RAID ON ENOC or Is that a gauss rifle in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? by Scott Kellogg - I - Agent 604 settled into the chair comfortably, taking in the setting of the office in a glance. This company is an excellent cover for a SORAG: liquid hydrogen production and transport. With hydrogen needed all over the planet, the company can get into virtually every business, its fleet of tankers provide a large group of inconspicuous vehicles, thus necessitating a large communications network that we can use for more than just getting people their fuel. Colonel Korispatl sat pensively across a large desk from 604. "604, you know about some of the shakeup SORAG went through recently, you may not know the cause, but I am going to give you as much as you need to know for your assignment." "Colonel Baremkatlasche' was found to be a mole." Korispatl let it sink in: the head of SORAG in the Ikar sector: a mole. "We do not know who he was working for, but he was passing information to someone, and two months ago he defected. We do not know how many others may have been involved in the sellout, but we have some suspects." "Why, to put it bluntly, are they not dead?" asked 604. "For one, we do not know who they work for. Two, they are Just suspects at the moment. Three, there are rather a lot of them, should they all disappear it would not look too good for us. And finally, it would be rather messy. Your assignment is to observe one of them: Dr. Mako Malenkoviepr. Watch him, report on his moves, and try to determine wither or not he has sold out." "I have heard of Dr. Malenkoviepr, archeologist, something of a folk hero, why is he on the suspect list?" "Twenty three years ago, he found an ancient base while working for us. His superior at the time was Baremkatlasche'. It seems that there actually were ancient Droyne warriors in suspension there. When they revived, they insisted on committing krintrinasoyu. Malenkoviepr is the regional expert on the Droyne, it was his job to talk them out of it. He failed to do so, and we lost the chance to examine an almost perfectly intact ancient base." "And you think he just let them do it?" "Well, actually I was there, and in a matter of speaking yes he did just let them do it, but there are other factors to consider. Malenkoviepr was brought up in Droyne society, to him their ritual suicide was the proper thing for them to do, and interfering with that would rob them of honor." 604 considered it, "That would indicate he has more loyalty to the Droyne than the Consulate." "Possibly, but it was a tough spot he was in, I would not really judge him from that one incident. Still it was enough to get him thrown out of SORAG. Nowadays, he does a great deal of travelling outside the Consulate as part of general good will tours. This makes him even more suspect." "Why do you not just pull him in, interrogate him and read his mind?" "We may yet. But, he is trained to resist, and he is a telepath of considerable strength. It would be a difficult task, though we have the capability to do it. Observation might be more of a risk, but we may get more information than he might hold right now." "How shall I observe?" "Dr. Malenkoviepr has obtained a courier: the Kliemoshie. He will be needing a crew. You will sign up. Now, we have been contacted by the Ine Givar organization which has asked for his help in raiding an Imperial archeological expedition on Enoc. You and the other crew will be provided with battle dress and gauss rifles and training to use them by the Ine Givar on Aramat." "Right, I will want a list of the other suspects to see if there is any connections between him and any others." "Agreed, and, I can tell you that there is one other suspect that we know Malenkoviepr has dealings with." "And that is?" "Me." "You are a suspect?" "Yes, however, I would not bother investigating me, if I were you. Undoubtedly some one else has that little chore. But, if you feel the need, by all means go ahead." "I see." "Ahh, you are suspicious. Good, this may be tricky business, we need a suspicious person on it. Now on less touchy areas, since you will be traveling outside the Consulate, I would also like you to report on any pirate activity you find. It has been on a sharp increase in the Ikar sector of late. And there may have been some connection between Colonel Baremkatlasche' and the pirates. You see about five months ago SORAG captured an Imperial Transport: the Star Rider. She was being given to the League of Suns as a gift from the emperor. We captured the ship and made it appear as though she crashed." "Yes, I remember. Star Rider: experimental transport, tech level fourteen, considered obsolete, meson spinal mount, forty thousand tons. Presumed destroyed in a collision with a free trader." "The trader was taking an assault team to the ship. They rendezvoused and the team took the ship. Soon afterward, the ship was ambushed by pirates. Some one leaked the plan: Colonel Baremkatlasche's plan. The ship has since been sighted in pirate service. Of course, only we know what ship is out there. Officially, we have been dismissing sightings of the Star Rider, but we want to find that ship and whoever is operating it." "Any leads on the pirates? A forty thousand ton ship is a pretty large ship for a gang of pirates to be running." "Yes, and what is more, the ship was almost completely stripped of armament. It needed a major overhaul and weapons to put the teeth back in it, and that appears to have been done. Almost any interplanetary state could have done the work. Several independent planets could have done it as well." "That is a lot of territory to cover." "There is one thing notable about their attacks: the object seems to be the capture of ships rather than cargo." "How do you know?" "They are less discriminatory about the victims cargoes than other pirates, they have even dumped cargoes in space." "I see." "Now you know all you need for now." Korispatl handed 604 a holo crystal, "Here is Dr. Malenkoviepr's file, familiarize yourself with it. Here also is Baremkatlasche's file, in it is the list of the other suspects. If you wish their files, you may draw them from records. Good Luck." 604 dropped the crystal in a terminal slot and a holographic image sprang into existence. A tiny doll of Dr. Malenkoviepr stood on the desk along with a readout: Dr. Mako Malenkoviepr 59CEFA PSI-14 Age 46 (physical age 23) Occupation: Archeologist, specializing in the ancients Race: Zhodani Sex: Male Homeworld: Tesser/Iakr Height: 1.5 Meters Hair Color: White Eye Color: Pink Distinguishing Characteristics: Albino Psionic diciplines known: Telepathy, Awareness, The reading of Auras, Droyne ability of 'Inward Eye' and Homing Doctorate in Sophontology Doctorate in Physics Master's Degree in Psychology specializing in Nonverbal Communication and Psychological Warfare Master's Degree in Computers Master's Degree in Education Languages known: Zhodani, Droyne, Galanglic all fluent Equipment qualified on: Grav Vehicle, Vac Suit, Grav-Belt Combat Skills: Experienced in the use of Hand guns, has reached the first level of mastery in unarmed combat. Expeienced with explosives. Leadership training and experienced Liaison officer. Aquainted with techniques of Droyne appeals to caste system. Has gone through basic survival courses. Notes: Extremely resourceful... - II - Dr. Mako Malenkoviepr sat sprawled in the main lounge of his ZC courier. Two hundred tons made for a small ship, but without a crew she rang with emptiness. Two G acceleration! (with a warm engine). Model three computer! (fairly reliable). Jump three engines! (when she felt like it). She is one hundred and forty eight years old. Well, she is mine any way. I suppose if I had acted in a more conventional fashion for a Zhodani noble I might have done better. As long as I have a good crew I can manage. Time to check out these applications: Ship's Doctor: Ex-Guard Commando Lieutenant Jietlshaiepr DB799A PSI-9 Age 30 Race: Zhodani Sex: Female Homeworld: Rio/Tloql Height: 2.05 Meters Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown Legion of Merit Psionic diciplines known: Teleportation, Awareness, Clairvoyance Medical Doctorate Bachelor's Degree in Cryptography and Comunications Languages known: Zhodani, Galanglic Equipment qualified on: Sensors, Battle Dress, High Energy Weapons, Computers, Combat Rifles, Hand Guns, Grav-Belt, Ground Vehicles Combat Skills: Has achieved distiction as a marksman, Has reached the third level of mastery of unarmed combat, and first level with edged weapons. Has served as an experienced scout. Experienced in the use of explosives. Attended Command College, and Psionic Schools, recently retrained in clairvoyance. Three times decorated for heroism, one Wound Badge obtained in a boarding action in Eshaar system. Three times decorated for actions in piracy suppression in Massina Subsector Wound Badge, Two Hero of the Consulate 2nd Class medals, Hero of the Consulate 5th Class medal Weapons owned: Battle Dress, PGMP-13, and Unit Blade She is the most qualified of all the candidates. Most attactive too. Too bad she is attached to that pilot... Niedrsha: Ex-Navy Deck Leader Niedrsha 6B8A97 PSI-8 Age 30 Race: Zhodani Sex: Male Homeworld: Jorj/Iakr Height: 1.85 Meters Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Hazel Class III Pilot's license, obtained as enlisted pilot. Class II Navigator's Liscence Specialist School Education in Psychology Equipment qualified on: Grav Vehicles, Vac Suits, Sub-Machine Guns, Hand Guns Combat Skills: Exerienced in ship to ship tactical engagements. Experienced as a forward observer, Fair marksman, Fisticuffs Leadership training, Enlisted liaison training Two Wound Badges obtained in piracy supression missions in Massina Subsector. Three times decorated for parts taken in actions. Hero of the Consulate 1st Class, Hero of the Consulate 2th Class, Hero of the Consulate 4th Class Weapons owned: Sub Machine Gun Rather unremarkable, competent pilot certainly, there was something about him... I have forgotten... wasn't important... was he psi shielded?... yes. Any way, Niedrsha is the guardian of the other one the gunner... Oh yes, Drert: Ex-Navy Advanced Spacer Drert B87567 PSI-5 Age 30 Male Race: Zhodani Sex: Male Homeworld: Jorj/Iakr Height: 2.1 Meters Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Hazel Legion of Merit Equipment qualified on: Starship Weapons, Combat Rifles, Battle Dress, Hand Guns, Grav Vehicles Combat Skills: Good marksman, Fisticuffs Three Wound Badges, obtained in Piracy suppression in Massina Subsector. Five times decorated for actions. Three Hero of the Consulate First Class medals, Hero of the Consulate 2nd Class, Hero of the Consulate 3rd Class Weapons owned: Gauss Rifle Now he is psychotic, incurable, but able to function as long as Niedrsha keeps tabs on him. Interesting case, has no conception of right or wrong. Odd. I wish Jietlshaiepr was not part of a package deal. Next there is the engineer, no strings attached: Shtam: Ex-Merchant Second Officer Shtam A7AA87 PSI-9 Age 38 Race: Zhodani Sex: Male Homeworld: Cronor/Tloql Height: 2.25 Meters Hair Color: Light Brown Eye Color: Green Class III Starship Maintainance Liscence Class II Engineer's Liscence Class II Small Craft Pilot Liscence Class II Communications Liscence Commendations on resourcefulness Equipment Qualified on: Vac Suit, Grav Vehicles, Combat Rifles, Hand Guns Combat Skills: Experienced in ship to ship tactical engagements. Fair marksman Friendly, outgoing He seems like a pretty level headed person, albeit a bit strong willed and, he is psi shielded. He was with Priantqlovr Drafr Mega-corp. They travel outside the Consulate fairly regularly, maybe he picked up psi training on the outside. Last: the steward, Miakr and his robot: Ex-Belter Miakr 698D85 PSI-8 Age 22 Flicking-8 Race: Zhodani Sex: Male Homeworld: Massina/Iakr Height: 1.89 Meters Hair Color: Light Brown Eye Color: Brown Psionic Disciplines known: Flicking Armed Robot Owner's Liscence Class I Starship Maintainance Certificate Class I Navigator Certificate Has soloed in a seeker type starship Equipment Qualified on: Robots, Computers, Vac Suit, Grav Vehicles, Gauss Rifle, Laser Rifle Combat Skills: Poor marksman Weapons owned: Robot Dog Robot Dog: Vole 653X4-12-RM327-PDB3(F) Cr 1,097,200 384.6 Kg Fuel=6 Duration=1 day TL=15 30/75 (Combat Armor) Psionic Flicking 2 Medium Arms/Legs 2 Visual Sensors + Telescopic + Light Intensification + Active IR 2 Audio Sensors + Extra Sensitivity Olfactory Sensor + Extra Sensitivity Touch Sensors Radiation Sensor Radio (5000Km) Program Interface Obscuration Device Gauss Rifle Laser Welder Grav Belt-External attached Emotion Simulation Instruction-4 Close Combat-4 Weapon Handling-2 Hunting-2 Rescue-2 Medical-1 Grav Vehicle-1 Now, that kid seemed awfully nervous in his interview. That combined with the fact that the robot is SORAG equipment make him a bit suspicious. He said it is the prototype, and if I remember correctly the early ones were rather erratic. He looks awfully young for his age. But he is not shielded, so I can keep tabs on him if I have to. I wish I had more applicants to choose from. This could be rough. Well Mako, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it. - III - Aramat E484000-0 A breath of wind crossed the landing pad giving the only break in the heat of the desert that was Aramat. Four Grav tanks hovering above the pad gave the only shade where a group of beings reclined. The crew observed from the bridge of the Kliemoshie. "What kind of tanks are those?" asked Miakr of no one in particular. Dr. Malenkoviepr waited for an answer, but none seemed to be forthcoming from the crew members. "They are tech level eleven Gram class Grav tanks: crew of four armed with a 10 megawatt plasma gun and a 30 mm autocannon. If you did not know them, get to know them. They are pretty battle worn by the look of them, the third one has a damaged grav module, see how it is listing?" In the shade of the tanks a group was resting seeming unconcerned about the arrival of the Kliemoshie. "Well, shall we go meet whoever we are supposed to meet, and find out what it is we are supposed to be doing?" suggested Jietlshaiepr. "Right, everyone armed. Jietlshaiepr put on that battle dress. Drert, you are the gunner, lend your gauss rifle to Shtam and get in the ship's turret. Niedrsha, take your submachine gun. Miakr, break a shotgun out of the locker and bring Vole." as he spoke Dr. Malenkoviepr brought out a large strange looking gauss pistol and began adjusting it. A shoulder stock was added with a barrel extension for good measure with a laser designator put on top for a finishing touch of deadliness. The scent of law level zero cigarettes was borne on what little breeze there was on the desert planet along with the sound of a lazy tune that was distinguishably Vargr. The musical intervals were a bit too precise to be sung by a human, while the words, to the untrained ear were growls and barks. It seemed to be telling of some vargr who was in some way particularly charismatic in some particular way. Miakr stood closely by the doctor holding the shotgun at the ready, and looking a bit awkward with the unfamiliar weapon. Dr. Malenkoviepr spoke first in Gevueg. "Good afternoon, I understand we are expected." A large male vargr squinted out of the shade of the grav tanks, "Graaah!" he shooed a young