by Frank Carey
"Bats? I hate bats," King muttered. "Cap, what the hell is going on here?"
"The bats, sir?"
"No, Cap, your family. Why is the top echelon of your family trapped inside an asteroid filled with mutant bats?"
Kryn saw Sala, Sata, and Fent walk over to watch. She looked over and saw Ran staring at them.
"I'm not sure of all the details, sir, since fighting-off the bats was top priority, but the gist of it is Sata's Claw was traveling through the system when she had some sort of breakdown, so they parked next to this asteroid to affect repairs. They found the airlock, so being ever vigilant for any source of revenue, Sata had the crew open the lock so they could look for salvage. One never knows what one will find in these uninhabited star systems. During a reconnoiter, someone accidentally released the creatures. They found themselves beset by beasts and cutoff from the ship, so they hold-up in a storeroom while my aunt Leia and several of my distant relatives tried to return to the ship to gather kinetic energy weapons. My cousins were killed by the bats, before we arrived, but we were just in time to save Leia and free the captives."
"Tell me, Captain, do you write science fiction?"
"No, sir."
"You may be missing your calling." A Necrue walked up. "Yes, Murph?"
"Sata's Claw will need to spend time in dry dock before she flies again. There was one hell of a firefight inside, and shots destroyed a number of vital systems."
"No problem, sir. The Lynnea has plenty of room," Ran said.
"Good. Take them back to Markesh for debriefing while the team and I wait for the OffSec cleanup team to show up." He looked over to where Sata and the others were standing. "Your mother?" he asked.
"Yes, the female in the center. My aunt is to the left and my brother is the male to the right, sir."
"They should be very proud of you. Captain, your performance, today, is an inspiration to the patrol. Call me if you ever decide to switch services. Now, excuse me while I go brief my troops."
The two Marines walked off leaving Ran and Kryn to gather their charges. They walked over to where Sata, Sala, and Fent stood. "Matriarch. I am to take you and your group to Markesh for debriefing. How are you feeling?"
"Good. The medics fixed me right up."
"Fent?" he asked his brother. "How are you?"
"On the mend..." He looked at his mother. "She knows you know."
Ran nodded. "It is not good for families to have secrets."
"I saw the look on the Colonel's face," Sala said. "What did you tell him?"
"I saw you standing here, and I know for a fact that you and mother were listening and heard everything. What I told him was not a lie..."
"It was strategic," Kryn said. "And I will back him up without hesitation. Now, if you will excuse me, I have people to see to and a ship to prepare. Sir, permission to begin pre-launch?"
"Permission granted, LT, and thank you."
She saluted, then turned on her heel and entered the airlock. She had a lot of work to do.
Ran looked at his mother. "I should help her. You can use my cabin to rest. The journey will be only a few hours, but I know from experience how draining a medbed session can be."
"You do this a lot, don't you?" Sala asked.
"Mutant bats? No, this is a first. Kryn and I spend our days helping people or inspecting ships and facilities. We have stored in stasis enough food to feed a colony for a month. We can print parts for a thousand models of tractor and even the patterns for animal-drawn plows. We can tend to the sick and help bury the dead. We protect everyone within our patrol volume regardless of species or standing. We, and every other pilot in the Space Patrol, are here to help. Nothing more."
He turned to his brother. "Fent, we could use you in the patrol. If you want, we can talk to Major Cana. It’s not easy, but you have the knack for it."
Fent bowed. "I would be honored, brother."
Finally, Ran turned to his mother and gave her a very un-Katalan hug. "We'll talk more after we get underway." He walked off, leaving three stunned Katalans in his wake.
CHAPTER TEN
It was quiet in the cockpit. Ran had raised the wall between it and the lounge to get some quiet time to calm down after the events of the last few hours. He held out his right hand and saw the shaking had finally quit. Too many mutant bats, and too much time with family will do that to a person.
A quiet knock at the door disturbed his meditations. "Come," he said as he remotely unlocked the hatch.
Kryn stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Am I disturbing you, sir?"
"Nope, just trying to calm frayed nerves and shaking hands," he said. "Have a seat, LT. What's on your mind?"
She sat down, then gave her wings a nervous flap.
"Spit it out, Kryn. Did Fent make a pass at you?"
"What? No, sir... Did he say something?"
"What's on your mind?" he asked again.
"Right. Sir, are you planning on quitting the service?"
He scowled at her. "Neither Basili, nor Katalans are telepaths, are they?"
"No, sir."
"Good. To be honest, I thought about it a lot since Mother told me about the family's financial woes. Maybe I need to spend more time with them, and the only way to do that is to retire."
"Sir, could it be you're bothered by having to bend the truth for them?"
"Hah! I knew you read minds. Got a little Venlanten in the family?"
She gave him a tilted head. "No, sir. You have tells that I can read from the other room. Plus, you are a deeply honorable being locked into a no-win situation with family on one side and duty on the other."
"What do you think I should do, then?"
