by F. E. Arliss
As for her, she had all the tough trainees gunning for her in self-defence class and in the piloting studio. Today she’d managed to take down two of the other trainees who had been preying on Penni’s weaknesses. Deciding that since they knew she was close with Penni, she’d make an example of them. Daer had been resolute. No one was going to push them around any more. They hadn’t left the servitude of their prior lives just to be manhandled in the next. Daer had shocked herself with her ruthless treatment of the other recruits. Somewhere, from deep within, a rage had blossomed and she’d let it fuel her bout.
When the tall brunette, Liv Braut, had stepped onto the mat opposite her at practice, Daer had known how she was going to proceed. After a particularly harsh session in which Liv had almost broken Penni’s arm, Daer began watching Liv’s training sessions. Liv had a weakness. Her left side. Not an unusual weakness, as many people were weaker on their non-dominant side. But it gave Daer an opening. She too was a bit weaker on that side, but she’d worked hard at the gym and in private the last couple of weeks to overcome her tendency to cave in on that side. She was going to target Liv’s left side and never relent. No matter what. Liv had to learn to leave Penni alone.
When the match began, it was clear that the two women were almost evenly matched. Both were tall, strong, and agile. What Liv Braut lacked, was the unrelenting sense of will that drove Daer on. By the fourth round, both had begun to flag. In Daer’s favor were her hours of sitting on the bottom of the community pool preparing for her aquatics qualification. Strange how things you don’t even know are going to help you come to the fore later on. Daer had ‘air’ as their instructor called it. Her lung capacity was larger than Liv Braut’s. That was the deciding factor. That and her ability to ‘take a licking and keep on ticking’ as her Uncle Wiley used to say.
After a particularly hard strike to her left rib-cage caused Liv to fall to the mat, Daer saw Liv raise her hand to tap out. Nope. That wasn’t happening. She hadn’t learned her lesson yet. Falling on top of Liv in an old wrestler’s trick, also the teachings of Uncle Wiley, Daer slipped her arms under Liv’s armpits and reared up off the floor and rolled onto her back. In Liv’s ear, Daer whispered, “Don’t ever take advantage of Penni Pippen’s weaknesses again to hurt her. Got me?” She whispered harshly into Liv’s ear. Applying more pressure to the girls neck and wrapping both her long legs over Liv’s, she simply waited. Neither could breathe well, but Daer could outlast Liv any day. Finally, Liv nodded and Daer allowed one of Liv’s hands to find the mat.
Letting her tap out, Daer rolled to her feet, shoving Liv to the side as though she was a bag of trash. When Liv crawled to her feet, the entire training room was quiet. The instructors, aware of Daer’s friendship with Penni and of Liv’s mistreatment of the weaker woman, simply allowed it to play out. Liv tried to turn away and leave the mat, but Daer simply stepped in front of her, blocking her exit. “We clear, Braut?” Daer asked grimly.
Liv finally looked up to meet Daer’s gaze. Daer pinned her with a burning stare, then turned her eyes on Liv’s nearby posse. “I said, are we clear?” Daer growled, rolling her shoulders in silent threat.
“We’re clear,” Liv mumbled.
“What?” Daer repeated.
“I said, we’re clear,” Liv said louder, with a lopsided snarl.
“Good! Thank you,” Daer said calmly, then thrust one hand out towards Liv, saying, “Good match. You’re a very good fighter.”
Liv stared at the hand, then slowly took it, shook it, then nodded curtly in respect and walked towards the locker room, trailed by her shaken posse.
One of the instructors, who was teaching Daer to fight with a variety of different hand-to-hand tactics, stopped her. “That was a good match, Daer. I think you’ve earned some respect there. Just be careful that you don’t turn into a bully. No one respects that. It just generates hatred,” he added quietly. “Stand up for yourself and your friends, but don’t push it past that. Honor is everything,” he added, looking at her face intently. “Shaking her hand and congratulating Liv on her skills, was honorable. Keep that in mind.”