female off his lap and stood. He paused for a moment in thought, grasped Dr. Malenkoviepr warmly by the hand and said in strongly accented Zhodani "Good bye!" He turned and greeted the each of the crew with a hearty handshake, a breath of alcohol, and a badly pronounced "Good bye!" "My is brain..." he paused, looked at the confused expressions of the new arrivals and asked "Do you speak English? I think will we along get a easier if we do, my Zhodani is very bad." Dr. Malenkoviepr nodded agreeably. "Name's Oddball." he declared in English. "Least all my friends call me Oddball, and you're all my friends." He put his arm around the doctor's shoulder to emphasize the point. Malenkoviepr looked at the arm with disdain. Seeming to ignore this the vargr withdrew his arm. "I am Doctor Malenkoviepr and this is my crew, medical officer Dr. Jietlshaiepr, pilot Niedrsha, engineer Shtam, my steward Miakr and his robot Vole." Suddenly the crew saw objects flying toward them, they recognized them for bottles as they came down for them to catch. Oddball looked like a juggler losing every juggling pin he had as he tossed the bottles to them. "Zilan Neuwine, not bad." observed Jietlshaiepr. The law level zero cigarettes were refused. "You have the equipment for us?" asked Dr. Malenkoviepr attempting to get down to business. "Yup, six suits of zho battle dress, six zho gauss rifles, ammo, plus one instructor: your's truly dat's me." Oddball threw a canvass off of a pile of crates of armor and one of rifles. "I already modified one of the suits to yer height and weight specs as supplied by the Ine Givar." "Ine Givar, that would be the anti-Imperial, pro-psionic terrorists." asked Niedrsha. "Yup, dat's who's payin' da bills. But enough business, let's get down to serious matters." He brought out his own bottle of wine, "To your continued health my good humans." The female vargr who had been seated on Oddball's lap came over and draped herself around Miakr's neck who was already having difficulty balancing a shotgun and two bottles of wine. "My name's Gresha what's yours?" Miakr suddenly felt a sting in his arm, and looked to see Jietlshaiepr withdrawing a hypodermic needle from it. "Watch out for the teeth." She said in Zhodani over her shoulder as she left him with Gresha. An Axly member of the tank crew approached Niedrsha, but she found herself interrupted by the point of a plasma gun held casually but deliberately by the menacing form of Jietlshaiepr in full battle dress. She continued on and stopped before Shtam. Shtam smiled politely but directed his attention elsewhere. The four armed Axly are humanoid but not sufficiently so for him. She returned to a male of her own species. Dr. Malenkoviepr saw the situation rapidly deteriorating. He turned and addressed Oddball, "We will begin outfitting and training with the armor and rifles tomorrow I trust." "Oh yeah, no problem. But fer now relax, enjoy. Now allow me to introduce youse to an ol' custom of...." - IV - Next morning Malenkoviepr dragged them all out early to begin training. Drert was pretty groggy, but Miakr was by far in the worst shape. The battle dress was amazing. Tech fifteen Zhodani battle dress Noble-Guard model. The Zhodani consulate is primarily tech level fourteen. What little there is above that is very rare. In addition, the suits had all the extra features: grav pack, near-miss indicator, light intensifier, external sensors, shock absorbing joints, magnetic soles and palms, chameleon blending, IR absorbing ablative capes, multi-channel radio and laser communicators, psionic shielding the works! "These suits were probably issued to a top elite psionic guards platoon or something." thought Jietlshaiepr, "Where did mercs get hold of stuff like this?" - V - The Ine Givar arrived three weeks into their training. A cutter from the Broadsword came down in the afternoon. Soon thereafter a tall lone figure stood at the top of a hill watching the exercises of the crew with a keen blue stare. A human almost two meters tall. Blonde hair, caucasian wearing a well worn flack suit. The jacket was covered with emblems taken from other uniforms: one could see Imperial insignia, League of Suns emblems, Easmolian Confederation symbols, Sword Worlds, Darrian, Dynchian, and others recognizable and not. His worn facee looked anywhere from thirty to three hundred years old. The sub-machine gun he on his arm looked like he had carried it that long: it was well worn, and was moved as though it was part of his arm. His stony face was expressionless with whitened scars crossing the skin. One white scar wrapped jaggedly all the way around his neck. But, he wore a psi-shield helmet. Malenkoviepr studied him for a moment as he surveyed the small group of Zhodani's exercising in their battle dress under the tactical direction of Jietlshaiepr. "Why would a pro-psionic terrorist need a psi-shield helmet?" he wondered. The doctor shouldered his rifle and flew over to the tombstone figure. "I am Doctor Mako Malenkoviepr." The man nodded but barely glanced at him. His eyes swept slowly from side to side followed by to muzzle of the submachine gun. The voice that grumbled from his scarred throat was devoid of any feeling, the voice of a killer, "Name's Roland: Roland T. Gunner." Mako eyed him and spoke without any tone. "You are wearing a psi-helmet, remove it." "I don't believe that will be necessary." "I understand the need for security, but you have nothing to fear." "You will be told what you need to know." "We can afford to be more open." "I don't believe it's necessary." "Then, I can not trust you." "I can live without your trust, and you already have been paid, quite well too: seven suits of battle dress and gauss rifles." The Doctor thought a moment, "What about compensation for anyone killed? I do not want to have some one die, and have no compensation for their kin." "What do you want?" "100,000 credits for each crewman killed deposited in a trust where we can get it after the action." "Deposited where? There's not a bank within a parsec of here." "Then give me half that for each member of my crew. We will settle any outstanding balance at the conclusion of the operation." Roland thought for a moment, "Very well. How is your training proceeding?" "Adequately." "I'm here to make sure, we have invested a great deal of money into this and I do not want to see it wasted." - VI - That night the assault was planned, Dr. Malenkoviepr, the crew, Oddball, and the ominous Roland hovered over a map of the archeological digs and guards. "Here ya got da camp of da troops and da digs." said Oddball, "Now, da guards to me look to be marines, Imperial, decked out at tech level fourteen." Niedrsha swallowed, "Imperial Marines? *We* are taking on Imperial MARINES?" "Yup." Oddball looked to Roland for confirmation, but got no response. "Grrracht, dis monkey's a weird one." he thought. Jietlshaiepr whispered to her lover softly, "Maybe now you'll take this training a bit more seriously?" Niedrsha nodded, "Fuck yeah..." "Good, I didn't really want to have to withdraw all sexual favors." she whispered, then said aloud. "I hope you all take this very seriously. I'm lazy, and if there is one thing I hate to do it's triage. And field surgery is a Real bore, I just might not bother." "Now," said Oddball, bringing up a small bottle of pills, "For orbital bombardment headaches we have dese. Dey're short range radio transmitters. Put dese on what ya want hit foist an' hardest. Dey're part of a triangulating system, da short range transmitters send a signal to a couple o' long range ones dat triangulate on da target an' send up a signal to da gunners. You'll need to place da long range transmitters as well, one hundred meters from da camp in a right angle wit da bivouac right in da center. Cause we don't want to have to deal wit any nasty lil' tings like Tech fourteen grav tanks wit nasty little marines in 'em." "Our priority targets," he continued, "are dere HQ, barracks, an' motor pool. Any vehicles and so on, youse figure out what ya don't want to have to fight yourselves. Of course, we'll be in dere right after da bombing stops so ya won't get lonely. But when we do get dere, we don't want to find da marines in any good hiding places, like da places da Ine Givar want a look at without plasma holes in em." Oddball proceeded with a flamboyant gesture, drawing himself to his full height and putting his hand on his chest. "So I'd say ya all hole up in da digs which is actually a dome o' some kind, keep 'em out until da cavalry arrives ta save da day. Got any objections?" "Sounds good to me, but how do we get into the dome before the shooting starts?" asked Shtam. "I think the marines might have something to say if we try to get into the dome while wearing battle dress and toting gauss rifles." "We could smuggle the stuff inside, and then go in and suit up just before the raid." suggested Miakr. "Yeah," said Shtam, "and hope that nobody comes in and interrupts us. Not to mention the guards that will probably escort us in. Imperial marines are not exactly the trusting types when it comes to Zhodani." "I could take out one guard psionically. But it will drain most of my strength." Dr. Malenkoviepr pointed out. "Leaving us with N minus one marines to face." observed Niedrsha. "We don't all have to just walk in unarmed." said Jietlshaiepr. "What do you mean?" asked Miakr. "I could teleport in fully armed once you are ready to jump them." "Good call, that sounds like a good tentative plan. We can try it and improve on it in our training." said Malenkoviepr. "Give us three days on the surface before you start bombing them, that ought to be enough time to prepare for the show." "Party time!" laughed Drert slapping Niedrsha on the shoulder. "Ahem, yes." coughed Malenkoviepr. "What time would be best for the attack?" "Night." said Niedrsha and Miakr in chorus. "Well dere's a problem dere." interrupted Oddball. "Our equipment's only tech 'leven, deres is fourteen. Our infrared detectors are gonna be at a disadvantage at night. And I tink dat it's to our mootual advantage dat dere aie'nt no survivors?" "You want us to attack in full daylight?" asked Shtam incredulously. Roland spoke, "Smuggle your gear into the dome as archeological equipment. Next day, go in just before dawn. Jump the guards and have the teleporter standing guard with the plasma gun while you suit up for the attack. Keep them from holing up in the dome, we want to examine what we can without having to blow up some impie standing next to it." The group suddenly all looked at Roland. "Ok... Sounds good." said Malenkoviepr. "There is an archeological expedition from the League of Suns there now, two days after we arrive, they will leave and then five days after that the main Imperial investigators will arrive." "And they'll find a smoking hole in the ground." said Roland with finality. "Give us three days on the surface and attack on the morning of the fourth day at 0700 hours." "Make dat 0657 hours, I hate even numbers." said Oddball. - VII - The bell on Dr. Malenkoviepr's stateroom rang: Miakr with his evening glass of wine, late again. The young steward came in rather nervously. Malenkoviepr thought only for a moment, he didn't have to use telepathy to know what was on Miakr's mind, Miakr was quite set on the raid, it was something else. "Uhh sir?" "Yes," "I was wondering..." Miakr trailed off helplessly. "You were wondering if we need any more crew members, specifically that sweet young vargr you have been spending so much time with that you consistently bring my food late." Miakr laughed nervously, then looked crestfallen. "Uhh, yes." "Well, what are her qualifications other than the ones she has been sharing with you." "Oh! Well, she's trained as a commando and a gunner and pilot an... Oh, here's her resume." Commando First Lieutenant Gresha 9A8B86 Age 22 Race: Vargr Sex: Female Equipment qualified on: Small spacecraft, Grav vehicles, Computers Weapons qualified on: Battle dress, Turret weapons, High energy weapons, Combat rifles, Grenade launchers, Heavy weapons, Explosives Experienced in hand to hand combat Skilled in reconnaissance and survival-1 "Well... she is quite the feisty one is she not? But we already have a gunner, and there is only one turret." "She's got a lot of skill at oh... lot's of things." managed Miakr. "Yes, I am sure she has, though I would see Jietlshaiepr about those scratches if I were you. We can not afford to let you get sick at the moment." Miakr pulled at his collar, at least the rest didn't show. "Well, we might just get into a few scrapes where we could use her. You never know. I take it I have to supply her with weapons and equipment?" "Oh no, sir. She's got her own stuff, and we may get more from this raid." "Very well, have Jietlshaiepr give her a physical, at the conclusion of the operation she can come with us. But be warned, I may just have her for my steward if she proves to know more about it than you do." Miakr sighed heavily. "Thank you, Doctor." "Now where are we going to put another crew member? My lab equipment is set up in the free staterooms, she may have to share your's." "YES, Sir." "Hmm." thought Malenkoviepr, "I think I made him very happy. Still, you would think it was his first affair." - VIII - Niedrsha sat back it the pilot's couch as he finished up the checklist. "Damn, It's good to get off this hotbox! I'd just about had it sweating out there in battle dress with simulated various power and system breakdowns, mostly the air conditioning." "Do you think I liked it? You really stink after a day's exercises." Jietlshaiepr wrinkled her nose. "Well, Jiet, you seemed to enjoy ordering everyone around." "It's not my fault my lessons were different from yours, and it's good to know a little bit about tactics. It just may end up saving your ass, Niedrsha. You weren't very conscientious about your lessons." "A gauss rifle is almost accurate enough to point itself, you said so yourself. With a burst you can hit a target blind." "And suppose you don't have enough ammunition for one? Single shots need to count sometimes. I'm going to keep you alive if I have to kill you to do it. And if you make me perform surgery on you, I'll put you back together just to take you apart, piece by piece... slowly." "Without Anesthetic?" "Damn Right." "Oh baby! Yeah." "Shut up. Let's lift gravs and haul mass." "Right-O." Niedrsha leaned forward and hit the intercom, "Attention, stand by for liftoff, please bring your seat backs to an upright position and extinguish all smoking materials." A voice came over the intercom, "Niedrsha, in our departure can you bring us within observation range of the Ine Givar Vessel still in orbit?" "Yes, Doctor. It might make them a bit edgy, we'd have to come within fifty kilometers to get in visual range." "Set course for that ship. I should like to know just what we are dealing with." "Doctor, this is Jietlshaiepr, from the sensor data, I read it out at just over one thousand tons. Tough to get an ID through the atmosphere though, not without going active." "Then our tiny ship ought not to disturb them too much. Niedrsha, set the course but do not chase them. If they move out of our way we will not push them." - IX - "Closing on the Ine Givar ship, range 40,000 Kilometers." Jietlshaiepr studied the instruments, "They've locked their active EMS on us quite strong now." "What sort of information are we getting." asked Malenkoviepr. Jietlshaiepr read off "Neutrino detector says she's producing 21.875 Gigawatts in her reactor. Accurate displacement is: one thousand, two hundred and fifty tons. Configuration: streamlined, cone... flattened cone. Identification..." She quickly punched up the information. Malenkoviepr thought, "Sounds like a Kinunir class battle cruiser." "On the nose." Jietlshaiepr read it off, "Kinunir class Imperial battle cruiser: four G acceleration, jump four, agility one, fiber optic computer model seven; eight dual laser turrets, two triple missile turrets, two particle accelerators; carries a crew of forty five, plus thirty five marines; one thirty five ton pinnace." "Now how did they get a hold of an Imperial battle cruiser?" wondered Miakr. