Starblazer- Through the Black Gate

by Reiter

  “Where are we going?” he snapped. “… and why? Why would I want to go anywhere with you?!”

  “Who said anything about want? You think I want to have your ass on my ship for a second longer than I need it? Do you actually believe I want to give you the food I could be feeding my people with? Okay, in all fairness, that made it sound like I’m not feeding them, but you get my meaning. So where is ‘the hell off my boat’, and why is ‘because I said so’, which means you can do it under your power… or under mine.” Jocasta looked at the floor and chuckled. “Undermine, that’s funny!”

  “Truly something is wrong with you!” Vobis said softly as he glared at the woman. Her smile fell to a slight grin as she stood up. Vobis decided to get himself off of the floor and he stood up, remaining in the corner. “Truly!” he affirmed. “How does a woman of your age attain such a massive ship?!”

  “How does any woman get a set of balls?” Jocasta shot back. “I smiled and he said ‘okay’!”

  Jocasta could not see her discussion getting any friendlier, and for once she wanted to keep in line with the plan she had given Z. It seemed distasteful to make it the norm that she would give her First Mate a plan and then deviate from that plan. But from her perspective, the InvokeR was begging for it! “My engineer tells me that if you take that control rod on the tray and insert it in the panel of the opposite corner, you’ll have yourself a virtual bathroom. Cutting lasers will help you shave, and no, they won’t burn the skin. The rest of this stuff he arranged.” Jocasta had carried the tray, but it was not until that moment she had noticed what she had been carrying. “Body oils?!” she said, lifting up the small tube. “You have got to be kidding me!”

  “Actually,” Vobis said, making a very soft approach to Jocasta and taking hold of the tube. “That is Formula Sin, a very much favored brand.” While moving carefully and quite cautiously, Vobis was quite insistent on taking the tube from Jocasta’s hand. “Your First Mate is, if nothing else, thorough.”

  “Yeah, and sometimes I wanna drop the first ‘o’ in that word,” she muttered as she walked out of the cell. “You’ve got about four hours before we’re ready to set off, so don’t take too long. I’ll be sending one of my people down with your clothes. And Vobie, honey…”

  “I know, Captain,” Vobis quickly replied without looking up from the tube. It was a very generous amount of oil given the price and availability of the product. “Even if I manage to attack them and get out of the cell, there’s no way I’m getting off this ship without you first setting things right.

  “But, if I may ask, where are we?” Vobis asked.

  “You may ask,” Jocasta said, smiling back at the InvokeR. “We are currently at Portcullis.”

  “Portcullis?” Vobis repeated in a shocked whisper. “That’s the gateway station to…”

  “The Gulmar System,” Jocasta said just before leaving. The doors closed behind her and she giggled when she heard the man scream.

  “What is it with you people?! Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?!” Jocasta was full-on laughing when the lift doors opened. She recovered enough to lift her brace-com and open a channel to Z.

  “Yes, Captain,” Dungias called to her.

  “You win,” she chuckled. “First round’s on me!”

  “So glad you enjoyed yourself, Captain. Might I request a moment of your time?”

  “Seeing as how you’re on a roll, sure, Z.”

  “Very good then. I shall meet you at your Ready Room.” Jocasta closed the channel and giggled once more. Delivering really bad news with kindness and consideration was indeed quite enjoyable. She carried a smile all the way from the lift to her Ready Room where Z waited, posted outside the door.

  “Z, what are you doing standing in the hallway like some damn cadet?”

  “I was not given permission to en–” Jocasta put her hand over his mouth and lifted herself up on her toes. Although she still was not eye-to-eye with the living support column, she knew her intention was being conveyed.

  “Get this and get it good,” she said softly, her eyes locked with his. “I am a pirate. You’re the finest damn shipmate I’ve ever seen, and believe me THAT remark doesn’t come easily from these lips. It isn’t you taking advantage to be in my Ready Room when we’ve set up a meet there. It’s just us! I realize you’re making one serious effort to be pirate-ish and to be honest with you, I love you for it! But this,” she said gesturing to him and the corridor. “… this you gotta let go!” With her heels returning to the floor and her hand coming away from his mouth, her eyebrows lifted, awaiting his response.

