Expeditions of the Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  Raiza read officiously, “Specialist Theodore C. Doyle, Kremniy Scout Force, is hereby recognized by the Order of the Moon for valor in skill in space combat. He distinguished himself by valor during multiple combat actions while serving as a Weapon Systems Operator on the Kremniy Scout Ship Survey Craft 1550-V, Mantis. He served in 2 major combat campaigns and excelled at his position, protecting his ship from heavy incoming fire from multiple combatants, helping to protect commercial shipping, and inflicting substantial damage on multiple enemy ships. The distinctive accomplishments of Specialist Doyle reflect great credit upon himself, KSS-SC-1550-V, and the Kremniy Scout Force.”

  Ximon pinned the silver, moon-shaped medal with its black ribbon on Doyle’s bed.

  “Thanks, cap. It’s been a while since anyone thought I was doing ok.”

  “Well, you did well for us and made a big difference.”

  Raiza, “Yes, thank you Doyle. We have one other thing for you. I cleaned, folded, and organized all your clothing and personal effects from Mantis. At Ximon’s direction, I have also a Mantis crew flight suit.”

  “Thanks, Cap, Raiza. That all means a lot. Mantis must be a pretty nice home when you’re not getting shot at all the time.”

  Ximon took Raiza by the waist, “Oh, it is, Doyle. Take good care of yourself. We’re shipping out in about a week. Sorry to leave you behind. I hope you land somewhere good after this.”

  Doyle smirked, “I think they will – war hero and all. Good luck to you and the Mantis. Please say, ‘hi’ to Elsbeth, Peter, and Mantis for me.”

  “Will do. Rest up.”

  Ximon checked back with Ops in a week and ended up meeting with LCDR Sparc again.

  Ximon, “So, Joe, what’s the word? What’s our next mission?”

  Sparc, “Well, Ximon, I guess the universe heard you. The Navy is going to do some more operations in this area, including Jaje, so KSF’s responsibility thereabouts is decreasing. And, Tixaya base wants you back over that way. They’ve got some work for you Rimward, not sure what and I’m not sure they know.”

  Ximon, “Sounds promising.”

  Sparc, “You never know, but they want you to act as a courier of sorts on the way. You’ll take off 2 days from now and you’ll do the Krirytesran, Zarre, Jezaremanus route, hauling some cargo, data, and pax with you. From there, unless your orders change, you’ll hit Zocosy, Cepheo, Thade X, and back to Tixaya doing the same. From there, who knows? Perhaps the war will be over by then.”

  Ximon, “We can always hope. Thanks for the update and for helping the universe hear.”

  “You’ve done good work. Good luck elsewhere.”

  “You too. Take care.”

  They took off hauling mail, cargo, data, and 4 Scouts who were heading to stations along their route. The next couple months were blessedly boring. Their orders didn’t change so they stopped at every station from Manud to Tixaya, swapping cargo and pax. Some of the pax were with them for several weeks so they made a few new friends. One couple, the Larpins, were both scouts and they were being re-assigned together. They were a lot of fun to chat with and loved playing games. All in all, the trip was a nice, quiet time.

  When they got back to Tixaya, they were given a week off before their next assignment. Ximon and Raiza spent most of the time straightening up their little house and doing some decorating. Elsbeth and Peter spent the time in a hotel or in restaurants and bars.

  Ximon also sent Raiza in for a ‘spa day’ – a checkup and tune up at her birthplace, TrueForm Service Robots. He didn’t have any physical modifications made (because she was perfect), but he got several of her training and behavioral modules upgraded to the latest versions. They also cleaned and moisturized her skin, dyed and styled her hair, and generally ‘brought everything into specifications.’ She was a star of sorts at TSR, as her and Ximon marrying (with corporate executives in attendance) had been substantial news, and they were always glad to see her. Ximon was more than glad to pay the ‘spa’ fees as Raiza always “shined like a diamond” afterward, she appreciated the attention, and he enjoyed the minor changes that the upgrades produced.

  After a few days, Ximon was contacted by KSF with orders to leave in 4 days and head to the KSF base on Xalanan, several dozen light years Rimward. Ximon had never been there, so it sounded interesting. It also had the added benefit of being farther from the front lines. He let the crew know and they all were ready on time.

