Harmon faced the woman that had beaten Evelyn in the next round. He didn’t want to strike her in the face, but he would have, as that was the nature of military combatives. Gender was irrelevant. She threw a kick to his thigh, and he stepped back, slapping her foot hard to cause her to keep turning off balance. He quickly slipped behind her and put her in a sleeper hold. She realized her predicament and tapped before she went under. As they exited the ring, she smiled and nodded. It was both an acknowledgement of his fighting ability and a thank you. She knew what he could have done to her in the ring but chose not to.
Harmon was in the semi-finals. He noticed that Yatarward had lost in the last round. He wouldn’t get to face him in the combatives. It was too bad. He wondered if Yatarward had lost his match on purpose so that he wouldn’t have to step into the ring with him. His opponent was a shorter man, wide at the shoulders with a low center of gravity.
Harmon decided to fight this one standing up. He kept the man from getting inside his reach with a flurry of punch combinations. The Marine was clearly frustrated, as he preferred to fight in close or on the ground. His frustration got the best of him, taking his mind out of the fight, and Harmon sent him reeling with a kick to his head. Harmon rushed in and finished him with a technical knockout when the referee decided the man was no longer safely defending himself from Harmon’s punch combinations.
The final fight of the night started with five minutes more rest than the other fights had. Harmon’s competition was shorter than him, at an even six feet. Harmon had watched several of his fights, and he knew the man was fast. Very fast. For this one, he decided to use brute strength.
As soon as the match started, Harmon came in close, eliminating the man’s fast hands. When he got inside the man’s reach, he enveloped him in the type of clinch that tired fighters use. He then lifted and fell back, slinging the man and turning. He landed on top of him and was able to straddle the man and rain elbows on his head, as the man attempted to control Harmon’s hands. It didn’t take long for Harmon to land the first disorientating blow, and the referee stopped it shortly thereafter.
* * * * *
Chapter Five
After the fights, everyone showered and changed back into their fatigues. All of the competitors came by Harmon’s assigned locker and congratulated him before they headed into the bar at the convention center. Everyone but Yatarward, that is.
Harmon, Twiggy, Evelyn, and her friend Sergeant Joslyn Whaley were having a beer while they waited for the awards ceremony. Evelyn had introduced Joslyn to them a few minutes earlier. Sergeant Whaley had insisted they call her JoJo if they didn’t mind fraternizing with a lowly non-commissioned officer.
“I don’t mind at all,” Twiggy said, smiling at her.
“Well, since you did almost fall asleep in my arms, I think we can do away with the regulations,” Harmon said, raising his beer and causing the pale redhead’s cheeks to blush.
“Let’s not get too friendly, now,” Evelyn admonished, smiling to herself. “I still lay claim.”
“Don’t worry about it,” JoJo said, looking over at Twiggy. “I like them tall and lean.”
“Well, alrighty then,” Twiggy said, grabbing his beer. He put his arm around her and walked her to the nearest table. “How ‘bout we get to knowing each other a bit.”
Harmon and Evelyn caught up on old times for the half hour they had to wait until the awards ceremony. She told him about life in the fleet, making recon, and being a platoon leader. He told her of coming back to Joth, how Clip was doing, and about moving in with Zerith. She laughed when he told her that he had no idea where Zerith stuffed all the fruit and vegetables he ate. She said she wanted to meet him.
It didn’t take long for them both to feel the same closeness they shared at the academy. He told her of his plans to purchase a ship with his friends and become salvagers. He admitted it was a way to make a lot of credits, but she knew it wasn’t a desire of his to get rich; it was his desire to get into space. It was something the fleet had denied him, even though he had earned the right. In a way, she envied him; he would leave the system through the gate. That was something she hadn’t been able to do.
The Tretrayon Defense Fleet was just that, a defense fleet. She had, however, heard rumors that some of the fleet might go fight for another system. It would be a historical event if it happened as the fleet had not left the system for two hundred years. She told him of the rumors.
* * *
Specialist Grant Lowantha was in civilian clothes. It was just one of the many uniforms he wore as a counter intelligence specialist in the fleet. Sometimes he even wore other systems’ military uniforms, depending on his assignment. He rarely did any work within the home system. He specialized in retrieving electronics, programming, and the occasional piece of equipment. He then had them smuggled back to Tretra for reverse engineering. He just so happened to be in the system and attending the festivities around the competition when he received the coded message. He was working tonight.
Having never been one to question orders, he eased over to the strange mech parked by a civilian transport. After observing the machine and the area with both his own senses and a sweep with a sophisticated slate, he determined that no one was anywhere near the area. They were all inside watching the combatives and getting ready for the awards ceremony. He heard the crowd roar after one of the fights and figured he had at least an hour before anyone came back. All the other mechs had been loaded onto the dropship to be taken back to Tretra after the ceremony. The ship had been locked up, so there was no reason for security to be at the hanger.
He eased over to the mech, climbed up the leg, and opened the cockpit so he could hack into the operating system. His orders were to download everything, including the software for the missile deployment and the comms. The hatch did not appear to be locked. He opened it and received the shock of his life, as a Prithmar pushed a small laser pistol barrel between his eyes.
