’s being hidden. So they run away quickly. As you know for an Issian adept, closeness is necessary for better success. And as a captain, with your rank in the way, even though you know every itinerary and port-of-call for every ship of the line and all the merchant lines here on the Rim, you too are someone that no one with any knowledge will ever talk to—unless ...” he stated and stopped talking.
Tanner sat still and then nodded.
“I see things much as you do, Sander, and wonder what answer you’ve come up with—you already know mine. For someone to talk to me, they’ll have to feel that they can get information out of me. They’d need to feel that they can ‘play’ me and take advantage of me and gain in any exchange. Therefore ...”
“You have to be ‘playable,’ Captain. And that means what?”
Tanner picked up his Scotch again and took a long draw on the glass, slurping up the sweetness down at the bottom. He felt as though there was no way around this and sighed as he tapped the bar for the robo-bartender.
“Um ... 'nother double Black Scotch for me, and for you, Sander?” he inquired and turned to look at his Adept. Sander smiled, gave the bartender his order for a vodka tonic and don’t forget the chunk of avocado either, and leaned back.
“Captain, if it matters, we’ll be fine. As you know, alcohol doesn’t affect my abilities at all, and I’ll look out for us. All I need you to do is to change these for me.” He held out new collar insignias, the bar of a plain lieutenant, and put the ringed planets in his shirt pocket and buttoned them up until tomorrow.
“Right, Captain, now I’m plain Lieutenant Sander.” He smiled as he picked up his drink and downed half in one gulp. And he smiled again.
The next seven hours were a blur to Tanner, but his body had not forgotten how to handle the Scotch. He and Sander moved away from the club and over to a local brothel for a while and drank heavily there, enjoying the company of women from many of the worlds of the RIM. One female from DenKoss—if you could believe that—took a real shine to the lieutenant and wanted him to swim with her. The lieutenant was having none of that, but it did make Tanner have a fit of laughing so hard, he spasmed into a coughing spree that almost made him pass out, but not quite.
They asked for further locations to visit and received many recommendations and tried to infer that they wanted something a little “out of the ordinary.” They ended up at a Jael fight out under the docks near an inlet of the local red-colored sea and watched with delight as two large, bear-shaped alien creatures charged and bit and clawed each other until the contest was done. Sander even made 500 C$ on wagering, as he was able to tell which animal didn’t get the drugs to slow them down from the house bookmaker but couldn’t mention that to Tanner as they were in crowds, and he’d liked the dull red one instead of the pink winner. Once that event was over, they didn’t stick around for the man versus gorilla duel but instead robo-taxied it back to the port city and its string of night life. Two hours later, they were throwing dice at the strip’s biggest casino and it was almost time to head back to the ship, as Tanner now had a bit of trouble standing up straight yet gripped the Scotch in his hand firmly. As he leaned on Sander and they wobbled out to the front of the casino and couldn’t find a cab, they began to walk back toward the central square and in the direction for the port and the Marwick.
As they walked toward the square, they passed many fine-looking apartment buildings and condominiums and made some other sidewalk travelers take to the gutter to go around them. Tanner sang and Sander kept off-key harmony, playacting at being drunk but quite aware of those around him. He’d acted all night and now on the way home, he’d about fulfilled his duty.
As they came even with the corner and turned to the left to enter the square itself, a group of people just ahead were milling around a lineup of robo-taxis.
“Woohoo, Sander ... grab one o’ thems…”
Tanner was able to whoop and slur at the same time by this point in the evening and then belched loudly as well. He pushed them past the waiting people in evening dress and bumped into several as Sander tried to keep them from knocking anyone over.
The crowd had come from the Embassy of the Barony of Neres; some kind of late evening event had ended and brought them all out onto the street at once to find their way home. The Barony was, of course, a charter member of the Council, and the Baroness herself sat on the council after taking over for her husband who had died a few months back. Certainly not the type of people to offend, and as Sander manipulated the now drunken captain to the head of the line, he blanched slightly and wished he could be anywhere else.
“Well, Captain, I see that you’ve been partaking of some of our city’s finest night spots,” Lady Helena St. August said meticulously, “and with a junior officer too. How nice your reputation precedes you ...” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
She looked down on the two of them as Sander attempted to stuff the captain into the taxi seat at the back, but was being fought by him all the way. Her Adept stood at her side; the helping of their guests into the cabs had stopped, and she too stared at the two Navy officers.
