THE LAST FRONTIER

One Hundred Over Ten

by: Marina Twelve and Thomas R.

 

"It will be a five parsec jump, so we have about an hour to charge up." Said Leslie.

"Not that I am not enjoying our conversation, Webber, but it has occurred to me that I have not introduced myself to the other members of your . . . OUR crew." If I am not needed here before the jump . . ."

"Go right ahead Morris, I'm sure that they will tell you all about me."

Morris really DID want to meet the other crewmembers, Leslie probably knew that too, so he let that little comment of hers slide.

Doctor Havelock was in his clinic, Making sure things were in order, before he reported to his station at the gun turret control console.

"Doctor?" asked Morris as he looked in the clinic room door.

"Oh, Hello Captain" said the doc as he reached out to shake Morris's hand. In mid motion, though, he stopped and affected a clumsy salute. "Oh sorry, ah . . . Captain, I’m not used to this military stuff."

"That's alright", Morris Laughed. "Doctor Havelock, isn't it?"

"Folks just call me Doc."

"Well, DOC, I'm Captain Gideon Morris. While we are waiting for the jump capacitors to charge. I thought I would see if I could get to meet some of the rest of the crew."

"Yes, I see that our own Captain Webber, has been keeping you occupied. What do you think of our little lady?"

"Quite frankly I think she hates my guts."

"Oh she does, but don't take it personal though. She has had a rough time."

"Yes, I read her records. She has to have been one tough broad to have gone through all that and still remain functional."

"Sheer determination, Captain. She has always been a man . . . Woman of her word. She swore to herself that she would NEVER let having become a woman get in the way of her career or her goals in life.----Komstantin would have won if she let that happen to herself---She is determined to defy any and all forces, both real and imaginary, that conspire against her, simply because she is a woman."

"I suppose that I represent one of those forces?"

"The very embodiment. You see, she was the Captain of her own ship in the Space Command. For her to be effectively reduced in rank like this represents a big setback in her life. And even worse, it represents what Komstantin, the leader of the Syndicate had planned for her."

"That's the guy she killed wasn't it?"

"Yes, she was determined to find and kill him for that one fact alone. When he inadvertently killed her family, she threw all caution to the wind, ran him down and killed him on the spot--in his own ship!"

"Yes I heard about that. But how does this help me? How do you suggest I deal with her? Remember I am supposed to be her superior."

"My advice to you is to stay out of her way. Let her do as much as she is willing to do, so far as her job is concerned. If you don't bother her, she won’t bother you."

"But still, I am supposed to be her superior officer, I just can't let her think that she has to answer to no one. I’ve seen enough of how she operates to know if I let her get the upper hand, she will eat me alive."

"That she will, son, That she will. But she really is a good, well meaning person. You have to get to know her better, find out what makes her tick. Though she is finally beginning to accept the fact that she IS a woman, she hates anything or situation that drives that fact home for her.---If you treat her as an equal she will treat you fairly too. She respects courage and persistence.

Believe it or not, she IS open-minded; she will accept your advice and counsel if you deliver it to her in a non-threatening manner.

"Imagine yourself in her situation." Doc continued, "How would you feel if YOU had been changed into a woman? You would loose about half of your physical strength and fighting ability, become alienated from your spouse and children, loose your ability to be Captain of a starship, which is really your life's ambition. Wouldn't YOU be bitter? And think of all the things a woman has to put up with, from monthly cycles to men trying to take advantage of her. Even though she killed the guy that did it to her, Captain Webber is still not a happy camper at all."

"I can see your point. But I am really here to learn about YOU. How did you get to be ship's doctor on the Retribution?"

"Connections I suppose. I was on the medical team that helped rebuild the head and brain of a young engineer who was severely beaten by Syndicate thugs when he refused to sell them some propulsion technology that he had developed. We rebuilt half his head with a shell of titanium. About one third of his brain had to be replaced with electronic biochips."

"My god! Was the man ever able to function again?"

"Yes, quite well actually. Most of his memory was intact. The chips mostly took over his motor functions. There was an advantage in that he now had a computer-brain interface. We could add things like advanced mathematics processors high-speed memory retrieval and built-in com links. He was also equipped with plugs that can accept memory and computer cards. He might look a little strange, but all and all, he has become a superior and unique person because of it."

"You are of course referring to Ashley Bainbridge, our engineer?"

"The same. But the same guys that nearly killed Bainbridge took out their rage on me. They cut both of my arms off at the elbows."

"I see."

"Fortunately Bainbridge returned the favor, he designed and built these bionic arms and hands for me, that permit me to practice my trade once more. The Civilian board of medicine however refuses to reinstate my medical license though.---Regulations. I suppose that’s why Leslie decided to take me on as her ship's physician. She had been a victim of "regulations" herself."

"How had you been supporting yourself?"

"As a Mortician, believe it or not. That's one profession that will always be needed."

