Set the Terms

by Mia R Kleve

  * * *

  The Watering Trough, Karma Station, Karma System

  “So…how’s business?” Keromnal asked.

  Colonel Fragontic’s drink stopped halfway to his mouth, and his red-lined trunks twisted in wry humor. “I only thought I was in trouble before. Now I know I’m in trouble!”

  Keromnal gave him a small smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Ever since we were boys, one thing was true. Lock up your candy when Keromnal starts getting coy!”

  “Coy? I didn’t know you even knew that word, Fragontic.”

  “Hey, just because I make a living charging into blazing laser beams and magnetic accelerator cannon rounds doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.” He chuckled. “Well, maybe it does, especially the MAC rounds, but it doesn’t mean I have to be a completely uneducated one. I took most of the same classes as you growing up, and you’re not the only Sumatozou who can rub two brain cells together periodically.”

  Keromnal joined in the chuckle. “No, I know you’re not stupid, which is why I was excited to see you were on station here.”

  “Bah. ‘On-station,’ you say. I’d say we’re stuck at this hell hole while the guild council tries to figure out how to remove their collective trunks from their asses. I almost went back home to Sumas for some rest and relaxation. If you’re not going to do anything, might as well do it somewhere nice, eh?”

  “True. But you didn’t.”

  “Have you seen the price of F11 recently?” He slapped the table with one of his trunks in frustration. “Damn war with the Humans drove up prices, even though we weren’t involved in it. Too damn expensive to travel home and back for no reason. The troops can get drunk just as easily here, and staying here will let me pay them another couple of times before I go broke.”

  “So you’d be available for some business?”

  “The guild says we’re not taking contracts, remember?”

  “I am aware, however, this isn’t a guild contract. It’s a Peacemaker bounty contract. To the best of my knowledge, you’re still able to take those.”

  Fragontic’s trunks stilled, and he looked cautiously at Keromnal. “What’s the job?”

  “You wound me,” the Peacemaker said. “It almost sounds like you don’t trust me.”

  “I still remember being left to face the authorities while you got away with the candy. To this day, my ass still hurts when I sit from the paddling my father gave me. I think I’d like to know all the details this time.”

  “Why do you have to bring that up every time I see you?” Keromnal asked.

  “Mostly because every time you see me, you try to talk me into doing something that is liable to get me killed, or worse.”

  “So your wife is still mad at me?”

  Fragontic smiled. “Let’s just say you shouldn’t hold your breath on being invited to dinner the next time you’re back on Sumas and leave it at that, shall we?”

  “Fine,” Keromnal said. He chuckled, reliving the memory of the last time they’d been together. After a moment, Fragontic joined him.

  “Okay,” the merc finally said, “so what’s the deal, really? All this beating around the bush is beginning to scare me.”

  “Just between you and me, the Science Guild has been raising Canavars.” He put up a hand to forestall Fragontic’s question. “I don’t know why yet; I just know they have. I caught one group with at least four of them—”

  “At least four?” Fragontic asked. “How do you not know how many they had? Aren’t they kind of hard to hide?”

  “I didn’t want to search the ship; I just had them drive it into a star.”

  “Huh. Must have been a big ship.”

  “It was. It was a Behemoth.”

  Fragontic whistled. “Ouch. That’ll hurt the old bottom line.” He nodded once. “So that’s how it is. You’re playing for keeps.”

  “Yes I am. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Canavars recently, either. If it’s Science Guild personnel that’ve been behind it all—and it looks like they are—I aim to put a stop to it. Things are crazy enough in the galaxy at this time without people dropping Canavars onto populated planets.”

  “Just like the bad old days of the Great Galactic War,” Fragontic said. He sighed. “Okay, you’ve got my attention. Just tell me we’re not going to have to fight any Canavars on this mission of yours.”

  “I don’t know,” Keromnal replied. “I have intel on a secret Science Guild outpost, and I’d like to check it out. I don’t know if they’re breeding Canavars there…or something worse. All I know is that the guild is trying very hard to keep it from being noticed…which makes me really want to know what’s going on there.”

  Fragontic cocked his head. “What’s worse than Canavars?”

  Keromnal shrugged his trunks. “I don’t know, and that’s what scares me.”

  “And that’s also where my company comes into the picture.”

  “Correct. I need to take a look at that system, and I don’t want to do it without some support.”

  “I really want to tell you no,” Fragontic said, “but my accounts are so empty it’s a luxury I don’t have. This is a paid gig, right?”

  “It is,” Keromnal said. “Standard rate.” He looked around to see if anyone nearby was listening. “As it turns out, I know someone here who could probably get us some shorter transitions there and back. Two less days in hyperspace each way would also help cut down on costs.”

  “Shragontal is the gate master here now?” Fragontic asked. “I didn’t know that. Hmmm…”

  “She also has a mate with a really big MAC, too.”

  “How big?”

  “Bigger than yours.”

  “Well that’s disappointing.” Fragontic shrugged. “All right; no adding her to my herd. In that case, I guess I’ll have to take your job. When do you want to leave?”

  “I believe time is of the essence. As soon as you can have the ship ready to go.”