  To get to Xalanan they had to jump through Onkala, Qusenai, and then to Xalanan. The trip was uneventful except for hauling some cargo and pax, most of whom were no trouble.

  When they arrived at Xalanan, they landed in a designated berth and Ximon reported to Operations. There he met with an Operations Officer, Lt Seplak, a young man with an extremely serious manner.

  Seplak, “LCDR Sabo, thank you for coming in.”

  Ximon, “Thanks for seeing me. What do you have for us next?”

  Seplak, “You will take a trade and diplomatic delegation to Eapalia and support a summit they’re having there with representatives from the Independent States. Details of the mission have been sent to you for your review. Do you have any questions at this time?”

  “Yes, how big is this delegation and when do we meet them?”

  “There are 4 of them and they’ll meet you at this berth in two days at 0900. You will help them with their cargo and do your best to make them comfortable during the trip. Then, you’ll support the summit they’re conducting, probably a day or two of preparation and 3-4 days of meetings. Once complete, you’ll bring them back here.”

  “Sounds great. We’ll be ready. However, we lost a crewman on our last major mission, will we get another one assigned for this?”

  Seplak perused documents on his tablet and finally said, “The orders suggest that your existing crew is adequate for this mission. Therefore, no crewmember will be formally assigned. You can, of course, hire someone on your own if you wish, but KSF won’t fund it.”

  “Great. I hope things are quiet.”

  Ximon made sure Mantis and the crew were all ready. Raiza, of course, had all the cabins spotless and had some nice finger foods ready for them. The delegation was almost 20 minutes late and arrived with a great deal of luggage. It consisted for 2 men and 2 women, all in business attire, and all carrying attaches.

  Ximon, “Welcome to the Mantis. I’m the captain, Ximon Sabo. This here is Raiza Sabo, our chief steward and medical officer and my dear wife.”

  That caused a couple raised eyebrows.

  “And here is our chief engineer Elsbeth Petra and Peter our logistician.”

  An elderly, well-dressed man stepped forward and offered Ximon his hand, “I’m Julian Wilkinson, designated consular representative.” Then he motioned to a very attractive 20-something woman with severe make up, “This is Nevaeh Andrews, my assistant and Independent States specialist.”

  She smiled and nodded her head, but didn’t shake.

  Then, a stylishly dressed 50-ish woman stepped forward and smiled, “Greetings. I’m Patience Ramsey, chief trade negotiator to the Independent States, and this is my trade assistant Gideon Perkings.” The latter was a 40-ish year old man in a very sharp suit.

  Ximon, “Again, welcome all to the Mantis. We are, of course, not a luxury liner, but we’ll do our best to take you comfortably and safely to your destination.”

  Wilkinson spoke up, “We QUITE understand. What with the war and all, transportation to the outer areas has been problematic. We are, after all, just humble servants of the Republic.”

  He motioned to Peter, “If you would be so kind as to get these bags, we’ll get settled in.” He motioned to two different sets of bags, “These go to our rooms and these can go in the hold though we might need them later.”

  Peter went to gather them without hesitation as Raiza ushered the delegation on.

  They got settled in and, though they didn’t openly complain, they clearly weren’t too impressed with the accommodations, especially the
lack of showers in their cabins.

  Having learned from some past troublesome guests, Raiza made sure to post travel times and meal times in the galley. Elsbeth made herself scarce and Ximon made himself busy in the bridge.

  Ximon, “This is the captain, we will be lifting off in 10 minutes. Please strap into the seats in your room, into your beds, or the seats in the galley.”

  They took off without issue and the delegation wasn’t too bad. They generally kept their complaints to themselves and soon understood that the Mantis did NOT provide room service. They could come get snacks in the galley or come eat at mealtimes. They were fairly interesting conversationalists at meals, though sometimes the political and trade representatives argued over strategy that went over Ximon’s head.

  Ximon, and the rest of the crew, learned a lot more about the Independent States and their relationship with the Republic.