“You are mistaken, my Lally,” Tanner slurred again and tried to correct himself “Lardy ... my Lardy. We were out on a mission ... a berry serious ...” He fell into the back seat as Sander had arranged his rear and then kicked out his supporting foot. As he fell, he continued to try to say the word Lady and Sander slammed the rear door.
“I apologize for him, my Lady,” he proffered and added, “and I am sure he will offer his own apologies in the morni
ng. Good night all,” he said and slid into the front seat and quickly gave directions to the taxi that zoomed off moments later. Behind the now leaving cab, the group slowly began once again to say their good nights to the Lady St. August, and slowly the row of cabs shrunk as the evening’s festivities were over. Lady St. August and her Adept saw the last robo-cab off, and turned to re-enter the Barony Embassy, as the street emptied.
Closing in on the city’s landing pad, Sander thought there’d be one heck of a hangover coming tomorrow, and he was glad he’d been able to help on this, and he’d actually picked up a bit of a hint that could help, but he awaited speaking to the captain in the morning before he’d really know if they’d learned anything that night. He sighed and watched the form of the Marwick as it grew as they got closer and somehow felt a part of the crew, a good part, and he leaned back to enjoy the final minutes of the taxi ride.
# # # # #
The next morning came too soon for Tanner as he struggled to find first his arm to lean on and then his feet to stand. “Been here, done this before,” he said to himself as he found his way to the shower and put it on cold only. As the shock hit him, his head felt like it opened up on its own and bit itself off just below the ears. He left the shower and went across the now slippery floor to the cabinet, found his bottle of anti-hangover pills, swallowed a handful, and went back into the shower. Swallowing mouthful after mouthful of pills, the pounding coldness of the water helped him get through until the pills kicked in ten minutes later and the hangover disappeared. He knew it was gone like he’d always known, and he turned the water quickly to almost hot and relaxed in the refreshing spray. He killed the shower, hit the dry button, and enjoyed very much the warming direct zephyrs that dried him in minutes. His mind returned to his escapade last night, but he again tossed those thoughts out of his consciousness and continued to enjoy the breeze. Later when dry, he dressed himself and then went to his console. Fingering the call button, he requested that Lieutenant Sander join him in his quarters and sat quietly awaiting the lieutenant while refusing to think about what he had done. When the door chimed, he called out enter and the door slid open to admit the Adept, who came to the desk and stood at attention.
“Sir, Lieutenant Sander reporting as ordered, Sir.” His back was straight and Tanner saw that the ringed planets had been replaced in his collars. Looks like last night didn’t even affect him, and judging by what he did remember, he doubted that it had.
“At ease, Lieutenant. Speak freely, please and fill me in on our romp last night. Did we accomplish anything other than my learning that I should always take the counsel of an Adept when it comes to betting on a livestock fight?” He spoke plainly and was interested in learning if they’d actually aided the mission.
Sander cleared his throat and nodded.
“Sure, Captain, we had a good time, and yes, next time—if there is ever a next time, bet with me and not against me. But as to what we accomplished, I know of only one thing for sure.” He had a bit of an ironic look on his face, and Tanner wondered what that might be. He looked expectantly at his lieutenant and awaited the word on just that item.
“Sir, do you remember at the end of the night, when we tried to find a taxi back to the ship? Do you remember bumping into the Lady St. August again?” He offered up a small smile, knowing that the captain was not going to be happy with his tale as he could already see the captain had no memory of meeting her again last night.
“No, Sander, no memory at all of seeing her. I take it that was not a good thing, right?” Tanner looked a bit worried, but on the whole, the Council was political, and he was a Navy man who couldn’t care less about their politics and intrigue.
“Sir, yes, we did meet outside the Barony Embassy. It appears that she is the daughter of the late Baron and step-daughter to the Baroness herself. And we did not impress her at all, Sir. In fact, she even stated that your ‘reputation had preceded itself’ as we even took a taxi right out from in front of her too.”
Tanner cleared his throat and then raised his eyebrows a couple of times as he made himself try to feel better about this considering that as a captain he had a much larger profile to the Council and was worried if this might affect the admiral a touch. But then he shrugged and spoke quietly.
“Spilled milk, Sander. Anything else happen last night that is good news?” he inquired as his eyes again found the ringed planets in the lieutenant’s collar.
“Um ... don’t know, Sir, actually ... but perhaps. But it’s not as plain as you might think, and it actually poses a new problem for the mission too.”
“Well, out with it, Sander, let’s both noodle this around,” he said, staring now at the younger man who stood before him.