“Hello, iss there ssomething I can help you with?” Zerith asked.
“I…I,” stammered the military spy.
“You will now climb down sslowly and keep your handss where I can ssee them,” Zerith said.
The embarrassed spy, one who had countless successful missions under his belt, stood with his hands up as a Prithmar called someone on his comm. The barrel never wavered. Lowantha noticed it was a smaller version of the weapon he had seen on the video, the same type that the IR entrant had used. He had no doubt it was accurate and deadly. Commander Fritz is not going to be happy, he thought.
Rinto and Clip arrived shortly after the calls were made. Rinto was livid. Clip just smiled; he knew what the man had been up to. Someone wanted to know what made the mech tick. He would find out who. He eased over behind the man while his attention remained on the pistol, still steadily aimed at him, even though its holder was eating a large yellow vegetable and crunching happily. Clip’s fingers flew across his slate, and he proceeded to copy everything from the man’s slate from a few feet away.
When Star Port Security arrived, Rinto explained to them what had occurred, and they hauled the man off to jail. Clip provided them with a film clip taken from the mech before they left. This was the planet Joth, and any type of thievery was dealt with accordingly.
They told the man as they put him into the back of their hovercraft that he was lucky he wasn’t armed when he attempted to enter the mech. On Joth, that could have gotten him shot with few questions asked, which was one of the reasons the crime rate was so much lower on Joth than Tretra. As the officer explained this, he stretched his consonants. His human partner agreed.
“What do you think that was all about?” Rinto asked them.
“I do not know,” Zerith said. “I wass watching Harmon win hiss lasst fight on my sslate and eating a piece of Joobla. I had the mech in passsive mode. Perhapss I sshould have waited to call the authoritiess. We could have found out.” There was a sparkle in his eyes.
“I got everything off his slate,
so we’ll know when we get back home, that’s for sure,” Clip said. He was looking at his slate. “Well, now, isn’t that interesting. It’s encrypted,” he said, looking up at his friends.
* * *
The ceremony went quickly. The top five entrants were awarded. Admiral Timerton himself handed Lieutenant Tomeral the trophy and posed with him for a photo, though he never said a word. An aide explained that the credits would be deposited and available the next day, then he quickly scurried off. Harmon stuck around and answered some questions from the local news teams on Joth. None of the teams from Tretra interviewed him.
He, Twiggy, and their two dates for the evening walked over to the hauler as Zerith was walking it onto the bed. He jumped on every chance he got to operate it, which was why he had been in it, watching the matches. He had to look up at the screens while he was inside, since the harness and padding had been custom made for Harmon, but he did all right.
Harmon introduced everyone. Zerith jumped down off the hauler and shook hands with the ladies and Twiggy. Clip had met everyone but JoJo in the past. Rinto smiled and stuck out his mechanical hand to shake. He seldom thought of it as anything but a part of him.
His friends told Harmon of the attempted break in. Twiggy said it may have been someone from Yatarward Corporation trying to gain information on the mech. The women didn’t say anything; they both suspected the fleet was involved. Being on active duty, they had heard that some of the technology for their new equipment had been gained from outside the system. Some of the advancements and modifications had come too fast for them to have been developed organically.
They all went to the warehouse and pulled the hauler into the bay, although they didn’t bother to unload it. The group celebrated the win, telling stories about each other and their past. Clip turned up his music box and introduced the visitors to twenty-first century music, and Twiggy attempted to drink one of the Prithmar beers. He stopped after three sips.
“That’s like taking shots, Zee,” Twiggy said, shaking his head and sticking his tongue out to cool it. He had taken to calling Zerith as Zee, like Clip did. Everyone laughed at him.
* * * * *
Chapter Six
The next morning, they were all woken up by pounding on the door of the bay. When Harmon opened the small door to see what was going on, he was surprised to see a military hauler, its driver, a commander, and several fleet masters at arms outside.
“What is going on, ma’am?” he asked the commander.
“I am Commander Fritz, and I have come to take your mech to the technical lab on Tretra to determine how it defeated the most modern mechs in the fleet, Lieutenant,” she said as if there was no choice in the matter. “According to regulations, FR-1650, Subset A, Section 1, any weapon belonging to an Inactive Reserve member may be brought in and serviced at the fleet’s convenience,” she quoted. “I will also require the pistol used in the competition.”
Before he could answer her, the bay door started to open. Harmon looked over and saw Rinto was the one who had opened it. Rinto had been right behind Harmon as he opened the smaller door and had heard what the woman had said.
“Miss,” Rinto said. “I don’t care what regulation you quote from. I am not in the fleet. This is Joth, and you can’t just take something that belongs to someone else, even if you do work for the system government. It doesn’t work that way here.”
“That mech…” she started to say.
“That mech belongs to me. I bought it last night from Harmon. I paid good credit for it and the pistol. They both belong to me. Now, if you’ll have your people move that hauler, I’ll be on my way,” he interrupted with a smile.
She stared at him and didn’t move, resolve in her eyes. It was clear she was trying to figure a way around this complication.