  “Understood,” Dungias said softly. He then looked at the door to the Ready Room and gestured toward it. “Since you are here… ladies first.” Jocasta sighed in frustration and walked inside.

  “What is it, ass-rod?” she barked as she walked to her desk. It was only then she noticed that he was carrying a fair sized duffle bag.

  “Ass-rod, Captain?”

  “Z, you’ve got a stick shoved so far up your ass it’s a damn style!” Jocasta huffed as she plopped down in her chair that seemed to push back slightly. “And who changed the cushion on my chair?”

  “That was changed out this morning,” Dungias explained. “The cushions now conform to your body’s shape. You will not find that comfort on the Bridge.”

  “Damn well better not!” Jocasta remarked in a huff, while also unconsciously bouncing a little on her new cushion. “What’s the need for the meet?”

  “I managed to procure us passes for possessing our level of technology,” Dungias reported. “So long as we do not go beyond the boundary of what is called the Dirk Sector, we will be permitted to wear our weapons. Beyond that, we are allowed to carry them but not use them outside the listed rules of engagement.”

  “Now that sounds like a nice license,” Jocasta remarked. “How much did that cost me?”

  Dungias started to answer, but stopped to look at his Captain. With a slight tilt of his head he spoke plainly. “I am not sure. What is the going rate for your peace of mind?”

  “You better hope it’s not one pain-in-the-ass First Mate,” Jocasta quickly returned. “I might suddenly find myself in the market!” The two locked eyes and Jocasta’s face slowly broke into a smile. With a laugh, she gestured with her head. “Whaddaya got in the bag, blue man?”

  “Your weapons,” Dungias said as he put the bag on the floor.

  “I’ve got that many weapons?!” Jocasta said, trying to bend her eyesight down in front of her desk.

  “Keep in mind, these come with their own housing and accoutrements,” Dungias stated.

  “Oh… cuz that makes me feel so much better,” she countered sarcastically. “Are we invading a settlement?”

  “If you’re going to be a pirate, Captain, it is fair time you looked the part,” Dungias said. He took out a pair of boots that looked exactly like the ones she was wearing.

  “From the ground up, I see,” she said, looking at the boots.

  “These have been redesigned,” Dungias stated. “The sole will now transfer the energy around your foot and up to the shin guard area of your bodysuit. They will allow you to withstand the shock from long falls, not to mention increase the range of your vertical leap should you give a hop before actually jumping.”

  “How much of an increase?”

  “Twenty-five percent… at the very least,” Dungias reported.

  “So, if my vertical leap was ten feet yesterday, it’s now twelve and half feet with these boots on?”

  “Precisely.”

  “And why ‘at the very least’?”

  “The more you wear and use them, and yes, everything has already been programmed into the simulator, the more you will be able to use your body, change your center of gravity and land harder on your priming hop. When mastered, the overall effect will be triple your normal jumping range.”

  “Triple?!” Dungias proceeded and Jocasta took hold of the boots.

&nbs
p; “So glad we’ve got four hours,” she thought. “Guess who needs some immediate sim-time?!”

  “This is your heavy dagger,” Dungias said, handing her the weapon in a very fine scabbard. “It comes with a navigational reader, com-beacon, and a small medical kit in the handle. It will lock with the inside of either boot, and I have fitted a dimensional field to it.”

  “Of course you did,” Jocasta said, looking at the weapon as she pulled it from the scabbard. “And what does that do?”

  “It’s an improvement on the force field idea. Your shoulder holster has also been refitted with one. In short, the device will lay against your body like a sheet of paper until you draw it.”

  “Gotta love how he just dances around how kick-ass sharp the edge is!” she thought as she flipped it around her hand. “… or how balanced the damn thing is! Good-ness!

  “Nice knife, Z,” she said softly as she gently sheathed the weapon.

