The Battle of Hollow Jimmy

by Becky Black

  "So, are you up for it?" she asked Jaff. "For a war?"

  He laughed, bitter and guttural. His voice had grown hoarse, strained from yelling in the fight. "It's what they bred us for isn't it?"

  "Not to fight each other."

  "Yeah, well, life is change."

  It is. Not always for the better. But inevitable. Maiga knew that.

  "And she started it," Jaff added.

  "This isn't school," Maiga said, rolling her eyes.

  "Maybe not, but I'm up for teaching Bara a lesson. What's your next move?"

  Maiga didn't have one, not yet. And for a moment, she had to wonder at his question. Her next move. He'd accepted her authority. He didn't even know her rank, but he looked to her for leadership. It's what I'm trained for, she thought. I just never expected to be in this position again.

  "I'm still considering it. Just stand ready."

  Jaff laughed again. Still triumphant, adrenaline fuelled, jubilant that he's taken revenge for his friend's pain.

  "I was born ready."

  They looked up then as a station security officer came over to the cell. He pointed through the bars, at Maiga and Jaff.

  "You and you. On your feet. The chief wants to talk to you."

  ~o~

  Station security Chief Neex looked back at Maiga and Jaff from behind his desk. His expressionless face had a dark blue flush. Maiga knew that meant he was not happy.

  "Witnesses tell me that you, madam, instigated this brawl."

  "Yes, sir." She stood at attention, unable to help it. Jaff did the same.

  "You don't deny it?" Neex said.

  "No, sir."

  Neex turned to look at Jaff. "And you. My sources tell me that you are the close friend of a man who was seriously assaulted several hours ago in the human sector. Now you take part in a deliberately provoked brawl in a human run tavern. Something tells me these facts may be related."

  "Yes, sir."

  He seemed taken aback, Maiga thought. Perhaps not used to people telling him the truth.

  "So you have knowledge of who assaulted this man, Mr Chervaz."

  "Yes, sir." Maiga snapped. Did she tell him? Part of her wanted to keep station security out of it. Neex went on before she could decide.

  "I will not allow you humans to disrupt this station with your private battles. If you do not co-operate with my investigation--"

  "It was Captain Bara," Jaff said, before Maiga could speak.

  "I see." The flush of Neex's skin began to pale.

  "What do you intend to do about it?" Jaff demanded, and then added, "Sir" in a more polite tone.

  "If she returns to the station, I will bring her in for questioning." He looked at their frowns. "My authority is limited to the station. I cannot pursue her outside of it."

  "But you are going to investigate?" Jaff said. He seemed keener to involve Neex than Maiga felt.

  "Of course. I have received a medical report from your Dr Sheni." He flushed again. "The man's injuries were severe. It must be investigated."

  Jaff nodded and Maiga felt some satisfaction too. Neex wouldn't let it slide. People kept saying the station authorities didn't care about the humans, but all she saw here was a cop angry with the perpetrators of an assault on an innocent man, and determined to bring them to justice. Species meant nothing to him in this case.

  "All right," he said to the two of them. "You will appear before the magistrate when you are summoned. There will be a fine for the fight in the tavern. Meanwhile, someone called Wixa has posted your bail. Now kindly get out of my office and don't let me see you again."

  Resisting the urge to salute, Maiga turned and marched out, Jaff following her. The rest of the combatants had been released from the cells while they'd been in with Neex and everyone made their goodbyes outside the security facilities.

  Maiga started to walk back towards the human sector, not marching any more, aches and pains and tiredness catching up with her. She wanted a shower and her bed and about twelve hours of sleep. At the same time, she wanted to go and keep a vigil over Chervaz all night.

  But she would do neither of those things. She knew her next move.

  "Let's find Wixa," she said. "And we may need some supplies. And quite likely a vat of coffee."

  "For what?" Jaff asked, rubbing his shoulder and looking as shattered as she felt. Poor man, didn't realise he had an all-nighter ahead of him.

  "We have a newspaper to produce."

  ~o~

  It was, Maiga thought later, quite possibly the hardest night's work she'd ever put in.