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Enoc C675867-6 The Kliemoshie landed away from the starport at the digs. A small patch of bedrock had been cleared for traffic near the digs accommodating the courier and a fat trader belonging to the League of Suns Expedition. The site was away from prying eyes and onlookers. Partly because of the fact it was in the middle of a desert, but mostly because news of its discovery was carefully monitored. Drert's one and only comment was: "Another fuckin' desert." But the scenery was more striking: jagged rocky mountains, a variety of terrain from dry washes and lakes to intricate canyons, contrasting to Aramat's shifting dunes. "Welcome to Enoc, Doctor Malenkoviepr." Dr. Lorain Messandi stood out on the pad to greet the arriving archeologist. She wore a light jacket and skirt that looked only slightly out of place at an archeological dig: just a little too fancy to be out digging in. Dr. Malenkoviepr looked down from the hatch of the ship at the figure now extending a hand to him. He first saw her some eighteen years ago when he had met with her father. She had been eight at the time, and he physically the same age as he was now. Since then he had grown in archeological prominence, as did she, but every time he saw her... Now what is really known about sexual imprinting in humaniti? This could be a very interesting and pleasant psychological experiment... "Good it is to see you again Lorain. I see you've found something more interesting than reading dry old papers about the Sky Raiders." "It will do for a bit, and it gives me the opportunity to show you up for once." "Going to let all the hot air out of the ancients study?" "Sure, come on over and see my digs, Mako." Dr. Malenkoviepr took the extended arm and descended the Kliemoshie's ladder. - X - The ancients dome was a low wide structure sixty four meters in diameter looking like a huge brown saucer sitting on the ground. Mounds of sand lay nearby cleared away from the site with grav sifters more gently and quickly than the more traditional tooth brush would wipe them away. The dome had only a few entrances: one at the ground level, and some about fifteen meters above the ground. The two archaeologists entered accompanied by the crew of the Kliemoshie, and two rather sullen looking Imperial marines in battle dress to keep the "dirty Zhos" out of trouble. Rows of emergency lamps had been rigged up to light the darkened structure. Lorain flipped on a switch revealing the inside of the wrecked building. It was mostly empty with large rising platforms in the center of the dome. Here and there scattered around the base of the platforms were pools of metals once molten they had flowed into random shapes forming unlikely ink blot tests. Malenkoviepr glanced at a few shapes and got a small insight into his own current state of mind. "But knowing psychological patterns and desires does not fulfill them." he thought, "But, unless I miss my guess, Lorain seems to be sending some non-verbal signals this way..." "The smaller holes up top seem to be windows." Lorain Messandi picked up a melted and fused blob of a glasslike material with five fold symmetry crystals of the same stuff coming from it at irregular intervals. "We found this stuff underneath the windows. Haven't figured out what it is yet, but it appears to have melted, dripped out of the windows, and fallen on the floor where it cooled. We found traces up there on the windows." "I see." "This stuff melts at 513 degrees Kelvin, and hard enough to scratch diamonds: hardness fourteen!" "Viepchakl! Have you analyzed it for components yet?" "Not yet, but we're taking a small sample back to Alenzei with us. Our spectrometers are off, the analyzer told me plain old water was phosphoric acid yesterday." "Perhaps, I can fix it, or at least allow you the use of mine." "Very kind of you." Lorain smiled with a smile that could melt ice caps. "Over here we have some stuff that must have been interesting but it's obviously broken. There were what we think were control panels over here but they all melted into slag. This place must have been subjected to quite a bit of heat at some point." "Was it the weapon that destroyed this place in the ancients final war?" "I don't really think so. It seems to me that if heat had been the weapon used there would have been a lot more damage than hit here. Possibly vulcanism, but we can get a more accurate reading from the rocks outside." "How would that work?" asked Miakr suddenly. "Well, the magnetic field of planets reverses over the course of time. By checking which way the magnetic field of the rocks is pointed we can tell when they were last melted." "Oh, yeah." "Well, in any case the slag in this place is certainly bizarre stuff. Before our spectrometer broke down we analyzed some of the melted remains of the control consoles. Aluminum, copper, yttrium, barium, gold, lead, bismuth, and of course oxides of the lot of them." "Sounds like the remains of a super computer." remarked Malenkoviepr thoughtfully. "A super computer? How do you figure?" wondered Lorain. "Well, yttrium, barium and copper are in high temperature superconductors. And it seems to me, a long time ago I had an electronics course were we discussed the ultimate means of data storage. If you used a substance where each atom would represent a piece of binary code, say one element being one and another being zero, like lead and bismuth, which are soluble to each other, you could have a very small data storage unit, for instance, the sum of sentient knowledge could be put in a cube one centimeter on a side." "How do you figure?" "Well, let me see, eleven grams per cubic centimeter so eleven over two hundred and seven moles of lead or so, times six point zero two times ten to the twenty third: that makes..." "Three point five one nine times ten to the twenty third." supplied Miakr. "Yes." sniffed Dr. Malenkoviepr. "That is a very rough estimate, not even taking into account the difference between pure lead and lead-bismuth. But it's within an order of magnitude. Three times ten to the twenty third bits of information should certainly cover the sum of all knowledge." "Yes... I should think so." said Dr. Messandi impressed. "I'm beginning to realize just how much difference there is between studying the ancients and the sky raiders, and just how far out of my field we are." "Oh, come on Lorain, it is merely a matter of what you are used to looking for. I would'nt know a sky raider artifact if I fell over it." "Well, I should hope not, some of us have to make a living you know. If you discovered every archeological treasure I'd be out of a job." she laughed. "On a more serious note we have this:" Lorain held up a large light blue crystal perhaps twenty centimeters long. It seemed to shimmer under the lights. "It was found in a puddle of pure gold." "Hmm!" hmmed Malenkoviepr taking the crystal and examining it. "Chemical analysis?" "Unknown, due to the spectrometer again. Though it Does have a hardness of eleven." "Perhaps a diamond form of some element other than carbon. But I think I know what it is used for." "How?" "It looks like a crystal that is sometimes used in Droyne coyn rituals. The fact that it was found in a puddle of gold may indicate that it was with some coyns when whatever melted this place did so." "What sort of rituals is it used in?" "Well, it is used in a particular one when a young Droyne is being casted, that is when the Droyne becomes a leader, sport, drone, technician, warrior or worker. They use this, or something like this as a focus for their psionics. I read a very strong aura from it indeed." The two escorting marines shifted uneasily. Their expressions hidden by the helmets of their battle dress. Drert stepped forward, "Let me see that." He took the crystal from Malenkoviepr's hand. He held it up to the light and froze. The crystal began to glow. A low humming filled the room. A glowing blue globe came into existence around Drert's hand. The globe began to expand. It swelled to thirty centimeters in diameter and contracted again. Again it swelled this time to forty centimeters and then contracted back again. "Drop it!" yelled Malenkoviepr, reinforcing the command with telepathy. Drert remained a frozen statue holding up the crystal like a torch. Suddenly, Jietlshaiepr came flying across the room tackling the statue of Drert that was becoming eclipsed by the oscillating globe. Drert fell to the floor but bounced and remained rigid as though made of wood. Jietlshaiepr and Niedrsha began wrestling with rigid form to find it's hand and the crystal. Miakr stood enthralled by the beautiful blue globe. Yes, it's beautiful. He started for it. Malenkoviepr flooded him with revoltion. Revolting? Miakr hesitated, how could something so beautiful be revolting? It was calling after all... He started forward once again. Malenkoviepr grabbed him and held him fast. Dr. Messandi looked on longingly at the globe. Shtam stood by, but with a hand on her shoulder lest she start forward. The globe continued to oscillate but began to shrink. "Hari vieck!" Jietlshaiepr shouted as she diverted the strength of her mind to her hands. She yanked the crystal from Drert's hand to the sound of breaking bones. She tossed it away and it skittered across the floor. The globe became a hemisphere, and continued to shrink until it winked out. The crystal lay on the floor, a darker blue than it had been before. Drert lay frozen on the floor still in the position he had been in when he held the crystal up. Jietlshaiepr examined Drert hurriedly, "got a pulse, still breathing, comatose. I'm taking him to the ship." She picked up the statue that was Drert and marched out carrying him like a briefcase under one arm. - XI - "Pulse rate sixty... Breathing rate twelve... Blood pressure one fifteen over seventy... His hand's broken for sure... Wait a minute... Not one broken bone? Impossible... EEG... no reading. Whatever hit him it's put him in a psionic shock. Doctor Malenkoviepr can you read anything from him?" Malenkoviepr concentrated, and probed. There was none of the usual flood of sensory input... no surface thoughts... deeper... deep down... A very faint image surrounded in blackness... very faint... a hand? Yes... a hand... a giant hand... no... a fist... a giant fist, clenched tight... very tight.... But slowly, very slowly almost imperceptible: the fist was beginning to open. "Dr. Malenkoviepr?" Miakr hesitated. "Yes?" Malenkoviepr replied opening his eyes. "The Imperial Marine commander wants to talk to you." - XII - It was early morning the next day when Malenkoviepr walked back to the ship smiling. "The deadhead commander wanted to know how dangerous this is. How am I supposed to know? I have never seen this before and they will not give me a chance to study it?" he sighed rhetorically. "The marine commander kept you all night?" wondered Niedrsha. Dr. Malenkoviepr glanced at Niedrsha. "I had things to go over with Dr. Messandi." "Drert's unchanged," sighed Jietlshaiepr changing the subject, "but I was sure I broke his fingers when I ripped the crystal out of his hand. Sure, I tried to be careful but, I Know I didn't succeed." "His hand is all right?" "Apart that it, like the rest of him, is paralyzed yes. No broken bones not even a bruise. I try to have a light touch but this is ridiculous." "You're not all that gentle." chided Niedrsha. "Be quiet you." she glared. "Ok, boss, last night Jiet planted some of the targeting transmitters: one in their motor pool, one at their HQ. I planted the long range triangulators. All that's left is to set one of these short range pills on their barracks." "Good work, no one saw?" "Nope, I'm invisible with enough cover." explained Niedrsha. "I teleported in and out." explained Jietlshaiepr. "I have to wait until my psi strength recovers. But speaking of psi strength, Doctor Malenkoviepr, how is your own?" Malenkoviepr concentrated a moment. He should have almost completely recovered from yesterday's efforts. "Strange, I seem to be at full strength psionically. As a matter of fact, I feel even stronger than usual." "I feel the same way. I realized it when you were gone. It is as though we didn't have to rest at all after the fracas with the crystal. I don't know if it will last, but right now I feel like I'm on a psi booster drug." "You think that crystal acted as a psi booster?" "Can't think of anything else we've been in contact with." "You may be right." Malenkoviepr thought for a moment. "In the casting ceremony the crystals are used as a focus, it could be that they store psionic energy." "Wait, a minute." I'm no psi, but that thing probably hadn't been touched in a couple of hundred thousand years, how much charge could it have?" interjected Niedrsha. "But you are psi shielded, pilot Niedrsha..." began Malenkoviepr. Silence descended on the room like a parachute dropped over their heads. Malenkoviepr continued, ignoring Niedrsha, "If the crystal is a storage device, then it might have been building up a charge over all those years... and after three hundred thousand years of non use it would have quite a charge built up by the time we found it." "Yes, but what would all that energy do to Drert?" asked Shtam. "Don't know. We don't even know what it did to us." "There is one other thing," began Jietlshaiepr, "I don't know about you all, but I've got a rotten headache." Meanwhile the giant fist was uncurling agonizingly slowly. - XIII - A soft knock at Malenkoviepr's door roused him. Odd, he didn't even remembered falling asleep. "Come in?" The door slid open to reveal Jietlshaiepr standing head in hand, her expression, body language, and demeanor spoke of tiredness and pain. "Look, sorry to bother you, but I'm exhausted, and I've got a splitting headache, so I'll come right to the point. I need a psionic probe." "What?" "This blasted headache, it started soon after the thing with the crystal. I can't find any medical reason." "And you think it may be psionic." "Yup." "A telepathic probe is a violation of a noble's right to mental privacy." "Who cares?" she snapped tiredly. "Look, I haven't been a noble for long, until four years ago I was an intendant. I haven't got any great secrets. Mind you I'd appreciate it if you'd leave the sexual side of my mind alone, but even that's no big deal. And besides, diagnosing me will probably save a lot of time with the others." "Others?" "The rest of the crew are irritable to some degree." "Very well. But I may have to read your entire mind before I find something." "Well, leave my id for last will ya please, I'm not an exhibitionist." "You'd