Captain Ranell Glent

by Frank Carey

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  COPYRIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Captain Ranell Glent

  Adventures of the League Space Patrol Book 4

  By Frank Carey

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2018 by Frank Carey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  League Tale #60

  CHAPTER ONE

  Captain Ranell "Thinker" Glent, a beta Male Katalan, stood off to the side and tugged at his dress uniform while his commanding officer, Major Maya "Slipstream" Canna, a female Katalan, talked with representatives of the Markesh government. Markesh was a colony on what was once the edge of League space, but that edge has passed them by in the last thirty years. Now, Markesh was an established member of the League of Planetary Systems with all the problems associated with the title. Today, the Markesh government was meeting with Major Canna to discuss establishment of a Space Patrol command center in orbit around the planet. She had brought her nephew with her to see diplomacy in action, a concept found strange by many male Katalans.

  Ranell watched as the Major finished speaking with the representatives--an Alturan and a human--who walked off to talk to a group of traders. Ranell knew that though the formal negotiations weren't scheduled until the following day, this "unofficial" meeting had ironed out 99% of the agreement between Space Patrol and the planet. By this time next year, the planet would have a Space Patrol command station in orbit which meant more funds flowing into their coffers in the form of fees and supplies.

  "Now, was that so bad?" Maya asked Ranell.

  "No, ma'am. In fact, your skill at negotiating is a wonder to see."

  "Why thank you, Ranell... Shit!"

  Ranell turned and saw a Katalan entourage enter the room and head in his direction. Led by a male and female Katalan and surrounded by several female Katalan guards was his mother, the Lady Sata Glent. He and Maya bowed at her approach--he because Sata was his mother and Maya because Sata is the Alpha female of her clan.

  "Sister, you look well," the larger female said. Maya was six-and-a-half feet tall and over 100-kilos of solid muscle, but Sata was a hair off seven feet, fitting for the leader of a large and prestigious Katalan clan.

  "Thank you, matriarch," Maya replied.

  Sata fixed her gaze on Ranell. "My son, you look well."

  He bowed once more. "Thank you, matriarch. You are as radiant as the day I first laid eyes on you."

  She looked over at the male of her group. "Fent, his is how one greets his mother. You need to learn from your brother."

  Fent stared at Ranell, who stared back instead of averting his eyes as tradition dictated.

  Fent reached down and grasped the hilt of his sword, but a large hand wrapped around his, preventing him from drawing it. "Nephew, return to the ship. Now!"

  He looked up and saw his mother's sister glaring at him. Wordlessly, he broke free from her grip, then turned and stormed away.

  "Sala, you are looking well," Ranell commented as if nothing had happened.

  "Thank you, Ranell. You do realize someday I won't be here to stop him."

  "And on that day, the universe will weep. As for you stopping him; I didn't know you were standing there."

  "Why do you constantly bait him?" Sata asked. "Do you have a death wish?"

  He looked his mother straight in the eye. "He knows the truth about father's death. If he challenges me and I accept, I will best him in battle, then demand he reveal the truth, the truth that my father had nothing to do with the bomb that destroyed that facility."

  "Your brother remains silent under my orders," Sata replied. "Why don't you ask me what happened?"

  "Would you tell me?"

  "No."

  "Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

  "No."

  "Then my only recourse is to get the information I need from my brother. I have exhausted all other avenues."

  "I know. You've kept my cyber security team very busy of late. Your skill in hacking systems is formidable."

  "Thank you. Your team is quite proficient at stopping me."

  "Enough! This matter is closed. Your father died under mysterious circumstances. I am his mate. I loved him, and I am satisfied with the results of the investigation, so drop it! Now!" She turned to Maya. "Forgive me, but I have a meeting to attend. Maya, perhaps dinner afterwards?"

  "Yes, my lady. At your convenience."

  Sata walked off with her entourage in tow leaving Maya to stare at her nephew. "You really miss him, don't you?"

  "Auntie, your brother, my father, was a good Katalan and a brilliant engineer, yet the family considers him, and us, lower echelon because mother chose Fent's father first. With all due respect, you are a Major in Space Patrol which means millions of lives depend on your decisions and wisdom, yet my mother's family thinks you as less than them."

  She put a hand on his shoulder. "You males get so emotional. I am convinced your father sacrificed his life while saving a city, and your brother's inactions cannot diminish that. Murin is in a better place, now. He was proud of our choices, and that's all we need. So, forget about all this conspiracy shit. Space Patrol and the League need us, so we should concentrate on that."

  Ranell smiled at his aunt. She was about to say something when she was interrupted by her earcomm bleeping. "What now?" she asked while tapping the ear piece. "Go for Major Canna... Yes... Yes... Yes, we'll be right over. Canna out. Your new copilot is waiting for us in the station reception area."

  "Wonderful. Do we know anything about him?"

  "Only that it's a her, and she comes with impressive credentials."

  "What kind of credentials, Major?"

  "I haven't got a clue, so we should go find out."