  They grabbed Wixa from the clinic and headed over to the newspaper office. One look at the room almost broke their hearts. Everything was smashed. The computer consoles on the desk, the printer. Even the paper lay scattered around like drifts of snow.

  Maiga turned Jaff and Wixa around. No sense in trying to work in there. "We need access to a printer. We need paper. And we have to write the story."

  "I'll get the paper," Jaff said. "Well, I guess I mean I'll steal it. But it's an emergency after all."

  "Think of it as an emergency requisition," Maiga said.

  "Sounds good to me." He sped off, his aches and pains forgotten.

  "I'll find us a printer," Wixa said. "I don't promise it will be anything very flashy, but I'll find it."

  "I guess that leaves me writing the story," Maiga said. "By the way have you got any idea of the identity of the witness who saw Bara coming out of the office?"

  Wixa shook her head. "Sorry. I'll see if I can find out. Where will you be?"

  "Chullan's," Maiga said. Central, plenty of coffee on hand. Where better?

  "Okay, I'll either meet you there or I'll call you to say where to meet me."

  They split up. Maiga didn't know how Wixa intended to find a printer, but right now, she didn't care. She had to get this story written. The Chronicle would hardly be in its usual format. Advertisements would have to be forgotten. All those little bits of information people needed about the station would have to skip an issue. This edition, this special edition, would be about one thing; showing Bara she couldn't silence the paper. Even if she'd killed Chervaz--and the thought made the pit of Maiga's stomach fall away--she couldn't silence the truth.

  Maiga found Chullan clearing up for the night. But he made her a pot of coffee and left her to her work. She began to write.

  ~o~

  Jaff stepped up to Maiga's table and dropped two boxes onto the polished wood surface. He grinned triumphantly.

  "It's kind of a funny size. But five thousand sheets. More than enough."

  It would be, Maiga thought, nodding. This would be a one-sheet edition only; anything else was far too complicated to work out.

  "Well done, Jaff."

  "I didn't even have to steal it. My supervisor said I could have it and gladly. It's been stuck in a corner of the maintenance department paper store for years, waiting for someone to throw it out."

  Or waiting for this day to come, perhaps.

  Wixa came running up then, grinning too. "I've got us a printer. Is that the paper?"

  "Yep. There is one issue." Jaff took the lid off a box and Wixa took a step back.

  "Good grief! Does that stuff glow in the dark?"

  "I think it does yes." Jaff lifted out a sheet of yellow paper of positively radioactive brightness. "I know, it could burn your retinas out. I'm told it belonged to some consultants the department had in a few years ago and their species sees light differently than us. Sorry."

  "Don't worry about it," Maiga said, standing up. "It's absolutely perfect. Nobody will be able to ignore this."

  "Not even blind people," Wixa said. "Have you done the story?"

  Maiga nodded. She'd learnt new respect for Chervaz over the last couple of hours, as she'd tried to get the words right. Amazing work, conjuring pictures out of thin air, straight into the reader's mind.

  "Then let's go," Wixa said. "I'll show you the printer, and then I'll go round up some fo
lks to distribute the thing. Are we charging the same price?"

  "Half price," Maiga said, as they set off, Wixa leading.

  "Why not give it away?" Jaff said.

  "Because there's already too much being given away free around here."

  "Good answer," Jaff muttered.

  Wixa led them though dusty corridors even Jaff said he'd never been in before, to a cavernous room, in an unused industrial area. Strange machines lurked in the dark, but some lights shone over a smaller machine.

  "Here," Wixa said. "A printing machine. Now, it's up to you, Mr Engineer and you Ms Techy to get the story loaded up onto the system and printed off. I'll be back later." She ran from the room.

  "Moves fast for an old ‘un," Jaff said, putting down his boxes. "Okay, Ms Techy, what now?"

  "Well, Mr Engineer, I think we should start by working out how to switch it on."

  Switching it on took about half an hour and they were both dead beat and covered in dust and dirt by the time they'd worked it out.

  And that turned out to be the easy part.