"I suppose that you wanted to get in on a piece of the action when you heard that Leslie was going after Konstantin and his syndicate?"

"You bet. If someone was brave enough to take those bastards on and had the ability to do it, I sure as hell wanted to help them all I could. I had both my medical ability and my guns to contribute to the cause."

Morris checked his watch. "Nice talking to you Doc. I think I still have time to drop in on our Biotelemetricist. Her station is at the end of the hall isn’t it?"

"Yes, our BT is in room seven. Take care Captain and have good luck dealing with Leslie."

 

"Captain!" Said Zee as she snapped to attention, when Captain Morris entered the room.

"As you were, Lieutenant." Morris Replied. "I can see that you have had some experience aboard military vessels."

"Yes sir, I had been assigned to the Biotelemetry corps, prior to resigning my commission."

"I have never had the luxury of a BT officer aboard my vessel. I suppose that the command never thought that the mission of the Formalhault was important enough."

"Well, Captain there are not very many of us. We are too few in numbers to be assigned to every ship. That’s why we are organized into a special corps. A ship will have one of us on temporary assignment only on the military missions of the most vital importance."

"I should feel honored, then."

"I personally feel lucky to have been assigned back to Leslie . . . Captain Webber’s ship. After I was re-commissioned they might have sent me anywhere."

"I take it that you are quite fond of Webber."

"Yes, she is like a sister to me. I admit, I didn’t like her at first, but I soon developed sympathy and then a respect for her. Did you know that she has the same DNA as one of the best BTs in the Corps?"

"No I didn’t. That was not in her records. Is she any good herself?"

"She is better than she thinks, or wants to be. I told her that the innate "sensitivity" is only half of what makes a BT. She ALSO has to have training to use the ability. I have given her a few lessons, myself. She could be a great BT if she wanted to be."

"I see nothing wrong with that, you would think that she would jump at the chance."

"Not Leslie! A BT officer is part of the crew and not the Captain. Leslie feels that she was born to be a starship captain and that is what she intends to be. In her mind becoming a BT officer would be like a demotion to helmsman."

"But still, having BT abilities would be an excellent skill for a captain to have. She could sense enemy vessels parsecs away and read their own jump cords. "

"That’s what I tried to tell her. You know, when I was injured, it was Leslie herself who determined the spatial coordinates that Konstantin’s ship had jumped to get away from us. She hit them dead on! I couldn’t have done as good a job."

"But she was under extreme duress then", Zee continued, "Her wife and son had been killed just hours before. Even I was clinically dead. Even ordinary people in such a mental state are capable of extraordinary BT related feats. She likely could not repeat the performance under normal conditions. Not without more training, that is."

"So you were on this ship when all of the exciting stuff took place. Did your presence here, as a civilian, have anything to do with why you resigned your commission?"

"Of course, Captain. Like everyone else on this crew, I wanted satisfaction, revenge." She rubbed her bald head "My most interesting physical feature was courtesy of the syndicate after all."

"Yes, I know what they did to me was not nearly as serious as loosing one’s arms or half their brain. As a man it is bad enough to have no hair, but is no catastrophe. But to a Woman it is psychologically devastating. It is made worse when you are a Lakota Indian and your name is Hopa Hi, Beautiful Hair. –I became a living joke among my own people!"

Morris could still hear the bitterness and rage in her voice.

"I sensed Leslie’s plight. I knew that she was embarking upon a personal mission of vengeance upon those same people who had made me an outcast. I was determined to join her."

"Did you get your "satisfaction"?"

Zee fingered the bear claw necklace the was wearing. "This belonged to my assailant. It helps ease the pain somewhat. Leslie prevented me from killing him personally though.----But we killed them ALL in the end."

By now, Morris was beginning to feel that he had been dropped into a ship populated by psychopaths. He wondered if Admiral Simmons knew about this.

The Syndicate, in one way or the other had somehow hurt every one of these people. Most victims tend to take their lumps and suffer, but as every "bully" finds out in the end, there are the few, normally peaceful, but potentially dangerous individuals that refuse to take any shit from anyone. The crew of the Retribution all had that one characteristic in common. Konstantin and the Syndicate had to find that out the hard way.

In Leslie’s own case, it was more obvious, but just below the apparently calm surfaces of Zee and even Doc appeared to boil a rage that bordered on the homicidal.

 

Morris hadn’t met Bainbridge yet, but he knew that Bainbridge was responsible for the Quell and had convinced Leslie to install it on her ship. The nightmare weapon was his brainchild. It had the potential for killing thousands, perhaps millions. Considering the Five enforcer ships and the Moon of Axel Two, Morris estimated that Leslie had killed at least seven hundred people with it already. Of course they were all Syndicate operatives and "soldiers", but Damn! They were still humans.

Morris hadn’t met Bill either. Bill was Doc’s nephew, not twenty years old with a proven record of having personally shot and killed more men than years of his age.