  They made their way to the reception area where a female Katalan with lieutenant stripes and a Space Patrol uniform waited. Seeing them, she turned, smiled, and extended her wings while coming to attention and saluting. "Lieutenant Kryn Wasatch reporting for duty, sirs!"

  Ranell and Maya returned the salute. "At ease, Lieutenant," Maya said before launching into introductions. "By the way, what is your call sign?"

  "Star Vixen, ma'am."

  "Star Vixen, meet Thinker," Maya said.

  Kryn smiled and gave her wings a little flap which Ranell attributed to her expressing excitement. Kryn was the happiest female of his species he had ever seen. He seriously wondered what the hell happened to the rest of his people to get them so damn somber.

  "Let's head over to the temporary command center and get you two an assignment," Maya said. She headed to a nearby lift with the two pilots in tow.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ranell led Kryn into their ship via the starboard mid-hatch which entered into the living area between the cockpit in the bow and engineering and cargo in the stern. Christened League Patrol Ship Lynnea, she was two hundred feet long with three cargo bays, four airlocks, gu
n turrets mounted dorsal and ventral amidships, blasters fore and aft, high-precision sensor suite, and a communications suite that rivaled those of larger ships. She sported normal accommodations for two but could handle up to twenty-four for extended periods and two-hundred in emergency situations. Finally, she was equipped with a class-4 medbed which could almost raise the dead of any species.

  Kryn whistled when she stepped inside the lounge area. It was clean, roomy, and comfy looking. There were overstuffed chairs, desks, and tables which could be placed anywhere or stored out of the way to make room for people or cargo during an emergency. Since this first trip would be a normal patrol, the lounge area was configured to fill the need for the long-term comfort of the crew.

  "Kryn, your cabin is the first door on the starboard side and mine is across from yours," Ranell told her while he went over the supply manifests. She left him to drop off her stuff before returning, ready for work.

  "Now what, Captain?"

  He took a data pad from the counter and handed it to her. "Tap the image of the tree in the center of the screen."

  She did as she was told. "State your name--last name first--followed by rank and serial number."

  Kryn filled in the requested data.

  "Captain Glent, please choose Lieutenant Wasatch's security level."

  "Full privileges and access."

  "Thank you, Captain Glent. Lieutenant Wasatch has full access to all ship's systems. Have a nice day."

  "Next, we prepare for launch. First stop is an asteroid mining camp on a planetoid called 'Phestus' about six hours from here. While en route, you can review our itinerary. Generally, we make a circuit of the mines scattered through this system’s asteroid belt. We're checking on them and rendering aide when necessary while keeping an eye out for pirates and smugglers."

  "We have smugglers and pirates?"

  "Yes, as well as gun runners, and illicit labs for making gods only know what kind of illicit or illegal material. We make our presence known in the hope that it will discourage the less-than reputable ventures." He looked at the wall chrono. "Time to preflight and get ready for launch. Please, follow me. The cockpit awaits."

  ###

  At over 500 clicks long, Phestus was approximately the size of Earth's Vesta asteroid. For the last five years, the miners of Clarke Corporation had honeycombed about a quarter of the rock with tunnels. First used to supply ore, the older sections were turned into living areas for the miners. When they arrived, Ranell gave the stick and instructed her to hard-dock the Lynnea to the main airlock. His plan was to use their ship as a mobile medical facility for checking the miners while one of the flight crew inspected the facility.

  Having successfully sealed the ship to the asteroid, they opened the hatch and found the owners of the mine waiting for them. With checklist in hand, Ranell followed one of the owners into the depths of the rock while the other owner led miners inside the ship for exams and inoculations by the mine's doctor using the Lynnea's medical facilities.

  A commotion from the reception area outside the ship caught Kryn's attention. Leaving the doctor to her work, she stripped off her gloves before stepping outside. She came to an abrupt stop when she saw one of the miners holding a supervisor at gunpoint. The hostage taker was sweating profusely as his eyes darted back and forth. She queried the ship's computer using the sub-audible communicator circuit of her earcomm. "Computer, emergency. Active hostage situation. Scan gunman."

  "Acknowledge emergency. Captain Glent has been notified. Scanning gunman... Gunman is in the early stages of squint withdrawal. Heart rate is spiking, body temp is reaching critical levels."

  "Prepare two doses of stripper and have a ratbot bring them here."

  "Yes, mistress."

  She turned her attention to the tableau developing in front of her. She listened as one of the owners tried to reason with the miner holding the gun. Seeing the negotiations were going nowhere, Kryn slowly walked up to the pair. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I see you are having difficulties," she said to the gunman.

  "I... I need a fix. My supplier got scared off when you two landed."

  "Sorry about that, but rules are rules. Look, how about you let the nice man go and point your gun an me? I make a much better hostage," she said as she made a slight adjustment to her body chemistry. She watched his eyes, and when he locked onto her, she knew she had him. Now, if only Ranell would show up.

  "Yeah, good idea," the perp said while releasing his hold on the supervisor.