better lie down." he laughed, "This may take a while." - XIV - It didn't take long to locate the trouble as he found it broadcasting itself across her consciousness. Jietlshaiepr was broadcasting her own thoughts and receiving them again. Telepathic feedback was building up. "You are a telepath." "What?" she cried incredulously, "No, I'm not, I was tested for that a long time ago. I have some psi-talents but they are all trained or training now. Telepathy just isn't one of them." "You are getting psi-feedback; that's what is causing your headache. You are a telepath, but you do not know how to control it." It took an hour to teach her to control the feedback, but soon the headache was gone. Once the mind has been opened, telepathy is farily easy to control. It's the opening of the mind that is difficult, and in her case it had been pried open with a crystal crowbar. When she was gone Dr. Malenkoviepr wondered at the pervasiveness of the human libido throughout the mind. Usually one could probe someone else without getting too much of it. But in the short time he read Jietlshaiepr he had found a few tricks to use with psionic bodily awareness he hadn't thought of before. Pilot Niedrsha certainly had his hands full with the ship's doctor. - XV - "Right, now how are we gonna get that transmitter on the marines barracks?" asked Niedrsha of no one in particular. "We need a diversion." "How about a loud argument in Zhodani?" "No, the deadheads would not even care." remarked Shtam. "Wait, how about this," said Miakr excitedly, "Two of us could act drunk and distract their attention. We could offer them a drink or start a fight do or whatever we needed to do." Shtam shook his head, "No thanks, I certainly do not want to get into a brawl with a bunch of trigger happy deadhead marines." "And, I do not really understand Your desire to get your head smashed." They all thought for a moment. "Well hey," laughed Miakr, "how about we show a pornographic film on the side of the ship. If the marines are as bad as they are supposed to be then that should distract them." The room went silent. Jietlshaiepr stared at Miakr with leveled eyes. She was gone. Her clothes, where they had been, began to float to the floor. Suddenly, one empty suit of battle dress got up and worked it's way out of its rack. It strode over to Miakr, and picked him up by the collar with its left hand and dangled him half a meter above the ground. The right hand pressed a button at the throat, and the helmet split open like a clamshell. Jietlshaiepr pulled Miakr close to her and said with ice, "I don't think that's a very good idea really. Do you?" Vole chucked in the background sounding like a hyena. "Hold on, Jiet don't kill him." laughed Niedrsha. "I'd maim him, just a little, but then again I'd have to put him back together wouldn't I?" "All right let us get back to planning." clucked Shtam tiredly, "This is not going to help, and it just cost you an hour's rest before you can teleport, Jietlshaiepr." "You have any ideas?" asked Miakr as he was lowered to the floor not too gently. "How about a malfunction in the ship?" suggested Shtam. "I could rig a sort of spectacular display, alarms, flashing lights, you outside screaming and yelling: that sort of thing." "Sounds all right if it's loud enough to make them notice." "Oh, they'll Notice all right...." "We only need to distract them for two seconds, just long enough for me to jump in and jump out." "Ok, a few hours after night fall." - XVI - Jietlshaiepr awaited the countdown in her battle dress ready to teleport at an moment's notice. Shtam and Vole were ready in the engine room to control the 'malfunction'. The rest waited out side. Except of course Drert. The ship lay quiet in the darkness with a few lights burning. The light of the moons was barely enough to make out the white outline of the aging courier ship. She seemed a giant white creature as she leaked hydrogen gas from her fuel tanks into the night air. The sky exploded with blue sparks and red flame. A fireball leaped up above the Kliemoshie lighting the area in a temporary daylight. Alarms shrieked and howled, and the crew shouted and ran towards the conflagration to be showered with water from the burning hydrogen. Jietlshaiepr was already atop the Imperial Marines barracks. She dropped the transmitter on the roof, and looked down. Two marines in battle dress stood there, one looking at the commotion from the Kliemoshie and the other pointing straight at her. "Hey! Uh, look up there, Dorset." Jietlshaiepr swallowed and teleported. "What is it Grindley?" "Uh... I don't know. Maybe it was a bat." "A bat?" "Yeah, a big bat... A great big bat..." Dorset sighed in disgust at his moronic partner. - XVII - It was late morning when Dr. Malenkoviepr got back to the ship. It had been a hard morning: first explaining to the marine commander that no his ship was not going to blow up at any moment, and no it was not a danger to his men, and second... Well... perhaps he didn't like saying good bye to Dr. Lorain Messandi. "All right, everything is ready, all that remains is to get the weapons into the dome." said Malenkoviepr tiredly, "Any ideas on how to do that?" "Security seems a little tight to try smuggling it in." sighed Shtam. "I would rather just try to sneak into the dome." "I never did like the idea of going there unarmed that way." agreed Niedrsha. "Yes," agreed Jietlshaiepr, "We would have to subdue at least two marines in battle dress without alerting the rest of them. That's a bit much to ask." "Ok, we can sneak in and ambush the guards when the bombing starts." interjected Miakr excitedly. "All right, this is how we do it." began Malenkoviepr, "I'll scan the place with life detection to see where the area is clear. Then, Jietlshaiepr will teleport in with the PGMP to supply covering fire while we get in, if we need it. If we open up prematurely, we will have an entire platoon of marines breathing down our necks. We fly in through the windows in groups, and with luck, take them by surprise. We move out at 0640." - XVIII - Jietlshaiepr leaned over her patient, still nothing. Yet the instruments read perfect perfect health. Still, no measurable brain activity. "Dr. Malenkoviepr?" "Yes?" "Can you read anything in Drert's mind?" Darkness... Dark... Darker... Darkest... Silence... Down, down, down... The fist, still closed... Massive... The fist: larger than it was... Clenched tight... But... It is opening... slowly... - XIX - "All right, we are a hundred meters from the dome. Shtam, you and Niedrsha stay together, Once Jietlshaiepr teleports inside you two will be the first to follow. I go next. Miakr, you and Vole will follow once we are inside. If any one of us is spotted we will all go for the dome. We will have to hold it till Oddball gets here with his cavalry. 0640. Let's get moving. Make sure you stay under cover." They moved out to the sand mounds surrounding the dome for cover. The early morning was quiet, the little wild life of the desert having already settled back into their holes. A few marines were scattered around their camp in the full spectrum of alertness. Some sunning themselves, some in full battle dress. Malenkoviepr closed his eyes, "Two marines, five meters from the entrance. About ten to twelve out in the surrounding area. They seem to be on patrol. Jietlshaiepr, you ready?" "All set." "Niedrsha? Shtam?" queried the doctor. "Right." "Check." "Miakr? Vole?" "We're set." "Ok, Jietlshaiepr, 0653. Go!" Jietlshaiepr vanished. A moment later her scrambled radio sounded. "All clear." Shtam and Niedrsha flitted out. They skimmed over the surface as low as they could from sand mound to sand mound. Finally the two reached the base of the dome and swooped up and into the window. "We're inside." Dr. Malenkoviepr flew flat out over the broken terrain. Three mounds of sand provided cover. Stay low. Suddenly he caught sight of figure out in the dunes and dropped to the ground. Did he see me? Blast. Slowly Malenkoviepr rose looking for the man he'd seen. Just peek over the top of this mound. A marine, looking the other way. Good. Stay that way. He dropped lower and was off again. He came to the base of the dome and rose slowly again looking for the marine. Can't see him anywhere. He flew into the dome. "All right Miakr, come on, and watch out there was a marine out in the dunes ninety meters to the right. It is 0655." They went up first scanning with all the sensors they had. The marine was gone. They flew over hard and fast and reached the base of the dome. Again they rose, scanning the landscape. Gauss needles glanced off Vole's armor and slammed into the side of the dome. Vole and Miakr turned instantly on the firing marine and opened up simultaneously. Gauss needles tore through metal knocking the figure over in a tumbling heap that rolled down the side of the dune. They turned and swooped through the window. - XX - The giant fist opened like a flower. - XXI - "You idiot!" Jietlshaiepr leveled her plasma gun at the door. Footsteps were coming fast: metal footsteps. The sentries peered in through the door into the blackness adjusting their IR gear. Suddenly one was blinded while the other ceased to exist. A plasma bolt ripped through his chest section ripping him in half. The other marine jerked and tripped as Niedrsha introduced him to a gauss needle. His dying act was to grab his shredded crotch. "Miakr, take Vole and cover those windows!" shouted Shtam. Malenkoviepr already had that idea and was set up watching the marine camp. Five marines coming this way. "Five more headed for the door. Twenty seconds to go." "Viepchakl!" he thought, "Two of the marines have fusion guns!" Malenkoviepr opened up with the rifle set on full automatic spraying the group. One fusion gunner caught it on the shoulder he spun around and fell unmoving. The other's leg was hit and he fell to his knees. The weapon went off in his hands and hit the ground ahead of him. The ground exploded and leapt skyward in a great cloud. The smoke cleared and four marines were on the ground. The fifth was still running, and the platoon was beginning to swarm out of the barracks. "Take cover!" shouted Shtam. Then the world exploded. The barracks, the head quarters, and the motor pool with the parked grav tanks all erupted in sizzling flame as four batteries of seven hundred and fifty megawatts worth of lasers sliced through them. The shock knocked Malenkoviepr from his perch and he struggled to regain control with his grav belt. He came within centimeters of smashing into the ceiling but swung away in time. Vole and Miakr were similarly occupied as the dome shook under the barrage of laser and missile fire. Two marines burst through the entrance. One carried a gauss pistol, the other carried a plasma gun in her arms. They were disoriented from the sound of the barrage that shook the very foundations of their eardrums. Both almost completely naked. The plasma gunner was hit twice as she squeezed off a shot. She spun around off balance and crumpled. The plasma bolt hit the ground a meter from Shtam. He was thrown several meters and landed in a heap. The second marine stumbled, fired blind and wild. Niedrsha twisted and fired as the shot grazed his shoulder. - XXII - The giant hand reached out. - XXIII - A needle went through the marine's arm just before a plasma bolt hit him square in the back. The body exploded. Suddenly, Drert's battle dress appeared in the dome. He strode up behind Niedrsha and clamped his hands around his wounded shoulder. Niedrsha suddenly felt a tickling sensation in his shoulder of hilarious proportions. He jerked and spluttered with mirth. He started to collapse gasping for breath as Drert's touch tickled him to helplessness. Jietlshaiepr looked on unbelievingly at the incongruously bizarre scene. But only for a moment when she realized Shtam wasn't moving. Shtam's leg looked bad. The blast had cracked the seals of his right leg piece. The exposed flesh had third degree burns, and large sections of the calf muscles had been inexpertly and roughly removed exposing the tibia and shattering the fibula. She was in for a tough job later, but even amputations could be regenerated. She quickly injected a mixture of fast drug and no-shock sending Shtam on a long ride up a purple river under an orange sky. When she looked up, Drert was bending down holding out a glowing blue crystal. He picked up Shtam in one hand and vanished. Malenkoviepr stood covering the entrance scanning. Six life forms coming... Deafness... Disorientation... Panic... A psionic scream... blackness as it became five forms coming. He waved over his remaining crew. Niedrsha walked over dazedly and knelt with his gauss rifle at the ready. Three forms in battle dress burst through the smoke and dust thinking they had reached cover. They dived for the floor in the spider's parlor. Vole's bite is far worse than his bark. His laser welder focused on the neck piece of one marine, burning leaving a smoking hole, while his gauss rifle widened the gap sending the helmet and it's occupant spinning across the floor. Malenkoviepr fired into one of the cowering forms. It jumped and was still. Niedrsha took the third which had fallen at his knees. The shot was never felt: a brain has to be there to receive a message. The remaining two: a fusion gunner and a rifleman, jumped in witnessing the carnage of their fellows. They grabbed for their weapons. A plasma bolt from Jietlshaiepr blew the legs out from under the fusion gunner and out the door. Miakr's gauss needles smashed his helmet in as he fell where his feet had been. Malenkoviepr took the rifleman out with a well aimed blast, but not before he had fired wildly. A stray needle caught Miakr in the abdomen, and he crumpled. Jietlshaiepr was on him in a flash. Clean puncture wound possible damage to the kidneys but far enough from the spinal column. Miakr began a long, slow trip through a hot pink asteroid belt. Suddenly, the thunder outside stopped. Silence... Ears ringing... It's over? Radio crackle: "Hey, any youse guys order a pizza? Oddball's delivers!" "Sausage and onions for me, Oddball." quipped Malenkoviepr. "Hey, hey, hey! What's up Doc?" Malenkoviepr scanned for life. "Looks like there are about three of them: Ninety meters north by northeast of the dome." "Gotcha!" An plasma bolt, explosion... another... "I tink dat wraps it up. Yo Broadsword! Adder! All clear! send down da cutters." "What ship is the Adder?" "Dat's dere's: da battle cruiser." The grav tank came to rest outside the dome. "Hey, ya all right in dere?" Oddball bounced over to the entrance and glanced in at the carnage, "Hey, youse guys don't mess around. Good work. Maybe dat shows ya something 'bout yer teacher." "Miakr!" Gresha yelped as she recognized the recumbent form of the Kliemoshie's steward. She rushed forward. "My, my, Gresha, what big teeth you got..." mumbled Miakr incoherantly. "All the better to... Oh, forget it. He seems to be allright." managed Gresha haughtily. Jietlshaiepr activated a lock on Miakr's battle dress locking all the joints so he could be transported easily. "Vole, take Miakr back to the ship. Strip him and prepare the place for surgery. Gresha, go with them. I'll follow in a moment." Vole and Gresha activated Miakr's grav belt and flew him out. "All right, Niedrsha let me see that shoulder." Oddball turned to Malenkoviepr and guestured to the weapons