Then there was Commander Conner. It was well known that Melissa Connor had no capacity for emotion and was thus deemed unfit for service. Her presence on board was Admiral Simmons’s concession to Leslie. There was no telling what SHE was capable of. Even Leslie seemed to have a "healthy respect" for her.

Saunders the helmsman seemed to be the least homicidal of the bunch, but he had suffered over eight months as a slave in the Syndicate’s mining colony before being rescued by Leslie. He was intensely loyal to her. He likely wouldn’t hesitate to do ANYTHING for her if she requested it.

Two things were becoming obvious to Morris. There could be no question that HE had to establish himself as "the man in charge" on this ship. And he had to earn Leslie Webber’s respect. His relationship with Leslie was key to it all.

If he failed, there was a very good likelihood that HE would either become the lackey to a band of cutthroats, or might just wake up one morning in deep space without the benefit his pressure suit.

 

Morris returned to the bridge in time for the jump. He sat in the seat next to Leslie. Other things were on his mind besides jumping. Damn! That woman made him nervous.

"Ready to jump on your command Captain." Said Leslie. The subtle overtones in her voice seemed to grate at Morris. She knew exactly how much sarcasm to insert and not be blatantly obvious. It was even worse than if it were so.

Execute Jump in Three . . . two . . . one . . .

Suddenly they were in another part of space, five parsecs closer to their first objective.

"We will continue on course at point five cee until the capacitors have recharged for the next jump." Said Morris as he once again started to get up from his chair.

"We have company", Said Zee's voice over the com.

"I see it!" Leslie replied "zero zero five degrees on zero zero two. Three kiloclicks downrange."

"Take a good look, Morris, that’s a Syndicate enforcer ship. I know that you don’t see very many of those in the outer perimeter."

"What's it doing here?"

"Likely checking us out. We aren't transmitting the special codes that private ships are required when passing through this area.----Its part of the Syndicate protection racket. You pay them and they provide the codes and leave you alone. We are not bearing any military markings, so they think that were fair game."

"Helm! Keep a bow down attitude." Leslie ordered. "I don't want him to recognize the profile of the ship. Not yet anyway."

"Aye Captain."

Suddenly the ship to ship com screen popped on. An Asian looking man dressed mostly in black leather appeared.

"Heave to! Identify yourself!" The man ordered.

"Well it looks like we might have a battle situation on our hands." observed Morris. "Prepare to raise deflectors!"

"Let me show you how to handle this" said Leslie. "Computer! Transmitter on! Helm! Bow up!"

The Captain of the Enforcer Eight recognized the redhead who now appeared on his screen."

"Hi there, Akita! Remember ME? And THIS time brother, I AIN'T kiddin'!"

Suddenly the enforcer jumped out in a flash of blue light.

Morris looked astounded. "WHA. . . What did you do?"

"Me and Akita had a little talk some time back when I was chasing down Konstantin. He was foolish enough to try to intercept me. I threatened to blow his sorry atoms across half a parsec with the QUELL if he didn't jump far away then and there."

"It was all a bluff on my part THEN. I had just locked up the one point five and the QUELL was still recharging. But HE didn't know that. A body doesn’t take chances when they are looking down the throat of that thing. Let us say he was a very good boy and knew how to follow instructions."

"I suppose by now he knows that he was bluffed out."

"Oh, I’m sure of it, That's what made it much more easier today. He KNEW I wasn't bluffing THIS time."

"Apparently your reputation alone has become enough to ward off trouble."

"At least among those who know me. The others have had to learn the hard way. Unfortunately, they usually do not survive. So word is slow in getting out."

"Of course I would be in trouble myself if I had to face more than two of those Enforcer ships at a time. For all its power, the QUELL is essentially only a one shot weapon. It’s only good for one target, unless they are flying in tight formation. That's how I knocked out four of them in Konstantin's ambush that he had set for me. The same was true for those three Rep Battle cruisers."

"So you see, I cheat a little bit--I am perhaps not quite the superwoman that the stories make me out to be."

For the first time Morris saw Leslie sincerely smile and drop her defensive attitude as she talked with him.

"One thing I learned about this woman thing is that instead of brute force and intimidation, one has to rely on surprise, deception and psychological manipulations to defeat a more often than not stronger adversary."

"I’ve found that the same techniques can be used in ship to ship combat. Leslie continued "--face it, while powerful, this little ship can often be at a disadvantage too, especially when facing larger vessels."

"I don’t risk an actual battle unless I have no other choice."

"If I might ask, what was the deal about you shooting this Konstintin--Sanders fellow aboard his own ship." Asked Morris. "Wasn't that taking a very big risk? Especially when you consider who he was."

"I wasn't thinking about risks then, Morris." Leslie replied. "The Sonofabitch had just killed my wife and son only a few hours before. Quite frankly I didn't care if I got killed myself, just as long as I took him down with me."

"So you aren't really quite as crazy as the stories would suggest. I could see doing that myself under similar circumstances. No one on his ship tried to stop you?"