  “You wound me, Peacemaker!” Fragontic said in mock pain. “I run a tight ship, and it’s always ready to go!”

  Keromnal raised an eyebrow.

  Fragontic shrugged. “Okay, the ship is ready, but I’ll probably need time to recall the mercs from the bars. How about we leave in twelve hours?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  * * *

  CIC, SMS Pride of Sumas, Hyperspace

  Keromnal took his seat at the back of the Combat Information Center as the ship went to battle stations prior to exiting hyperspace. The captain of the Pride of Sumas, Captain Bragontic, nodded once to him in acknowledgment then went back to what she was doing. She’d been less than thrilled at his lack of intel on what to expect in the Tregoth system.

  Keromnal had a sensation of falling as the ship emerged from hyperspace, then the ship—and his own system—stabilized.

  “Drones out!” the captain called. “Status ASAP!”

  The main Tri-V viewer was set to show the battlespace around the Pride, and it remained blank. Keromnal began breathing normally again after a couple of minutes. Entrance into the system was what he’d been most worried about. There was no defense for getting hit with thousands of missiles upon emergence; anything after that, he could handle. While he’d thought there wouldn’t be a lot of defensive systems—the Humans had said there weren’t any in the system they’d been to—that hadn’t quelled the butterflies in his stomach.

  “One habitable planet in the system and two gas giants,” the sensor tech said after a few minutes. “I don’t see any evidence of civilization on any of the planets. Oh…there you are! Contact! I’ve got a contact coming out from behind the habitable planet.”

  “What is it?” the captain asked.

  “It’s a transport, ma’am, and it’s burning hard for the stargate.”

  “Any chance of stopping it or getting weapons onto it before it gets there?”

  “No, ma’am, there isn’t.”

  Bragontic looked over h
er shoulder at Keromnal. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Set a course for the planet, please, and get me a comm channel to the gate master.” After about ten minutes, they had the channel, although the transmissions lagged due to the distance.

  “Yes?” asked the gate master, a Sumatozou named Dragopal. “What can I do for you?”

  Keromnal bowed. “Well met, Gate Master. I am Peacemaker Keromnal, on a mission to check out this system. There is currently a ship proceeding toward the stargate. I request you do not activate the stargate. I believe that ship has contraband in it, and I would like to search it before it leaves the system.”

  “Certainly, Peacemaker. We will not activate the stargate until you’ve conducted your inspection of the vessel.”

  “Thank you.” He turned back to the ship’s captain. “Belay my last. I’d like to go search that ship first.”

  * * *

  CIC, SMS Pride of Sumas, Tregoth System

  “The transport is still heading for the stargate,” the sensor tech said two days later. The Pride was passing the planet, but its quarry was almost to the stargate. It had ignored all attempts at communication, and it hadn’t stopped as its crew had been ordered to.

  “Any idea?” Keromnal asked.

  “None,” the captain said. “It’s heading at the stargate as if it were going to open.”

  “Could you call the gate master again?”

  “Certainly.”

  After a couple of minutes, Dragopal appeared on the Tri-V. “I don’t know what that ship is doing any more than you do, Peacemaker,” he said, forestalling Keromnal’s question. “You have told me not to activate the stargate for them, and I will not.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Keromnal replied. “It was just that it didn’t appear like he was stopping…”

  “And you thought I would let him through. Don’t worry; it won’t happen.”

  “Thirty seconds until the transport reaches the stargate,” the sensor tech said.

  “Thanks,” Keromnal said to the gate master. “I appreciate your support.”

  “No problem—” The gate master interrupted himself at something offscreen. “Wait! That’s not possible! Shut it down,” he ordered someone offscreen.

  “What’s happening?” Keromnal asked.

  “The stargate is activating,” the gate master said. “We didn’t do it, and we can’t stop it.”

  “Stargate just came on!” the sensor tech called.

  “Turn it off!” Keromnal directed. “Shut it down!”

  “We can’t! All of our controls have been deactivated! Nothing is working!”

  “Can’t you pull the power?”

  “Not in what time we have!”

  “The transport is gone,” the sensor tech called. “The stargate deactivated after it went through.”

  “Where did the ship go?” Keromnal asked.

  “I don’t know,” Dragopal replied. “After it went through, the stargate shut down and the system relinquished control again. We can now operate the controls, but the system shows it hasn’t been accessed since yesterday’s activation period. Whatever just happened, it wiped itself clean afterward. It also used up the power stored in the capacitors; I won’t be able to use the stargate again until it recharges.”

  “What do you want us to do?” the captain asked.

  Keromnal flipped his trunks in frustration. “Well, the ship is gone, and we can’t go after it, even though I have a good idea of where it’s gone. What do we have at the planet?”

  “We’ve found one small complex, and that’s it,” the sensor operator said.

  “How small?”

  “Well, it’s hard to tell,” she said. She brought up the image of the planet on the main Tri-V. Tregoth, the planet, was barren, and most of it appeared brown, with a small equatorial belt of green. She zoomed in on a spot in the southern hemisphere on the main continent. “It’s right here,” she said, and an “X” appeared in blue.

