by Clark Graham
“They won’t tell us where we are going. We stopped at another star base to take on provisions a couple of days ago. I can’t tell you the name of it. I almost forgot, I saw our old master there. He is as crusty as ever, but he told me to tell you hi. He is also with the fleet but in a different star destroyer. He’s not on the Elbar with me. I tell you, no other fleet would dare come within a hundred and fifty light years of us, we are so massive.”
“If you see him again, tell him hello from me. I have got to go, I am on duty soon.”
“See you; and remember, stop fighting them.”
“Okay.”
The screen went dead. Zedra again felt that emptiness that he always felt after he finished talking with his dad. It was nice that he could talk to someone in his own language. Out here there were so many different languages that he had had to learn the empirical language. He didn’t like it. It was like talking with fire coming out of your mouth.
Now that the conversation was over he was back to his dreary life. He went downstairs and reported for duty.
The engines had been running hot lately. The bearings needed changing, but that was going to have to wait for the end of the patrol and the next parts shipment. The old destroyer would not be high on the priority list so the next patrol the destroyer was probably going to be going out with the bad bearings again.
It would be Zedra’s job tonight to keep the engines cool by holding a cold air hose and blowing air on them. It would make for another hot miserable night in the engine room. By the time his shift was over he was drenched in sweat and ready to take a shower. He headed up to do that.
After his shower, he went up to the galley to get some breakfast. It was the usual routine. Work, shower, breakfast, read or play cards with other enlisted crew members and then eat dinner. He would lie down for a few hours to sleep. After he woke up, he would start his routine again.
While he was eating his breakfast, he noticed that the ship suddenly changed course and sped up. He looked around to see if someone knew what was going on, but everyone looked as confused as he was. Then one of the junior officers came running in. “There has been a battle. We have won a glorious victory, but some of our ships are damaged. We are going to assist those ships with engine troubles or are having a hard time making it back to a space dock for repairs.”
The officer left, but the whole room was suddenly abuzz. It was soon after that when the battle stations siren went off and everyone rushed to their places.
After only an hour the all clear sounded. They had not changed course or speed.
Zedra was then summoned to the engine room. It was all hands on deck down there. The extra speed was causing the engine bearings to overheat even more than they were before. By the time they were half way to where the battle was, the engine master had to tell the captain that he could not keep up that speed. The destroyer slowed down, but the cruise and the other destroyer went ahead, leaving the Lectar behind.
When the Lectar finally arrived at the scene of the battle, it was seventeen hours after the rest of the fleet. The battle had been devastating with damaged and destroyed ships in all directions. The ships, both friendly and enemy, had been searched and the survivors had been evacuated. Those ships that could be repaired were getting towed back to the star base. The ones that couldn’t were to be gone through for anything usable.
The captain of the Lectar sent half of the engine crew, including Zedra, to find a set of bearings to replace the bad ones. They found a gutted out star destroyer of the same make as their own.
They had to don jet packs and suits as they headed across space to get into the destroyed ship. It was dangerous work because of all the jagged metal that could cut holes in a space suit if the wearer was not careful.
It was easier to go in the back of the engine room through the exhaust ports and undo the hatch to gain access to the engine room so the crew headed in that direction. When they got in, they first saw all of the dead crew members floating inside the space. Droplets of blood formed perfect balls around the dead. Some looked surprised but others, faces contorted in pain, did not die well. The crew tried to ignore them as best they could. There would be time later to collect the dead, but now was not that time.
When the oxygen was sucked out of the room the last of the wounded had died. The crew set up and started removing the bearings from the engine. To the surprise of everyone, they looked intact. The engines had been blasted into silence, but it was further up and the bearings were not part of the damaged area.
It didn’t mean that shrapnel didn’t hit it lower down so everyone hoped for the best. It was hard working with suits on and while floating in space. They could use the tool in one hand while they held onto an engine part with the other to keep from floating away.
Zedra was having a hard time because one of the dead bodies kept bumping into him. He would push it away, but a few minutes later it would bump into him again. He finally decided to turn around and energize his jet pack to push the dead man across the room. When he turned to do so he looked at the man’s face for the first time.
Shock and sadness enveloped his emotions. The body was that of his old master. The man’s eyes were wide open in fear. He had part of the engine sticking out of his chest. Zedra put his hands to his face and dropped the tool he was working with.
The chief petty officer figured out what had happened. A lot of these men had served on different ships in the fleet and if they looked around, they might find people they recognized, too. The petty officer gently pushed the dead master’s body across the engine room and patted Zedra on the back. He handed Zedra’s tool back and Zedra had to get back to work like nothing had just happened. He was having a hard time seeing because of the tears in his eyes.
Chapter Thirty Two
Star Destroyer Lectar
Onderi Sector
When the repairs were complete and the cannibalized bearings put into place on the Lectar, they were ordered to take the star destroyer Talon in tow to the nearest star base. The destroyer had taken a direct hit amidships by the big guns of a battleship. Even though its engines were mostly intact, the structural damage to the systems made the ship temporarily unusable, but repairable.
