A Gulf in Time

by Chris Kennedy

  “Shut the fucking hell up, you overgrown chicken!” roared Master Chief as he made his appearance.

  The avian squawked once and fell over backward to rest on its tail feathers.

  “That’s better,” Master Chief said in a more normal voice. He advanced a step toward the avian, whose wings began fluttering again. “You just sit there and shut up while the commander talks, or we’re going to find the closest barbeque for you, do you understand?”

  The avian nodded its head faster than Calvin had ever seen a race capable of doing.

  “I believe you were saying something about us not killing everyone, sir?” Master Chief asked.

  “Yes, I was,” Calvin said with a nod. “I don’t want to kill anyone I don’t have to here. As a matter of fact, there’s a group of Mineral Cartel people coming here who’ll take over the mines, and we’ll be leaving. Hopefully without killing anyone else.”

  “Especially if they keep their fucking beak closed and sit still,” Master Chief said with a growl and stern look toward the avian.

  “I am happy you do not want to kill us,” one of the lizards said, stepping forward. The group had a number of shades of green and brown; this one was a dark forest green. “Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is, if you leave us with the Mineral Cartel people, it is likely that they will.”

  “Why’s that?”

  The lizard’s tongue flicked in and out a few times, then it asked, “You are not from around here, are you?”

  “Well, no, we aren’t,” Calvin said.

  “That is why I have never seen your race before now. You must be from one of the other galactic arms, probably somewhere out on the fringe. Regardless, I do not know how things work where you are from, but here, corporate takeovers are usually fatal to the losing side.”

  Calvin’s brows knit. “Why would you surrender, then, if you thought we were going to kill you?”

  “The…whatever you used on our barricade was horrific. There is dying…and then there is being cut in half to expire in a pool of your own blood and intestines. We surrendered, hoping that by doing so you would kill us more compassionately. If, however, your intentions are to turn us over to the Mineral Cartel, we would ask that you just kill us now. We are far more likely to get a civilized death at your hands than theirs.” When Calvin just looked at him, open-mouthed, he added, “Please? You can tell them we charged you, or we fought back, or whatever else you need to justify our deaths to them.”

  Calvin looked at Night, who shook his head.

  “That’s way above my paygrade.”

  Calvin’s eyes went to Master Chief, who also shook his head. “As much as I don’t mind shooting them during a fight, shooting someone afterward isn’t like I’m doing my job anymore, you know? That’s more like…murder. It’s a bad thing to get into a young trooper’s head, too, that doing something like that is okay. Where does it stop, once you say someone’s life isn’t worth having? Women? Children? No thanks. I’d rather it not be on my watch.”

  “Nor on mine,” Calvin said. “I don’t want to kill them any more than you do. Probably even less, if the truth were known.”

  “Well, can you just give us some pistols or something?” the lizard asked. “We’ll do it ourselves if we have to.”

  Calvin shook his head. “Don’t you people have wives—or spouses, anyway—and children?”

  “Of course,” the lizard said. “That’s why most of us are out here at this mine—so our mates and offspring can have better lives than we did.”

  “But you’d rather kill yourselves.”

  “Not really, as it’s unlikely the cartel will pay them any death benefits, since we lost the mine, but like I said, better you shoot us than allow the Mineral Cartel goons to play with us as we die.” He gave what looked like a shrug. “Lives are cheap…especially ours.”

  “Well…shit,” Calvin said.

  Master Chief chuckled. “You’ve got the right of it there.”

  Calvin shook his head. “We don’t have time for this. The Mineral Cartel people will be here in a few hours, and we still have to capture the second mine…”

  “Oh, I know that look,” Master Chief said. “You just had one of your ideas.”

  The twinkle returned to Calvin’s eye. “Maybe,” he said with a wink. “Give me a second while I look at our mission orders.” He called them up on his implants, read through them quickly, then turned back to the lizard. “If we were to take you to a friendly world, do you think you could convince the people at the other mine to surrender, so we have time to get all of you off-planet before the Mineral Cartel people arrive?”

  “I’m willing to give it a try,” the lizard said. “My cousin is at the other mine; I know if I can get through to him, I can probably get them to agree to it.” He cocked his head. “How much ransom are you going to ask for when we get to a civilized system?”

  “I can’t speak for my commanding officer, but it’s unlikely we’d ask for much, except maybe to replenish our stores of what you ate and drank.”

  The corners of the lizard’s mouth turned up as if he were smiling. “Well, in that case, if we’re going to be friends and all, and you’re going to feed us, there’s probably something we can do for you.”

  “What’s that?” Calvin asked.

  “Come with me to the foreman’s office, and I’ll show you,” the lizard said. “I can also call the other mine from there.”

  * * *

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Togath System

  “Where are they?” the head of the Mineral Cartel contingent screamed from the front view screen.

  “Where are who?” Captain Sheppard asked in reply.

  “The miners. None of the miners are here, and their bodies are nowhere to be found.”

  “I have no idea,” the CO said. He looked at Calvin, who gave an exaggerated shrug. “The head of my assault force doesn’t have any idea, either.”