"The ship was in its death throes. The Retribution’s one point five had pounded it pretty good. The crew was too busy looking for the escape pods and trying to save their own asses than to bother messing with a crazy woman like me. I suppose they figured that I would shoot them too if they got in my way."

"Would you have?"

"You're damned right!"

"Did it make you feel any better?"

"No, at least not at first. Nothing had really changed. Like Shakesphere said, 'The evil that men do lives on after them.' Adrienne and Justin were still just as dead. Melissa and myself remained just as we are. But it DID relieve me of an obligation though. It was the principle of the thing. He destroyed my life and everyone I loved. I could not let Sanders live---and live myself."

"If I might make a proposal?" Asked Morris, "You seem to know your away around The Terran controlled areas and are quite adept at handling the unique difficulties encountered here. I will give you a free hand to do what you want."

"I promise I won't interfere. I know the Reps as well as you know your usual foes, so in the outer perimeter areas, I will be in full control. How about that?"

Leslie looked suspiciously at Morris. Thought about it and with an insincere smile held out her hand. "Agreed!".

"But neither one of us is an expert beyond the outer perimeter areas."

"That's when we will have to learn to work together." Morris said. "No Terran I know of has ever crossed beyond the outer perimeter are and has survived to tell about it."

*********

Morris was not giving up. In his mind he was still ultimately in charge. Indeed he was now realizing that all he needed to do was to stay out of Leslie's way and everybody would be happy. She was as competent as he was, even more so in the Terran territorial space region, so he was sure that she would do what had to be done. He was not working for Leslie He just let Leslie do it all. That is what she wanted to do anyway. Morris now realized that his job was to make sure That the command team as prescribed by Space Command Regulations was in place, a task that only his presence was needed to fulfill, and to be available to intervene should Leslie suddenly revert to a mentally unstable state. Unfortunately, THAT was when she would be her most dangerous AND devious.

*************

Leslie had just executed the next to the last jump that would take the Retribution into the Antarian Limit area, when Zee’s voice, once again, announced over the com.

"I have raider activity at two parsecs bearing one seventy on one three five, at least four. They are converging on a passenger liner."

"What does that have to do with us?" asked Morris.

"Check the text of your oath, Captain" Leslie replied "One of our primary duties as officers of the Space Command is to protect shipping from all interference both alien and human. Or is it different for you Battle Cruiser boys?"

"We usually don't encounter these things in the outer perimeter."

"We encounter them here, in the territories, all the time. I don't care how important our mission is. As a commissioned vessel of the Space Command, we are required to render assistance and protect shipping whenever our services are required. You want to see some action, Morris, here is your chance."

"Gunners to your stations! Bill! Take the point seven five! OK Morris lets see what you can do with the one point five. See if you can teach me something."

"Zee! Scan area for enforcer ships at least seven parsecs out."

Leslie turned to Morris. "I know now to look before I leap. The last time I did this I was ambushed by three of the big boys. They captured me, and I think you know the rest of the story."

"All Clear!" Zee replied.

"Helm! Transfer control to command station"

The command station Helm controls swung around to the front of Leslie's Chair. The ranging com screens swung in front of Captain Morris.

"Cords entered! Jumping in three . . . two . . . one . . ."

They re-materialized about 20 clicks behind the passenger liner, "Capella".

"There!, " Said Leslie, "Those smaller black ships, that look like roaches, those are the Syndicate raiders."

 

Leslie had no sooner spoken when the closest one of them opened up on the liner with rapid point three cannon fire. A double line of small explosions stitched across the hull. Another raider approached from the other side. Each vessel was followed by its partner.

"Come in low, Webber" Said Morris

"Of course, don’t you think I know how to make a strafing run?"

"Shit! There are no turret controls on this thing!" Morris commented as he examined the fire control screen.

"This is a fixed forward facing weapon, you have to use the attitude control jets as we coast past."

"OK!, Got it! I'm going for the two on the Port side! Hold course! STEADYYYYYY!"

To Leslie's surprise, Morris let the Retribution zoom right past the two raiders without firing a shot. Before she could speak however, Morris fired the attitude jets and rotated the craft one hundred eighty degrees." BAM! BAM! BAM! He fired three shots directly into the bow of the first Raider. Two of the shots when clean through and struck the vessel behind it. KBOOM! Both ships exploded into balls of yellow fire.

At the same time, Doc stitched a line of point five shot across the hull of the foremost raider on the other side of the Capella. It didn't explode, but it was stopped in its tracks--at least it was reduced to coasting. Neither its reaction engines nor its attitude controls were functioning as it tumbled on its previous trajectory out into space.

The other Raider, as was usually the case when they figured "the jig was up", pealed off and began to run.

Morris threw the attitude jet joystick over hard to port and BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Fired just ahead of the vessel.

