Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  “I suppose,” Bondrass said, shifting irritably in his seat. “You should know, I would like to use you and your … crew … again, but all I really need is the ship. A DL7 isn’t that difficult to pilot.” There it is … the offer we can’t refuse.

  “We’ll take the job,” Jason heard himself saying. Bondrass leaned back and smiled, Deetz looked at him sharply, and Twingo looked ready to faint.

  “Well, Commander Burke, that makes me very happy,” Bondrass said. “Smart move. Of course, your crew is only three people, not nearly enough to manage that big gunship. I’ll tell you what I’ll do … I’m going to provide some of my own personnel to make sure the delivery goes smoothly. It’s the least I can do.”

  I’ll bet.

  Once back in the suite, Jason had to fend off two very irate beings. “Why the hell did you jump in back there?” Deetz seemed more upset that Jason had usurped his authority than at the prospect of working for Bondrass again.

  “We were supposed to be getting out of here! I want to leave!” Twingo’s reaction was fear-driven, and understandable. Jason was in no mood to coddle him though; he wanted to be done with this as much as anyone. He also wanted to be done with all the arguments about it.

  “If you’d both shut the hell up, I’ll tell you,” Jason yelled, his tone renouncing any argument. “You both heard him … he said all he needed was the ship, that was a direct threat. He’ll TAKE that gunship parked down in the hangar, and when he does, what do you think our life expectancy looks like? You think we’ll be allowed to just run out the clock in this luxury suite on his dime? We’ll be dead before they even finish loading the cargo.” They stared at him silently, contemplating what he had just said.

  “You’re right,” Twingo said softly. “We’ll never be allowed to leave here alive unless we play his game.” He blew his breath out noisily. “What do I care? I’m a wanted man on my home planet … which isn’t even really my home planet. I’ve no one to care for, or to care for me, but I don’t want to die here on this station. I guess I’m in for now.”

  “I don’t disagree with you, but these things are usually handled with a little more finesse,” Deetz conceded. “Since you’ve locked us into this deal without discussing terms, we’re obligated to do this for whatever price he may set.” Jason looked at him with disgust.

  “Deetz, I’m not trying to get more money out of him. I’m trying to survive long enough to see Earth once more.”

  -o0o-

  The crew of the gunship was back down in the hangar deck bright and early, at least according to ship’s time, watching the last of the cargo get moved up into the hold and secured. Towards the end of the loading, Bondrass made an appearance, looking as polished as ever. He was trailed by a handful of aliens that were dressed in utilitarian coveralls, almost like flightsuits, and were undoubtedly their “supplemental crew members.”

  “Looks like we’re about ready,” the crime boss beamed. “Let me introduce you to the specialist you’ll be taking with you. This is Dr. Jorvren Ma’Fredich. He’ll be monitoring the cargo and disembarking once you reach your destination.” Jason nodded politely to the doctor, who looked like he may have been the same species as Twingo, and was rewarded with an openly hostile glare that startled him. “Are we about ready to launch?” Bondrass asked.

  “Yes, once your personnel are on board we can shove off.” Bondrass cocked his head slightly, as if trying to decipher the expression. After a split second his implants provided him with his species’ equivalent of the nautical term, “shove off,” and he smiled. “So how is it you’re still using that old, cheap translator? Never mind.” Cutting Jason off before he could answer, Bondrass motioned for one of his men. After a brief conversation he straightened back up and yelled at the doctor, “Ma’Fredich! I’m sending for a full set of implants for Commander Burke. You WILL use this ship’s medical facilities and install them.” The doctor looked positively enraged as he stared at Jason before stomping up the ramp. Bondrass chuckled. “Just a little parting gift for a job well done.” As Jason watched him walk off he realized the implants weren’t a gift, they were an insult aimed at the doctor. Apparently one of many, judging by the looks Ma’Fredich had been giving. Sighing, Jason turned and followed everyone else up the ramp and into the gunship.