“Are you going to move, or do I need to call the mayor?” he asked. “Me and Kizoola go way back. I play a monthly game of cards with him and his parent. Been friends for years,” he explained.
She turned and motioned to her men, they loaded up, and drove away. The last thing she wanted was for the local law enforcement to get involved. It was bad enough she had to get Specialist Lowantha out of jail last night. She didn’t want the mayor of the capitol city on the planet to get involved, too. There was no telling who the Prithmar knew at the planetary level of government, either. It was bad enough that the government of Joth was constantly inquiring about the fact that no races, other than humans, were in the Tretrayon Defense Fleet. The planet had offered to provide a full diverse crew from within its citizenship, but that would never happen. It was a touchy subject within the system, and she would not be the one to fuel that fire.
“What was that all about?” Clip asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Well, we know who was all-fired up about getting into the mech last night, now don’t we,” Twiggy said.
“Well, as far as they’re concerned, it’s mine, and they can’t have it,” Rinto said with a wink. “Say, could I keep it here in your warehouse, Zerith?” he asked.
“Abssolutely, I inssisst. My parent will have to charge you the ssame amount that you paid for it, though,” Zerith answered, the corners of his mouth turning up in a close imitation of a human smile.
The women laughed at them, though Evelyn was curious as to what fleet would try next. She, Twiggy, and JoJo got ready to leave as the dropship was scheduled to depart at 1200. She went out to say goodbye to Harmon, who was standing by the mech.
“We don’t need to wait so long to see each other, you know,” he said to her.
“I know, but we both thought it was best. We were wrong. I plan on coming to see you every chance I get, now. If you are not off-planet salvaging, that is. You better let me know when you will be around,” she said, lightly punching his chest.
“I will,” he said, with a smile. “Hey, that reminds me; I need to check my credit account.”
Harmon brought up his account on his slate. There was no new deposit showing in it. There definitely was not one for 100,000 credits, and he could tell something wasn’t right. He used his comm to call the number he was given for the finance office last night after the ceremony.
They stood by as he connected with the finance office, and he proceeded to get the run around for ten minutes. When he finally reached someone that could answer his questions, he became furious.
After the call, he threw his comm onto the couch. Everyone had heard one side of the conversation, but they waited to hear the whole story.
“Those bastards!” he exclaimed. “They paid me the prize money all right, but they deposited it into my military pay account. It was deposited at 2500 per regulations, the private just told me. That was the one I cussed at like a squiffle. Poor kid. I mean, it wasn’t his fault the brass decided to screw me over. I knew it was too good to be true.”
“Your military account? But that can’t be accessed without adding an active duty code number for any request,” JoJo said, puzzled.
“One Harmon does not have and will not have unless the IR gets activated and he is called to duty,” Evelyn explained to the civilians in the room.
“The last time it was an active account, I was at the academy and received a monthly stipend,” Harmon said. “Those bastards,” he added again.
“All the work and all of our plans just went right out the chute,” Clip lamented, sitting down. “I should hack their entire pay system and fry it,” he added, talking to himself.
Twiggy looked at Harmon. He knew from the limited times that he had spent with Clip that if anyone could do that, he could. JoJo looked back and forth at them, unsure of what to say.
* * * * *
Chapter Seven
Later that afternoon, after Evelyn, JoJo, and Twiggy had left with promises to stay in touch, the four natives of Joth sat down in the bay. Clip was working on the alien cube they had discovered a few weeks back. It was the first time he’d had a chance to examine it; the preparations for the competition had taken up al
l his previous time.
Rinto looked at the two young men he thought of as his own. “Let me tell you what we’re about to do. I’m going to talk to Yarkle. It’s a strange being, having no gender and all, but it’s a reasonable being. It told me last time it dropped off a load that it was nearing the end of its life cycle and had no offspring to leave its ship to. It wanted to know if I wanted to buy its ship. It was kind of pricey since it is a decent-sized hauler. I told it no thanks; I was through salvaging a long time ago. I would have mentioned it to you three a while back, but it was more than you could afford, even with the prize money.”
“Frost,” Rinto added, running his good hand through his hair. “I’m not getting any younger myself. If you boys sell me your scrap and pay me…oh, say, five percent of profit off anything else you find, I’ll buy his ship and sell it to you for a credit. It’s already registered in the system and with the galaxy, so you can use it to go through the gates. Transferring a title is easy if something is already registered.”
Harmon didn’t know what to say. Clip had stopped what he was doing and looked over to Rinto. Zerith stopped chewing his snack. The bay was silent.
“This is…we…I,” Harmon stuttered.
“Aww, don’t make it all mushy, boy,” Rinto said. He could see the emotions in Harmon’s eyes, feelings that Harmon had no control over, and Rinto didn’t want to embarrass him.
“Screw that,” Clip said, as he came over and hugged Rinto. Rinto held onto him and patted his back.
“I cannot wait to tell my parent,” Zerith said. “I am going to sspacce. Very few in our family go to sspacce. Only the oness transsporting the atmossphere equipment go, and that iss only to enssure complete sshipment and to provide guidancce on the equipment upon arrival.” He was practically bouncing, his tail flicking back and forth.
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