Thoughtful now, Daer nodded, thanked him, and retreated to shower to think things through. She had to admit, that part of her today in the match with Liv had been motivated by anger. Anger generated in her previous life. That anger had been reawakened when Daer had seen Penni being abused and helpless.
It had reminded her of being trapped in her old life. They weren’t in their old lives now. This was a new life. She was a new person. Daer Null dared nothing. She owned life. Life was no dare, but a road to be explored. Nothing was at risk except not living it the way she envisioned. And that vision did indeed, adhere to a certain code of honor. Today had been a good lesson for both Liv and Daer.
Chapter Four
Arrival
It had been six months and three days when they finally arrived on Uzi. Many of them had bonded closely over the long voyage. Strangely, Liv Braut had become a close friend to Daer and Penni. When Daer had congratulated her on a good match that day in the practice room, a friendship based on respect had been born. It would be hard to see her two closest friends go their own ways, but she supposed it had to be. They each had their own destinies to pursue.
All three of them trekked from the transport ship to the main way-station where new recruits got bunk assignments until their liaisons could meet with them. Luckily, they were all close together in the enormous bunk room. Several of the guys from their ship were close to them as well, so it wasn’t long before they were training in the aisle and taking ‘no money’ bets on each other. Penni was inventing recipes on her bunk. It passed the time, just as the training did, Daer supposed.
Soon other groups of recruits joined the melee and Daer accepted a bout with a man from one of the other new squads. He introduced himself as Randy Ormsman and with a friendly handshake and a few questions about rules, they got down to a lively session of hand-to-hand mock combat. He was tall and lanky and had several inches on Daer’s 5 foot 8 inch frame. She was tall as her female shipmates went, but Randy was probably 6 foot 1 or 2. He had long damn arms, Daer thought, taking a glancing blow to the top of her head. A split second delay using her evasive move and she’d have been laid out flat.
Deciding to take the fight inwards, where his superior range wouldn’t be an issue and possibly even a hindrance, Daer somersaulted towards him, taking him completely by surprise. Coming up with a double-handed blow to the gut, driving with as much force as she could piston into her legs, Daer drove her fists into Randy’s stomach. It was a good 10 seconds before he could catch his breath and his wits enough to continue. Instead he ruefully tapped out, grinning at Daer between gasps for breath.
“Sneakily fabulous,” he gasped as he held his hand up for her to help him up from the mat. “You’re fast!”
Daer grinned back at him. “You’re a good sport. There are some who don’t appreciate a little innovative thinking when it comes to hand-to-hand,” she said, gesturing towards a whippet-like man of about her own height. He was glowering at both of the them from the sidelines, then turned and stalked away.
“Oh, don’t mind him!” Randy wheezed. “That sour-puss is an old friend of mine from Wales. We met when I went to the U.K. to uni. His name is Digger Cole. We were in the engineering college at Exeter University together. He’s always grumpy. They tell me it comes from being Welsh. I think it comes from being from a long line of miners and spending too much time in the pit. Welsh miner, yep, always grumpy,” Randy added again, with a grin. “Pleased to have met you, Daer Null,” he added and pumped her hand again.
Daer smiled at him and said, “Wanna get a Coke?”
“Oh yeah!” Randy said with a sigh. “They didn’t have any on our transport. I haven’t had one for months. I’m dying for one. There’s nothing a Coke can’t cure,” he added with another lopsided grin. “Let’s invite your friend too. I like her looks,” Randy said, waggling his eyebrows at Penni.
&nb
sp; Daer laughed and called to Penni, “Hey girl! Let’s go get a Coke with Randy.” Penni glanced up, took in the lanky figure of Randy Ormsman and dismounted her bunk with a deceptively slow swirl of limbs. Daer couldn’t hold back her grin. Yeah, this looked good, she thought. Penni thought Randy was cute. Day one and she was getting her friends into romances already. Now for a guy for Liv. And herself, she added mentally. As long as they weren’t an ass like her ex-husband, she’d be happy. That ruled out the scowling Welsh miner she supposed. He’d been sorta attractive in a slim, wiry sort of way. Oh well, lots of fish in the ocean.