As Leslie expected, The ship was going to jump. The initial blue flash however was cut short and followed by a much brighter yellow one. They had, unfortunately for them, overtaken one of Morris's shots the instant before the jump.

"Good shooting Morris. It’s hard to eyeball a lead like that. And I like how you zapped two ships for the price of one back there."

"The one point five is quite powerful, Webber. You need to utilize that power to its full advantage. As far as the lead goes, fire these things enough and you will develop a good feel for it. I trust my own instincts more than that of the ranging computer."

Leslie contacted Arthur Drake, the Captain of the "Capella", in order to make sure that no further assistance was needed. Fortunately, the Damage was slight and the situation was under control.

"Commander Conner," Ordered Leslie, "plot our next Jump."

************

The last jump put the Retribution at what was called the Antarian Limit, where the Antarian system marked the Accepted, but unofficial end of Terran controlled space in the region. It was well within the "outer perimeter" of terran controlled space, so It was Morris’s turn to take over full command of the Retribution as per his agreement with Leslie.

"Alright Morris" Leslie told him. "You are supposed to be the expert out here, now keep us out of trouble."

It had been nearly two months since Leslie and the Enforcer ship had been attacked in this area and had to fight it out with hoards of Rep fighters. As the Fighters had been in motion during the battle, the debris from the destroyed, attacking craft would have continued to drift along the trajectories of movement they were on when the craft were hit.

The motion factor for the two months had been taken into account when the jump cords were calculated so it was not long until the debris field finally came into view.

"It was my impression that the QUELL only left sub atomic debris." Commented Morris.

"That’s true" replied Leslie. "But we used our conventional weapons on the fighters until it became apparent that they were just an escort to the three Battle cruisers. Then I HAD to use the QUELL, It was our only hope."

As Leslie finished speaking, the blown out hull of the Enforcer drifted into the field of the View screen. Morris studied the large craft that looked like an eight hundred-foot long elongated egg. The hole in its belly became evident as it slowly tumbled along.

Morris glanced at Lesley. "That’s not REP damage. Looks like a near point blank one point five shot to me."

"Well, THAT was an accident" Webber replied. "I only meant to cripple the ship so that it could not turn on me when the REP threat was destroyed. It seems that we inadvertently holed the pressure hull and destroyed the life support systems."

"I only wanted them to download their data base. I ended up having to use the spider and go over there in full pressure suits with Bainbridge to download the data ourselves. What a mess! I thought Bainbridge was going to puke in his helmet."

 

"Well there certainly is plenty of REP debris floating around out here." Commented Morris. "How do you propose we gather some samples?."

"I was thinking extending the spider into a particularly promising batch of the stuff, and letting Bill go out in his pressure suit and gather us up some of it."

"Good Idea, then we won’t risk colliding into any of it with our ship."

"Bill! Report to the bridge" Leslie ordered.

"What’s his last name?

"Harlow. He is Doc’s nephew. His late sister’s kid, but we just call him Bill."

"Yes, Captain!" Said Bill as he walked onto the bridge. He glanced at both Leslie and Morris as to see which one of the TWO captains wanted to speak with him.

"Bill, " Began Morris. "We need you to put on your pressure suit and get into the spider. We are going to swing you out and have you collect some of those REP fighter fragments for us. Can you do that?"

"Sure Captain. How much of it do you want?"

"Just a few hand sized pieces will do." Said Leslie. "Something to let Zee get a reading off of."

Ten Minutes later Bill was ready. He adjusted the helmet on his pressure suit and then inflated the capstan tubes that drew the fabric of the suit close to his body.

Bill crawled into the hollow arm of the spider and Melissa, using its joystick control, swung it out from beneath the belly of the ship. She then sealed the airlock on the ship end and opened up the beak between the hydraulic grappling claws on the free end.

Bill Crawled partially out of the opening at the beak and reached out and grabbed a piece of REP fighter debris as it floated by.

Bill reached out a little farther to grasp another piece and lost his grip on the beak segment he was holding on to.

Leslie watched the view screen in shock as she realized that Bill had neglected to attach his tether cable to the mechanism. Instinctively, Bill waved his arms as he tried to "swim" back towards the spider opening. Unfortunately, the action only caused him to spin even farther away from his goal.

"Catch Him Melissa!" Leslie shouted. "He’s not tethered!"

Quickly Commander Connor maneuvered the spider around to intercept Bill as he drifted further outwards into space. It struck his arm and pushed him in the opposite direction---almost as fast as the spider could follow him.

Suddenly, the spider reached its limit of extension. But before Leslie had to fire one of the attitude jets, Bill reached out and managed to grab one of the claws.

He slowly worked his way back into the beak.

"GODDAMNT BILL!" Leslie shouted over the com link, "Always have your tether connected up to something when ever you are exposed to open space. We almost lost you."

"Sorry Captain" Bill replied. He snapped the steel cable to a ring just inside the spider’s arm.

"Have you got any pieces or did you drop them?"

