Outcast

by Guerin Zand

  “How? I mean, if you can tell me how we can keep it a secret, then fine. I don’t think we can.”

  “How would they know, Guerin,” Kelly asked. Now we were getting to the real issue. “These ships are able to go undetected, just like any Collective shuttle. We could use only the Collective technology to make them think it was the Collective.”

  “Yes, but the Collective almost never takes such direct action. That would be one sure sign that there was something different going on. What if one of the ships that call for help takes damage and we have to render assistance?”

  “But didn’t you already involve the Terran people in this when you were out here before, Dad?”

  “Not really. I posed as a rebellious Bree who went by the name of Roberts.”

  “So, we just do the same. Terrans can easily pass as Bree, right.”

  “Yes, Steve, but what happens when we land one of our ships or invite guests onboard? What if we or our ships are recognized? I posed as a Bree full time, so that was never a problem. We were all registered in the ASTN systems as Terrans when we went through that inspection. That’s my big problem with having them throw this at us now. Had we known beforehand, we could have come up with something that would have worked.”

  “Are you just not willing to try because they pissed you off by not telling you about this before we arrived?”

  “No, Maria. If I wasn’t willing to try, I wouldn’t have even bothered with this meeting. I would have just ignored the Collective’s request. I also have another mission, which means we can’t stay here for too long dealing with this problem. I have scheduled the Ryvius to be elsewhere in two months’ time.”

  “What other mission, Guerin?”

  “That would be the ‘None of your business’ mission, Jackie. Voyager can stay around and deal with this on their own until we get back. That shouldn’t be a problem, but first, we need a plan.”

  Nathalia raised her hand and I nodded for her to speak. “I know this is my first time out here, and I may be just a navigator, but I say we do it. I have to believe that if you were doing this on your own, Guerin, that you’d agree. So what if they figure out we have access to Collective technology? If anything, it should make them think twice about screwing with us. As far as the Trogans and their friends go, well, we’ve been a target for centuries. Let’s try and do it without showing our hand, and if they figure it out, we can just refuse to confirm or deny their suspicions. We have plausible deniability. Everyone knows the Collective doesn’t share their technology.”

  “I agree, Dad.”

  “And the rest of you?”

  I looked around and it was unanimous. If I was on my own, I would agree as well, but I wasn’t. They wanted to get involved and I couldn’t blame them for that, but were they thinking it through?

  “You know it’s easy for us to say yes. We have technology that can protect us, but what about the other Ranger crews? What about David and his teams? They’ll be sitting ducks on whatever planets they open offices or land a cargo ship. In just a few weeks we’re bringing out the crews with the ASTN shuttles to start operations. They have no protection either. Not even the protection of our star drives. Are you all willing to put their lives at risk? That’s what our making this decision means. Not to mention that we’re making a decision that will affect the future for all Terrans.”

  “No matter what we decide, the same is true, Guerin.” Kelly was a leader. You could tell every time she spoke. There was no hint of hesitation in her voice. “Nothing you just said is anything new to us. Every one of us had it drilled into our heads that every decision we would make out here could have negative consequences.”

  “I understand why you left Earth and came out here on your own. After you took care of your Heesa problem you didn’t want to put anyone else at risk. You came out here and made yourself a target, taking the attention off Earth and the rest of your team. After what happened on Earth before you left, trust me, I understand. But you’re not the only one who’s willing to take risks for our future. Let us help you. Isn’t that why you formed the Rangers? You're hesitating because you don’t want to risk our lives. Well, screw that! We all signed up for this mission and the risks that come with it. You need to trust us and stop sounding like such a pussy.”

  I started laughing and quite a few others joined.

  “Ok, well then, here’s the plan. We tell no one we’re doing this. I’ll simply tell my friend Sestan that the Collective will handle the issue. We’ll start monitoring the ASTN distress channels and respond when needed. We toss the attackers into the quarantine zone using portals. If the victims need assistance, we simply use a portal to return them to their home system. We’ll let the locals handle any rescue operations.”

  “Let’s plan on spending the week here on Trinix. We’ll get the office team setup and allow all crews a few days for R&R. Then will both head off-planet. The Voyager will head back to the Earth ship to escort the cargo shuttles and teams back here. Ryvius will go on patrol throughout the system. From then on, we will leave one of the two ships in deep space until this matter is settled. I don’t want to hear any complaints about being bored because you’re stuck on the ship either. Remember, you all made this decision.”

  Just then, Gamma came running out of nowhere and hopped on my lap. She was getting bigger and the impact caused me to let out a little grunt. She just laughed at me.

  “It’s bedtime, Papa, and you promised me a story.”

  Prima came in. “I’m sorry. She got away from me. It’s getting a lot harder to keep up with her.”

  “That’s ok. I think we’re almost finished here. Why don’t you take her to her room and get her tucked in? I’ll be there in a few minutes. Ok, Gamma?”

  “Ok, but don’t take too long.” She pointed her finger at me and gave me a stern look.

  I tried not to laugh. I lowered my head and looked up at her like a scolded child looking at his mother. “I promise.”