Passing Liv on the way out, the group snagged her and a couple of guys from other transports that had started chatting up the tall blonde. It was a lively group that headed off to the canteen for a round of drinks and some ribald humor.
Just outside the door to the temporary barracks, the group passed Digger Cole and a three other men in uniforms of the Intergalactic Guard. Randy motioned for Digger to join them, much to Daer’s chagrin. Maybe the dour guy would loosen up at the bar, Daer thought. Then rolled her eyes at herself. Why did she care? Something about the guy just pushed her buttons. Probably the attitude of ‘judgement’, she decided. She’d had enough of that from her inlaws the last ten years. It was the last thing she needed in a friend.
The canteen was crawling with exuberant ‘newbies’ awaiting their assignments. It was a fun few hours of meeting people, hearing stories, and of spinning wild speculation about the future. Daer had a blast. Lots of guys spoke to her and to her friends, though Randy seemed to keep a proprietary eye on Penni, to Daer’s amusement. The two really were a cute couple.
Once in a while, Daer would look over and see the grim countenance of Digger Cole. Finally, annoyed at why she cared if he was in such a bad mood, she picked up her drink and walked over to him. Slapping her glass down on the table in front of him, she slid into the seat opposite and said, “Ok, why the long face of doom?”
The lean, shadowed face only darkened. “What does it matter to you?” Digger snarled.
“Well, it doesn’t really I guess. But since you’re Randy’s friend and I like him, I thought I’d check out the long face,” Daer said resolutely, sipping her beer and studying the milling people nonchalantly. “So, what’s up? You look like you just buried your dog,” she added dryly at his slight shake of the head. “Come on, give.”
With a long sigh, Digger slid strong fingers through his dark wavy hair and met her eyes. “There have been some alien attacks on the mining asteroids. Many of the people assigned on the asteroids do not have the skills or emotional resources to withstand an attack by these types of aliens. It will be a slaughter if they’re caught off guard,” he growled out. “I’ve alerted the Intergalactic Guard, but they don’t seem too worried.”
“What’s your role in all of this?” Daer asked curiously.
“I’m actually the Chief of the asteroid mining belt’s security,” Digger admitted quietly. “It’s my responsibility to keep the mines safe. That’s enough information for now. Go back to your friends,” he snapped, then shoved out of his chair impatiently, and stomped off.
Well, that was fun, Daer thought. At least he’d talked a little. He was right too, she thought, as she looked out over the crowd. They were all in high spirits now. But how many would hold up if aliens attacked and killed some of them. For that matter, how would she hold up? It was worrying. She didn’t know herself well enough to even guess at her gumption when it came to alien attacks. It had taken all her courage just to save money for three years, learn to swim and take this contract. She had no idea how any of them would react to violence.
Chapter Five
Reality Bites
A few days later she said her goodbyes to her new friends and headed out to the asteroid belt. Some of the recruits would stay on Uzi. Other’s would go to some of the friendly planets in the system that needed laborers, pilots, and other professions.
Hugging Penni to her, Daer whispered her goodbyes in a choked voice. Penni was staying on Uzi. She had a position at one of the large canteens in the Government House. A plum assignment, according to Penni.
Liv was next, as an engineer, she was desperately needed on the mining asteroids, but was going to the largest asteroid, Gem 4, as part of many engineers needed to keep the mining belt running smoothly. Daer hoped they’d see each other regularly if she was lucky enough to get the occasional run to Gem 4. Watching Liv join her friends, Daer swallowed down the lump in her throat and went to find her own, soon departing, group.
Once on board the Beetle, a rough looking cargo transport headed for Gem 8 or ‘the dump’, which is what they called the asteroid Daer was headed to, Daer sat and looked at her fellow teammates. They were all excited and sure they would be among the pilots driving a hover-loader, the high-tech lift ship that moved especially heavy or unstable loads.
