Winter's Galaxy

by F. E. Arliss

  “You’d be right there,” Winter said grimly.

  “Ya gotta start somewhere. Might as well be us. Ya all have seen how we are. What ya see is what y'all be gettin’,’ he added. “We’re trustworthy unless yer a harm to us and our own.”

  “We don’t want much to do with anybody,” Winter said, “though your daughter tells me that you already know what my cargo is. So I suppose we better discuss where that puts us.”

  “Biggest question is what you plan on doin’ with that load a death,” Ewan Quirke said, pinning Winter with a stare that would have melted most people’s spine.

  Winter wasn’t just anyone, though she supposed she did have to start somewhere and Fats had said the Commander was trustworthy. “I came into that cargo by chance, you might say,” Winter stated calmly. “The rotten bastard that owned me was bringing it out to Uzi for a deal with some Arachnians. He had an accident with a Chicago Toothpick before he could make that deal,” Winter explained without so much as a twitch of a facial muscle.

  Ewan Quirke looked at her for a few moments, then said, “And Jeanie? How’d she get out here?

  It was clear that the Commander knew what a Chicago Toothpick was as he hadn’t even batted an eyelash over that revelation, much less given her a questioning look. “I purchased a contract for her extraction and berth to Uzi,” Winter returned, her expression glacial.

  “Hummm,” Commander Quirke said thoughtfully. “What ya wanna do with that cargo?”

  “I want to sell it to someone who won’t use it to hurt the defenseless. On the other hand, I want to keep a selection for my and Jeanie’s protection,” Winter explained. “Where we can be safe, and who we can sell to who isn’t a scumbag, is still a mystery. No matter what we research on these planets, it tells you nothing about the government and who is good or bad.”

  “There’s a barrel of bad, girl, you can be sure of that. But there’s also some good too,” the Commander said somberly. “That’s how most of us all got thrown together. We were looking for people to trust and we found each other a family. Not a family of like species, but a family nonetheless. We love and trust each other. It’s what’s saved us all.”

  “And what is this family?” Winter asked, giving nothing away. Usually when someone told you something that was too good to be true, it so totally wasn’t.

  “This thing called ‘the Alliance’ is what it is. Got a number of alien species in it, but it started out with an Idolum queen that didn’t want to kill their food sources. She thought it wasteful and disrespectful of what she called ‘the life givers’. ‘Course, it was. But some just like to kill things. Makes ‘em feel powerful, I reckon,” the Commander added.

  “Anyway, some of the other Idolum didn’t like that and tried to off her and her husband, General Freux. That didn’t work out too well for them. Queen Altum Juls is quite a power. She just crushed ‘em and started building the Alliance,” Quirke continued. Later, Winter would find that the ‘so she crushed ‘em’ statement was meant quite literally, not figuratively.

  “So, ya got a whole load of Idolum, a few Osmir, which are sorta ‘super-Idolum’, and then you got humans, some Vanguardians, and some Tadswam -- they’re little toad-like beings. Then there are Gatekans, which sorta look like a walkin’ octopus, and some Manteo’s on Mirage that are like upright walrus people. It’s sure a whole, strange load of folks. But they’re all good folks. Wantin’ peace, but able to fight for it if need be,” he added thoughtfully.

  “It’s a load to take in all at once. You go off to bed and sleep on it. Then you and Jeanie can talk it over. When you meet some more of the folks on Renegar, you can see more of what it’s all about,” he added. “In the meantime, just keep workin’ out with Birdie and Dag.” The old man rose stiffly, patted Winter awkwardly on the shoulder, causing her to flinch a bit, then ambled out of the mess.

  Chapter Four

  Revelations

  By the time they reached Renegar, Winter and Jeanie had gotten to know the crew of the Clyde pretty well. There was nothing like being cooped up in a small space to really get to know someone, Winter thought. They were all good people. The Commander had been right about that. Winter thought that Jeanie was half in love with Commander Quirke and it was clear by the way he attended to what Jeanie said, that he wasn’t adverse to the older woman’s attentions.