"Forget about it. As a Space Patrol Captain overseeing an entire sector, you have a great deal of leeway. In my humble opinion, your report to the colonel is completely accurate. I got word the OffSec team arrived right after we left. They have found a treasure trove of weapons, some of which make the bats look tame."
"Have they identified the owners of this collection of death?"
"Yes, but it got slapped with an ultra-top-secret classification."
"Probably Tralaskan, or worse, a Muntz facility. The Muntz family is the gift that keeps on giving."
"It gets better. It seems there's a reward waiting for anyone who finds something like this. Though they refuse to tell us what your family found, OffSec is willing to pay handsomely for finding it."
"Whatever it is. So, my mother gets how much?"
Kryn reeled off a number. A very large number.
Ran whistled. "Does she know?"
Kryn nodded. "Yep. In fact, she's thinking about going into business finding these weapons caches. OffSec believes there are a number of them still waiting to be found."
Ran reached down between his seat and withdrew a sheet of paper which he tore into tiny pieces before stuffing them into a burn pouch hanging on the wall next to him. "I suddenly feel the need to re-enlist."
Kryn smiled. "Good for you, sir. Now, about Fent..."
###
It was six-months later when Space Patrol's Markesh Station was fully-staffed and operational. Like all Patrol pilots and copilots, Ranell and Kryn shared a desk in a room known as the Aerie, a name taken from a similar area aboard the Cube. Today, the room was virtually empty except for Ranell who sat at the desk while finishing a report before he an Kryn set out on another patrol. With Kryn spending some time with her parents, he had the desk to himself.
"Captain, got a minute?"
Ran looked up and saw Major Cana standing next to him. Next to her was his mother, the Lady Sata Glent. He jumped to attention and saluted. "Sorry, ma'am. I didn't hear you come in."
She returned the salute. "At ease, Captain. Your mother would like to speak to you before you leave."
"Of course."
"Find me before you leave, Captain. I shall leave you to it, then." They saluted before she walked off to attend to her other duties, leaving them alone
.
"I really have to get to know her better." Sata said.
"She'd like that. Can I get you some tea?"
She shook her head. "I find it makes me cranky. So, this is where you work." She looked around. "It looks new."
"They finished it three weeks ago. It looks empty because most of the pilots are out on patrol. I have a desk here; I work out there," he said while pointing to the large window in the wall. Through it they could see the stars.
"Fent has enlisted. He starts officer school tomorrow and plans to join the maintenance wing."
"Good for him. Maintenance wing is a great place to learn the craft."
"He's dating your copilot."
Ran grinned. "I knew it. I saw the look on his face. They make a cute couple."
"Why don't you date?"
"I haven't found the right girl, or she hasn't found me. Does it help that I'm happy even though I spend my free time writing reports and taking classes?"
"I know this family with an eldest daughter who has a crush on you. She has formally requested permission to date you."
"Permission? She needs permission?"
Sata nodded. "It is tradition, and I love tradition. So, when do you get back?"
"Six-weeks. Wait a damn minute! You're setting me up with a girl?"
She raised her eyebrows and looked over the top of the comm unit that had appeared in her hand. She typed something. "I have now. Six weeks from tomorrow is a Friday. Perfect. We can make it a meet and greet. Dornash will love it."
"You plan to bring your alpha husband?"
"And her parents as well. It will be wonderful."
Ran knew that refusing this honor was futile. In Katalan society, parents choose their daughters' mates and the mates, usually beta or gamma sons--had little or no say in the matter. Since the decade of enlightenment, daughters with non-traditional tastes in mates could hunt on their own, so to speak. Since his estrangement from his family, he had hoped he would be spared this honor, but now that he was back in the fold, and the family was flush with money, he had become fair game. Maybe he could swing a patrol out on the League border. That would keep him safe for at least a year.
He took a look at the final report in the stack. Satisfied, he signed it and sent it off to the Major whence it would become part of the record along with thousands more like it. "Mother, how about a tour of the station? Not even the Patrol big wigs have seen it yet."
Her eyes lit up. "I thought you were leaving soon."
"Not until Kryn returns. Until then, I am free."
"I would love to," she said as she stood up.
He got up and turned off the desk lamp before taking her arm and escorting her from the room as befitting an alpha Katalan woman of status.
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About Frank Carey
Frank Carey has been formally writing and publishing works of science fiction since late 2013. Over the years prior, he had dabbled in various forms of writing including haiku poetry, but that all changed when he and his wife, Jo, decided to try their hand at writing and self-publishing. All his work, to date, has been in the science fiction genre.
Most of his stories take place about two centuries in the future when Earth joins the League of Planetary Systems. Many of his protagonists are strong females. He is an inveterate pantser who believes the story will go where the story wants to go.
Frank’s background includes degrees in physics and extensive work as a scientific programmer and technologist.
Frank and his wife produce a podcast—Xtreme Self-Publishing—which details their self-publishing efforts.
Frank can be reached through his podcast at xtremeselfpublishing.podbean.com or via e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected]
