“Nathan, I sense your stress level rising and I believe several haphazard laps around the cargo bay on one of the Grawl material transports would be in order. To insure you properly enjoy the human pass time defined as fun, I will open both cargo bay doors leaving only the atmospheric retention fields activated”.
The vision of the big rusty robot with the bucket ass briefly flashed through my mind as I donned my new battle gear. I walked to the safe, grabbed my bull pup shotgun, and put the shoulder holster and pistol on. My supply of ammunition was missing but it did not take a genius to figure out where it was. I headed out of my cabin towards the drop tube wondering what the God of war had waiting for me in the science lab.
“Justice, I seem to be missing my supply of ammunition and I’m pretty sure it’s probably lying around here somewhere.”
“Yes Nathan, in order to make your ammunition an effective deterrent, I altered the malleable lead slugs for your shotgun by machining the top of the projectile off. I made a cavity inside and filled it with a compound that will explode upon compaction. I further enhanced the projectile by installing a super alloy penetration spike made from hull alloys. This design will defeat most medium armor systems. The projectiles known as buckshot have been coated with a highly flammable lubricant destabilized to ignite upon discharge. The higher oxygen content of the outpost atmosphere will increase flame temperature and output. The cupped design of your pistol ammunition is modified by adding an explosive compound to the cupped projectile and adding a much smaller penetration spike to contain the explosive. Consecutive shots to the same target area will defeat medium body armor systems. If you lay your weapons on the table I will install the targeting emitters I have designed for them.”
I watched as Justice extruded two arms from the ceiling and quickly removed the dot sight from the shotgun and installed a domino shaped stick the size of a thumb drive on the picatinny rail then reinstall the dime sized battery in a small slot at the rear of the device. One of the arms produced a small light collimator device, flashed it down the barrel twice, and then did a similar modification procedure to the pistol.
I had Justice put shell loops inside the cape to hold fifty extra shotgun shells. He also added shrink wrap style pouches to hold my spare pistol ammunition. It seemed like a good idea to put a scabbard in my right boot for my hunting knife. I loaded the twin magazines of my shotgun with seven slugs in one side and seven rounds of the new buck shot in the other. Anticipation of the unknown was making me nervous. The thought of one or two reckless laps around the cargo bay with the doors open was getting some traction.
13
I had checked and rechecked my weapons and suit for the third time when Justice intervened. “Nathan, we are making our approach to the outpost and I have no return signal traffic on the channel Sora used to hail the station. Both private docking areas appear to be unoccupied and only one is registering an atmospheric retention field. Sora’s remains are in a sealed container waiting in the personnel atmosphere lock. We still lack information on Coonts or his current location. Queries to the outpost inter race relations Grawl directory have failed to yield useful information. Coonts is not on the active trade list or the service directory. I posted a personal message for delivery of remains and condolences on the outpost public forums message board. It will be up to you to contact outpost personnel and inform them it is your duty to deliver the deceased Grawl to his clan brethren.”
“How can we be sure if Coonts is still here?”
“While communicating with others Sora stated Coonts would live out his final days on outpost 3. For unknown reasons he found his sibling’s situation amusing.”
The picture Justice was painting for me of Sora and the Grawl race did not encourage me into thinking I wanted anything to do with them.
“I can assume the fancy implants you buried in my brain will let me speak Grawl and understand it?”
“Yes Nathan, the translation software is a very sophisticated program and capable of conveying minor inflections of mood and intent. You have the most current translation downloads for all species for which I have records. Your speech will translate to all languages necessary for comprehension. I would also like to point out that using Earth slang and idioms is inadvisable. The speech patterns you accept as normal may lead certain Grawl on this outpost to determine your species and origin. You must speak with power and authority it is what most all races respect. Any sign of weakness could be disastrous. Good luck Nathan.”
I headed down tube and aft to the airlock. Inside was a case resembling an oversized silver trombone case. I reached down and picked it up as the outer hatch opened and I walked out towards a big pressure door with a flood light above it. As I climbed the ramp leading to the door it opened revealing one tall Grawl and two short ones. It looked like they were wearing cloak suits like Sora’s. I wondered if this was their normal attire. They walked directly toward me, and I wondered if they were going to snatch Sora’s body and disappear. I tightened my grip on the case and hoped Justice would do the talking. We stood looking at each other until it was awkward not to say something.
“I need to speak to the Grawl known as Coonts. I have recovered the remains of his clan brother.”
The Tallest Grawl spoke. “Where did you find Sora’s remains?”
“I will only speak with Coonts about such matters.”
The Grawl quickly added. “What race are you?”
“I wish to speak to Coonts now!”
The two short guys promptly came down the ramp and grabbed onto both ends of the case, so I locked my arm and set my stance. The little bastards kept tugging on the case. So much for manners, I grabbed one of them by the back of his suit and picked him up to my visor.