‘The Dump’ was a large flat-topped asteroid depot where most of the furthest mines brought their ore for onward processing. Daer suspected she would be starting out on a loader. Getting the heavy ore loaded into containers and then the containers on to cargo haulers. It was a start. She was fine with that.
It only took a few hours for the transport to drop her and her teammates off at ‘the dump’. They’d done it in one easy fold-space jump. As they slid out of fold-space and towards the docking platform in front of them, Daer could see just about all of the surface of the asteroid. It was large, but mostly just a big plateau full of piles.
On one side was a low building that clearly housed living quarters on one end and equipment sheds on the other. An energy dome vibrated over the enormous loading yard. As far as Daer could see, that was the only nod to security. The entire place seemed to rely on the energy field as its only protection. That didn’t make her feel very safe. If what Digger said was true, they’d be sitting ducks on this rock if the dome fell.
The landing went smoothly and all the newbies filed off the transport and into the central building. It appeared to be a large rec area with couches and soft chairs at one end and round tables for games and conversation at the other. Several large screens were mounted in various places and displayed mining results, sports statistics and the occasional game. Now that most people were needed for labor, sports were a rare and pleasant break from survival.
Motioning them to take seats at the round tables, a ruggedly-clad supervisor waved them to silence. “Welcome to the dump. I’m Supervisor Ward. Each and every one of you works for me. You will report to supervisors for each of your work units, but in the end, ultimately, I’m the one who says where you go and what you do,” the large man growled out.
So far, the supervisors out here seemed to have a lack of people skills, Daer thought to herself. She’d wait and see. Sometimes brusque people could be a real boon in a place like this. Daer had always warmed to people who took no shit from others.
“On the table in front of you is a map of the habitat and the work plateau. Most of you are equipment operators. You will be housed in bunk block 6. If you do well on your jobs, some perks will then be added to your housing billet. We reward good work here. If you do a crap job, you get crap housing. That’s just the way it goes out here. Do a good job and get better perks. It’s a reward system that works,” Supervisor Ward continued.
“There are only a few rules here,” he rumbled on, eyeing the newbies with a beady eye. “One, no violence outside the work-out rooms and gym. Two, fornicate in private. Three, work hard. That’s it,” he added grimly. “If you’re lazy, get into fights, or have sex in public spaces, you get sent back to Uzi and re-assigned. Some of you will think that’s better than here and purposely break the rules. When you do, you will find out that there are far, far worse places than this,” he finished ominously.
“Read your handouts, then go to your quarters. Dinner is served in the mess next door at eighteen-hundred hours. Be there, or don’t eat. Lights out at twenty-hundred hours. Lights on at six-hundred hours. We keep a str
ict laborer’s schedule here. It works. If you don’t like it, at least respect it. That’s it for now. Go!” Supervisor Ward waved them out the door to the rear of the lounge. “Get out of my sight. Report to the section posted to your tablets first thing in the morning. Teams eat together. Dismissed.”
Scrolling through the information, Daer found her bunk assignment. Bunkroom 6, Section 2, upper bunk. Well, that was good. Upper bunk was better. Scanning the back wall, she stood and followed a stream of other new recruits out of the door. Reading her map, she hesitated as the group shuffled forward, following a tall man in front.
Daer frowned as he surged ahead confidently. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned away and headed towards Bunkroom 6 marked on her map. Maybe they were all staying somewhere else. Looking over her shoulder she saw Supervisor Ward watching the departing group. Inclining her head in a brief nod of respect, Daer turned away from the departing group and made her way to Bunkroom 6.
Finding the bunkroom and her section in a few minutes, Daer slung her pack onto the top of bunk 2. Climbing the short ladder, she began examining the hooks, cubbies and organization tools supplied on the wall. It took her only a few minutes to get her personal items squared away. By that time the rest of the group were arriving. It seemed they were bunking in the same room.