  The cargo bay was loaded with twenty-eight tall, rectangular modules that were individually secured to the deck. They looked to be about one and a half meters by one and a half meters and around four meters tall. All the containers were humming and had indicator panels that were scrolling information that Jason couldn’t understand. He innocently asked the “hired help” next to him, “So what’s in the crates?”

  “Don’t worry about it, and don’t touch anything.” The flightsuited thug pushed by him and headed for the stairs that led to the interior of the ship. When Jason left the cargo bay himself, waiting to watch the ramp raise and lock to prevent any potential stowaways, he walked into the ship and felt a completely different vibe to it. The personality (or lack thereof) of Bondrass’ people aside, the ship didn’t have the abandoned feel to it that he had gotten used to in recent weeks as the sole occupant.

  The three new security thugs, as Jason came to think of them, were sitting at the galley table engrossed in a conversation amongst themselves. The doctor was sitting apart from them staring down into a mug of something. He looked as dejected as anyone Jason had ever seen. Before he could initiate a conversation with him, Deetz’s voice came over the ship intercom: “We’ll be launching in five minutes. There’s no need to secure yourselves or other items since we’ll just be sliding out of the hangar. Commander Burke, please report to the bridge.”

  “What’s up?” Jason asked as he walked onto the bridge, nodding to Twingo as he passed.

  “We’re getting ready to launch. I’d rather have you up here in case our new passengers have a secondary agenda. We can close off the bridge if we need to and evacuate the atmosphere out of the rest of the ship if it looks like they’re here for something other than just to tend to the cargo.” Jason was somewhat surprised that the synth seemed to have real concern for his well-being.

  “Thanks,” he said simply as he hopped into the copilot’s seat.

  The DL7’s reactor was still coming up to nominal operating range when Deetz went ahead and lifted off from the hangar deck and used the maneuvering thrusters to nudge the gunship out through the forcefield and into open space. Once out, he sat back as the station’s docking control system took over navigation and flew the ship away, allowing the station’s orbital velocity to aid in increasing the distance between the two. It was nearly five minutes later when the displays indicated that the ship was free-navigating and Deetz was clear to bring the main propulsion online. The ship thrummed as power was fed to the grav-emitters and they banked onto a course that would lead them directly out of the system. He began entering information into the navigation system and said idly to Jason, “We’re going to make a couple of ‘dummy jumps’ in case we’re tracked out of the system. Bondrass was right, this ship doesn’t have much notoriety and has never been publicly contracted by him, so it’s not likely anyone will follow. We’ll jump once and then send the maintenance bots out to check the hull for trackers and then make a couple more hops before heading to our destination.”

  “Which is?” Jason asked.

  “It doesn’t really have a name. Everyone just calls it ‘The Vault,’ I think it’s been intentionally left a bit ambiguous.”

  “I’m overwhelmed by the amount of detail you’re giving me,” Jason said sarcastically.

  “Hmm? Oh,” Deetz said distractedly. “It’s an asteroid that has a decently stable orbit and is comprised mostly of iron ore. It was hollowed out for use as a deep-cold storage facility and was then repurposed as a sort of way-point for people who like to operate outside local jurisdictions.”

  “It sounds like just another space station with a natural hull. Isn’t it the same as Pinnacle Station?”

>   “Oh no, Pinnacle Station is fully under control of both Pinnacle Prime and ConFed governments. Most of what you saw on that station was fully legal enterprise; it’s a major shipping hub as well as a connection point for commercial spaceliners.” Deetz activated the slip-drive and the DL7 disappeared from Pinnacle System’s space.