  ~o~

  Showered, wearing fresh clothes, and feeling about ready to keel over with exhaustion, Maiga crept into the small ward of Sheni's infirmary. Anishk had given her permission to go in, as long as she stayed quiet and didn't disturb Isha and her baby, who still slept there.

  Chervaz lay under the soft blue glow of the regeneration field that was helping to heal his flesh and knit his bones. His bandaged hands lay on top of the bed covers, making him look as if he wore clumsy white mittens.

  He opened his eyes as she approached the bed and gave her a weak smile. His face still looked puffy and bruised, but Maiga had no strength left to react with anger to the sight. All her anger had exploded, in the adrenaline rush of the brawl and drained away in the long, long night producing the paper she now held in her hands.

  Getting the machine working, getting it to handle the paper they had, getting the story loaded up onto its system and printed out neat and readable, had taxed Maiga and Jaff's technical skills to the limit. Fixing a broken stardrive was a cakewalk in comparison Jaff claimed. Hacking heavily protected military systems the same, Maiga agreed. When the first one had finally rolled off looking the way they wanted it, they had jumped around hugging like a couple of idiots. Wixa came in and out through the night, bringing coffee, food, and gossip to keep them fuelled up.

  Maiga related all this to Chervaz, proud of their heroic efforts to bring out the paper. Chervaz listened wide-eyed and when she finished, he smiled.

  "You know," he said, voice weak, but amused. "I have an arrangement with a print shop down in the marketplace to run off the paper if ever my printer is out of action for any length of time. Takes about twenty minutes. He only charges cost." Maiga stared at him and he gave a soft laugh. "But, never mind it sounds like you all had fun."

  "I've had fun before. That wasn't it." She held up the paper. "Do you want to read it then?"

  "I see I won't need to ask you to turn the light on."

  "Blame Jaff, this is what he found us." She pulled up a chair, and sat by him to hold the paper up for him to read, since he couldn't hold it in his bandaged hands.

  "Editor Assaulted." He read the headline. "You know, I'm disappointed in Bara. She obviously hasn't done her research. The traditional weapon to attack a newspaper editor with is the horsewhip."

  "Oh yes, I'm terribly disappointed with her." Maiga's voice was harsh. But when he looked at her, with a worried expression, she softened the tone and smiled. This wasn't the time to start talking about the war she'd declared. Right now, she just wanted to help give him strength to heal, by letting him know that she, and the others, the people who counted, stood behind him and his paper.

  He went on reading. "What's this ‘Captain Bara was seen leaving the office'? Who saw her?"

  "I couldn't track them down in time," Maiga said. "Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea to publish a witness's name."

  "Hmm… By the way you got my age wrong."

  "What?" She scowled. "But Jaff said you're thirty-five."

  "That's because Jaff forgot my birthday last month. You spelled ‘separate' wrong."

  She pulled the paper away. "If you weren't hurt already I'd slap you right now."

  He laughed, and moaned. "Don't. Sheni says no laughing. I'm sorry, I don't mean to nitpick. I really am very grateful."

  She bent over and kissed him very softly on the lips, careful of his bruises. Then she sat up again, and held the paper for him to finish reading. She noticed him wince a couple of times.

  "Are you okay? You need more pain relief?"

  "Oh, no. I'm fine. Just… well did you copy edit this thing at all?"

  Chapter 26

  Who the hell did this Maiga think she was anyway?

  Bara sat in her command chair and watched the stars in the dark on the forward viewscreen. Until now, she had almost forgotten about Maiga. The woman had intrigued her at first. Clearly command trained, she would have been a useful addition to the Trebuchet's crew. But she'd turned down clear approaches and Bara had her dignity. She wouldn't beg. If Maiga had just been playing hard to get she'd have accepted the third offer. But she hadn't, so no sense in asking again.

  So Bara had forgotten her. If Maiga wanted to be a small time trader, a nobody, then Bara didn't care. Until now. Now suddenly here she was sticking her nose into Bara's business. Smashing up the bar, declaring the newspaper under her protection. The arrogance of the woman! Who was she? Did she have a company of marines under her command? A private police force? A loyal following?