dropped by the marines. "Nice work Doc, but I'll warn ya now, if ya want any of these swell toys, you better hide 'em. I got orders to hand over any I find to the Ine Givar. We got sixteen minutes." "We may need replacement parts for the battle dress." suggested Niedrsha looking at the hole in his own armor. "Viepchakl! Stop moving, I'm examining you." growled Jietlshaiepr. "How is he?" wondered Malenkoviepr remembering suddenly. "Disgustingly healthy. Not even a blasted scar to teach the bastard. What did I tell you about getting in the way of a bullet? You're going to pay for this mister!" spat Jietlshaiepr. "I'm off. Grab me a fusion gun if you think of me." She kissed Niedrsha and flew off. "So, anything interesting around this dump Doc?" asked Oddball. "Not much, but this should be interesting to examine." Malenkoviepr shot off a piece of the Diamond glass. "I want a sample of this stuff though. It is harder than diamonds but is workable at high temperatures. The rest appears to be just junk." "Cool! cool!" Niedrsha grabbed one of the suited marines that wasn't to damaged, strapped a fusion gun onto it and flew off with it. "Da Ine Givar are gonna fire a nuke: Scorched ground policy." "Viepchakl." "This idiocy is worthy of SORAG." he thought. "Hey, some of these marines are naked!" "Happened during the bombardment. Explosion must have blown their clothes off." - XXIV - They managed to grab enough equipment from the wreckage to complete two suits of battle dress and repair their own suits. Weapons total: one fusion gun, two tech fourteen plasma guns, four gauss pistols, ammunition for their rifles including several RAM grenades. - XXV - "Quite a little haul." commented Oddball appreciatively. "Too bad about Gresha. I hate filling out casualty reports. I'm gonna miss her." He handed Gresha her pack. "Here's your stuff girlie, keep in touch. I won't be workin' for those twits forever. Take good care of her Doc." "Why will you fill out a casualty report?" wondered Malenkoviepr. "How else am I gonna explain how her armor, rifle and fusion gun disappeared?" - XXVI - The Adder's pinnace landed next to the dome and it's crew swarmed out. The terrorists were a motley assortment of humans armed with every thing from sub-machine guns to FGMP-15's. Roland T. Gunner and his psi-shield stepped out and surveyed the situation. "Ok, Doctor, what have you got for us?" he asked in his threatening monotone. "One hitherto unknown crystalline compound harder than diamonds." "Interesting. Any weapons?" "None." "Well, we'll take what we can get. Men, start stripping the corpses. What sort of artifacts?" "Nothing, it is a pretty bare site for that sort of thing. It would appear that the entire base was subjected to an enormous amount of heat some time after the base was abandoned. It melted what was here." "Shit! This operation cost us." "Yes, I'm disappointed to. But there is nothing here of value except the structure itself. Just a bunch of fused and slagged puddles of metals." "What kind of metals?" "Aluminum, copper, gold..." "Nothing of value?" "No, I am afraid we will learn little, but..." "Leave that for our science operatives. I'm not interested in what we learn. How much gold?" "What do you mean, you're no... Oh, twenty or thirty kilograms total, it is mixed in with other metals in puddles inside the dome. It is probably the remains of computers." "Good." "What do you mean you are not interested in what we learn?" "We're fighting a revolution. Knowledge isn't my first priority, weapons are. This crystal, can you make armor out of it?" "I doubt it, you would have to synthicize it first, then there is the problem of the fact that it has a relatively low melting point. As protection, you could do better with stuff more available. But for special applications it might be extremely useful, saws, cutting tools, or in this case, windows. Right now we don't know enough about it to start thinking about applications." "Bullet proof windows... I'll leave that for the science operatives. Where's the gold?" - XXVII - "How's the crew Jietlshaiepr?" "Well," she began, "Niedrsha is completely healed. Miakr is too, but he's not quite out of the drugs yet. Shtam's leg had to come off. Regeneration should be no problem. Actually, unless I'm mistaken it has already started. I know he is shielded, and may know awareness, I never asked. But, considering the shape he is in, I would say he is not doing it himself. I've got him sedated. Viepchakl! If this continues, Drert is going to put me out of a job. Inducing regeneration is no mean trick." "Agreed." commented Malenkoviepr, "It requires advanced knowledge of both awareness and telepathy. And we all saw him teleport. What else can he do." "Well, when I came in, he was reading." "So?" "He had the ship's library tape running at fast forward. He sat there with a completely blank face holding that crystal. Now how did he get it." "He teleports..." - XXVIII - Malenkoviepr opened the safe in his stateroom. Roland had agreed to one hundred thousand compensation for Shtam's and Miakr's wounds. Two hundred and fifty thousand to be returned. That stupid guerrilla, he didn't even want to learn anything... Weapons!... Ha!... What does he know about science?... No, if you can't understand it, blow it up!... What's... that... smell?... Tranq! In one move he threw the money into the safe and whirled around. He stopped but the room continued to spin. A man in a filter... Move it!... Malenkoviepr jumped for the door but his feet wouldn't cooperate. He slipped and crashed to the floor. He struggled to get up but his arms wouldn't hold him. The last thing he remembered someone was taking off his battle dress. - XXIX - The Adder's pinnace lifted off. Niedrsha hesitated. Hold on, the doc was going to give them some credits back... Something's up. He punched the radio circuit in his battle dress, "Dr. Malenkoviepr, come in... Doc? Jiet, come in, the doc doesn't answer, something's up." "He's in his stateroom." "Well, check on him will you?" He waited anxiously. "Vole, can you run up the engines I think were going to have to move, and fast. They talked about nuking the place." "I'm on it." answered the robot. "Niedrsha!" shouted Jietlshaiepr, "The doc's been taken. His room is full of tranq gas and his armor is on the floor." "Right. Jiet, we need Miakr and fast. Is he coherent?" "This is Miakr, I'm feeling closer to reality, I can see it from here." "Get to the engine room and crank those engines. We have to leave five minutes ago." "Take off power will be up in four minutes ten seconds." reported Vole. "Full power about five minutes after that." Niedrsha turned to the ship's radio. "Enoc Spaceport, this is Kliemoshie, over... We are under attack... come in..." "This is Enoc Spaceport," drawled a voice slowly, "Come in, repeat, come in..." "This is Kliemoshie, we are under attack, repeat we are under attack... the ancient archeological site is being over run. we will be lifting off as soon as we have power... in five minutes thirty seconds... Please give us clearance immediately." "Kliemoshie, this is spaceport control, repeat message..." "Well," thought Niedrsha, "at least they won't blame this raid on us now." - XXX - "Ok, everybody hang on." Niedrsha pushed the throttle up. The Kliemoshie shook and lifted slowly. Low power makes for long lift offs. Rock crags came up reaching for the fleeing courier. She swung around them drunkenly. "Engine room, keep that power coming." "Point nine G's and climbing..." "We'll need more than that." It's coming... one G and climbing." The Kliemoshie limped clear of the surface and into the sky. Now all we need is altitude and distance. Gresha looked up from the scanners. "That pinnace has twice our top speed. and a damn good head start: range two thousand kilometers." "Drert, get in the turret." "They've got missiles, and a battle cruiser with nuclear missiles beyond that." "They also have Dr. Malenkoviepr. Drert, commence fireing." The lasers fired. The pinnace flew on unhindered or hit. "They've fired their missiles." Miakr broke in on the intercom, "We have full power." "Good boy, Miakr!" "Missiles closing... ten seconds to intercept." "Hold on to your shorts, folks, here we go!" called Niedrsha. The Kliemoshie swung around in a waltzing corkscrew. She responded slowly. Creaks and groans ran through her frame as she scrambled for her life. "Three... two... one... zero..." Three missiles streaked by and headed toward the surface of Enoc. "Good work Niedrsha." Gresha sighed. "The Adder is closing in for rendezvous with the pinnace. We'll be in range of their guns in five minutes. Range to pinnace now two thousand five hundred kilometers. Range to cruiser fifty five thousand kilometers. Rendezvous of pinnace and cruiser eighteen minutes." The lasers fired. The pinnace continued to fly unhurt. "They've fired again. Assuming we disabled her engines now we couldn't intercept it for another nine minutes." "Drert, cease fire." ordered Niedrsha, "We can't intercept now without taking on that fucking battle cruiser. Sorry Doc, but the battle's lost already. We'll getcha back somehow." The Kliemoshie turned and ran at full acceleration. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ON THE TRAIL or Is there a doctor in the sector? by Scott Kellogg - I - The engine temperature jumped five degrees in two minutes. "We're coming out of jump." Shtam called from the engine room. "Look," muttered Miakr softly, "I'm really..." Shtam cut him off. "Don't worry about it. I'd have a lot of trouble handling these engines by myself. As it is, you may have saved us all from blowing up. Misjump is no big deal." "Thanks, Shtam." The jump drive moaned in sympathy. "Estimate three minutes to relativistic space." called Shtam, "Three minutes. All hands to stations." Up on the bridge Niedrsha lounged in the pilot's chair. "Ok Jiet, let's get ready." he slapped her shoulder through the battle dress. "Any pirates just better watch out." "I'd rather not have to deal with any more battles for a while." cautioned Jietlshaiepr. "We're looking for a hospital, not a fight. With Drert still in the ozone layer and Shtam minus his leg, I have enough headaches. You just find us a starport. I'll take it from there. "Gresha, honey, you'd better be getting inside that turret. I am NOT looking forward to what reception we may get when we re- enter normal space. A misjumped ship is a very juicy target, and pirate activity has been getting awfully heavy these days." "Sure, Jiet." barked the vargr wagging her tail. "I wouldn't worry too much though, we're probably in human space. Human corsairs aren't worth much. And if we jump into vargr space I knew most of the corsair leaders." "Why'd you decide to hook up with humans then?" "Well, Oddball was slowing down." she laughed, then curling her lip exposing the sharp canine teeth of her species, "And the bastards running the Broadsword were bigots. You folks seem to appreciate ability rather than physiology. At least Miakr seems to..." - II - The Kliemoshie limped into normal space with a whimper from the jump drives. She panted and wheezed at the exertion while she wiped the haze from her eyes and began to look around, wondering where she'd got to. "We haven't gone too far," thought Niedrsha aloud. "from the position of the stars, I'd say no more than six or seven parsecs. And we're still in the Massina subsector for certain." "Got something." called Jietlshaiepr. "We're one hundred diameters out from a gas giant... Looks like there are some pretty big power emissions, lots of neutrinos, probably a mid to high tech system. I hope their hospitals are in as good shape as their power systems..." "Picking up a radar beacon..." she announced. "Radio signal incoming." A woman's voice came over, "...entified craft, come in please... Repeat, unidentified craft come in please, this is the F.A.B. patrol ship Flamboyant. You will identify yourself immediately." Jietlshaiepr raised her eyebrow. "Hold on a minute here... This is a tight beam transmission." "So?" asked Niedrsha. "So, why conceal your presence if you are a patrol ship?" "Right... broadcast to the ship and the traffic at the gas giant. Come to think of it, relay their messages too." Jietlshaiepr hit the broadcast button. "This is the Zhodani Courier Kliemoshie, ZC-00113. State your business patrol ship Flamboyant." "We are on anti-pirate cruise. Have no record of your arrival, Kliemoshie. Stand by." Jietlshaiepr tuned the ship's antenna to a tight beam aimed at the gas giant. "This is the Zhodani Courier Kliemoshie, ZC-00113. Request confirmation of status of patrol ship Flamboyant." She read the sensors, "The Flamboyant is closing on us at four G acceleration, four hundred tons, streamlined, five point two five gigawatts from their reactor. Reads out as a Fiery class Imperial gunned escort. Usual armament lasers and particle accelerators." "Flamboyant to Kliemoshie, we have no record of your arrival in system, please confirm." "Viepchakl!" thought Jietlshaiepr. "Kliemoshie to Flamboyant, have just arrived in system." "Got another contact, she announced. Much larger, ten gigawatt reactor, eight hundred tons, approaching at five G's. at extreme range and on intercept course." "Flamboyant to Kliemoshie, we have orders to board and inspect all shipping. Stop engines and prepare to receive our party." A new voice came over the circuits. "Kliemoshie, this is Fan Belt starport control, we have no record of any patrol ship registered as Flamboyant. Proceed with caution. Will send patrol to investigate." "Niedrsha, get us the hell out of here! Red alert! All hands shut airlocks and close battle dress." "Engine room. Give her everything you've got!" shouted Niedrsha. The Kliemoshie's frame squealed in protest. "Gresha, commence firing!" Gresha couldn't hear the order for the rattle of the sandcaster pumping ablative sand out to shield the fleeing courier. She knew her business. She needed no order. Laser light streamed from the turret searching for a victim. It swung wide of the target. The gun ship twisted and loosed its own onslaught of destructive energy. The very space around the Kliemoshie glowed with the incoming fire as it vaporized the protective sand cloud and touched the skin of the ship. Jietlshaiepr read off "We've been hit. No damage, just cooked a bit. Hull temperature four hundred thirty Kelvin. No hull rupture... I read a flight of ships from the gas giant... six G's acceleration, including a ship in the twenty thousand ton range...at this range it will take an hour and thirty eight minutes to intercept. Second contact I read out as a Guppy class cruiser. Usual armament: lasers, missiles, sandcasters. It will be in range in sixty seven minutes." "What about the Flamboyant?" called Niedrsha. "Closing, interception thirty six minutes." Lasers swept out towards the pursuer on target. The Flamboyant's hull was momentarily lost in a fog cloud. "Good shooting Gresha! I read that out as a hit to their fuel tanks." called off Jietlshaiepr. "They've still got their teeth." growled Gresha. "I just poked their stomach a bit." Laser flare obliterated the Kliemoshie's sand cloud. "Next one will penetrate." warned Gresha. The Kliemoshie began to shudder as Niedrsha redoubled his efforts to evade. The spiralling ship rolled and pitched, straining the ability of the anti-acceleration-grav fields, while her lasers flamed outward. One