  “They must have run off! I blame you for this!”

  “I’m not sure why,” the CO said. “Our mission tasking was to acquire the mines and turn them over to you in good shape. We’ve done so…unless you’re saying they aren’t in good shape?”

  “No, they are in fine shape—they are not damaged at all—but there are no miners here to work them for us!”

  “I’m not sure how or why that’s my problem,” the CO said. “We weren’t tasked with providing miners, only the mines. I can show you what the proprietor wrote down as our tasking.”

  “I’ve seen it,” the man said in a gruff voice, his eyes unable to meet Captain Sheppard’s. “I know what it says.”

  “So you know it doesn’t say anything about the miners.”

  “I still want to know where there are,” he said.

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because they appear to have run away with the profits from the mine.”

  “The profits from the mines?”

  “The diamonds!” the man shouted. “There are no diamonds here! There hasn’t been a pickup in six weeks according to the logs; there should be diamonds here ready for shipment!”

  “I got nothing,” Calvin said, shrugging. “I don’t know where the diamonds are, nor do I know where his missing workers are. Maybe they went into the depths of the mines to hide out until we went away, and they just haven’t come out yet? I don’t know. I’d look in the mines if I were you.”

  “Fine; we will look.” The man started to turn away.

  “Before you go,” the CO said, stopping him. “Can you confirm, for the record, that we have met all the terms of our contract?”

  “Yes, you have.” He snarled and pushed a button, ending the transmission.

  “Well, I don’t know how you made them disappear,” the CO said, “but you surely did piss him off. Where did you hide the miners?”

  “Well, sir, that’s why we needed the shuttles to come down. The troops and I beamed back up on the transporter—the suits have markers so they can be used that way—and t
he miners flew back on the shuttles.”

  “They did? And what makes you think I want them on the ship?”

  “There wasn’t time to ask, sir, and they swore the Mineral Cartel folks were going to kill them when they took over, so we couldn’t leave them there to die.”

  The CO sighed. “How many of them are there?” he asked, his voice resigned.

  “Umm…I think we ended up with 76, but a lot of them are dependents.”

  “Seventy-six? Where are we going to put them? How are we going to feed them? What were you thinking?”

  “I neglected to mention, sir; they’re going to pay their way.” He sent a call to Hogshead and Fenn, who entered the bridge carrying a footlocker-sized crate.

  “Oh, no…” the CO said. “Tell me that isn’t what I think it is.”

  Calvin smiled, flipped open the latches, and raised the lid. The box was full to the top with clumps of clear rocks.

  “Nice,” Arsalan said, coming over to see what was in the chest. “I guess you’ll be able to pay my father back, after all.”

  Calvin chuckled. “If you think it’s the missing diamonds, Skipper, you’re only partially right.”

  “Oh?” Captain Sheppard asked. “How’s that?”

  “There are five more crates in the hangar bay just like this one.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Thirteen

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Jangeth System

  “So, that’s it,” Captain Sheppard said. “We finished the mission, recovered the mines, and turned them over to your people. As you can see from the file we sent, your foreman acknowledged that we met all the terms of our contract.”

  “I saw that. I also saw he did not appear very happy in the brief exchange you sent along.”

  “I seem to have a problem communicating with people here,” Captain Sheppard said. “Where I come from, it’s important to honor the terms of the contract, which we did. The fact that he may not have been excited about how we did it really isn’t my problem. If we were going to talk about being unsatisfied about something, I would have to voice my displeasure upon finding pirates in the next system over. Did you, by any chance, know they were there and fail to mention them to us?”

  “Of course I knew about the pirates. That was your audition for the job. If you couldn’t take care of some minor piddling pirates, I didn’t see any way you could take the Togath mines. As it ends up, everything worked out for the best. You captured the mines and eliminated the pirates, so that is not an issue for me.”

  “Well, not entirely.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “One of the gunboats got away from our initial assault on the pirate stronghold. When we came back, there were several ships waiting for us.”

  “So you destroyed them, I take it, since you’re here?”

  “No, we carefully avoided them.”

  “Avoided them? How did you do that?”

  “We can be very sneaky when we want to.”

  The proprietor frowned. “So the pirates are still there?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I believe they are.”

  “Well, you have to go back and wipe them out! What good is having the Togath mines if my people cannot go there and resupply them?”

  “I think you mean, ‘Go there and pick up your diamonds.’ However, I’m going to have to say—as you said earlier—that really isn’t an issue for me. I don’t intend to go back through that system again, nor do I intend to fight the pirates again. It wasn’t in the contract.”

  “Well, I have to say I am extremely disappointed in you,” the proprietor said. “And, unfortunately, I am going to have to require you to clear the system of the pirates.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that. How is it you intend to ‘require’ me to do anything?”

  “There is the simple matter of the care and feeding of the personnel you left behind here. One of them, as I understand, required some medical attention.”

  “If you’ve hurt any of my people…”

  “You will do what?”

  “I will come down there, and I will kill you myself. Now I’m tired of your bullshit. I’m going to send a shuttle down there, and if you don’t have my people there, along with—”

  “Contact!” the DSO exclaimed. “Three ships just entered through the stargate!”