  “This med kit will fit in the pocket on your pant leg,” Dungias said, handing over the slim rectangular device to Jocasta. “And for the opposite leg…” Jocasta received another box, only it had a dull matte black finish.

  “Let me guess, an anti-med kit?”

  “Exactly,” Dungias said. He continued talking, ignoring the look of shock on Jocasta’s face. “There are tubes that will fit into the handles of these.” Dungias placed down a pair of long double-edged daggers with large hilts. “These are your fighting daggers, complete with injectors for the poisons previously mentioned. I should also note that you now carry one vial of a gelatinous acid that has its own applicator. Exposure to open air or an electrical charge will cause the acid to go active.”

  “Or an electrical charge?” she repeated. “When the hell will I need electricity where there’s no open- ah, underwater or in outer space,” she answered her own question. “And when will I need acid in either of- when I am boarding someone else’s ship,” she said. “Got it!”

  “I have already fitted your new long coat and jacket with the scabbards for these blades,” Dungias explained as he took out the two garments. Jocasta simply ran her tongue over her lips and nodded. “Your aforementioned shoulder holster. Now it has a redesigned power and ammunition pack. You have the same amount of ammunition,” Dungias quickly added, “but I have added an option entitled photonic. Basically it is an energized shell that delivers a low-grade explosive. The energy shell can be attuned to an electromagnetic signature. In short, target-seeking rounds.”

  “You mean they can curve,” Jocasta said.

  “I was inspired by my encounter with the InvokeR,” Dungias explained.

  “You really don’t like MajiK, do you, Z?”

  “Not when it is applied by those who have no respect for its power,” he replied. “Like any other Energy, it has its place among the Stars. So many humans, however, regard it too lightly, absorbed in the quest for power and presence, understanding neither.

  “Try saying ‘yes’, Z,” Jocasta said as Dungias brought out a new weapons belt that was saddle-wood brown in color. The first thing she saw was her blaster and Jocasta smiled. “Come to Momma,” she cooed before feeling the weight of the belt. “What the hell?!”

  “This is now the power station for all of your systems,” Dungias reported. “So long as you are not wearing anything thicker than thirteen centimeters, the belt will be able to broadcast power to all of the other systems as your body broadcasts power to the belt.”

  “I’m sorry, did you say ‘broadcast’?” She asked, feeling the weight of the belt. “And, Z, not even space suits are that thick,” Jocasta stated.

  “Precisely,” he answered. Jocasta smiled and she shook her head as she put the belt down on the desk. “Needless to say it will be lighter once you put it on.”

  “Oh, needless,” Jocasta added.

  “And please note the black sections on the front of the belt,” Dungias said.

  “You mean this,” Jocasta said, touching one of the small black sections. She quickly pulled her hand back as the belt shuddered. A throwing dagger fell to the floor after it touched against her hand. “What the hell is that?!”

  “I have had some experience with pocket dimensions, Captain,” Dungias as he picked up the weapon. “I have anchored four such pockets to the belt. Two hold throwing daggers, ten each… one holds miniature flash-smoke bombs, again ten, and the last holds ten miniature flash-bang bombs. The ports respond to your touch and thought, what just happened was pre-programmed. If you look on the rear of the belt, you will see two more ports. Your mind will control what you pull and from which port. None of the doors are dedicated to a specific port, unless you want it to be that way.”

  “We are invading a small settlement,” Jocasta whispered as she looked up at Dungias. “And you’re not done, are you?”

  “I have a pair of gloves that work with the arm guard area of your bodysuit much the same way as the boots do with the shin guards. And yes, you will still be required to wear bracers. If the bodysuit feels any heavier, it could not be helped. I incorporated your harness for the cable and piton option.” Dungias reached into the bag and took out a small oval-shaped container. He opened it and removed a folded pair of goggles. Unfolding them, Jocasta could see they were designed to fit over her ears completely with clear plastic curving in front of her eyes.

  “Awww, I was just getting to like the virtual ones,” Jocasta whined.