"I’ve got two, will that be enough?"

"That will do, Bill, now get back in here." Leslie was both angry and relieved.

"It was his first time out." Said Leslie as she turned to Morris. "He needed the experience."

"Well he wasn’t the first man to forget to attach his tether." Morris replied. "He got some good experience today. I bet he won’t forget that again."

*************

Leslie dropped the two ragged looking, copper colored fragments onto Zee’s Console.

"I need a QL reading on these, Zee. Point of origin. Inform the bridge when you are finished."

Leslie returned to the bridge and sat in her seat next to Morris.

"I’ve Got Zee doing a QL reading on the fragments. We should here from her in a few minutes."

"QL? Like I told Zee, I haven’t had the opportunity to work with a BT on a ship before."

"Quantum Link, Morris. Anything that has ever touched those fragments has formed a "link" of sorts with it on the quantum level. Zee can tune into those links and those other objects. She can give us cords and other facts about them that we might find useful."

"From what Zee tells me you can do that too, Webber."

"If I have the training, but I am afraid that the Space Command might find me more valuable as a BT than as a starship captain. Then where will I be? My situation is bad enough as it is. Reduced to a friggin’ F O!."

Morris could see that Leslie was getting angry and decided not to pursue the subject further.

********

Zee decided to give her report personally on the bridge. As far as she could tell, there was a large REP staging outpost located in a planetary system about half a light year from the Antarian Limit. Several of the large battle cruisers operate from the area. Since the REPS do not have any way to travel faster than light speed, the practical range of their ships is limited to a parsec or so.---A trip equivalent to 3.26 years at top speed.

As the REP boundary represents nearly half of the circumference of the outermost limits of Terran control, Their battle cruisers must number in the thousands. Even then they are spread out fairly thin. One thing disturbed her more than anything else though.

"It appears that the REPs have a very good BT based communication system. That is the only way that they can communicate and co-ordinate attacks over distances of many hundred light years. It also explains why there are so many battle cruiser confrontations---given how thinly that they are spread out. They know where the Terran ships are."

"So they have BTs also." said Morris.

"It may be worse than that. BT ability might be the norm in the REP population. If they get most of their ships equipped with Jump technology, not only we be outnumbered, virtually all of those ships will be full of BTs. They would have a big advantage over the Terran Confederation. We could be in danger of extinction."

"If we don't stop the transfer of jump technology to them NOW", Commented Leslie, "It won't be long before they begin to copy it on their own--then we ALL are doomed."

"So Zee," asked Morris" Where do we start?"

"All I can say is we will have to find and board an actual REP ship and examine what we find there. I suggest a freighter or something on that order. That way we get information on trade routes and commercial centers"

"SO it looks like we will have to poke around in Rep territory until we find something." Said Morris.

"It will not be as dangerous as you might think. As I said, their defenses are spread out very thin. Their ships are limited to light speed, so we can jump anywhere there are no warships within recharge time for our jump capacitors. I can scan out parsecs at a time as we delve deeper into REP territory."

"You are forgetting one thing ZEE", Said Leslie "At least ONE of those ships IS equipped with Jump tech. And it is a battle cruiser. If these REPs are all as "psychic" as you say they are, it won't be long before our presence is noted and it won't be hard to guess what ship that they will send out to catch us."

"Well, I never said this little expedition was without risk. That's a chance we will have to take. In any event it can’t jump more than seven parsecs at a time. We should have a bit of a warning. If worse comes to worse, you still have the QUELL."

"I couldn't think of a better ship to destroy." Said Morris. "If we blast it, they won't have a prototype to copy from."

"We still have to find out how they got the jump system in the first place. Otherwise they will eventually get another one, and we will be right back where we started." Leslie observed.

"So who are the likely suspects?" Asked Morris.

"The Syndicate would be the only group with enough wealth and power to pull something off like this.' Said Leslie. "Even if a private group or individual was behind it, it would soon attract the Syndicate's attention---And they would move in on them quickly."

"So there has to be a profit in it. What do you suppose that the REPs are paying or trading for it."

"My first guess is REP technology. Konstantin said that he used an Alien Technology to change me. It wasn't very efficient though, He said that I was lucky to have survived--It killed three out of four humans it was tried on."

"From my experience, REP tech is noticeably inferior to Terran Tech. It's good, mind you. Their LXs are devastating weapons, and their ships are fast, but save for numbers they have nothing on our Terran technology. "Said Morris.

"They MUST have SOMETHING that the Syndicate wants." Leslie Replied. "Precious metals perhaps, or other minerals or materials. Find out what the payment is and that will give us a clue to where the transactions are taking place."

"Well Zee," Asked Morris, "where do we go in?"

"One place is as good as any. If we keep our distance from the military outposts, we should be relatively safe."

"Find a location about five parsecs beyond the limit and scan it. If it’s clear of warships then we will go in."