  Gamma gave me a little peck and ran over to hug her sister good night as well. Prima tried to corral the little devil child, but Gamma took off screaming and giggling down the hall as she made Prima chase after her. Prima may have looked frustrated by Gamma’s antics, but I knew that Prima was happier than she’d ever been. Although Kelly was right, we had all accepted the risks that came with this mission, it was our families I was concerned about. It wouldn’t be long before members of the teams who settled out here started to have families of their own. When that happened, they’d start to be more concerned about the risks we took.

  With that little interruption, the meeting ended. Some left the mess while others hung around talking. I got up and started to walk towards Gamma’s room. Kelly had gotten up as well and was following me out. After her following me for a bit, I stopped and turned to face her.

  “Is there something else, Kelly?”

  “Well, I was just wondering what this other mission you mentioned was.”

  “Need to know, Kelly, and right now you don’t need to know.”

  “Oh, please. When exactly will I need to know?”

  “When we get where we’re going.”

  “Then how am I supposed to prepare the crew for whatever it is we’re going to be doing?”

  “Don’t worry about that. It will be strictly a volunteer mission.”

  “Will it be dangerous?”

  “Maybe for me, but not the rest of the crew.”

  “Didn’t I just make myself clear enough? You’re not alone anymore and we’re not going to let you take all the risks on your own.”

  “And who assigned you the role of my babysitter?”

  “Very funny, but maybe that’s just what you need. If you’re going to do something stupid, I think we all have a right to know.”

  “Ok, I’m going to do something really stupid. Are we good now?”

  “You really are an asshole, you know that?”

  “Yes, I’ve been told that a few times. Now, if we’re finish
ed here, I need to go and tell my daughter a bedtime story or face her wrath.”

  I smiled, turned back around, and walked off to spend some time with my daughter. Kelly wasn’t happy with the answers I gave her, that was obvious. We’d only been together as a crew for a few months. It was going to take time for us all to get to know each other better. Most of the crew had spent a lot of time together already over the last few years of training. I was closest to my family and Senri. We hadn’t forged close relationships with the rest of the crew at that point, but that would come with time. Maybe what Kelly was trying to get through my thick head was that it was time for me to start thinking as part of a team again. I had been doing things on my own for a long time. I was going to have to change if this was going to work.

  We ended up staying on Trinix for three weeks instead of the one week I had proposed. We all helped the office team get set up in their new facilities. David caught on quickly to the local bureaucracy and how to schmooze with the other traders who were at the port. Yes, those were a couple of the odd skills we actually screened for in our candidates. He even organized a little open house during the second week.

  David’s team set up booths showcasing the various goods we brought with us from Earth for the aliens to sample. It was no surprise that the liquor, wine, and beer booths drew a lot of attention. The big surprise was the chocolate booth. It turned out, for some species, chocolate was a very potent intoxicant which they found most enjoyable. The Terran system was simply not capable of supplying the amount of chocolate they were requesting, so the price for chocolate soared through the roof. M&Ms were among the top sellers. For some, the taste of chocolate was a bit offensive and they preferred to swallow M&Ms like pills. For those who enjoyed the taste of chocolate, we showed them how well it paired with bourbon, beer, and peanut butter. That helped with those sales as well. By the end of the open house, we had enough orders to fill more than the four cargo ships we were planning on bringing in from the Earth ship.

  Trinix, as I have mentioned before, was a tropical world. The climate in some areas was perfect for the cultivation of cocoa and coffee. David had some discussions with the planetary officials about possible cultivation and processing of these two goods on Trinix. We had members of the Ranger project who were experts in agriculture and food processing, so this was a future ambition of ours that we might have to move up on our schedule. David was concerned about maintaining control of these markets if we were to allow this, but I didn’t think it would be a problem. The products from the Terran system would always be considered the best, the original, and thus fetch a higher price. I mean, who wouldn’t prefer American bourbon to Japanese bourbon for example. Anyways, we were still a long way from any of that happening.

  I spent most of my time, along with my family, enjoying Trinix and what it had to offer. I fell in love with this planet when I first arrived here a few centuries back. Maybe because it was my first visit to another inhabited world, actually Trogan was my first, but you can’t count being in a conference room as a visit. The people of Trinix were friendly, the food and drink were exceptional, and it just felt like you were on vacation whenever you visited.

  While the crews and the office team were in awe of their first visit to a new world, Gamma just took it in stride. My little daughter, who was born on a moon, lived on a spaceship, visited a Bree Dyson sphere, and played with alien children every day didn’t see what the big deal was. The way she saw it, the whole universe was her playground. I couldn’t help wondering how long it would be before all humans felt like that.

  We also spent a few evenings enjoying the hospitality of Froshjen and his family. We discussed allowing us access to the transporter system on Earth and we agreed to a limited use. He didn’t want us to turn Jim and Sally’s home in the Black Hills into a major transport hub. In exchange, we would help him out with some transportation issues. His group wanted to expand their transporter system but to do so they had to physically travel to other worlds to first build new stations. He knew, although I never actually told him, that I had access to the Collective’s portal technology. We could get the engineers and hardware to new worlds quickly rather than them having to spend decades traveling with their current technology. We both had our secrets to keep and we trusted each other with those secrets.