  Independent States: A small interstellar federation of a few dozen independent worlds. They formed a loose confederation for mutual defense, trade, and information sharing. The Independent States were generally on friendly, but distant, terms with the Kremniy Republic. They made it quite clear that they valued their freedom and didn’t want to get absorbed by their larger neighbor.

  The trip was fairly quiet, but in a way a bit concerning. After the Zarrabius System, they were leaving the borders of the Republic and what stability that provided.

  Their first system ‘outside’ Republic space was the Apalu system, a small system without a remotely habitable planet. There was a small, non-aligned commercial station but Mantis just jumped in, transmitted mail messages, hit the gas giant to refuel, and jumped out. They saw no one except some shuttle at extreme range.

  Then, they made it to the Eapalia System. This system had recently begun integration into the Independent States but had occasional dealings with the Republic. As they headed into the station, the delegation exchanged a great deal of traffic about the summit with its organizers. There was, apparently, a great deal to coordinate.

  Ximon had Mantis present him a rundown on local law, crimes, and customs. The capital was a nice city, but crime wasn’t uncommon, there had been some recent unrest, and concealed carry of weapons was OK.

  Then, Wilkinson and Ramsey wanted to discuss logistics with Ximon. Once they arrived, the delegation would spend the night at a hotel. The crew could join them but didn’t have to. The next day, they’d need the crew to meet them at the hotel early to plan for the summit. Ximon wasn’t entirely sure what that meant but his orders were to support it.

  Ximon figured being in the hotel would be the easiest thing, so he sprang for expensive rooms there for he and Raiza and Elsbeth and Peter. He brought a pistol and had Elsbeth bring one, just in case. Ximon and Elsbeth brought their KSF uniforms, while Raiza and Peter brought a dress and suit respectively. Though Raiza had grumbled about doing so, she did have KSF uniforms that fit her OK. Ximon wasn’t sure if she’d always had them or had worked something out with Raiza, who was a capable tailor for simple adjustments.

  The delegation had them meet at breakfast the next morning – a very nice buffet. They were joined by Master Trader Xelaney who was a Republic citizen living on Eapalia. He told the delegation about the latest state of things, including that there appeared to be growing unrest in and around the capital. This appeared to stem primarily from workers whose industries were being affected by Eapalia joining the Independent States, as this lowered tariffs and introduced more goods from other planets.

  After breakfast the entire group went to view the ball room where the summit would be held like they were sizing up a battlefield. There were already Eapalian workers busy assembling a stage, lighting, and so forth.

  Wilkinson pulled Ximon aside and said, “Why don’t you and your people inspect the rooms around here? I think we’re perfectly safe, but I’d like you and one of your people to be in the ballroom with us, with the others in one of these side rooms. They certainly won’t be the only ones ‘back stage’ as it were. “

  “Very well.”

  Ximon and the team looked around. There were several smaller conference rooms, some service hallways, and some bathrooms back stage. It looked like someone was setting up one of the conference rooms as a ‘hold’ or back stage office. Ximon also made sure they worked out the routes from the ballroom to various exits, including the room. Just in case, he programmed a route so that Mantis could fly to the roof and hover -- she was too heavy to actually land there.

  The rest of the day, the crew just rested as the delegation planned their strategy. They went out to lunch and dinner and tried to get a sense of the mood on the street. It seemed tense, but not dangerous, and it was a fairly nice city – clean, convenient, and with diverse food, drink, and shopping places.

  The crew and the delegation met again at the breakfast buffet again the next morning, everyone looking sharp. The delegation discussed elements of their negotiating strategy, but little of it made sense to Ximon or the crew. They were apparently very interested in establishing cultural liaisons and specific trade deals. The restaurant was moderately crowded, much more so than the previous day. Clearly a lot of people were there for this summit or were supporting it. Ximon and Elsbeth’s KSF uniforms drew a few stares, but no visible hostility.

  They all went up to the summit ballroom about 30 minutes before the summit was supposed to begin. Local police had weapons detectors and officers at both main doors to the ballroom, with no non-police weapons allowed. So, Elsbeth took Peter and their weapons and set up at a small dining table in a room down the service corridor. Ximon and Raiza joined the delegation in the ballroom, though they were definitely “back benchers,” sitting more-or-less behind the delegation’s seats. The room featured a large three-sided table, one side for the Republic, one for Eapalia, and one for the Independent States. Each group had 4-6 people at the table and several assistants sitting behind. A couple reporters sat off to one side, dutifully taking notes and taking pictures on breaks.