“I have little tolerance for your arrogance and you should not test my patience,”
I took the runt I was holding and used him as a bat to knock his still tugging partner on his ass, then deposited his buddy next to him. I turned my back on them and started towards the ships airlock.
“Nathan, you must complete the mission. You cannot do so by returning to this vessel.”
I sent Justice a quick, “Shut up or come do it yourself.”
The taller Grawl finally spoke, “We will take you to Coonts!”
I slowly turned and saw the two touchy feely Grawl get up and scurry for the door. They all three stood waiting for me. As I reached the ramp, they turned and walked inside with me following at a short distance behind them.
“Justice, I am getting some faint beeps of what I think are cloaked Grawl.”
“Nathan, I am increasing the acuity of your implants by ten percent. If input data becomes overwhelming alert me immediately.”
My situational awareness started becoming apparent with trivial information flowing in with my random thoughts. I tried focusing less on the little things humans just naturally wonder about. Things like the temperature and how short my three guides were and how far up the taller Grawl’s ass my boot would go if they started playing hide and seek. The power sources for the cloaked Grawl looked like small candle flames moving around my position. There were four of them and I was not sure what their game was until I started getting a very faint buzzing in my ears.
“Justice, can you verify I am being scanned?”
“Yes Nathan, low level scanning for weapon power sources is being detected. They are making threat assessments judging by the low intensity of the scans. I believe your race remains a mystery to them. I also believe they think you are unarmed. If the level of scanning becomes sophisticated, there is a very real probability our communications will become known and with that, the origin of your species.”
They were not the talkative types, and I followed them in silence letting my trail of skulks close with me as I purposely slowed my pace. This elicited a response from the taller Grawl.
“Coonts is in the environmental department of this section of the outpost. His presences here is not known to many, how is it that yo
u have this information?”
I thought about just being the strong silent type right back at them. With that thought, I remembered my Grandmother telling me, “It’s better to remain silent and thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.” My jaws were working overtime to keep my mouth shut but everything about these little pricks was starting to piss me off.
“I know many things, including your many trespasses against other races. Your race’s arrogant illegal adventures have led to Sora’s demise. Now take me to Coonts and quit wasting my time!”
“Nathan! Has the additional acuity of your implants induced mental retardation! Your dissemination of information that was unknown to the Grawl was in error and has a very high probability of revealing your race to them. Most Grawl believe all humans to be primitive animals! Their implant message traffic quadrupled and I predict a negative reaction to your revelations.”
Well hells bells, I had the right to remain silent but lacked the will to exercise the option. In for a penny in for a pound, I turned around, faced my hidden company, grabbed the closest one to me, and shoved him with such ferocity it sent all four Grawl sprawling like bowling pins.
“Apparently you lack the ability to comprehend even the simplest of requests. I have neither the time nor the inclination to break down my request to a level primitive enough for you to understand. I am weary of your childish games and will report your deficiencies to my superiors upon return to system 2456!”
“Nathan! That was………………brilliant! Their ability to communicate with the facility before we reach that location has an extremely low probability. The confusion you have sown has brought communications to a standstill. The taller Grawl in front of you is named Cort. I believe addressing him by his name will increase misperception and further your ruse.”
“Justice, you need to have more faith in me, it was my plan all along.”
“Indeed!”
Justice was correct about the power and authority dialog. The aliens were becoming more cooperative by the minute. Back on Earth, talking to someone like this would have probably earned me a black eye.
“Cort, have you comprehended the gravity of the situation yet, or do you need more clarification?”
“Coonts is this way; I ask that you follow me!”
The look on the Grawl’s face was definitely surprise. He quickly turned and headed down a large corridor with halls branching off in all directions. The layout was bewildering, and I was consciously mapping my progress. Everywhere I looked there was a doorway. None gave any indication as to what was behind them. Occasionally a large dark tunnel appeared in the overhead and disappeared to places unknown. We finally came to another unmarked doorway, which opened when the Grawl turned towards it. Inside were cubicles with multiple screens and Grawl sitting with large white bands around their bulbous heads. There was one being with orange tinged pink skin and golf ball sized knots on its head. It had no discernable ears, nose or mouth from what I could see of it. No one seemed to take notice of the tall dark suited alien walking through their midst.
We finally came to a small door. I was forced to duck in order to enter. Sitting at a small workstation similar to the ones in the outer office was a Grawl that when he stood, I could see was as tall as Cort.
The Grawl stared at me in fright and said, “What is the meaning of this intrusion!”
His startled exclamation and the look of shock, confirmed my suspicions. At no time was he informed of our presence or our attempted communications. This earned Cort the slow turn of my helmet and a stare that left no doubt to him what I was thinking on the other side of my obscured visor.
“If I have need of your continued, meddling I will call for you!”
Cort seemed to shrink an inch for each translated word and quickly turned and stood outside of the open door. My perceived stare elicited the proper response as the door quietly slid closed.
“Coonts,”
The Grawl looked up at me with an expression I took as dread. “Yes, I am Coonts.”