“Sir, at the Jael fights under the docks, you were pretty pie-eyed by then. We leaned up against the railings on the first level and I went—remember—to make our bets and I left you alone. When I came back, and only for an instant, I heard someone, like an Adept hears a stray thought, think something like the phrase ‘can’t see this guy ever beating Rhys’ and then the image of ITO came into that mind. By then I’d moved around two guys arguing over the color of a Jael and how they use that in the wild, and I was trying to find out whom around you thought that, but there was so much traffic then trying to go around you and down into the stairwell I just couldn’t figure out who it was.”
Tanner, for a moment, stared at Sander and thought to himself about what that could mean and what kind of a lead ITO might be. And as far as he knew, he knew no one named Rhys. But he’d plug that into the Navy dBase later and do a search on that name then. For now, he suddenly realized what Sander had meant when he’d mentioned the new problem.
“ITO,” he said. “That’s a mining colony that just registered in favor of the Barony, so it’s under the Baroness’s control—and I just stole her daughter’s taxi. Umm ...” he ended, knowing he now had a problem.
Something like that wasn’t a good thing to do before you want to ask permission from them to visit the colony. The rules on colony visits were Navy rules, but still he had to abide by them. Until the registration for a new colony was at least one year old, the Confederacy provided that only the sponsor to the colony could visit same and they were charged with all duties for police action and more. That kept out the opportunists and the ones who were out for a quick buck in moving into a new colony and taking the colonists for everything they had. And if Tanner remembered, the colony still had almost five months left until it would accept touch-downs from anyone, Navy included. Until then it was sponsor or the Barony only.
“Right, Captain. We need to follow up this lead with a trip to a place we can’t visit, well at least not without permission from the Baroness herself. He smiled at the captain and looked like the cat that swallowed the canary for a moment.
“But Sir, when we get to Neres, I can certainly delve as only I can and see what the Baroness herself might know—and that’d be a good thing, yes, Sir?”
“Most likely, Sander. Thank you. Dismissed,” he said and watched Sander salute and then leave his cabin.
Moving to the large view-port that now overlooked the tarmac and the various ship, that were down there, he glanced at the Skoggian frigate Remembrance as she slowly rose on her InertialDrive moving slowly up and up until he couldn’t see her anymore. Bound for somewhere, he thought as he now contemplated somehow being able to set down on ITO and what he might find there. As a home for the Pirates, he somehow doubted that, but he knew they would be somewhere here on the Rim, and that was as good a place as any to make his next port-of-call if he could arrange to set down. And that would be up to the Baroness herself. Royalty, he thought and winced, and politics all rolled up into one. Damn, give him a Navy ship to run without the bother of those two and a case of Scotch, and he could be happy until the end of his days.
He smiled and watched more loading going on over on the merchant passenger ship Cunningham as cargo was run up the conveyor and passengers walked tow
ard the ramp to board. Over on the far side of the landing field lay the Barony Navy ships, the cruiser Newton, the frigate Sterling, and the cruiser Whitney, all being chandlered as he watched. Lines of automated conveyors moved stores of food and materials into the ship as he watched.
Yes, Neres was next, and that should be better than the last time he’d been there.
# # # # #
On ITO there was still only one town of any size, and in it, most of the citizens of Emmanuel were employed by the mines upon which the success of the colony existed. The small town held only 14,000 colonists, and of them only a few hundred or so were kept away from all others in the walled-in mine area just a dozen or so miles outside of town in the mountainous region to the north. The one thing that these separate hostages had in common was that they were the kidnapped ex-passengers of various commercial, freighter, or merchant liners who owed their current existence to the Pirates and to the anonymous guards that oversaw everything they did, morning to night.
Led down to various levels of the mine daily by those guards, they were the ones that actually mined. With drills and pick-axes, they mined the ore, its purple-colored vein plainly visible even in the low light surroundings of their guarded separate shaft. Each of them mined; the men doing the harder physical digging and drilling while women and children filled the ore carts called goats and pushed the carts back down tunnel number two to the level terminal where still others moved the ore and rocks into the lift carts bound for the surface.
It was hot, humid, and dirty work, like swimming in hot mud, as each of the kidnapped miners fought with their environment to barely survive. And not all did. Some fell at their posts and were resuscitated by friends and family as quickly as possible so that a roaming guard would not find any fallen. To be found by the guards in that state meant a quick trip up and to never be seen again; they all knew that perhaps the only way out of this was to mine the ore and to survive, perhaps.