  “And they are now reduced to an emergency capacity, housed on the inside of your belt buckle,” Dungias stated. “These will make you immune to your own flash-bang devices, Captain. You could throw one at your feet and be unaffected.” Jocasta whistled in response as she adjusted them to her face. The goggles suddenly turned black and she giggled.

  “How did I know you added that? I get to pick how they look!”

  “If there is ever a need,” Dungias said reluctantly, “simply remove them from your ears, or think of the same gesture, and they can reform to be either a necklace or headband.” Jocasta giggled when she turned her goggles into a black choker with a silver, diamond-shaped head. “How very… chic, Captain.”

  “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” she replied.

  “I should mention that these are not the only two forms the construct can take, but they are the only ones which do not draw power from the power cells in the belt.”

  “That definitely deserves mentioning,” Jocasta remarked. “And please tell me you’re done. We’ve already landed and are about to take leave of Gulmar already!”

  “Then perhaps I should not present you with this,” Dungias said as he placed a cane on her desk. After he removed his hand, Dungias took two steps back from her desk and placed his hands, one inside the other, behind his back.

  Jocasta’s mouth opened as she stood up, looking at it. “Leave it to him to save the best for last,” she thought.

  “Looks like I’ll be wearing the long coat from now on,” she said as she lifted the cane from her desk. She did not know where he had gone aboard the ship to find wood, but the cane had the look of a very rich mahogany. The finish was shiny and slick, feeling almost like glass, and the handle was darker, separated from the body of the cane by a thin line of gold. A small, clear crystal ball topped it, and Jocasta ran her fingers over it only to close her mouth with a snap when the crystal gave a soft and slow-forming spark of light from inside. She looked at Dungias who simply cast his eyes to the floor.

  “No you didn’t!” she whispered.

  “I was given a directive,” Dungias replied.

  Jocasta took in a deep breath of anticipation while pressing her lips together. She took hold of the middle of the cane with the ball on top. “Separate,” she said softly, hearing a mechanism unlock in response. The thin gold line lifted from the cane, and gleaming steel shone through. Jocasta drew the sword from the cane and now realized why her First Mate had stepped back; she needed the room! The blade was straight, singled edged, wider than the width of the cane, and came to
a very sharp point. She did not swing it about… she would not… not here. “I’m not saying it can’t happen… but it’s hard to see me falling with this gear in hand.”

  “Even if you should fall, Captain, I will be there to catch you,” Dungias declared.

  “Z, I’ll be in the simulator. The ship is yours until I return.”

  Dungias was not about to question if she wanted to maintain her earlier given schedule. Eventually time would tell. As the woman left her office, he set his mind to making sure the ship and her crew were ready whenever the Captain chose to re-emerge. To do that properly, he needed to address the crew.

  “Satithe, please have all hands meet me in the War Room in fifteen minutes,” Dungias said as he stepped into the corridor just outside the Ready Room. Jocasta had sheathed her weapon and was now running. He smiled at the notion he had entertained weeks ago of giving the Captain her own simulator.

  “The message has been sent to all stations,” Satithe replied. “She seems pleased.”

  “That was not my given objective,” Dungias said.

  “Indeed. I think it can be said that she is at the very least surprised. Everyone seems to be. You have outdone yourself, Master.”

  “We shall see, my friend. Any fool can hold a weapon or tool. The training of the crew and Jocasta has indeed gone well, and I have high expectations. With that in mind, the point to take was simple: I was not about to entertain the notion that they meet with failure simply because they were ill-equipped.” Dungias closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. With the time he had, the First Mate would visit the arboretum and take inventory of his friends there. Something in the Stars told him it might be some time before he could visit them again.

  “I know it was over a month ago,” Olkin said as he looked over his clothes. “… but tell me again how it’s not still Yule!” He looked good in the white leather Dungias had presented him with. It would not have been his first color choice – and he had not responded well at first – but seeing as how no one else wore the color, it had grown on him. More cherished than the clothes, however, were the weapons and tools he had received.