  Winter had kept her hair shaved off, much to Dag’s protestations. He admitted freely to just wanting to style her hair. Once it got around that she and Jeanie had been ‘in the trade’ and not of their own free will, he laid off the pressure, not wanting to make Winter feel as though she had to be ‘girly’ to be friends with him.

  Most of the time Winter practiced her martial arts, studied the database in the mess, where a wall of hydroponic plants made it feel like an oasis, or sat in the hold reading with Izzy, a full-grown hippolite. Hippolites were what the Idolum siphoned energy from. They were mammalian and looked a lot like a hippopotamus from Earth. Instead of preferring water, they grazed on land and were much thinner and longer-legged. Winter found Izzy’s rhythmic cud-chewing relaxing.

  Izzy was Dag’s baby, almost literally. He’d raised her since infancy and she still wanted to sit on his lap. This tended to be problematic as she was now about twice his size. Occasionally, Winter would enter the cargo bay where Izzy’s full-spectrum lights and hydroponic grass kept her happily healthy, to find her and Dag locked in a strange upright hug. Her long leathery-grey legs would be draped over his shoulders as he rocked back and forth hugging her to him. It was bizarre, Winter had to admit, but oh so sweet too. Who couldn’t like that guy?

  Birdie had begun to talk to her and was looking forward to getting back to someone named Caja and someone else named Sasha. According to Commander Quirke, Sasha Kelty was a witch, like REALLY, and Queen of Renegar. While Caja of Renegar was Vanguardian, but chose to be called a Renegade. He was a sort of President. Mostly from what Winter could tell, Sasha Kelty was in charge and Caja was her right-hand man. It all sounded a little ‘out there’, but who was Winter to say anything. Her life had been ‘out there’ too.

  Winter could get with the Renegade label! Vanguardians on Uzi had been so stuck on perfection of form that although Fats Domino told her they were honorable, she’d steered clear of them because of their casual dismissal of their own when something scarred or maimed them. Honorable maybe, but also devoid of compassion. The Vanguardians indentured their ‘imperfect’ kin to other species that they believed had earned their trust or respect. It was just weird. Birdie had been indentured to a shipyard on Zabados 9 because she was overly shy and couldn’t talk to strangers. Caja had been ‘given’ to Sasha Kelty because he had been injured in battle and had a prosthetic arm. They had found her behavior to be ‘honorable’ and so he was placed with her to act as her protector.

  Birdie informed Winter that all that had been fine with them, as now they were all family and it was far better to be a Renegade and a Quirke than it ever had been to be a Vanguardian. Plus, even though Sasha wasn’t really her sister, Sasha’s grandma, Dolores, was grandma to all of them. It was great!

  To Winter it just seemed a bit convoluted and kooky. But who was she to complain. She’d been snatched off the streets of Austin and as far as she could tell, her parents hadn’t really searched for her that much. She’d looked in the archives once when she’d been left alone with a client’s unlocked phone. She’d tried to call out, but the only thing unlocked was the news feed.

  Her parents had done the public pleas with weeping and her father had tried to call in a few favors from the FBI, but when his bosses had told him that they couldn’t give his case special treatment, he’d gone along with it. That was as far as she could tell. Really, she just didn’t know. Jeanie had ingrained in her that one had to deal with the ‘now’. The past was done with. It was good to plan for the future, but ‘now’ was far more important. ‘Now’ kept you alive.

  Winter and Jeanie had quite a few long talks. Neither of
them could really see setting up some sort of business and waiting on people or selling things to the public. It just wasn’t in them to put up with people any more.

  When Winter asked Jeanie what she really wanted to do, Jeanie hadn’t even hesitated, “I’d like to keep a home for someone.” This was Jeanie’s dream, to be a normal woman with a loved one to care for. Winter had to keep from groaning and rolling her eyes. It was Jeanie’s dream. It wasn’t for her to judge. It was only for her to help Jeanie make it happen.

  When Jeanie asked Winter what she really wanted, it truly stumped her. For the last four years she’d given up on hope for a normal future. She was damaged goods, good at fighting, scheming and planning. Winter disliked most people and wanted to shoot the majority of the ones she met. “What is that?” she asked Jeanie, when she described her skills and desires. “Killer assassin? Great, just great!”