The life support systems on the damaged destroyer were also in bad shape so the crew would be berthed on the Lectar.
This didn’t make Zedra very happy. He had to share his bunk with another man and the man was a sweaty sleeper so his bunk was always damp when he went to get into it. The good news was the repairs to the engines made them sound like they were brand new and they could tow the Talon without any problems.
It was only a few days to the star base and Zedra had managed to ignore the members of the other crew until that last night when one of them sat down beside him in the galley. To Zedra’s surprise the man addressed him in his own language. “I heard your accent when you were talking to one of the other men and I thought you might be from Andaria Major.”
“Yes, I am. My name is Zedra. What country are you from?”
“My name is Landris. I am from the West Coast of Santeria. I was part of the army in the disastrous battle of the bunkers. I was taken prisoner and then sent out here. I have been on starships ever since.”
“I was captured in my hometown. I shot one of the invaders with a pistol, but it didn’t go through his armor and they tackled me and brought me here. How bad was the battle?”
“We were part of the escort of the battleship Kaldon. They went after it first. Of all the escorts around it we were the only ship to survive, even though we were knocked out of the action.”
Suddenly Zedra was worried. “How many battleships were in the fleet?”
“Just the one.”
“Were you with the destroyer Elbar? I have a friend on that ship.”
The man’s eyes looked sad. “I am sorry for your friend. The Elbar was the first to go. She took several direct hits from two cruisers. It was blown to bits. There were no survivors.”
<
br /> Zedra was in shock. He had assumed that the Elbar had made it through the fight. He didn’t see a ship with that name on it in the wreckage so he thought it had survived the fight. “Excuse me,” Zedra said as he walked away leaving a tray full of food uneaten.
When Zedra got to his bunk the other man was still in bed so he shook him awake. “Get up and get out.”
The man got angry after he saw what time it was. “I still have two more hours.”
Zedra's voice got louder, “get out.”
The man complied when he saw the look on Zedra’s face and Zedra crawled into the wet bunk.
When Zedra didn’t show up for duty the petty officer was sent to get him. It was the same one that had seen Zedra’s reaction to seeing his old master’s body. The man saw Zedra in his bunk and decided not to bother him. He went down and reported to the engine room master that Zedra was ill.
That night they docked at the star base. The star battleship was there. It had made it under its own power despite being full of some very large holes. Zedra could see all sorts of workmen repairing it from the window in his bunk room. He wondered if Lee survived the battle. He had been close to Lee as a child but had not seen him since that fateful day that they were kidnapped together.
The Talon started her repairs and the Lectar would be there only long enough to re-provision and then it would be sent back to the Onderi Sector. That gave Zedra and the crew only a few hours in this star base. It was twice the size of the star base in the Onderi sector and Zedra spent some time exploring. It had a massive galley with several different stories and exotic foods that he had never tasted before. It had a buffet area and he just walked through taking anything that looked edible. It wasn’t long after he sat down that he heard a familiar voice.
“Zedra, there you are, when I saw your ship docking I started looking for you.”
Zedra stood up and embraced his friend. “Lee, I saw the battleship and I wondered if you had survived the battle.”
“What a glorious battle that was. Prince Feldarin attacked us. All we wanted to do was to protect our sector. He has two fleets and the smaller one was just supposed to keep us there until the larger of his two fleets arrived and finished us off. The twins attacked him though, so his small fleet had to break off the action with us and go and protect his larger fleet. That is good news because now the three princes that were threats to us are all repairing their damaged warships. We only border those planets that are controlled by the twins or Prince Feldarin. Anyone coming after us now will have to go through them to get to us and that is highly unlikely.”
“Glorious battle, you said? I lost two friends in that glorious battle.”
“It is the cost of victory. Many of my crew wer killed, but we protected our sector. I was given a medal for valor and promoted to petty officer second class.”
“What has happened to you, Lee? We were taken from our home by these people, don’t you remember?”
“I have adapted to my circumstances; you should, too. Andaria was a long time ago. You are a soldier now, you should act like one.”
Zedra looked up at him, “I had a friend that told me something similar to that. He’s dead now. If they had left him alone he would not be in this crazy war and would still be alive. We don’t belong here.”
“This is our war. It involves the entire galaxy. You can’t just sit on your farm and pretend it isn’t happening.” Lee was getting upset. He had hoped their reunion would be a happy one. “I have got to go. I hope that you can see how wrong you are one day, goodbye.”
Zedra felt bad for getting in the argument. Lee had seemed happy to see him and now he was going away mad. He was running out of friends rapidly. Perhaps Tedric was right after all. Perhaps he should stop fighting them.
Chapter Thirty Three
Smirtian Keldar Sector
When the transport landed at the space dock at Smirtian, Pethran expected only a minor delay and then he would be off on the final leg of his journey to Denoris. When he stepped out, he found only chaos around him.