“I am here to inform you your clan brother’s illicit activities on a restricted planet, has led to his death. Native predators took his life while he was searching for precursor artifacts rightfully belonging to another race.”
My words had the desired effect as Coonts slumped back into his chair placing his small hands on his large head.
“My sibling rejected my plea’s to halt his activities. Those who manipulated him gave him ever greater power to continue his illegal exploits. His lust for power made him turn his back on his clan siblings and subverted his moralities. Where did he meet his end?”
“Revealing that information at this location could lead to,……. difficulties.”
The Grawl gave me a puzzled look and said, “It would have been best to have left him where he perished. Sora as patriarch cast me from the clan of my birth. This is where I will remain until the end of my days. I have neither entitlement nor rights of choice in any matters pertaining to clan affairs. I am as dead to my siblings as Sora is now to me.
I was getting antsy waiting to hear something from Justice. Apparently, he decided to let me wing it after running my mouth off earlier. I leaned forward and put my hands on his workstation looking down into the Grawl’s sullen face. “What if I told you that you are now free to leave this place?”
The little Grawl narrowed his eyes. “I would tell you that you are incorrect. Those that led Sora to his death also insure I remain here. They wish no knowledge of their treasonous activities to become known. I believe certain members of the Union Counsel are behind much of the illegal activities I have unwittingly entangled myself. I now believe the reason I have not met with a tragic accident is the ability for those in power to place all responsibility for their crimes on me.”
I quickly asked him, “Do you have knowledge of the ship Sora was using for his illegal activities?”
“Yes! We were granted access to a magnificent starship we called it the Legacy project. We studied together for years trying to unlock its secrets. I was devastated when I learned of Sora’s orders to remove several sensitive processing systems. I soon learned of his goals to reverse engineer those systems and sell or trade them to predatory races for artifacts. My outrage led to violence between us and ended with me being cast out. You can imagine the elation I felt when we were unable to re-engineer those systems. The failure almost resulted in Sora’s exclusion from the project but he somehow convinced his handlers I as the engineer for the project was the sole reason for failure. I could have put a halt to the madness when I discovered an antimatter trigger sequence imbedded in the central core. If I had not stopped my former clan sibling from removing the central core, he would have died a long time ago, along with many of those who were responsible for his growing greed.”
I was startled by the Grawl’s revelation. If he would not have told his sibling about the explosive device in the ships central core, I would have died in the wilderness. The thought my destiny had been shaped by events taking place halfway across the galaxy was absolutely incredible. Coonts had inadvertently saved my life! I was more determined than ever to get him out of here alive.
My thoughts came back to the still talking Grawl. “My continued protests were angering several powerful beings, and I was removed from the Legacy project. I was put to work studying artifacts. They arrived in quantities that convinced me Sora had discovered a way to detect their locations and retrieve them. Most of those artifacts are being sold or traded through this station and others in locations throughout the galaxy. Vast amounts of wealth from these transactions are funneled to unknown beings. The wealth is used to gain access to restricted star systems.”
Coonts was turning out to be a fountain of information and was validating everything Justice had told me. I could tell his disclosures were uplifting and an antidote to the morose life he had been living. I flushed any thoughts of trying to work out some form of trade deal. I instead concentrated on getting us out of h
ere before somebody figures out what was going on. I needed a way to get him to come with me willingly.
“How would you like to be reunited with the Legacy project?”
The little Grawl gave me another strange look. “Do you believe you are in a position of such power you will be granted such authority?”
“I have the authority, but we must leave now.”
This was turning out better than I thought. With a big smile behind my darkened visor I called to Justice. “Justice, kick the tires and start the fires. I have Coonts with me and we should be out in about ten minutes or less.” I crossed my fingers.
I was getting nothing!
“Justice, Justice!” Oh hell, my comms were being blocked or worse, something happened to Justice. I was making a huge effort to fight down the panic that was gripping me. I turned and started to tell Coonts to get moving but he was frozen at his desk with fear wrote all over his face.
He finally blurted out. “I do not believe you have authority to take me from this outpost. They will not let me leave! Drayen the Overlord of this outpost would never willingly let me leave alive! You will forfeit your life for what you are attempting to do!”
Oh crap! I was not in the mood to forfeit anything, and my life was at the top of the list. I was starting to feel panicky and yelled at the little Grawl. “I came here to free you. I will not risk my life for a coward who would rather do his executioners bidding. We need to go now!”
“Justice, Justice!” This was not a good omen, so I reached over Coonts’s desk and picked him up and plunked Sora’s casket down in his place.
The Grawl struggled in my grasp. “Put me down! I have decided to join your madness!”
I set him down. “Are their armed guards close by?”
“Not in this section of the outpost, weapons are forbidden. It does not mean there will not be armed pursuit.”
Coonts moved towards the doorway and as it opened, we came face to face with Cort who obviously never left the spot since I went inside.
First of my Kind Page 15