  “From the pirate system?” the CO asked.

  “No, from the stargate that goes up the chain toward the capital system.”

  “Give me everything you can on the ships,” the CO said.

  The proprietor smiled on-screen. “I guess their arrival will end your threats to me on what you are and are not going to do, won’t it? How about this? If you come and dock with the station, I promise to treat you well and give you a nice, safe job where you can work out the rest of your life.”

  “Oh, I’ll be seeing you soon, all right,” the CO said. “You can expect my next stop after dealing with these ships will be your office. And if you’ve hurt my people, you can expect me to do the same to you.” He cut the connection. “The ships, DSO. What’ve we got?”

  “Looks like three frigate-sized ships, very much like the one we fought in the next system over. They’re more built for heavy security operations than fleet action, sir.”

  “Helm, all ahead three quarters toward the pirate gate. Let me know when we’re established on that course.”

  “We’re running?” the DSO asked. “I think we can take them.”

  “Oh, I know we can take them,” the CO said. He turned to look at Calvin. “However, we have a bunch of civilians on board—76 if I remember correctly—and I don’t want to take a hit and injure any of them. We’re going to fight them, and we’re going to annihilate them, and then I’m going to go back and shove my foot so far up the proprietor’s ass that he tastes shoe leather for a week. I am getting damn tired of all of this nickel and dime bullshit, and at the end of the day today, I don’t want there to be any doubt that they absolutely should not fuck with us anymore.”

  “We’re established on a heading toward the pirate gate,” the helmsman said.

  “Are the frigates giving chase?” the CO asked.

  “Yes, sir,” the DSO said. “They’re out-accelerating us and are catching up quickly.”

  The CO nodded once. “Very well.” He watched the plot for another minute then said, “Solomon, give me stealth mode, please.”

  “You have it,” the AI said a few seconds later. “Stealth mode engaged.”

  “Helm, hard left.”

  “Hard left, aye…no course given.”

  “Understood, Helm. If I’ve done this right, we’re going to skew around and end up right behind them,” the CO said. “Adjust our turn to roll out directly behind the center frigate.”

  “Roll out astern of the center frigate, aye,” the helm replied.

  The CO turned to Calvin. “Remember all those fights with the Shaitan, where they used to pop up of nowhere and shoot amazing weapons at us?”

  “Yes, sir, I do,” Calvin replied, with a hint of a smile.

  The CO smiled, although his eyes remained hard. “Now it’s our turn.”

  * * *

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-Jangeth System

  The Vella Gulf settled onto a heading almost directly behind the center frigate.

  “The other two frigates are dispersing to the left and right,” the OSO said. “They’re probably trying to increase their sensor net and figure out where we went.”

  “Well, let’s show them, shall we?” Captain Sheppard asked. “On my command, we’ll jump to the Jinn Universe, then we’ll fire a broadside. I want three missiles targeted on each frigate, and each missile set to jump into our universe with five seconds to impact.”

  “Five seconds?” the OSO asked. “That might give them time to see them coming and implement some of their defensive procedures.”

  “That’s fine,” the CO said. “If we have to fire another couple, we will. This is the shock and
awe portion of the attack. I want them to think we’re ghosts, and our technology is so far beyond them they have no chance against us.”

  “Makes sense, sir,” the OSO said, nodding. “Ready to fire.”

  “Solomon, jump us to the Jinn Universe, please.”

  The ship flashed. “We are in the Jinn Universe,” Solomon noted.

  “Cease thrust. Helm, spin 90 degrees left.”

  “Thrust is zero,” the helmsman replied. “Spinning 90 degrees left.”

  “Fire when ready, OSO.”

  “Dropping stealth and firing!” The OSO pushed a button and a broadside of missiles launched.

  The CO watched them travel across the plot. The group headed toward the center frigate disappeared first as they jumped out of the Jinn Universe, followed by the trio aimed for the left frigate, and then the ones aimed for the frigate on the right.

  “Re-engage stealth,” the CO said, “then jump back to our universe. Helmsman, once there, I want you to come right and take position 100,000 miles off the starboard frigate’s starboard quarter.”

  “Stealth on!” the duty engineer called.

  “Coming right,” the helmsman said after the ship flashed back out of the Jinn Universe.

  “How’d we do, OSO?” the CO asked.

  “Based on the geometry of what’s left, it looks like the center frigate took three hits, the port frigate took three hits, and the starboard frigate took two hits. All three have had their engines and engineering sections removed and are coasting—unpowered—on trajectories which will eventually take them out of this system.”

  “Very well. Full speed ahead. Take us on a course that’ll intercept the starboard frigate.” He smiled and added, “Oh, and get me the proprietor. On screen, please.”

  “I do not know how you did that,” the proprietor said, “but it does not change things; if anything, it shows my initial assessment of you was correct. You are more than capable of handling the pirates in the next system. If you want to get your people back, you will eliminate the pirates.”

  “I’m sorry,” the CO replied. “Did you not see how your fleet was just destroyed? How easily we accomplished it?”