by Sid K
As she was reading the papers, which introduced different procedures of the Constellation to the new members, her mind left the dull readings behind and became lost in her personal thoughts. She had felt a little strange being a Constellar in Starfire Nation, as she was a foreigner here, although she had become a Starfirian national a while back. Her fellow Constellars were welcoming of her, but she could not tell whether that was because she was the wife of a national hero. She did not know if even her selection had been due to the fact that she was married to Colonel Sthykar.
Politics, however, were not new to her. Her father had been part of the government for a few years in her old country, Karaln Nation. She, too, had wanted to do that and had managed just that but in a different country altogether. When the mighty Narducat Empire had invaded and occupied her country, Starfirians had come to fight for them. Then she met Colonel Sthykar and moved with him to Starfire nation and started taking interest in its politics. However, there was a big difference in the two countries’ politics. Karaln nation was much more intellectual with polite discussions, while Starfire was the nation of hard-headed men. The Constellars here generously peppered their speeches with invectives and insults, hurled at each other, humor and harshness mixed in. However they had been respectful to her so far and the King himself had assured her that if anyone started insulting her, he would stand him down right then and there and give him a tongue lashing.
“Slyntya, dear,” a voice interrupted her thoughts and she turned to where Constellar Krrtya stood next to her. “How are you doing?”
“I am fine, but where is everyone?” Slyntya asked as Krrtya sat down in the chair to her right. Her own seat was in the fifth row but the seat next to Slyntya was still empty.
“This is the first day after the break and that is how it is,” Constellar Krrtya said. “Mostly only first time Constellars will show up to learn the ropes of state politics. I came to give you company.”
“I am happy,” Slyntya replied.
“I am going to get a coffee,” Krrtya said, “I will be back in a few minutes,” she said and walked down the stairs and out of the Constellation hall towards the cafeteria.
Constellar Krrtya was a fifty-five year old woman, almost as tall as Slyntya, but not quite by an inch, on the thin side with her hair falling down to her shoulder. She was an experienced, second term Constellar and had become an informal mentor for Slyntya. She had taken an interest in her and helped her out and Slyntya was happy for that. Krrtya appeared to be a genuinely kind lady to Slyntya who felt sympathy for her as a young outsider. However, there might have been another reason for her becoming close and cozy towards Slyntya. Her husband owned the seventh largest car company by the number of annual car sales in the country. More importantly his car company was number three when it came to selling the big, powerful engine cars that were particularly popular with young men. If he could get Colonel Sthykar to endorse his cars, that would do wonders for his business.
Krrtya came back with her coffee and sat down next to Slyntya, and they chatted for the next half an hour as more Constellars, mostly first term ones arrived. There were forty six new Constellars, and Slyntya saw that roughly half of the hall was full. Then the Capitan of the Royal Cavalry entered and all side discussions stopped as he loudly announced, “Please rise for the King.”
Krrtya quickly made her way back to her seat. Everyone rose silently as the King walked in and to the podium. He opened the Constellation for official business with a few words and then left with the capitan.
As Krrtya had said, there wasn’t going to be much state business conducted on the first day back. Constellar Slyntya sat through the next four hours, listening to speeches and lectures by political philosophers and theorists on different parts of Starfirian state. Every once in a while there would be different speakers who introduced new Constellars to different topics and they covered a lot: history, procedures, and the responsibility of all the minor houses, the tasks of different government departments, army matters and foreign relations. It was harder for Slyntya, most of the information was new to her because she had not grown up here nor gone to school or college here. She could not easily place her new found knowledge in context and had a load of questions for Sthykar at night. Now that he was going on a vacation, it would be even more difficult to digest the material.
She took some notes leading up to the lunch time and was relieved when the hour long break came. As she was picking up her stuff, Constellar Dvyet, who was in his third term and the head of House of Banks, walked up to her. She had been placed on the House of Banks. Every Constellar was placed on at least one minor house which supervised some government department under its care.
“Hey, I did not see you before,” she said.
“I just came,” Dvyet said. “I have been through this learning ten years ago,” he said. “I am not going to waste my time again with it.”
“Oh…” she said.
“I came to tell you, I want you to come to my office on the third floor early tomorrow for a House of Banks meeting. I have some task for you that I am not going to disclose to non-political members of the House.”
“But I have to attend these learning sessions,” she said.
“Nah…” Dvyet waved his hand. “We are the lawmakers, they can’t make us attend. This is just recommended but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. You will be working a lot more with the House of Banks, so that is more important for you to get involved in.”
“I will do that then,” she said and he turned around and left.
She put all her stuff in her purse and looked for Krrtya who was still in the fifth row talking with a couple other Constellars. Slyntya had always taken lunch with her in the Constellation and she decided to wait for her to become free. She did not like her learning sessions interrupted, but even her husband had told her not to worry about knowing everything. Most of the time she would have the more specialized task of supervising banks through the House of Banks. She could always learn what she missed from the books.
“Ready, Constellar Krrtya?” she asked across the rows when she saw her alone.
“Let’s go to lunch, Slyntya,” she replied.