There were ships packing up to leave and other ships were landing supplies and weapons. Soldiers were scrambling in all directions. He walked up to the desk of the space liner company.
“When does the ship to Denoris leave?”
The woman looked up from her monitor. “I am sorry, Sir, all of our transports have been confiscated by the governor. There are no flights out of here until further notice.”
Pethran was shocked. “I am supposed to go to Denoris. How am I going to get there?”
“All I can do is offer you a refund for the last part of your journey. Emor, a wealthy merchant, is on his way here with a massive fleet. He has been building up a fleet for years in secret. Now he is attacking the planets in this sector. The government officials have ‘commandeered’ all of our transports so they can flee to another sector. We don’t have any left. You can possibly hire transport, but I don’t know if there is any available.”
She looked down at her monitor, “ I have credited your account, just put your hand on the pad so it can go through.”
Pethran did as he was told, then he stormed off. He grabbed his luggage and then went and sat at a tavern near the airport and ordered a drink.
“Well,” said a man with a suitcase sitting at the bar.”I can only suspect that you are stranded like most of the others around us.”
Looking up from his drink, Pethran saw a bearded man with long hair standing over him. He had earrings and a toothy smile. “Who might you be?”
“I am your salvation. The name is Dugan. I can only guess that you are trying to get to Denoris, since that is the only place that people continue on from here.”
“You are correct there.”
“I just happen to have a ship that the government does not know about. You see, I run a side business that involves, well, a little sensitive cargo that is not fully approved of by the powers that be.”
“You’re a smuggler.”
Dugan swallowed hard. “Yes, well, smuggler is such a harsh word, but yes, it fits the bill. My cargo is only one way, from Denoris to here, so I have room to take people to Denoris, now that the official way is no longer an option. I can take you there for only five hundred credits.”
“That is a ridiculous amount, how about fifty?”
Dugan smiled, “a bargainer, well. I can’t even start the engines for fifty credits, how about two hundred?”
“I think a hundred is as high as I go. I can stay here for a long time on that amount.”
“Ah,” Dugan responded, “that is true but Emor is on his way and nobody knows what he will do once he arrives. I am feeling charitable. I will agree on a hundred.”
“Done; when do we leave?” Pethran asked.
“Just follow me to the ship. We will be ready very soon.”
There were a maze of side streets that Dugan led him through. Finally in a back alley behind a ruined building was a rust bucket of a ship. It was already full of people and when Pethran entered he had to sit on an old wooden crate. The inside smelled of rotting fruit but Pethran didn’t complain. He was going to where his son told him he would be safe.
An hour later the last of the passengers arrived, a large woman with a ready smile. When Dugan started up the vessel, the thing shook violently and all the interior lights dimmed. Finally the engines roared to life and they were heading full speed out of there.
“What are you doing, you idiot?” the large women yelled.
“Sorry,” Dugan replied. “I am not used to carrying legitimate cargo. When you are in my business you hit the ground running and are a long ways away before the authorities know that you are airborne.”
“Don’t land the same way in Denoris or I will beat you,” she responded.
Dugan just sunk down in his seat. He was already regretting adding that last passenger.
It was a long, uncomfortable flight so Pethran spent the time asking people how much the flight cost them. It ranged fro
m two hundred credits to what the large lady paid, twenty five. Pethran made a mental note to practice his negotiating skills.
Suddenly, mid flight, the ship stopped. Dugan started handing out oxygen bottles and blankets. “It’s going to get very cold when I shut off the life support system so breathe the oxygen and wrap yourself tightly in the blanket. Also, don’t make any noise whatsoever.”
“What is going on?” the large woman demanded.
“Pirates. I have long range sensors so I can spot them long before they spot me, but two of them are headed this way so we will shut down all systems and look like space debris to them. The Empire patrols kept them at bay, but since there is no more Empire, the pirates are getting bold and taking ships. Now be quiet.”
The purr of the engines and the lights went out at the same time. The warm of the inside of the ship slowly dissipated and soon it was a bone chilling cold. Dugan kept an eye on his sensors, but when the pirates got too close, even those were shut down.
Pethran watched as two ships passed nearby. They were so close that he could see them from the front windows. Dugan watched them too. When they were far enough away he turned back on his sensors to track them until they were out of sensor range.
The ship started shaking again when Dugan tried to restart the engines. It took several tries before they came to life. “They don’t like cold starts,” he explained to no one in particular. Soon they were on their way again.
Pethran was chilled to the bone but relieved to be moving. He hadn’t signed up for this.
Chapter Thirty Four
Denoris, Keldar Sector
The rickety old ship landed in the middle of the jungle on an improvised pad. There was an old hover bus to take the passengers to the city. After everyone paid their credits, they got into the bus. Around the landing pad were pallets of goods all draped with green tarps. Pethran wondered if that was what they had been smuggling, but the bus left before the men started loading the cargo.