  Her firm answer came from Princess Arc, who had been walking past the mess when Winter described what she was good at and what motivated her. “It’s called a tactician. A warrior,” the Princess said. Then folded her long body through the door and slumped onto the largest piece of furniture, a worn sofa on the far side of the room.

  “The Alliance has need of those, if you’re interested in a job,” she added casually. “I hear that Jeanie would like to settle down,” the Princess added, with a kind smile at the older woman. “You can choose a planet in the Alliance and make it your base. It would be fairly easy. The Alliance could purchase your cargo, leaving you with what you feel necessary for your and Jeanie’s protection.”

  “Then you could go to work on one of the cruisers that are always protecting us, scouting out allies or rooting out injustices. You could even buy your own ship if you want. The Alliance is large and has bases as far out as any of the known civilizations. Some of our planets aren’t even on the charts. If you want to explore, you’ve got room,” the Princess said with a grin. “Though of course, you’d probably have to work with Idolum on a regular basis. How do you feel about my kin?” she asked with a grin.

  “Don’t know, haven’t met them,” Winter answered abruptly. She wasn’t over the Princess’ attempt to bend her will. It hadn’t set well with her, even though she knew the other young woman had just been trying to expedite Winter’s acceptance of the Alliance, her family.

  “Well, you’ll get to meet some tomorrow,” the Princess said with a wink. “We’re getting in to Renegar tomorrow and it will be a big party.” Then standing and banging her head on the ceiling of the small mess, the Princess left rubbing her skull and swearing in a bizarre language neither Winter nor Jeanie had ever heard.

  “Oh this is going to be so fun!” Jeanie said, clapping her hands together. “I can’t wait to meet everyone!” Then she went off to decide what to wear to the party. “Dag will certainly know what I have that will do,” she said, waving one hand over her shoulder as she stepped out eagerly in search of her own Rupaul-like stylist. Winter went to the gym and beat the shit out of the sparring dummy.

  Chapter Five

  Renegar Revealed

  When the Clyde broke out of the atmosphere above Renegar, Jeanie and Winter both gasped. It was bright orange and a haze of dust swirled in dimples and waves over parts of the planet. Bright blue sky contrasted so brightly with the orange desert that it was almost blinding. “Oh, it’s beautiful,” Jeanie whispered. “I so hope they like me here.”

  Winter hugged the older woman and assured her, “They’ll love you, just like everyone else does.”

  Jeanie looked down at the slender young girl she’d helped survive over the last four years and whispered, “I’m so proud of you. I love you, you know?”

  “Love you too, Jeanie,” Winter said, a lump in her throat. “Let’s go knock these suckers dead!” Turning she ushered the older woman towards the cargo bay where the ramp would soon be lowering and allowing them a firsthand look at this strange new world full of possible friends and alliances. Winter wasn’t sure what this feeling she had was. Hope, maybe?

  They landed on an empty plateau. It lay surrounded by craggy red cliffs and was edged with deep chasms. A good place to scope out new arrivals, Winter thought to herself. Nowhere for them to run, and you could bet there were eyes on them now from these surrounding cliffs.

  Ewan Quirke came forward and gave Jeanie his arm, then led her gently down the ramp and onto the desert floor. “It’s so beautiful, isn’t it ... in its own way?” Jeanie asked him, excitedly hugging his arm to her ample bosom.

  “It is,” the wizened Commander affirmed. “Just wait till you see Valoria, the planet that Arc, Birdie and I call home. It’s a beauty too. Not desert, but wooded and full of green and animals. It’s like an unspoiled Earth.” Jeanie and the old Commander exchanged a look of shared grief. They were good for each other, these two hardened survivors of a world gone upside down. Anyone could see that.

  Arc leapt out of the Clyde, her enormously tall body leaping in an exuberant dance of unlimited movement. Finally, she slowed to a halt, bowed extravagantly at the waist to the laughing audience and said, “It is so good to be able to move! Really move! Sorry, Dad, but Clyde is just really too small for me anymore. I think I’m going to have to rename the Centurion, Clyde the Centurion, so that we can use him instead. I thought I was going to lose my nut on this trip,” she added, rushing to embrace her father and peer into his face anxiously.