Slyntya walked down the stairs to her and both of them walked out of the auditorium and went to one of the restaurants inside the Constellation building.
chapter 5 – the bank robbery
08/25/958
Chief Detective Sayett took the exit on the national road towards the main road of the city of Toranus Hills and put his car in a lower gear. It was early in the morning and the road was mostly empty. He drove down the main road and came to a stop outside a coffee shop, parked his car at the curb and walked in. It was a small café with a few chairs outside as well a small room and kitchen inside with an arch-like door for entrance. One table had copies of that day’s newspaper neatly piled on it. Sayett picked up one, sat down on the chair facing the town, relaxed back and opened the paper. He had just turned a couple of pages when the waiter asked him to order.
“Not just yet,” Sayett said, “I am waiting for someone, they should be here in fifteen minutes.”
The waiter nodded and went back in. A few people were walking on the streets, and some cars were driving by.
As Sayett put down the paper, he looked at his watch and it was exactly seven AM, and true to the time, three men crossed the main street from the other side. Sayett got up to greet them and smiled at the first man.
“Colonel Vyptor,” Sayett said, “glad you could entertain me.”
“Happy to come,” Colonel Vyptor said. “I brought a couple of boys with me who assist me at the base.” He said pointing to the two young men behind him. “Soldier Ryft and Soldier Woker,” the colonel said.
Sayett smiled and nodded at them and then turned to the colonel, “Take your seat, Colonel...soldiers.” He called to the waiter, “Bring some coffee for the colonel and his boys, and me as well.” The waiter nodded and went back in.
&nb
sp; Colonel Vyptor sat down opposite Sayett, while the two soldiers pulled chairs and sat at another table some distance behind the colonel facing his back.
“I am Chief Detective Sayett,” Sayett said. “Perhaps you have heard about me.”
“Heard a lot actually,” Colonel Vyptor said and then laughed. “You are one SPASI Man that would be happily invited to any Warrior Class’s drinking party.”
“Glad to know,” Sayett said smiling. The waiter brought four cups of coffee and put two down on their table and handed the other two over to the soldiers.
“Warrior Class and SPASI have not looked eye to eye in the past,” Colonel Vyptor said, “But we are both here to fight for our King and Country: the Starfire Nation.” He picked up his coffee and took a couple of sips. “And besides, we don’t think of you, Sayett, as a SPASI Man, but as one of our heroes, so don’t hesitate to ask us for whatever support you need.”
“Great,” Sayett nodded and then pulled a map from his pocket and laid it on the table. He spread it across, smoothed out the creases and then pointed to eleven red circles he had made.
“Heard about the recent bank robberies, Colonel?” he asked.
“Well they happen once in a while,” the colonel said.
“These are different,” Sayett said, “and that is why I have been given the investigation. Now look at the red circles,” Sayett said. He moved his finger from the first one in the northeast corner of the map to the last one. “Roughly a straight line from the first to the last.”
“But…” Colonel was about to speak.
“And they happened in that order,” Sayett said. He leaned back on his chair and picked up his coffee.
“You are thinking they are going down in a line? And this town is next?”
“Now if it was just the geographical pattern,” Sayett said, “I would be more skeptical. But there are two more things. In our detective work we look for patterns, there is the obvious geographical pattern. But there are a couple of other patterns, too. The bank robbers are picking towns of a certain size; ones not too big because they don’t want a large police force, at the same time not too small that banks don’t keep much money. The last pattern is that even though towns are large enough that they would normally have the headquarters of the local warrior class, but for some reason it is at another town of the district.”
“Our town,” Vyptor said. “My headquarters for 676th Reserve Army is temporarily moved for six months to the town half an hour from here because our building is getting reconstructed and renovated.”
“Exactly,” Sayett said. “And this town has between one-hundred thousand and two-hundred fifty-thousand people; the same demographic pattern for the rest of the hits.”
“Well, what about the police?” the colonel asked,
“I have a lunch meeting with the police chief at noon at Hyte’s Foodhouse,” Sayett said. “But I have checked this town’s numbers. Total of ninety policemen, about ten will be on vacation on any given day. From the remaining eighty you have four, six-hour shifts, that leaves twenty on duty any time for the whole town. The bank robbers are not your typical yahoos with shotguns; they are mercenaries with Ranx Rifles—automatics.”
“You definitely need us then,” Vyptor finished the coffee with one last gulp and put it on the table, “By the way, great place that Hyte’s, get Pork & Buffalo Combo, my recommendation.”
“Will try,” Sayett said, “If you can, I would like twenty-five to thirty warriors around the clock. There are three big banks here; luckily they are close to each other. If you keep your boys in one of the hotels nearby, that would be great.”
“Sounds good,” Vyptor said. “Will take me about a day to set it up. They should be here by tomorrow morning.”
Suddenly they heard a couple of gunshots ring out from down the street. All four of them got up and looked in that direction. The two soldiers—Ryft and Woker—had pulled their pistols. There weren’t many people on the streets or sidewalks this early in the morning, but whoever there was, started running towards them or into the side streets. They heard a few more gunshots and then continuous firing.
“Coming from the bank?” Sayett asked.
“Yes. Damn bastards couldn’t wait a day.”