  CHAPTER 12

  Each subsequent jump before they changed course to bear on their final destination was uneventful. Once they were steaming along towards The Vault, Jason climbed out of his seat and headed down to see what the passengers were up to. Twingo followed him out without a word. Dr. Ma’Fredich was in the infirmary and looked engrossed by something on one of the displays so Jason let him be. The trio of security goons had dispersed once they were in slip-space; two were in berthing, probably asleep, and one was sitting in the lounge. It seemed they were dividing into shifts in order to provide full coverage and ensure nobody would be molesting the cargo. Jason decided to ignore the lot of them and followed Twingo down into the engineering spaces. The pair walked into the main engineering bay and Twingo closed and secured the door. Jason looked at him with an arched eyebrow and waited for the engineer to say something.

  “So, how confident are you that we’re going to walk away from this?”

  “Not as confident as I’d like to be,” Jason admitted with a sigh. “I was mainly trying to escape Pinnacle Station and then try to get us home from there, but I didn’t count on the added passengers.”

  “Once we reach The Vault we’re going to need to try and find transport out of there. We can just leave the gunship and try to book passage to someplace safe. What is your planet … Earth? … What is it like?” Twingo apparently hadn’t grasped the full meaning of Jason’s story about how he came to be there.

  “Um, it’s nice … but I don’t think you want to go there unless you want to spend your remaining days in a cell. We’ve never had official contact with any species other than ourselves; if you showed up in a rented spaceship you’d cause a global panic.”

  “Oh, so you weren’t exaggerating that part of your story, were you?” When Jason shook his head, he continued. “Well, that’s out. Any other ideas?”

  “Commander Burke, please come to the infirmary,” the voice of Dr. Ma’Fredich over the intercom cut off Jason’s reply. He looked at Twingo, who shrugged in return, and made his way up to the infirmary.

  He walked into the ship’s medical bay and was greeted by a glaring Dr. Ma’Fredich. “Sit,” he said brusquely. Jason planted his feet and crossed his arms, staring flatly at the alien. After a few moments of rising tension the doctor caved, visibly deflating in defeat. “Sit on the table, please, Commander.” Jason let it drop and hopped up on the table.

  “Is this about something specific?” Jason asked. The doctor stared at him blankly for a moment.

  “Implants, maybe?” he said, his voice dripping scorn and sarcasm as if this should have been completely obvious to Jason. “I’ve accessed your initial bio scans from the ship’s computer. Quite fascinating really, I’d love to study your species in depth…” He drifted off, lost in thought. Jason noticed that while he was studying the scrolling data he lost some of the brittle demeanor and became the curious scientist. “Anyway,” he said, once again guardedly, “your physiology is imminently suitable for enhancement. You could actually have some extensive work done and hardly even notice it, but today it’s just the usual workup: neural access implants, active translation matrix, and some processing enhancements to support those.”

  “I have no idea what any of that means,” Jason admitted with trepidation. He was right on the verge of walking right out of the infirmary and telling the doc thanks, but no thanks. Ma’Fredich’s face softened slightly as he saw how scared his patient was.

  “Try to relax, you really won’t feel a thing, and I’m going to put you out for the unpleasant part. These will also take some time to adapt and come online, so you won’t notice a huge difference at first. Once you’re accustomed to them you can begin to modify the interface.” He turned and began pulling items out of the box that had been given to him by Bondrass’ people. “So, how is it you’re completely implant-free? In fact, I’m seeing some old injuries and other pathologies in your scan that look like they were healed naturally … how is this even possible?” Jason avoided direct references to Earth and gave the doctor his story in broad strokes. As he talked he could sense the alien’s demeanor towards him changing, becoming less combative.

  “So, you’re not one of Bondrass’ hired thugs? Just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Ma’Fredich seemed genuinely stunned.

  “Something like that,” Jason replied.

  “Well, Commander Burke, it seems that this has been quite the adventure for you,” the doctor chuckled. “Please, just relax and lay back on the table and we’ll get started.” Jason immediately drifted off to sleep as the sedative took hold. Once he was out, Dr. Ma’Fredich began the process of programming the nanites and injecting them into his bloodstream, carefully monitoring Jason’s bio readout to ensure everything was going as it should.