  Finally, the Voyager and Ryvius departed Trinix. We both left the local binary system under our star drives. Once we put a few light years between us and the Trinix system, we opened transit portals to our final destinations. Steve and the Voyager went back to the Earth ship to gather up the cargo ships and their crews. He had taken the orders for Earth goods from David, so they planned on taking a few days back there getting the ships loaded. Then the Voyager would open a transit portal and escort the cargo ships back to the Trinix system.

  The ASTN cargo ships we had purchased were only capable of a little over 500c. That meant they were going to need a little more time to travel from where they exited the portal to Trinix. While the ASTN member worlds had ships that could match, and even exceed our star drives current top speed of 1000c, the cargo ships we had purchased weren’t the latest generation. They were on par with what a lot of cargo haulers used in this area of space.

  This region of space was one of the most densely populated with intelligent life. Still, travel between inhabited worlds could take months, even years with the current technology available in the ASTN. For this reason, travel to other areas of the Milky Way by ASTN members was not a common occurrence. The Terran system, as well as the Trogan empire, unaligned worlds of the ASTN, and the Alacian system were all located in a minor arm, the Orion spur, of the spiral galaxy we call the Milky Way.

  Our galaxy spans from 100,000 to 180,000 light years across. Our Sun was approximately 26 light years from the center of the Milky Way. It was only the older, more advanced races, that truly traveled the galaxy. Relatively speaking, you could consider this spur that we inhabited a nursery of intelligent life. There were other such nurseries throughout the galaxy, but the great distances between these nurseries prevented frequent interaction between these emerging groups. Well, except for a certain wayward child from a planet called Earth. We’ll get to that in a little bit.

  Anyhow, this all meant that the Ryvius was on patrol for almost two months while the Voyager was away. I was already running behind schedule, so I was anxious for the other cruiser to return and relieve us of patrol duty. During the whole time we were out on patrol we received no reports of Trogan activity. It was possible that word had gotten out that I was back in ASTN space. I wasn’t too worried though. If the Trogans made an appearance while we were away on that other mission, I was sure Steve could handle the situation with Jackie’s help. Still, I always enjoyed screwing the Trogans over whenever I could.

  We all went back to Trinix for a short stay while the cargo crews had time to work with David and plan their first deliveries. I wanted my crew to have a little time on the planet before we set out on our mission. I spent most of the time on the ship allowing the rest of the crew some time to play. One night, Maria, Prima, and Gamma came back with a take-out meal for me. They were feeling bad for leaving me all alone.

  “What’s this?” I asked as Maria handed me a small box containing some local food.

  “They called it ‘Denisda’. Prima and Gamma had this for dinner and they liked it. We thought you might like it too. The closest thing on Earth I can think of would be shawarma. It’s some sort of meat wrapped in a flatbread.”

  “See, this is why I say the universe is so screwed. I can find shawarma on an alien planet, but I can’t find a decent cheeseburger or anything that even resembles a cheeseburger. What’s the point anymore?”

  Of course, that didn’t stop me from enjoying the Denisda. “I mean, you can’t even find a decent sandwich out in these worlds. Maybe I should just give up on everything like Arthur Dent and open a little sandwich and burger shop somewhere.”

  Maria smiled and decided to play alo
ng. “Well you do have a ‘random’ daughter created from your DNA, so you and Arthur have that in common.”

  “Exactly! You know, I should have taken those books a little more seriously. You could loosely interpret the life of Arthur as a prophecy for the way my life has turned out.”

  “Some would say you already take the Guide a little too seriously.”

  “Yes, but only because it’s helped me see through their stupid little alien manipulations.”

  Maria rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Can’t you just enjoy your shawarma without trying to find some deeper meaning in it?”

  “The shawarma is not the point, Maria. It is just a symbol of a bigger problem in this universe.”

  “And what would that be, Dad?”

  “Look at all the coincidences we run across every day out traveling to different worlds and meeting new races. Most of us require the same basic atmosphere to breathe, give or take a slight variation, with different gravities and atmospheric pressures, yet still within a zone we can tolerate. We can eat the food, or some of it at least, that the other races consume, and we all decided at some point in our ancient histories to learn to create alcoholic beverages before we invented the wheel. A lot of us even have very similar physical forms. But for some reason, not a single world I visited has anything close to a cheeseburger. Now, if that isn’t proof that this universe is simply fucking with me, then you tell me what it does mean.”

  “It means your paranoid, Dad! By definition! If you think the universe was designed to simply screw you over, that is paranoia, plain and simple.”

  “You’re just like all the other aliens, Maria. Whenever I make a good point, like I just did, you fall back to calling me paranoid. You can’t ignore the obvious. I’m fucking eating shawarma on an alien planet. They have ground meat here and on other planets. I’ve seen sausage, or something similar, and I even had something on one planet that was a pretty good attempt at a chili dog. But when it comes to cheeseburgers, they’re not even fucking trying! You can ignore me, call me paranoid, but you can’t ignore the simple fact that the existence of cheeseburgers being limited to Earth is more than a little suspicious.”