“Let’s go get them.” Sayett took out his pistol. The colonel was already walking down the road towards the center of the town from where the gunshots were coming. Sayett was behind the colonel and the two soldiers behind him.
“Should have brought our ATR’s,” Ryft said.
They walked on the sidewalk. They hurried but did not run and in a few minutes were onto the scene.
A police car was parked in the middle of the street; the two policemen behind it with Lockyett five-shot repeater rifles were trading fire with the two bank robbers armed with Ranx Rifles. The robbers were positioned behind a three-foot wall on either side of the top of the steps leading to the bank entrance on the second floor. One of the bank robbers was straight ahead from the police position while the other was at a forty-five degree angle, and their automatic fire had pinned the two policemen down.
On the other side of the street were stores with big columns, wide enough for a man to safely stand behind. Colonel Vyptor was two buildings away from the store in front of the bank and started to cross the street when he saw a young kid with ATR coming down a side street.
“Boy, how old are you?” he shouted out at him.
“O’ Colonel,” the boy was surprised for a moment. “I am sixteen.”
“Where did you get that rifle? You are too young to be part of any army.”
“It’s my brother’s; he is a warrior under your command,” he said, “but he is working at the tire factory; thought I might help out the police.”
“You are a brave boy,” the colonel said, “But throw me that rifle. You are too young and your brother wouldn’t like me risking you.”
The boy hesitated. He looked at the colonel and at the three men standing behind him with their pistols drawn.
“C’mon now, boy,” the colonel said, “Throw me that rifle, and come to me in two years’ time.”
The kid threw the colonel the rifle, which he grabbed in the midair.
“Now run along and tell your brother what is going on,” Colonel Vyptor said.
“Yes, Colonel,” the boy said and ran back in the side street that he had come from.
“We got lucky,” soldier Woker said.
All of them walked down another building when Colonel stopped behind a column.
“Let’s hope he loaded it,” Colonel said and took out the magazine. It was fully loaded with twenty-five rounds. Colonel removed twelve bullets and put them in his left pocket, then attached the magazine back to ATR, flicked the rifle to ‘auto’ and started walking with the rest behind him.
The bank robbers and the police were too busy trading fire to notice the new arrivals to the scene. Colonel and Sayett quietly took positions behind columns of the store across from the bank while Ryft and Woker hid behind the columns of another store.
“Distract him,” Colonel said to Sayett.
Sayett aimed his pistol and fired three shots at the bank robber who was positioned diagonal to the police car but straight in front of him across the street and behind the bank wall. He missed all three and quickly backed behind the column. His palms had broken a sweat; there was a tingle of tension and excitement, combined with heavy breathing and a rush to his heart. He had been in many shootouts, but the first shots always excited. The bank robber was surprised; he turned his rifle and let loose a volley at the stone column where Sayett had taken cover. Then he turned to fire at the police car again. Sayett had gained his calm now and was breathing slowly. He turned out from the other side of the column and fired two more shots—misses again but much closer.
However, the shots provided the opportunity to the colonel; and as the bank robber ducked for a few seconds, the colonel aimed his ATR rifle, and as soon as the robber showed himself, the colon
el pulled the trigger and emptied the entire magazine, knocking the bank robber back cold and dead.
The other bank robber was shocked to see his mate fall down; he directed his fire at the colonel who was now safely behind the stone column. The police were also surprised; they gave a thumbs up to Sayett and turned back.
“I have to load again,” Colonel said to Sayett. “Get him boys,” he yelled to his soldiers.
Sayett fired two shots in the general direction of the robber, but received fire in return. Ryft and Woker, from behind the next store’s columns, now started firing their pistols at the remaining bank robber. The policemen took advantage and also fired their rifles. The four of them had pinned the robber down and he was not showing his head or his gun.
Neither one of the soldiers was giving a chance for the robber to show himself; they were just firing at the wall now. Sayett could tell this was probably their first gunfight. Ryft and Woker did not stop till they were out of bullets. Then they took out their backup magazines and loaded their pistols again.
“Stop firing,” Sayett yelled to Ryft and Woker, “Save your bullets.”
They looked at him and nodded in the realization that the excitement had made them forget that, unlike on a practice range, their bullets here were limited.
The colonel just finished reloading the twelve bullets he had earlier put in his pockets. Now he attached the magazine to the rifle and looked at Sayett and said, “I am ready again.”
“Provide me single-shot fire cover when I signal,” Sayett said.
The colonel nodded and flicked his ATR to ‘single-shot’; the policemen had stopped firing and were reloading their rifles. Sayett had three more bullets in his magazine, but he took it out and put it in his pant pocket and quickly plugged in his ten-round backup magazine from his inner coat pocket.
A few seconds after the firing had stopped; the bank robber slowly raised his head to see what was happening. Sayett signaled to Colonel Vyptor with his left hand and the colonel turned around and opened fire. The bank robber quickly ducked down again as bullets hit the wall in front of him and the bank wall behind him. Sayett figured he had eight to ten seconds before the colonel was ‘out’ and he ran across the street with his pistol in his right hand and reached the first step and kneeled down to take cover next to the adjacent wall.