  The meeting began a while later with a formal statement from each side about their good will, their commitment to this effort, and what they hoped to achieve. This was followed by hours of mind-numbing discussion interrupted by a nice, catered lunch. During lunch Ximon quietly asked Mr. Wilkinson how it was going.

  Wilkinson smiled somewhat ingratiatingly, “Well, isn’t that obvious, Ximon? It’s going quite well. I think we might make some good progress here.”

  Ximon, “Glad to hear it.”

  This was followed by several more hours of boring discussion. Ximon had a hard time staying awake and wound up standing at the back of the room for some time. Then, the first day of the summit was over and they went to their separate rooms.

  Ximon and Raiza had to attend a ‘meet and greet’ held that evening. Elsbeth and Peter were invited, but demurred. It was a very nice event, everyone in formal attire, looking nice, and acting nice. Some of the ladies looked lovely, but Ximon felt that Raiza put them to shame. Raiza did a good job of making small talk with several people. One guy asked Ximon about the Republic and Ximon made a few general statements. Ximon felt the guy was just being polite and wasn’t really interested.

  There was some excitement late in the event as some protesters, apparently using drones, draped a large banner across the main entrance to the hotel saying, “Block Independent imports.” Their local hosts seemed a bit embarrassed and the banner was quickly taken down.

  The next day largely seemed to be a repeat of the first – statements and then rambling discussion. Ximon only vaguely followed the ebb and flow of discussion.

  It was all a bit boring … right up until the shooting started. About mid-morning the doors at the far end of the room burst open and 4 police officers rushed in. Everyone looked up in shock as they did so. Then the police immediately threw flash-bang or concussion grenades into the room. These made it hard to see or focus. Then they started shooting toward the delegates, with a few of the police firing shotguns and
a couple firing tasers. Several delegates went down one way or the other, though there was little blood. Ximon and Raiza dove for cover behind their table and most of the delegates hit the ground. Shooting from the hallway outside the other set of doors told Ximon that there was trouble there too.

  The gunmen were shouting amongst themselves though it was hard to follow what they were saying. One was telling people to get down, one was screaming about someone being wounded, and two were prowling around the delegates, looking at them intently while looking menacing themselves. They seemed dangerous but somewhat disorganized.

  In general, the crowd screamed or cried. After a minute, one of the gunmen said, “Here, over here” and grabbed the chief of the Independent States delegation from the ground. At the other side of the room, another one was looking at the delegation from Eapelia and one was coming around the table toward the Republic delegation.

  At that moment, the service door flew open and Elsbeth fired at one of the gunmen, blood flying from a wound in his shoulder, as Peter came in behind her, wielding a gun but not firing. In a flash, two of the gunmen turned toward them, one with a shotgun and one with the taser in his hand. Both men fired, hitting Peter, who head leapt in front of Elsbeth as they turned their weapons toward her. This largely protected Elsbeth, though some of the blast hit her as well. Peter fell in a crumpled heap.

  One of the gunmen yelled, “Let’s go, let’s go” and started out of the room with the Independent States chief, while another brought the head of the Eapalian delegation. The wounded gunman stumbled out, supported by his buddy who looked menacingly behind them. The shooting in the other hallway appeared to have stopped as well.

  Ximon recovered the pistol that lay in Peter’s frozen hand, while Raiza started checking the injured. There was almost no blood and it became clear that most had been hit by rubber bullets or tasers, which seemed quite odd. They made their way over to Elsbeth, who though clearly hurt, was wailing over the seemingly dead or unconscious Peter, “Someone help him.” Ximon checked Elsbeth while Raiza checked Peter. Elsbeth had been hit hard by at least one rubber bullet and was holding her side in pain. Ximon lifted her shirt and saw a large bruise was starting to form and her wincing suggested she might have cracked ribs. She just kept saying, “How is he?”