of the Flamboyant's turrets melted away under the jet of Gresha's lasers. A flash of light, a blast, a shudder. Part of the Kliemoshie turned into slag. "Report in! Anyone hurt?" Called Jietlshaiepr. "Shtam here. Engine Room intact. Miakr, Vole and I are Ok." "Gresha here. Turret unimpaired." "The Air/Raft bay was destroyed." announced Drert as though he was talking in his sleep, "Pressure leak in quarters section. Bulkheads and frame intact." "How in Viepchakl does he know that?" wondered Jietlshaiepr. Lasers flared out again but found only empty space. "Grrraahcht!" barked Gresha in frustration. The Flamboyant's lasers reached out and licked the Kliemoshie's hull. Fog fumed from the gash draining away the life blood fuel of the courier. "Fuel pressure's goin... gone. Fuck!" shouted Niedrsha. "Fusion plant shutting down!" screamed Miakr. All lights went out aboard the courier leaving all in total darkness. Red emergency lights came on dimly. "Batteries on emergency power. That is all I can do. We were low on fuel after the jump, now it is all gone." Shtam announced calmly. Silence came down like a sudden nightfall. The ship was dead. Jietlshaiepr finally broke the silence. "Stand by to repel boarders." - III - The ship was quickly depressurized. Crew assembled in the lounge armed with gauss rifles. "Twelve crew in a Fiery class escort. Sixteen in a Guppy class cruiser, plus a complement of sixteen troops." reported Shtam. "The Guppy is an ideal pirate raider. We ran into them in the merchants. They have a huge cargo capacity: able to accommodate over three hundred tons of ships. They just open their clamshells and swallow you. I saw one eat a free trader and still have room for two fifty ton fighters." "We have to stand them off long enough for the patrols to arrive. That's two hours without our engines. The Flamboyant will rendezvous in twelve minutes, the Guppy in forty nine." Jietlshaiepr paced appraising the situation. "Shtam, how well can you move without that leg?" "With the ship's artificial grav off, I'm fine. A little slower but adequate. It seems to be regenerating itself. It beats me what Drert did to it though." "Right. Boarding party... Tactics... Suggesions?" "Ambush." growled Gresha. "Set up where? Where are they going to come in?" "They might not board at all until we're inside the Guppy's cargo hold." thought Niedrsha. "No." said Shtam decisively, "In order to get the ship into the hold they will have to have men handling her very carefully. They will not chance our taking on a busy work crew." "Well, if I were them, I'd burn through the hull." growled Gresha, "They want the ship. Why else call in another ship capable of carrying her out? Ships go for good money in this low tech sector. "The front wind screen's easy to smash and board through, but it'd get the bridge shot up. Airlock is harder to fix than the hull. Hull material is cheap, sections of it are already damaged. Probably come in through the Air/Raft bay, it's already smashed. Can set up ambush there." "Right." nodded Jietlshaiepr. "Good thinking. Miakr, you and Vole inspect the bay, find the best place to setup an ambush. Niedrsha, you cover the bridge. Yell if you see anything and get out. Shtam, you cover the airlock. Gresha, you ever been teleported?" Gresha cocked her head confusedly. "No." "I can carry two of us in a teleport. I bet we could jump out, get in a few good shots and catch them off guard." "We could use the tech fourteen plasma guns: no recoil." snarled Gresha with a wagging tail. "Exactly." - IV - "Miakr, their headed your way." radioed Niedrsha from the bridge. "Good call Gresha!" "How many?" demanded Jietlshaiepr. "Eight, two in combat armor, six in vacc suits. The ones in combat armor are guarding the airlock. The rest are headed to the Air/Raft bay with some laser welders. The ones in combat armor have laser rifles, the rest have accelerator rifles. I think most have snub pistols as well." "They've started cutting." announced Vole. "Estimated time of entry: seven minutes forty seconds... Mark!" "Right. Niedrsha, you get down to the bay and help Miakr. Gresha, we'll pay a little visit in two minutes, let's move to the lock." Gresha growled softly to herself. - V - "Grakvozan! Teleportation is neat!" wondered Gresha with awe as she found herself outside the ship shoulder to shoulder with Jietlshaiepr. Twin figures floated out side the airlock of the Kliemoshie. Twin plasma bolts leaped across the vacuum. Twin explosions. Twin figures spiraled into the vacuum, leaving a cloud of vaporized organs and metal. "Better than I'd hoped for. All right team, come out the airlock, we may be able to press this attack home." Jietlshaiepr turned. The bay was hidden by the bulk of the ship. "Bring out our gauss rifles as well. If we get aboard the Flamboyant, plasma guns are a bit much." - VI - With the power off the airlock had to be opened by hand, but Niedrsha and Miakr had gotten through by the time the sentries were missed. Two vacc suit helmets peered around the bulk of the hull before they were seared off by Gresha and Jietlshaiepr. "That'll scare the fuck out of 'em." observed Niedrsha. "Four on four." thought Miakr. "Let's take 'em." They split up and jetted around the ship's hull to see the four pirates in flight. The Flamboyant's airlock was wide open. Miakr opened up on the trailing pirate. Gauss needles flew undeflected, and unerringly to the target which clamped its leg as it fired at Niedrsha. The accelerator rifle bullet rammed its way through Niedrsha's armor over his right arm, almost spoiling his aim. His own gauss needles went home on the smallest of the pirates. The helmet simply exploded. The corpse continued to float toward the Flamboyant's looming hull. Suddenly, Drert appeared next to Niedrsha and both vanished. Two plasma bolts struck the third pirate which completely vaporized the fleeing man. Bullets clicked off Jietlshaiepr's armored torso. "Hey you! Lay off my chest!" An indignant blast of plasma subdivided the fourth pirate from it's groin and lower legs which tumbled into the vacuum. Miakr's second volley of shots shredded the remaining pirates legs. The body hung limply, suspended in space. The Flamboyant started moving. "Viepchakl!" shouted Jietlshaiepr. She teleported into the open airlock and was slammed against the side of the ship. She quickly looked through the view port and then teleported inside. She would have jumped a kilometer had it not been for the ceiling. "Hi Jiet! Welcome aboard." laughed Niedrsha as Drert stood over him. "To the bridge. How's your arm?" without waiting for an answer she ran ahead. "Never better." None of them had been aboard a Fiery class escort before but the bridge was pretty easy to guess at. The pilot heard them coming. She had a snub pistol trained at the corridor and loosed high explosive bullets at Jietlshaiepr as she burst through. Six shells exploded harmlessly on Jietlshaiepr's chest plates. "Leave my tits alone, bitch!" Jietlshaiepr slapped the panicked pilot in the mouth. The strength enhancement of the battle dress rocked her head back and laid her neck at an ugly angle. Niedrsha pulled her from the console and swung the ship into a spin. "Fuck those Imperial designers!" He soon had it under control and headed back to the Kliemoshie. Jietlshaiepr grabbed the scanners. There was one more crew member aboard. The Guppy class cruiser would rendezvous in twenty six minutes. "One last crew member aboard." she explained, "I'll take care..." "Not any more." said Drert simply. He then sat down on the deck and began opening the chest of his battle dress. "How..." she started to ask, but noticed Drert was lost in an examination of his belly button, then checked the scanners. the only life on board was them. - VII - The crew was quickly transferred to the Flamboyant. "Ghrresh!" barked Gresha from the dorsal turret, "Where is the particle accelerator?" "What's wrong?" shouted Jietlshaiepr. "This is a missile turret. There's an Air/Raft bay here instead of the particle barbette and... Grraaah! Verracht! This ship carries nuclear missiles!" "What!?" "This turret is armed with nuclear missiles!" "Guppy class cruiser, twenty one minutes to interception." read off Shtam. "Patrol cruisers: one hour forty minutes. I make the large ship in the patrol out as a Viepchakl class Battle rider. I think we should give some of these missiles back to their rightful owners?" "My sentiment's exactly, Shtam." nodded Jietlshaiepr. "Graah, just say the word, Jiet and I'll stuff some plutonium down their throats." snarled Gresha. Shtam studied the sensors. "They are coming in on a nice lateral course. No sandcasters in operation, no evasive action, just a nice fat target. They have even opened the cargo bay doors." "Gresha," sighed Jietlshaiepr, "They're hungry, why don't you give them a nice mouthful or two?" She stretched herself in such a way that, even with her battle dress on, made one want to throw back one's head and howl. "Well Jiet," laughed Gresha, "I'll try but I just don't have your... qualifications." The black face plate of her battle dress hid her reaction. "Stand by for evasive action. Hands to what ever stations you can find. Gresha, fire when ready." A soft shush announced the departure of the nuclear warhead laden missiles. "Nukes away!... Engine's hot and running." "Evasive action!" barked Jietlshaiepr. "She's starting to evade. Where are those lasers?" Drert fired on the gaping maw of the approaching cruiser. Just as the bay began to close the laser strike bore in blasting the decks adjoining. Fuel leaked into space flaming briefly as it combined with the leaking air of the ship and then snuffing out as flame met vacuum. The jaws jammed fast leaving a leaking flaming mouth open to vacuum. Seconds later the missiles streaked into the hungry mouth of the cruiser. A blinding flash came out of the belly of the cruiser. The silhouetted form of the top half of the ship was barely visible above the brilliance of the brief fission powered star. Half of the ship tumbled, glowing white hot and radioactive from the blaze. End over end she tumbled for three seconds then it flared again and was gone. An expanding cloud of radioactive plasma blew into space. - VIII - Jietlshaiepr slouched back in the command chair exhausted. She opened the clamshell helmet of her battle dress and sighed. "All right." she purred. "Now, I am a little bit tired of being shot at today. Shtam, you said that the ship headed towards us is a Viepchakl class battle rider." "Yes. She is unmistakable." "Ok, now. The only ship that carries the Viepchakl in this area is based in Tloql sector at Chronor. That being the Zhdant itself: a one million ton battle carrier. What on the moons of Zhdant is the pride of the Consular Navy doing here? Fan Belt is an independent system." she pondered aloud. "Well, I guess we'll just have to talk to them. But as soon as we hit the starport, we're going to bed." - IX - It took some explaining indeed. The ship turned out to be the Viepchakl itself, named for the once worshiped moon of Zhdant which still bore some reverence or irreverence as the case may be. The captain of such a ship commands respect. But, the last thing he expected to hear was a report from an overtired and voluptuous noble who had just captured the ship he was supposed to be rescuing her from. The questions came tumbling out. Where was the owner of the Kliemoshie: Dr. Malenkoviepr? Why did the ship misjump? How did they contact the Flamboyant? How did they take the Flamboyant? Were there any injuries that needed treatment? Were there any survivors among the pirates? And where did they get Ultra top of the line Zhodani Noble Commando battle dress and Imperial plasma guns? Fortunately, the captain was familiar with those Zhodani who worked with the Ine Givar and some sticky little questions got by with the slimmest answers. The Flamboyant was towed to the starport by the Viepchakl while the Kliemoshie was refueled by three Zhdits class D.E.'s and brought in under armed escort. - X - Jietlshaiepr never got a chance to keep her promise. Four minutes after docking Jietlshaiepr was requested to see Tlievriashav. Request it was, and polite too, but one does not make the High Consul of the entire Ikar sector wait. Five hours later, a quite exhausted, curvaceous commando trudged up the ramp of the courier. "Better start packin' your stuff, crew. The Kliemoshie's being commandeered tomorrow at thirteen hundred hours." "What!?" came the unanimous response of disbelief. "Tlievriashav's taking her. He needs a courier for his consular cruiser. His own was destroyed or captured by probably the self same pirates we just fought. "We are to be given possession of the Flamboyant, *minus* the nuclear missiles. We have to go to Massina first but then she'll be turned over to us." "Massina Belt!" exploded Miakr, "Why there?" Jietlshaiepr looked at him startled. "Well, they want to run a number of tests on the ship to find out what they can from it. To get a lead on these pirates. Best place to run the tests is at the sector capital." "What about Dr. Malenkoviepr?" asked Niedrsha. "We'll need a ship to find him. And the old "Moshie" is going on to bigger circles." "Why? What's going on here?" asked Shtam. "Why does a big wheel like Tlievriashav want a broken down shot up old courier like the Kliemoshie?" "You've all heard of Horltheur? Highest tech planet in the Ikar sector, and one of the most volatile. There's been a war." "Big war?" asked Shtam. "Yeah, nuclear. The whole northern continent was just about wiped out. The Zhdant is going there escorting hospital ships from the Consulate and Fan Belt. Tlievriashav needs a courier, and the Kliemoshie is the only one available. "Big political push: influence gathering. The Imperium is sending a fleet of it's own hospital ships. Accompanied by their fleet. The Darrians, the Sword Worlds, The Dynchia, all the governments, big and small, they're all sending ships. A big humanitarian effort that all sides can milk for propaganda values, and maybe save a few lives in the bargain." "How does the Fan Belt fit in?" wondered Niedrsha. "It's the medical capital of the sector. We can gain influence with them while we prove to all that the Consulate is just as humane as the Imperium if not more so." "Wait a minute, what about recompence for the doctor?" asked Gresha. Jietlshaiepr laughed. "Now this is the crazy part, the doc will get his money, but he's not receiving money for the value of the ship, he's getting the *replacement* value. Full cost of a new courier. And I have custody of the money till he is found: one hundred and one million, six hundred seventy one thousand, six hundred and fifty credits. "Now you've got the whole story. We'll have enough time here to use the medical facilities before we leave for Massina." She stretched out in a mouth watering way, leaned over calmly and picked up Niedrsha and threw him over her shoulder. "Now, Niedrsha, there are a couple of things I need to go over with you..." Suddenly, they were gone. Or rather, they were gone, their clothes stayed behind. They stood there like a bizarre artwork for a moment in the positions Jietlshaiepr and Niedrsha had been in. Then, they slowly floated to the deck of the cabin. "Now that," observed Gresha admiringly "is a trick I've GOT to learn." - XI - Traveller's Guide to Iakr Sector: Fan Asteroid Belt The Fan Belt