"Yes Captain, " said Zee. "I will inform you from the telemetry room when I have a suitable set of cords."

 

Leslie Looked at Morris. "So you say you never heard of any Terrans that crossed into REP territory and survived? What about the early explorers Roswald, Warren and Blake? This was ALL REP territory at one time."

"I mean in recent times. The REPs have decided to hold their ground in the last twenty years. They refused to be pushed back any more."

"Do you know if any of those recent "explorers" had BT officers on their ships? I’d bet that they didn’t. And do you know any of their names?"

"Well, no. I only said I knew no Terrans that have ever crossed into Rep territory and survived."

"Don’t try to shit a shitter, Morris." Said Leslie with a smile. "I knew what you said when we made our little captaining agreement. I don’t KNOW any such TERRANS either, but I am sure that quite a few have crossed into REP territory and returned. —Don’t even attempt to play head games with me Morris. You are not even in my League."

"But honestly, Morris, I think you are the closest thing to a REP expert we have on board. I am willing to let you run things for now. It is only when we have to deal with humans, if we find any, will I insist on a greater degree of control. You are the soldier, I am the Sheriff. If we stay off of each other’s turf we will get along fine."

"Alright Sheriff!" Said Morris as he shook Leslie’s hand.

****************

The First jump put the Retribution five parsecs into The Reptoid controlled space. This was a "safe" location hours away, by any light-speed craft, from any possible war ships or any planets that might serve as a base for any.

Morris asked Zee to scan for any interesting shipping activity.

"I see what look like established shipping lanes between several planetary systems." Observed Zee. "There is a high density of space craft running in them---I suppose because travel is so slow, they have to maintain a steady flow of supplies and materials between their population centers."

"Can you tell me if any of those craft are armed?" Morris asked.

"I can’t, Captain. I have not had enough contact with REP vessels to allow me to differentiate very much between common transport ships or warships. I suspect that there may be a mix of them in the lanes. All I know about REP ships are fighters and Battle cruisers. Fortunately, I do not see either of those, but I can’t say what else they might have down there."

"This isn’t going to be easy. If we jump close enough to any of those ships to check it out, we will be within range of several others. They could attack us before we can jump again." Said Morris.

"Provided that any of them are indeed armed vessels." Leslie replied. "For all we know, they ALL could be freighters and passenger transports. It’s YOUR Call Captain."

Morris thought about it for a minute and opened a com link to the Telemetry room.

"Zee, send me the cords that will put us a couple of Kiloclicks above the closest shipping lane and near the middle, the maximum distance from both planetary systems."

"So you are going to jump right in and take your chances?" Leslie remarked.

"I’m going to try to blend in with traffic and get a closer look at the situation. Hopefully this Ship of yours is unconventional enough in appearance not to be of obvious Terran Origin."

"And let’s hope their BTs are lazy." Said Leslie. "If they get too curious about us, they will know that we don’t have a REP crew on board."

The cords that Morris requested appeared on his screen. He rapidly entered them into the jump system and announced. "Prepare to jump! Three!, two!, One!. . ."

***************

"YES, there WAS a lot of ship traffic down there." Morris observed. It reminded him of the old photos he had seen of the highways on Earth when surface vehicles were the primary means of transportation. There couldn’t be more than a couple of clicks between each ship.

Zee called up on the com again. "You might want to know that now I can see that most of those ships are ‘unmanned’. They seem to be automated transport craft for the most part."

 

"Well, should we check out one of the automated ships, or should we try for one that is piloted?" Morris thought aloud.

"I would think that the occupied ships would likely have the most useful information on them." Said Leslie "But that would be a more dangerous undertaking."

"Well the reward is often a direct function of risk. I say go for it. ZEE! find us an occupied ship. Something that doesn’t have too many REPS on board."

"Yes, Captain. I have . . . MY GOD! humans."

"Syndicate?"

"I can't tell. Some two hundred clicks downrange. I detect the presence of at least three humans on one of the ships. One of them is a child."

"Likely captives. The Syndicate doesn’t bring their children along on their missions." Said Leslie.

"How many REPS?" Morris asked.

"I count ten. There's something else in there too."

"What is it?"

"I don’t know. Human sized, but definitely not human. It doesn’t make sense."

The helmsman, Saunders, guided the Retribution to where Zee sensed the human carrying vessel.

"Which ship is it?" Asked Morris, "None of them have any markings."

"The rectangular one dead ahead. The humans are in the lower compartment near the stern."

"Commander! Deploy the spider! Attach it to the lower starboard side near the stern."

Melissa guided the boarding device from under Retribution’s hull and onto the side of the REP ship. The four claws dug into the Hull of the REP vessel and the beak cut through. For the moment the two ships were one.

"Better bring a light!" said Zee over the com. It’s dark in there.

"Morris, Leslie and Bill checked their weapons and then crawled down the hollow arm of the spider. A peculiar smell assailed their nostrils as they approached the opening in the REP ship."