  No, she'd defied Bara with a rag tag squad of maintenance workers and out of condition lifers. Did she want to get the same treatment as her precious newspaper man?

  Bara rose from her chair and began to pace, hands behind her back. She wished her footfalls made more noise, to block out that sound. It had to be coming from the systems somewhere. Engineering swore there was no sound. Well they were wrong. She knew her own ship. She knew when something sounded wrong. The scratching was real.

  She sighed as she walked. Beating up the journalist may have been a mistake. Yes, she could admit that even she made mistakes sometimes. Now her spies on the station told her that the next time she set foot on the place, Chief Neex would take her in for questioning. And if Chervaz was willing to swear she ordered the beating, well, open and shut case.

  Assuming he had the nerve to testify. Assuming nothing bad happened to him to stop him testifying. She grinned, but then scowled as she passed Sev at the engineering station. He had his damn hair in a ponytail down his back. Oh, for a pair of scissors right now. One snip and it would be gone. Blade flashing in the light. And how easily it was done. How quickly. Couldn't take it back.

  Shut that damn sound up.

  Not being able to go to Hollow Jimmy would be annoying. She had to get off the ship sometimes, where she could have some peace and quiet. Oh, certainly, she could still influence events from afar, but she liked to make personal appearances. Getting in there and speaking direct to people was powerful. The Prophet had known that.

  Damn, it was getting louder. Where the hell was it coming from?

  You know where.

  No. It was the vents, or the cooling systems, or…

  She strode across to Sev, and pulled his chair around to make him face her. He stared up, grey eyes wide in his pale face.

  "I can hear it again. Find it!"

  "We've run diagnostics on every system on the bridge, Captain."

  "Then run them again! Run them on every system on the ship. As many times as it takes."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  She shoved his chair back around and he grabbed at the panel to keep from falling. That damn hair. She had her knife, with her, always carried it. Grab that tail of hair, slice with the knife. Gone. Never see it again. So quick. Can't be undone.

  Her hand was almost touching his hair when the navigator called out.

  "Coming up on the planet,
Captain."

  Bara snatched her hand back and looked around. They were looking at her. Well of course they were. She was the captain. Her bridge crew awaited her orders.

  "Take us into orbit and prep a shuttle."

  Taking her seat again, she watched as the ship took up orbit around a small dark planet, which in turn orbited a dim brown dwarf sun. No atmosphere. No native life. But, according to their information, a base lay under the barren surface. A human base, abandoned after the recall order.

  "Scans show power still on," Sev reported. "Running at low levels. Most areas of the base are without life support, but in standby."

  "Contact the computer," Bara ordered. "Our codes should allow us remote access. Warm the place up; get it ready to receive visitors."

  Who knew what they might find down there? According the records it was an intelligence gathering post. If its databases hadn't been purged before it was abandoned, then there could be useful information in them. There could be plenty of abandoned supplies in storage too. Bara smirked. Might as well make it easy sometimes.

  The door slid open and she glanced around to see Alex come onto the bridge. He went to Sev first and they exchanged some quiet words. Oh yes, go and kiss him hello before you come and report to your captain.

  "Ma'am." He approached her in his own sweet time. "I've prepared several units of portable memory to take to the surface. We should be able to download the entire database."

  "Good. I'll take command of the landing party myself."

  He looked taken aback. "Captain, I would advise you to allow the marines to secure the area before you go down."

  "Secure it against what? The place is dead."

  "Yes, but, some abandoned bases have been booby trapped."

  True. But she'd take a chance of running into something explosive down there, because she needed off the ship. Just for a few hours. How could she feel this way? Her ship, her home, her weapon. She loved it. But it had become so small, so choking. She could smell every odour on board, taste the metal of the decks floating in the very air, hear every sound. That sound.

  She nodded to Alex. Like he cared if she tripped a mine. But she had to stick to form. For appearances sake. He was her first officer. She had to treat him with respect for his rank and position at least.