  “It’s ok, girl. I know you’re a long tall lass now. We can think ’bout that some more over food and drink. Let’s get our guests settled before we go worrying ‘bout that,” Commander Quirke said, smiling at his daughter and gesturing at the same time towards a contingent of arriving aliens and a stunning redheaded-beauty with a long thick mane of hair. She was smiling delightedly at Jeanie’s now glorious swish of red curls. Dag really had worked miracles with Jeanie’s hair, Winter had to admit, rubbing a hand ruefully over her own bald head.

  A tall Vanguardian scooped the tiny Birdie up into a hug, then passed her easily to the redheaded woman. This must be Caja and Sasha Kelty, Winter guessed. After a brief, low-volume conversation with Ewan Quirke and his daughters, Sasha Kelty strode forward and offered her hand to Jeanie and then Winter. “I’m Sasha Kelty. This is Caja,” she added, waving an elegant hand towards the tall and impressively muscled Vanguardian warrior. “Welcome to Renegar. Commander Quirke tells me you may have some business to discuss. Since he trusts you, I will too. Please follow us and we’ll get you settled back at the cavern.”

  The cavern turned out to be an impressively enormous cave set on top of an even larger plateau half a planet away. They’d taken extra precautions to make sure Winter and Jeanie were legit. Winter assumed they’d surfed the databases for any sign of them and come up with nothing. Because there wasn’t anything out there. Jeanie had nothing registered, as her berth to UZ627 had been done on the black market. Winter had a fake name, iris scan and DNA sequence registered for her. That person never even existed.

  They were free of any luggage, Winter just wished it was true emotionally as well. She’d peeked at the databases when onboard Clyde and had seen that her father, an FBI agent, had become an Intergalactic Guard Lieutenant. He and her mother lived in a nice house in Discovery City, the capital of UZ627. They had adopted a pair of identical twin boys and were living happily in a new life. In a way, Winter was glad they’d moved on with their lives. In another, it made her feel abandoned and forgotten. She might never know which it was if she didn’t approach them. That would have to be a whole other discussion with Jeanie.

  The cavern they were shuttled to was huge and impressively camouflaged from the outside. Enormous solar arrays channeled energy into massive generators at the back of the cavern. A fountain trickled merrily along one wall and several tiers of rocky layers clearly held nooks and crannies used as living quarters and conversation areas.

  Several alien looking ships sat easily in the cavern with room for several more. It was a truly gigantic space. Once her eyes had
adjusted to the light, Winter saw an Idolum cruiser, some type of sleek craft that looked like an experimental prototype, an empty space surrounded by a painted orange outline that looked suspiciously like the outline of the Clyde, several shuttles, hover-cars, cargo movers, and hover-cycles.

  “So what’s with the parking space for Clyde?” Winter asked. “Can’t we just bring him in now?”

  “Ummm, no. Well, we can, but not there,” Commander Quirke said, slowly. “That there space belongs to my brother Dermott’s ship. The Clyde.3. I’ve got four living brothers and they’ve all got ships named Clyde. Jus’ a family tradition, ya know. I think y’all would find that space is currently occupied. I see Dermott headin’ our way,” added Ewan Quirke as an incredibly tall Idolum warrior with long, wiry, grey hair, moved their way in a purposeful lope.

  Winter had to consciously keep her jaw closed, as it wanted to drop open like a fly catcher as she watched the two men of different species hug and talk excitedly. Jeanie was clasping and unclasping her hands nervously, when a delicate-looking redhead of similar age, approached her and took her restlessly moving fingers. “Hi! You must be Jeanie. Ewan has told us all about you. We’re a redheaded club, now with you, me and Sasha! I’m Moira Quirke, Dermott’s wife. I don’t know if Ewan bothered to tell you about us or not?” she asked curiously, glancing over her shoulder at the two still-conversing males. The lanky Idolum and the shorter human form of Commander Quirke were gesticulating wildly and grinning as they talked.