was settled 345 years ago by sufferers of Fan's disease: genetic disease causing malformed coils in the inner ear. Some malformations were likened to the shape of a fan thus the name. Sufferers of the disease become dizzy while in accelerating frames of reference including vehicles and gravitational wells. Victims often do not live long due to eating and balance problems. The Fan Belt offered a zero gravity community where people who suffered from the condition could lead normal productive lives. It became a leper colony for the victims. However, several other conditions of sophonts respond positively to zero gravity. As more cases and species arrived the demand for medical care expanded proportionately. The entire system has become a very cosmopolitan hospital. Species of almost every kind are to be found there trying not to step on each others cultural toes. The medical research of the entire sector is done there with equipment given from the Imperium and Consulate. As the two vie for prestige, everyone profits. And, as the Fan Belt is only a few parsecs away from the Zhodani Consulate, it is not surprising to find a Psi-Institute there. - XII - Dr. Kissofman removed the blood stained rubber gloves, and spoke into his computer. "Autopsy John Doe, engineer of privateer Flamboyant. Cause of death: poison, self inflicted. Prussic acid contained in false tooth. "Physical characteristics: one point seven one meters tall. Hair: blonde. Eyes: blue. Skin Color: White. Mole on left hand. Racial Background: Solomani with traces of Vilani and Vlazhdumecta mixture typical of Iakr sector. "Small musculature indicates gravitational well of planet of birth not above 1G most probably 0.7G. Somewhat large degree of recent retinal disintegration indicates subject spent time on planet with thin atmosphere. Thin atmospheres allowing more penetration of Ultra Violet light. Previous medical and dental operations indicate the subject lived in conditions of between tech levels nine and thirteen. "Signs of treatment of following conditions: Removal of wisdom teeth. Correction of liver trouble..." - XIII - Dr. Oylessic looked on the oddest patient it had ever seen. The human, Drert, was thirty years old, had psi-strength that went off the normal scale while its official rating had been five. It had an officially recorded intelligence of five, now unreadable, had been diagnosed as incurably psychotic, but its chief interest at the moment was counting its toes, and occasionally sucking on them. The little droyne flapped noisily to it's desk and puzzled. "Dr. Jietlshaiepr," it squeaked, "Never I have such a case seen. Had to guess I did, say I would that it some sort of psionic shock was. It a phenomena without precedence is. Explain what happened please." Jietlshaiepr told the story, the ancient artifact, Malenkoviepr's recognition of the object, the effect it gave off, and the changes in Drert, and the reports on everyone else. "I see." The little droyne reached into a leather pouch and produced a dark blue crystal similar in shape to the artifact. "This an olonde is. Used in the ceremony of casting is. When young droyne into a caste set is, the olonde is the focus for its concentration. By concentrating on it in certain way, young droyne may open genetic codes which will in its proper caste set. "Also used for the training of young are they. As you may know, Droyne through telepathy sometimes impart knowledge and training. The olonde used in this is. "May be one used in ancient time energy stored as you of spoke. If so, energy released at proper time must be. Triggered it something did and let loose the accumulated energy in torrent, those nearby strongly affecting." Jietlshaiepr rested her head in her hand. "So, could the presence of a young mind possibly be something like a trigger for this... olonde?" "Possible it is. Have seen I report on others of group so affected. Affects of change, correlate with age subject. All received increased psionic strength correlated with age of subject and distance from crystal as described. Your self, closest, increased strength by four points and telepath become. Pilot Niedrsha three points, now telepath is. Engineer Shtam, greater age, two points increased and awareness acquired. Steward Miakr youngest: five points increased. Telepath has become. "Significant this is, think I. But olonde activate did not until patient crystal touched." Jietlshaiepr's eyebrows knitted, "So Drert was the trigger. Something in his psychotic mind released the energy." "Apparently it seems." The little droyne stretched its wings. "Gunner Drert rather childlike at the moment seems. Drert rolled over, suspended in mid air, and went to sleep with his toes in his mouth. - XIV - "I've plotted our course to Massina," sighed Niedrsha. "Three jumps: three parsecs to Talak, four more to Aramat, then two parsecs to Massina belt. Since we're in a bit of a hurry we can skim fuel from gas giants rather than wait to be refueled." "Why go to Aramat?" asked Miakr. "The Ine Givar didn't have any bases there: no clues. We could head to Axly just as well, at least we'd be safer from pirates in patrolled system." Niedrsha made a chopping motion with his hand. "That's just it. It's over-patrolled. They might pull us in to investigate. And any bureaucratic mess is going to keep us from looking for the doc." Shtam nodded, "True, the Axly race do tend to be rather aggressive. Independent military craft travelling through are very thoroughly examined. I remember once they held up an entire convoy once because we were travelling with an armed escort." Miakr glanced at Vole. "Well, I mean, if we're out to look for Dr. Malenkoviepr, shouldn't we just skip Massina?" Gresha looked at the startled expressions of the rest of the crew. After all it seemed like a reasonable suggestion, in fact a very good one. Jietlshaiepr shook her head slowly. "We have our orders. Our duty is to the Consulate." "Of course." agreed Niedrsha. "Indeed, and in addition, Massina, may also be as good place as any to start our search." pointed out Shtam. "After all, that's where the Ine Givar, if that's who they were, contacted him." Gresha sniffed, "Sorens is closer. That's where they contacted the Broadsword." Vole glanced around the room solemnly and focused on Miakr. "Our duty is to the Consulate. If we can get information on who used this ship we will probably save more lives than one." - XV - One week later the Flamboyant was on it's way out of the system. The emergency band burst across the bridge blaring with the sound of an emergency locator transmitter. Jietlshaiepr grabbed the sensors. "Ship just jumped in system... 600 tons, heavy damage, radiation. Viepchakl! It's one of ours! Shivva class frigate. Something really shot her to pieces! Heavy radiation. Niedrsha, plot intercept course, there may be survivors!" The Flamboyant veered around to match vectors with the glowing hulk. "ETA thirteen minutes. We'll be the first ones there." announced Niedrsha. A weak voice came over the band, "Mayday... Mayday... Consular patrol frigate Uttova, Ensign Ebladatl speaking. Come in please. Mayday...." "This is the captured corsair Flamboyant." answered Jietlshaiepr, "Come in Uttova, do you have casualties?" "Affirmative, Flamboyant, request assistance. Three crew survivors... Radiation burns... They nuked us...." "This is the Fan Asteroid Belt Starport control," came an authoritative voice, "Report your situation, Uttova." "Jumped in from Acrolund... on interdiction patrol... Deadhead's nuked us... Positive identification... Our relief ship... Kinunir Cruiser... Heavy casualties... Fighters lost... Bridge crew dead... Ensign Ebladatl now commanding...." - XVI - The Uttova was a shattered hulk. Half of her turrets were cracked open like nuts. Most of the fuel tanks were shredded. The maneuver drives were twisted like taffy. The bridge had a hole right through it. While the landing bay was a fused glowing lump. The voice on the radio whispered weakly "Two survivors unconscious... Rest crew dead. You'll have to pull us out... I got crew in rescue balls... I'm in a suit... Air lock controls out... Have to cut in... Cabin pressure up... can't control... Cut in starboard lock... Starboard lock... Cut in..." "I read you Ensign." radioed Jietlshaiepr. "We'll get you out in five minutes. "Shtam, ready the gig. Niedrsha, you stay with the ship. Gresha, Miakr, Vole, were going over there. Battle dress, every one. The radiation level is safe for about forty minutes exposure. Plenty of time." The lock was obscured by wreckage. The twisted ribs of hull bracing were bent back jaggedly over the entrance. Hours of work with a laser welder. "Uttova, do you read?" asked Jietlshaiepr. A whisper came back. "...Yes..." "Move away from the lock, we are going to have to cut with a plasma gun." "Affirm..." Gresha pointed the gun to the lock, angled away so as not to fire into the ship when it would penetrate the door. Plasma leapt out. The hull ribs glowed. Again the plasma blasted, licking away the outer most of the obstructing struts. A third blast ate away at the abstract sculpture of twisted struts and plates, and a fog sprang from the seals of the airlock as the ship's atmosphere began to leak away. "This may take some time..." thought Gresha aloud. Two minutes later they had a hole large enough to see through. Jietlshaiepr floated carefully among the molten wreckage to the hole. The inside's of the ship was a mess. Duct work and pipes had collapsed, but she could see a place where she could stand. "Roland's cruiser did a great job on this ship." Jietlshaiepr vanished and reappeared inside the hulk. She caught herself from falling as she adjusted to the ship's artificial gravity field. A vacc suited figure lay on the deck among five inflated rescue balls. "Ensign Ebladatl?" The figure lay unmoving. Jietlshaiepr checked the face plate. Grease and blood was smeared on the young Ensign's face. "Dead?" An eye lid fluttered, no more. Ebladatl was like a feather in her arms as Jietlshaiepr teleported outside. "Vole, take him to the gig. I'll have to teleport back in for the others." - XVII - Shtam piloted the Gig back to the hospital complex. "ETA, one hour fifteen minutes." Jietlshaiepr moved quickly, the two crewmen were the worst off. She and Vole stripped them of their irradiated rescue balls. Radiation sickness well advanced. High fever, hair gone, skin deterioration, tumors... "Good thing we're in the Fan Belt." "Hmm. Looks like Ebladatl has been regenerating himself, he's psionic." Jietlshaiepr carefully examined the medical readouts. "Traces of Psi-double, probably taken a week ago. give him another and he may be able to regenerate in a few hours. He must have been using the last of his energy to send the distress call. "Shtam, have the hospital standing by with two doses of Psi- double." - XVIII - Two hours later the Zhodani fleet crews were boiling over. The Deadhead's had fired on the Uttova. They'd been asking for war for years. This time they'd get what's coming to them. Ten Zhdits class destroyer escorts, eight Zhdine missile corvettes, four Shivva class patrol frigates prepared to jump to Acrolund to catch the Impie if it was still lurking there. High Consul Tlievriashav listened briefly to Jietlshaiepr but was not convinced. Their sighting was interesting but surely there was some mistake. The Imperials would not let one of their newest battle cruisers fall into pirate hands. And the disposition of all such cruisers was known: All in service save one converted to a prison, two destroyed, one lost, presumed destroyed years ago. Besides Tlievriashav had seen the Kliemoshie, the instruments could not be considered that reliable anyhow. The Ine Givar ship could not have been a Kinunir class cruiser. And why would the Ine Givar attack their own allies anyway? Such a cruiser would be a valuable resource, what private group would risk damaging it by tangling with a Consular patrol frigate on an interdicted planet? Acrolund had nothing of value, it's own nuclear war had seen to that. No, the lying deadheads must have struck. They came in with the cruiser pretending to be the relief ship and attacked. Why? Who knows what devious plot the vicious liars had in mind. Consular-Imperial relations were running fairly smoothly at the moment. But, with the Fourth Frontier War twenty years old, is the Imperium now secretly preparing for war? - XIX - Ensign Ebladatl smiled at his nurse and scratched him behind his armor plated ears. "Good boy." Vole looked at Ebladatl for a moment before replying. "Woof. Woof. Now hold still, I'm not finished with your physical." Vole shook his head slowly to himself. "Well, Ensign you seem to be doing well." commented Jietlshaiepr as she watched the proceedings. Ebladatl grinned broadly at the curvaceous surgeon. "I sure am, Doc! I owe you my life. I can't really thank you enough... How are Selen and Chtanch?" "They'll recover. Not as quickly as you, artificial regeneration takes some time." "Thank you!" "Wait till you get my bill." she quipped. "Send it to the Navy." "Suppose you tell me about the attack." "Well sure!" smiled the Ensign eager to impress the beautiful surgeon. "We picked up a ship bearing in on us, but with it's transponder cut off. They wouldn't answer our radio either. The captain gave the order to scramble the fighters so I ordered them off, I was the fighter coordinator. The fighters came in close enough for visual, and with telepathy, I could see through their eyes it was a Kinunir class cruiser. "Now, let me explain about Acrolund, since the nuclear war there, the Consulate and Imperium have been blockading the system so that the planet will be forced to get back on it's own two feet. We protect them from pirate raiders that would want to plunder the place, and generally keep it safe. "Our relief ship was to be Imperial one because we trade off in shifts. Any way, we assumed there were some communication problems with them so we held our fire." Fury crept into the young man's voice, "Then, the stupid liars knocked half of our fighters out of existence. "We fought, but their first hit knocked our nuclear damper out. They put a nuke into us that fused the maneuver drives and half the power plant. The laser and missile turrets burned away. I think we hit them once or twice. The captain ordered the fighters back, we were going to jump out system. "But as they docked a nuke destroyed our landing dock and holed the bridge. I think I was knocked out for a moment, then I realized rest of the bridge crew was dead." Ebladatl took a deep breath, "Suddenly, I was in command." He paused a moment and sat silently before continuing, "The jump was laid in so I hit the button. I barely made it into a pressurized compartment just before the ship jumped. "I had to care for the survivors 'cause I was the only one who could keep going. I took psi-drugs to keep regenerating myself, but there was only a few doses. I was using my regeneration almost constantly for a week. Loosing ground though. I had to store some before I could have the strength to make the transmissions. But I made it. "I guess you know the rest of the story." "Are you certain that the crew aboard the cruiser was Imperial?" asked Shtam. "Of course they were! Who else would attack us? And who else would be in that kind of cruiser?" Shtam quickly explained the presence of the Ine Givar cruiser. Ebladatl