  Jason had no idea how long he’d been out, but he was sure that he must have been in a fight during that time; everything was sore and he felt majorly hungover. He squinted at the overhead light and realized he was still on the infirmary bed; what looked like an active full-body scan was showing on one of the displays that he could see from his position. His major systems were displayed along with vital information on each, although he couldn’t read what it said. The door hissed open and he tried to look up to see who was entering, but he couldn’t from the angle the bed was at.

  “Well look who’s coming back around!” Twingo’s boisterous voice assaulted his ears. It sounded different somehow, but unmistakable.

  “How do you feel, Jason?” Again, he recognized the voice of Dr. Ma’Fredich, but there was something different about it. He looked up as the two came along either side of the bed and looked down at him.

  “I feel like smashed ass…” The pair laughed immediately at that and the doctor pressed a hypospray against his arm and injected him with something that felt cool as it entered his bloodstream.

  “This should help. I wanted to make certain everything was okay once you woke up before I gave you anything for the discomfort. You’re the first human I’ve ever worked on, so better safe than sorry,” Ma’Fredich said as he turned to the readout Jason had been observing earlier. Jason’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. He’d never told the doctor his species. After a few nods and mumbles to himself, the doctor turned back to him. “Everything appears to be in order. How does the translator sound to you?” Jason realized at that point he was hearing their natural voices, and that was why they’d sounded differently to him; he was talking to them without the aid of the translator device that Twingo had originally given him.

  “Sounds great, I didn’t even notice the translator earpiece was gone until just now actually,” Jason said. He marveled at the technology, but decided he didn’t want to delve too deep into what it was doing to his brain to allow him to communicate with alien species fluently. “So what else is new in my head?”

  “Well,” Ma’Fredich began, looking at the info on a tablet computer, “the translator works, obviously. The primary neural implant is also working since that’s what is allowing the translator to interface with your brain. Some other subsystems are still organizing themselves so we’ll give them a little more time before we activate them. Your ocular display system looks almost ready to activate…” As the doctor droned on Jason realized that he was relating to him in an entirely different way. When they had first met, the doctor had seemed openly hostile. It was as if Jason had given some great insult, but now there was almost a friendly quality to the interaction that was reinforced by the not-quite buddy-buddy vibe he was getting from him and Twingo. When he realized Ma’Fredich had stopped talking and was looking at him, he felt compelled to say something.

  “Well, I feel okay now. What
ever you gave me must be kicking in.” The doctor gave him an odd look, but hit the restraint release nonetheless.

  “Okay, let’s just take it easy then. We’ll stop by the galley and then it’s back to your quarters where we’ll check up on you from time to time.” The pair helped him into a sitting position.

  “How long was I out?” Jason asked instead.

  “About twelve hours,” Twingo volunteered. “Not too bad really, I know when I got my first set I wasn’t up and about for a day or two.” Jason really did feel better as whatever the doctor had injected him with began to kick in. He put on the proffered hospital-style slippers with as much dignity as he could muster and shuffled out between the shorter doctor and engineer towards the galley.

  Suddenly ravenous, Jason ate with gusto as his two friends chatted away and one of the ubiquitous security guards at the other end of the table tried to ignore them, occasionally throwing a glare their way after a particularly raucous bout of laughter. After his second helping, Jason felt himself growing sleepy and almost nodding off at the table as Twingo and Ma’Fredich prattled on like a couple of teenage girls. Looking more closely, he could see the doctor was very similar but obviously a different species than Twingo. The ears were the giveaway; Twingo’s large expressive ears which fluttered to emphasize parts of his speech were smaller and passive on Ma’Fredich. The doctor also had a slighter build compared to the stocky engineer, as well as the same number of digits he himself had: five per hand. Jason did notice that Ma’Fredich did appear to be double jointed and could bend his fingers inward and backward. While it was interesting, it certainly wasn’t enough to keep him awake.