"Is that REP stink?" asked Leslie.

"I wouldn't know." Morris replied. "I've never been on a REP ship before. And I’ve never heard of anyone else being on one either."

"Zee was right. The ship was dark. The hole leading from the spider into the hull was in fact, pitch black. , But what would an eyeless species need lights for anyway? Not only that, one could hear a cacophony of the most eerie metallic screeching sounds, definitely not of mechanical origin moving about and echoing against the walls.

Morris lit a magnesium flare and tossed it into the opening. It illuminated a large, mostly empty room that stank like shit and seemed to be covered with an oily substance on the floor.

Morris crawled through first, followed by Bill and finally Leslie. Almost immediately, a dark shape ran towards them, or more properly, towards the flare.

Morris couldn't see much detail. About five feet tall, It seemed to have a body something like a fat chicken or a tailless T REX it was hard to tell. Perhaps the most horrifying aspect of it was that it came at them with a large, wide open mouth, full of long sharp, irregular teeth. The upper jaw of its eyeless saurian looking head hinged up entirely vertically. The effect was both "unnatural" and horrific. 

POW! POW! POW! Morris almost instinctively put three shots into the gaping maw. The creature made a metallic, totally indescribable screaming sound, turned and ran back the way it had come.

Morris lit another flare and threw it further back into the room. It illuminated several of the same dark forms skittering out of its way in various directions. Their teeth flashing in the harsh white light. They all seemed to hold their mouths open just like the other one.

Suddenly, Leslie heard a sound of movement behind her. She Drew her gun and quickly turned. Something that looked like a pile of oily rags stirred in a dark corner. She carefully and slowly approached it.

It seemed to whimper like a sick animal. As she got closer, she could see, in the dim light that it was a man. He had several weeks growth of beard and was as filthy as the tattered rags that he wore on his back. Huddled next to him, on the floor, was another human In just as sorry condition. Only by the absence of a beard was she able to tell that it was a woman. They both seemed dazzled by the light of the flare.

As she walked towards them, something grabbed Leslie's leg. She nearly jumped two feet high, spun around and just stopped short of putting a bullet into a very dirty looking kid of about ten years old. She couldn’t tell if the child was a boy or a girl, but that didn't matter.

"Bill! Morris! I've got them! Cover me!" Leslie shouted as she drug and pushed the three figures towards the spider's opening in the wall."

 

With horrific screeches, three of the creatures, mouths agape, rushed towards them.

POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! Bill began to fire at the REPS. Two fell down, but almost immediately got up and ran off in the other direction.

POW! POW! POW! POW! Bill pumped four more projectiles into the third. It didn't fall, but it stopped in its tracks. It approached no closer.

Leslie herded the humans into the spider arm and crawled in behind them. "GO! GO! GO!" she shouted driving them ahead of her. Bill and Morris climbed in behind just as the flares finally fizzled out.

Leslie hustled the humans along in the tube. Morris and Bill frantically tried to push ahead.

"Commander! Disengage NOW! Disengage!" Morris shouted over the com link.

The clanking sound of the beak closing behind them and slipping out of the REPs ship hull, made everyone feel a lot better.

With a five-foot breach in their hull plates, venting out to open space, the REPs now had other things to worry about.

After crawling a short distance more up the tube of the spider arm, they finally reached the open air lock in the belly of the ship.

Leslie seated the humans around the airlock opening of the spider. Morris and Bill also rested and caught their breath.

"GOD DAMNNNN!" Exclaimed Morris. "I've never been scared so shitless in my life and I don't care who knows it."

Leslie was visibly shaken too. "I've see pictures of dead REPS before, but DAMN! They’re ten times more frightening when they’re alive."

"I know I got three of them!" Said Bill, "Got em good too! But they didn't look like they were hurt at all."

"Webber, See to our guests, if you don’t mind" said Morris. I'm going up to the bridge. I have a feeling I might be needed there."

"Grata! Grata!" the man and woman continually repeated. The child remained silent, but continued to stare at Leslie as 'he' still partially shielded his eyes with its hand.

Right away Leslie noticed that something wasn't right. Most Space Command officers have a biochip language translator implanted in their heads near the speech centers of the brain. Leslie was no exception.

Small and unobtrusive, the translator was programmed to translate all known Terran languages into speech understandable to the wearer. With these people it was not working. Either her implant was malfunctioning or these people weren't Terrans. If they weren’t Terrans, then who were they?

Leslie's attention was suddenly drawn to another sound. Movement, crawling and scuffling noises were coming from somewhere.

"SHIT!" Leslie suddenly realized. "There's something in the spider!"

Meanwhile, Morris flopped back down in his chair on the bridge. Before he could catch his breath, Zee broke in on the com. "We have company! A large ship is approaching from two seventy-two by ninety-five. I don't think that it is a freighter."

 

END OF PART 2

 

 

 

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© 2001 by Marina Twelve. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.