didn't even consider the thought. "Why should the Ine Givar attack us? They're psionic. No, it had to be the Deadheads. They have no honesty in their culture, their whole system is based on lies! They're as bad as the Vargr! You can't trust any of them! If I run into the Deadheads again, they won't know what hit them." Ebladatl promised. - XX - Aramat Gas Giant Gas giants are often the main source of fuel in frontier systems. The fuel is free albeit unrefined, and when a ship need only refuel one can easily jump into a descending orbit using the forward momentum of the ship. The ship opens its intakes, makes a quick fuel pass, close up scoops and raise itself back to jump point. The process takes about 10 hours. However, during this time the ship is vulnerable to attack. Inside the gravity well of the giant there are few escape routes. With pirates above, and crushing pressure below, one gets to feel a bit like the filling in a sandwich which is about to be eaten. "Keep a close watch on the sensors, Jiet." warned Niedrsha, "We don't need any more surprises from unwanted friends." "Everything is clear." muttered Jietlshaiepr, "Nothing on the neutrino detector. I'd have found anything the size of a scout ship or larger by now." "There still could be fighter craft. A larger ship nearby, but out of range. I want a clear scan before we start a dive into the grav well." "Ok," she sighed, "Nothing on the neutrino detectors. Switching to passive EMS scan." Jietlshaiepr studied the screen. "Nothing accelerating out there. There's some junk that's orbiting the planet but it's not maneuvering... that's odd... There's an asteroid in a cometary orbit. It comes pretty close to the atmosphere. It must have been captured recently by the gas giant or it would have burned up. Probably will soon anyway." "So what." voiced Niedrsha. "Well, it's just that it... Hold it... Displacement of asteroid three hundred tons... exact. It's a ship. Red alert! Going active!" Niedrsha wrestled with the controls while eyeing the tactical display. The Flamboyant raised her nose. The ship began blazing out of the gas giant's gravity well at four G's. "Here we go!" Jietlshaiepr read off the readings. "I make the target out to be a three hundred ton ship, refined metal hull, dispersed structure. Power unknown. Acceleration unknown. It's just sitting there." "Then we've got em." grined Niedrsha. "Prepare to open fire." "It's still just sitting there. In fact... wait a minute... It's tumbling!" "Tumbling?" Jietlshaiepr looked up. "Power out put zero. Maneuver zero. It's just drifting in space." "It's a trap." said Niedrsha decisively. "We'll head out and continue scanning." Shtam came over the intercom. "If it is a trap, we should probably power down the reactor. We will be less conspicuous to a neutrino detector." "Right, Shtam." replied Niedrsha, "Take the power down to factor four. With that I still have enough maneuvering power. When I've got us in a safe orbit, cut it down to minimum." The Flamboyant continued to rise, looking in every direction for signs of pursuit. - XXI - The Flamboyant drifted, legs drawn up tight, but with its eyes wide. The other ship continued to tumble. Nothing moved. "There's nothing out there I can find." yawned Jietlshaiepr. "No power generated, none radiated, no radio, nothing. That ship's as dead as garrison duty on a saturday night." "We've only been looking for a few hours. I say we sit tight and wait." warned Niedrsha. "How long?" asked Jietlshaiepr. "Till we're sure." "I'm sure." she sighed. "Look, in its orbit, the ship comes pretty high out of the gravity well, probably jumped in system with a high momentum. We can match vectors with it while it is far away from the gas giant, make a close inspection, and not get caught too deeply by the gravity well." - XXII - The ship began to grow on the screen. "Here we come to the bait." thought Niedrsha aloud. The ship was a strange design. A main cylinder with three pylons protruding from the center. Getting closer, the cylinder resolved itself into a dumb bell shape, but with one end flattened along one axis. A heavy framework obscured the lines of the ship. Most of the ship was painted yellow and black. This was marred by sections painted various colors almost none of which matched: the effect of this was that the ship resembled one which had been torn apart and put back together with pieces of other ships of the same model. "What a fuckin' mess." snarled Niedrsha with disgust. "I've never seen anything like it." "It looks familiar to me." announced Shtam anxiously from the engine room. "I think it's a Vargr warship design, give me a minute, and I'll get..." "It's a Vixen." announced Gresha from her turret controls. "Of course!" shouted Shtam. "I should have recognized it. I have never seen one before. Wow!" "She's hot." called Jietlshaiepr. "Reading radioactives over there." "What?" asked Niedrsha anxiously. "It's armed with nuclear warheads." she warned. "Any power readings?" "None. I would have told you." Jietlshaiepr closed her eyes to concentrate. Slowly, and hesitantly she reached out for frequencies not used in electromagnetics. Psionic wavelengths were as dead as the Vixen's fusion reactor. "Well, after all this time, I've learned this much of telepathy: There is no life aboard that thing." "Vixens are robot missile strikers." explained Gresha. "Usually armed with nukes." "They are also incapable of refueling themselves." called Shtam. "This one must have run out of fuel. They are generally used as first strike waves in wars. A fleet of Vixens jump into a system and attack shipping or conduct surface bombardment. There's a robot crew so they are completely expendable. A bit expensive, but they are generally considered nothing more than a missile bus. A MIRV with a jump drive." "Merv? who's Merv?" asked Miakr. Shtam spelled it out "Multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicles. A type of missile that carries more than one warhead." "Oh." "The Vixen carries a fifty ton missile bay, and three triple missile turrets." continued Shtam. "Of course no ship that small has the structure to take the strain of that much firepower. Generally, the ships shake themselves apart." "That's probably what happened to this one." commented Jietlshaiepr. "The hull sections show as having been under extreme stress. But the stress lines are odd. The don't match... It could be that the ship was cannibalized from several ships to get a complete one." "Could the fuckin' thing be a trap?" asked Niedrsha. "It's got atomic warheads." "But there's no power being generated." objected Jietlshaiepr. "It could still be booby trapped." pointed out Gresha. Shtam's voice came over the intercom authoritatively, "Right, I suggest we send over a boarding party consisting of myself, Gresha, and Miakr. We can investigate it without risking the rest of the ship." "Why us?" asked Miakr. "I'll go to evaluate the engines, Gresha obviously knows a Vixen on sight, we need you to evaluate the condition of the robots aboard." "I'll come too. He'll be needing me." announced Vole. - XXIII - Gresha pulled the gig close to the tumbling Vixen. "Any idea's on how to get in?" asked Miakr. "There'll be an emergency manual hatch switch beside the main airlock." reported Gresha. "'Course that's the best place to leave a trap. Our best bet's the turrets. The ship'll be depressurized because there's no living crew. We can just open on up the inspection hatch, and get on in." "Easier said than done." observed Vole. "The ship is tumbling end over end at a rate of one revolution every seven point three four seconds. With a radius of fifteen meters that will make centripetal force of..." "Eleven meters per second per second centripetal acceleration." interrupted Miakr. "Just over one standard G." Shtam picked up the tethers he had ready, "We will secure lines to the hull framework and climb to the turret on the pylon. Any of you ever done any repelling before?" - XXIV - Shtam hung on to the turret pylon. The force of centripetal acceleration here was almost negligeable. The problem lay not in what forces one felt, but in what one saw. The universe spun around his head. The large, blue green gas giant took up half the sky. This might not be so bad if only it would make up it's mind which side of the sky to stay on. Slowly it rolled around them like a huge drunken shark circling its prey. As a boy, he had sometimes lain on his back looking at the ceiling and imagining it was the floor. After a little while the sensation seemed quite real, and disorienting. Now, he realized it was true. Up was down, and down was running in circles all around him. He closed his eyes for a moment, focused them on the pylon and descended. "Falling!" he shouted instinctively. The universe was spinning around his head with no particular orientation. He struggled with the tether as he slipped, grabbing it behind him with his brake hand. The rope yanked. No more falling, but he was drifting seven meters from the pylon. He steadied for a moment and then pulled up the rope. With only a small centripetal vector holding him, he shot toward the ship quickly. "You all right?" asked Vole the brakeman. "I am fine." he sighed. "I just became momentarily disoriented, thank you." He took a deep breath, and sighed. He positioned himself again. "Ok, Climbing!" Breaking in a new leg may be more difficult than I thought. The toe nails are almost complete but what about the reflexes? Down he went again, working his way to the inspection hatch. Grip, slide, slide, grip; grip, slide, slide, grip. That's right, Shtam, now concentrate on the climbing not the scenery. Weight began to hang itself on his shoulders. Eleven meters per second squared acceleration was heavy to a slim, tall zhodani who evolved in the eight point nine of zhdant. The inspection hatch had a mismatched paint job that was a peeling and cracked blue against the faded green turret. Weld marks ran over the turret like a spider web stitching it back together. Under the sensors of Shtam's battle dress the metal fatigue of some sort of past hit was evident. One quarter of the turret had been blasted away by some attacker, and welded back together with sections of other turrets. Boy, somebody really put this one together from junk yard pieces. The inspection hatch was jammed shut. Something of a bad fit in the reassembly. Just needs a bit of filing to get it to open. The battledress servoes whined a moment, then the metal rang through his fingertips as the hatch opened. "I have opened it. You can start down now." Shtam radioed. He worked into the dark turret. His helmet lights picked out an empty chair, all the indicators were dark, but missiles were clearly in the tubes. Automated missile lifts had several missiles standing by to be loaded into the tubes rapidly. The hatch into the turret was open. The panels were an electricians nightmare. Wiring running out everywhere, switches jury rigged, parts replaced with panels that had no right to be in a turret. The loading tube control was stolen from an Air/Raft cruise control. "There is quite a mess in here, folks. Not much outlay for maintenance on this Vixen." "There usually isn't." replied Gresha. Shtam concentrated for a moment. The ship still was completely dark save the light coming from the open hatchway. Then he secured his tether. A few minutes later, Gresha poked her helmet in the hatch. "Looks like they cannibalized this whole ship." Soon Miakr and Vole had joined them in the shaft leading to the rest of the ship. Shtam drew his gauss pistol. "We'll head for the bridge." "It'll be on deck two, right below the missile bay." volunteered Gresha. The shaft was black and silent as Gresha lead the way with her gauss rifle pointed purposefully. The small force of the centripetal acceleration died away as they climbed away from the turret into zero gravity. The shaft opened into a magazine filled with missiles. "The black tipped ones," began Gresha, "I read them as radioactive." Miakr whistled, "Viepchakl, there's a lot of them." "The bridge should be two decks up." said Shtam impatiently. The overhead hatch was open, showing a black pit beyond the light. "Welcome to my parlor..." mumbled Miakr. The light peered up to the next deck. Beyond the decking the hatch to the bridge was closed. Shtam went up first. He quickly looked around. The main airlock for the ship was closed off. Nearby, the ships locker lay opened and empty. "All clear." The others followed. Shtam glanced over the airlock. "The lock is pressurized. Miakr examined the bridge hatch. "I think the bridge is too." "Curiouser, and curiouser." mumbled Vole. "Well, we can open them but it will mean losing the integrity." considered Shtam. "If we seal this deck first we won't lose the gas that is trapped." "Is that important?" asked Miakr. "In an investigation of a derelict almost everything is important." retorted Shtam. "Ok." Vole closed and dogged the lower hatch. "I get you." "All right," began Shtam, "first we should open the bridge compartment. The reduction in pressure will be less that way, because of the comparative volumes of the bridge and airlock." "Just be careful." warned Gresha. "Watch for traps." Shtam examined the hatchway. No obvious trigger mechanisms, no electromagnetic signals from it, no tell tale radiative heat. Nothing. "Vole, do your eyes make out anything on this hatch you feel we ought to know about?" "Nothing I can see." "All right," Shtam cautioned. "I am going to release the manual air valve to equalize the pressure. Vole, be ready with your nose to analyze the gas... Now..." Gas streamed in unseen. The tiny pressure registered in Vole's olfactory sensors. "Ten to the minus five torr and rising. Gas composition seventy nine percent nitrogen, fifteen percent oxygen, five percent carbon dioxide, point seven percent hydrogen oxide, point two percent carbon monoxide, point one percent hydrogen, traces of oil helium, argon, neon. Conclusion: at sufficient pressure, unbreatheable by human or vargr. Ten to the minus two torr and rising... Ten to the minus one torr and rising..." "Unbreathable?" asked Gresha. "Not enough oxygen, not enough water, too much carbon dioxide." explained Miakr. Vole continued counting to five hundred torr and then announce that pressure had stableized. "Now, shall we see what we have got here?" Shtam opened the hatch. His head lamp swept into the blackness. Quickly he climbed the ladder and was through the hatch. The bridge was a mess. Paper scattered and floating around the room in micro gravity. A few bags scattered here and there. At the main command chair was a single human figure. It was dressed in a vacc suit, a sub machine gun strapped around its shoulder. It sat facing the empty video screens and holo tanks which stared back like sightless eyes. Shtam floated over to the figure. A human woman. She lay stretched out in the acceleration couch. Shtam turned the his head lamp onto the face. The face contorted and black. Eyes bulged out. The blackened lips parted screaming for a last breath. Vole began opening the vacc suit seals. and took a sniff as the gas escaped. "Oxygen starvation." "Everything points to it." admitted Shtam. "She must have run out of fuel and gone through the last of the bottled air." "If this ship only ran out of fuel," began Gresha, "Then we can refuel it..." "We have a nice little warship indeed." whistled Shtam.