  She continued to zoom in on it, and two small buildings grew in the viewer, located next to a mountain. The buildings were small—a three-story office building and perhaps some sort of barracks.

  “What’s that black spot on the mountain?” Keromnal asked.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” the sensor operator said, slewing the picture over to the mountain and zooming in further, “but those are doors.”

  “Doors?” Keromnal asked, his voice tinged with awe. “For us to see them from here, they’d have to be…”

  “About sixty feet high and a little more in width,” the sensor tech said with a nod. “They’re huge.”

  “What do you need doors that big for?” the captain asked. “Even our largest combat vehicles could go through those doors three-across.”

  “I can only think of one thing,” Keromnal replied.

  “Don’t say it,” Colonel Fragontic said. “Please don’t say it.”

  “Canavar.”

  “Damn it,” Fragontic said. “Next you’re going to say that you want to go down there.”

  “No,” Keromnal replied. “I definitely do not want to go down there.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “Just because I don’t want to, though, doesn’t mean I won’t. We still need to go down there and check out the facility.”

  Fragontic sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  * * *

  Dropship One, Outside the Facility, Tregoth

  “Looks deserted,” the pilot said, waving out the cockpit window at the Science Guild facility. “I’m not getting any indications of people out there, although it’s possible they’re underground or cold-blooded, like the MinSha or something.”

  “See anything…umm…really large, like a couple of hundred feet long?” Keromnal asked.

  “Only those buildings there,” the pilot said, pointing to their 2:00 position. “Aside from those buildings, this place looks dead. I haven’t seen anything moving within ten miles of this place.”

  “Fine,” Keromnal said. “Set us down here.”

  “You got it,” the pilot said. Keromnal and Fragontic left to go to the back as the pilot coordinated the landing with the other craft. With a gentle bump, the dropship touched, the ramp came down, and the Sumatozou troopers lumbered down the ramp to take up positions around it.

  The physical attribute that put the soldiers at their biggest disadvantage on the battlefield—their size—was also one of their greatest strengths. While they were far bigger targets than the other merc races, they could also carry larger and more powerful weapons, although it slowed even them down somewhat. They were also able to take more damage and still function than many of the other races, but they weren’t very fleet of foot.

  Being large also made them immune to the fear caused by races like the Besquith. It was hard to get too excited about something you could squash underfoot if needed. While packs of Besquith could still take down Sumatozou, the individual trooper was far less worried about going hand-to-hand with a member of the Besquith race. While slower than the Besquith, the Sumatozou soldier only had to get one solid bashing attack in to disable his or her opponent.

  Once everyone had set up a perimeter, Fragontic waved Keromnal out, and the Peacemaker strode down the ramp. As soon as he was clear, the dropship lifted, along with the three other craft that had brought the company to the surface.

  “Where to?” Fragontic asked. “Want to check out the buildings first or go straight to the mountain?”

  “Mountain, I guess,” Keromnal said, looking at the buildings. Although in decent shape, they looked deserted, and no movement could be seen around them. “Let’s go make sure there aren’t any of the—”

  “Don’t say it!” Fragontic interrupted. “It’s bad luck to say it. It will only call them here.”

  “Okay, let’s go make sure there isn’t anything we don’t want to see holed up in the mountain.”

  Fragontic nodded. “Fair enough.” He gave the orders
and the company lumbered forward.

  “I don’t get it,” Fragontic said as they marched. “Why would they have their base way out here?”

  “Because no one would see it. And, if things went badly, no one would notice. This follows the operational patterns the Humans noticed. One of their other divisions was raising Canavars, and they did it on uninhabited desert worlds.”

  “That makes sense. That way, if they escaped, they wouldn’t eat all the local civilians.”

  Keromnal nodded. “Also, no one would know if they had to nuke a Canavar or two that escaped. Very few people—outside the Science Guild, that is—come here. They could hide the evidence for quite some time.”

  Keromnal pointed in the direction of their march. “Everyone is aware there may be robots in the mountain, too?”

  “Yes,” Fragontic replied. “We looked at the report you got from the Humans.” He nodded to a soldier trudging along near them with an odd-shaped weapon.

  “Is that a taser rifle?” Keromnal asked.

  Fragontic nodded. “Yes, it is. The way I have it figured, if the taser round is big enough to put down a Sumatozou, it’s big enough to fry a robot. Then I doubled the amperage of the rounds, just to make sure.”

  “Makes sense.” Keromnal felt his legs growing unsteady and stopped. The motion wasn’t in his legs; the ground was vibrating.

  “Did you get a brief on the planet?” Keromnal asked. When Fragontic nodded, he asked, “Did you see anything about a potential for earthquakes?”

  “No,” Fragontic said, stopping. “I didn’t see anything at all, but the ground is moving.” He looked behind them. “Shit!”

  Keromnal looked back and saw a dust cloud that was rapidly growing larger. “A herd of animals?” he asked.

  “None here,” Fragontic said. “There’s only one thing it could be. Run for the tunnels!”

  The troopers picked up their pace, but they were all heavily loaded and in combat armor; their progress was not what Keromnal would have called fast…and certainly not compared to the two creatures he saw coming up behind them.