  "Sir, please join the others while... What is your name?" she asked while making another minute adjustment. She had to be careful. If she slipped and dosed him with pheromones, she risked inducing a heart attack.

  "Jimmy... My name is Jimmy."

  "Such a nice name. Sir, why don't you let Jimmy and me discuss this matter?"

  "Are you sure?"

  She nodded affirmative, so the now-ex-hostage quickly left the room.

  "By the way, my name is Kryn," she said as she tried to put him to sleep with a shot of a slightly different pheromone. Unfortunately, the drugs in his system made him unpredictable.

  "I need my drugs!" he screamed while raising his gun to point directly between her eyes. Before the situation could spiral out of control further, a large clawed hand engulfed Jimmy's gun hand and used it to spin the drug-influenced miner around so that he could see an angry Katalan male up close and personal. Ranell carefully disarmed the young man, then held him there to watch as the Captain crushed the gun into a wad of metal and plastic. Not finished, Ranell picked the young man up and slammed an autoinjector of stripper into the man’s thigh. As Jimmy fell asleep under the influence of the anti-narcotic, the captain gently lowered him so that Kryn could lay him on the ground and check him with her scanner.

  "How is he?" Ranell asked as the mine owners and several supervisors ran into the room with weapons drawn while the doc ran up and performed her own examination.

  "He'll be fine, the stripper is doing its job," the doc said before ordering three miners to transport the perp to the mine's infirmary. "This is why he's skipped his last two checkups. Look, I can handle it from here, and I promise you, no one else has skipped their exams."

  Ranell looked at Kryn. "It's your call," he said.

  She looked at the doc, then the owners. "Normally, I'd slap the cuffs on him and transport him back to Markesh, but if you think you can better deal with him, then I see no problem in remanding him into your custody."

  "Yes, thank you. It would be greatly appreciated."

  Kryn looked back at Ranell who smiled. "Good, then I guess we can get back to the examinations."

  The doc headed back to the ship while the owners and supervisors headed to the infirmary to deal with the miner, leaving Ranell and Kryn alone.

  "Kryn, how did you do that?" Ranell asked. "It was like you were hypnotizing him."

  "You know that my mother was Katalan and my father Basili?"

  He nodded.

  Along with being able to fly, I can adjust my pheromone levels to minutely affect other beings. Sometimes it works."

  "Why wasn't I affected?"

  "Your will is too strong. Jimmy was overwhelmed. I can't imagine you ever being overwhelmed by anything."

  "Wait until I try to bake a cake from scratch. That's when you'll see me curled up in a corner spouting bad poetry." He smiled. "You did good, Lieutenant."

  "Thank you, sir. I should help Doc."

  "And I need to finish my inspection. Call me when you're finished."

  "Yes, sir," she said before heading to the infirmary while he headed back into the mine.

  CHAPTER THREE

  One year later...

  Kryn walked out of her cabin and found Ranell making breakfast. The cabin smelled of sausages, baking bread, and Earth coffee. She sat down at a table and a cup of the magical black elixir appeared before her unbidden. "Wow, what's the occasion?" she asked while Ranell left, then returned with two plates of food setting one
down in front of her then sat down with his own plate.

  "First anniversary breakfast," he said solemnly.

  "I never heard of this ritual," she replied as she stabbed a sausage with her fork.

  "That's because I just made it up. It has been a year, and I wanted to mark its passing with something more than a handshake and a gift."

  Her ears perked up as her wings fluttered. "A gift?"

  He reached under the table and returned with a small box which he handed her. She opened it and found a small figurine made from polished wood. It was of a female fox wearing a space suit. "A star vixen," she whispered. "It's beautiful. Did you carve this yourself?"

  He nodded. "Call it a hobby. It was either a sculpture or a hand-woven serape."

  "Thank you. What about my evaluation?"

  "Ah, the dreaded performance evaluation. Well, I think you're doing great. I would suggest you work on how you deal with morons which includes males in bars. You don't want to flambé a guy for hitting on you at a pub."

  "You noticed that?"

  "The little curls of smoke coming from the sides of your mouth were a dead giveaway. I can just imagine you giving a Katalan battle roar while spraying down your opponent with fire breath. You just can't make that stuff up."

  "Yes, sir. Captain, can I ask you something kinda personal?"

  "Ask away. We share a spaceship, for heaven’s sake. How much more personal can you get?"

  "Why aren't you married?"

  His answer was interrupted by the comm system bleeping. He reached over and tapped a switch on the table's center console. "Go for Captain Glent."

  "Ranell, it's Maya. We have a problem."

  "What kind of problem, Major?"

  "We just received a distress call from Sata's Claw. It was garbled. Analysis section thinks someone may have tried to kidnap her."

  "How the hell..." The Sata's Claw is a flying fortress that could fight off a squadron of raiders while her protection unit could conquer a small planet. Major, what am I missing?"

  "I agree, but Command wants you and Bryn to check it out."