Awakening sf-2

by Randolph Lalonde

  He put a hand on her shoulder and she turned into him. His arms came around her protectively. She felt small but safe. “Are you all right?” Came the hushed question.

  “Everyone trades for the upside, everyone wants something wherever you go. Except for you. You've just given and I spent so long wondering, asking myself what does he want? What is he after?”

  “Something I can't buy, you're not someone I want to see drift through the crew like so many others.”

  She looked up to him, he smiled down at her. “Why me? I still don't understand. Do you want to be my lover? My father? My master?”

  “I would like to be your Captain since you're staying on,” he said with a chuckle. “I think being your Captain, being their Captain,” he said, gesturing towards the Samson. “means something different to me now.”

  She just stared at him. He wasn't the same man at all.

  “I feel like someone turned off the gravity. Ever since we took that cargo train in the wrong direction for all the right reasons I've been weightless,” he said quietly.

  A smile spread across her face and he let her go. “Now that makes sense.” They stepped back over to the railing. “I think.”

  More repair team members entered the mooring bay and Stephanie came around the corner and stopped as soon as she got a look at Jake and Ashley. They looked contented with each other's company in the silence as they looked over the ship. “I'm interrupting something,” she said, putting her hands up and starting to turn back.

  “Nope,” Ashley said with a sniffle, wiping her eyes. She half turned her head to address Stephanie. “Captain was just telling me how he's feeling different.”

  Stephanie walked to the railing and leaned her back against it between the pair. “Radiation sickness is cleared out sir?” She asked as she picked at the fitting of her gloves, pulling the fingers then drawing them back into place. It was something she had done since her early days in the infantry, even though the gloves included in the vacsuit were always fitted properly.

  “It has, but I don't think that's what Ash meant.”

  “Oh?”

  “Something feels very right about going after Regent Galactic,” he said quietly. “Like I've found the right path for us.”

  “What about your daughter sir?”

  “The lead we have is too old. We could try to follow it up but I get the feeling she's still in hiding. So the Minister will use their Intelligence agency to find her.”

  “Wow, he must owe you some favour.”

  “Well, I also promised that we'd be their mascots for a new privateering initiative.”

  Stephanie turned around to face the ship. The repair crew had started to remove one of the barrels on the upper turret. It had been split at the end. “Privateering again, I thought you said the last time would be the last time.”

  “That was when we were only doing it for the payday.”

  Stephanie looked at him. “This really is for good isn't it? You really aren't going to be checking the hunter's board and picking up other work.”

  Jake only nodded slowly.

  “I never thought I'd see it,” she looked back down towards the ship. “I still wish we could find your daughter before we get into this though.”

  “We're already in it. As far as Regent Galactic is concerned we're wanted criminals already,” Captain Valance said. “Besides, knowing that she wanted to contact me before tells me that what I have planned will work.”

  “What's that sir?” Ashley asked.

  “There are only a few important rules to follow if you're looking for someone who might want to be found. Make sure you get all the help you can, keep your eyes and ears open, and make sure that you do everything you can to make yourself visible.”

  “You're going to use the publicity to your advantage?”

  “Like a great big beacon.”

  “But it sounded like you didn't want to do any publicity,” Ashley commented.

  “I didn't want to have people following us around showing the galaxy what we'd have to do to get the job done. There's a difference. Just because I'm turning a new leaf doesn't mean that I'm not willing to be a very bad man to anyone in the wrong. When I think about that cargo train I get angry,” his expression darkened. “I get so angry. I think about all the jobs we've pulled off. Work that I should have questioned or turned down. Then I wonder how much damage I can do in all the right places with the same skills we used finishing that work. How much harm can I do to all the right people for a change.”

  Stephanie smiled and looked to Ashley. “It's about time.”

  They watched the repair crews for a while before the trio pushed away from the rail and started down towards the gangway. “How long to we have before the hunters start circling?” Stephanie asked.

  “There's a specialist coming after us already. As for the rest from Regent Galactic territory, the first of them should start showing up in about three weeks unless they have the cash for a wormhole generator.”

  “Think we'll be able to keep away from them?”

  “No.”

  “So we counter.” Stephanie concluded.

  Captain Valance simply nodded.

  “Counter?” Ashley asked.

  “When the bounty hunters start getting close we hunt them back.” Stephanie explained. “After we've taken care of a few most of the others should leave us alone.”

  “What about the ones who don't give up?”

  “Those are the ones I'll hunt down. We'll turn them in to Aucharian authorities for a reward if there's anything left of them when I'm done.” Captain Valance concluded.

  Summons

  It happened fast. Captain Valance was on his way back to the gathering of city ships in orbit before the hurricane had been broken, mere hours after he had returned to the Samson. This time he went with Stephanie, his First Officer. Ashley was off doing her flight test for her certification, the defence base had two instructors aboard, and one of them was up early.

  Stephanie and Jake were taken to the large government city ship, the capitol city of the Aucharian government. It was a massive twin hulled vessel that dwarfed most of the other vessels in orbit.

  They were escorted directly to the office of the Minister of Defence, Lauren Timmer. She was a lovely woman with long dark violet hair and she wore the muted grey robes of her office. She appeared far too feminine to hold that post, but Captain Valance knew better. She was one of the greatest tacticians alive.

  They walked into her spartan office, decorated only with three chairs in front of a large desk. The floor was a dark red and the walls were a deep blue with a window spreading from wall to wall behind her overlooking the tumultuous planet below. “It's good to meet you Captain Valance,” she said from behind her desk, gesturing for them to sit down.

  They did so, but she remained on her feet. “Quite a storm,” she said, gesturing towards the clouds far below. It was still breaking up, and would be for some time. “We have climate control but every few years something comes along that our systems can't handle. It's a good thing too. Storms like these move so much water that land becomes exposed and the earth is turned. A natural tilling of the soil. Billions of plants and fish die, buried alive or crushed under kilometre high waves. It releases nutrients into the water, dredges up materials that would otherwise remain buried, and brings change. Opportunities for new life to take root arise, land masses shift. Without one of these storms certain crops would grow out of control, others would be suffocated. The circle of life might stop turning.”

  Stephanie could listen to her talk forever. Confidence oozed from every annunciated syllable. She could tell there were layers to this woman that few had ever seen.

  “You have made Regent Galactic turn their heads. We intercepted a battle group headed straight into our space. Their departure point was Thadd. They were after you.”

  “I'm honoured.”

  “You should be. If it weren't for you that battle group wouldn't have fa
llen into a trap we set for them at the last second. If we weren't there to stop them they would have taken you and your crew, most likely in order to execute you publicly. Their media and imperial system of government thrives on examples.”

  “We would have gotten clear,” Captain Valance said with a smile.

  Minister Timmer chuckled and nodded. “You might have at that. The information we have on you and the Samson is incomplete, but it's enough to verify your reputation. We are on the defensive, and we need people who are eager to do the opposite,” she turned and brought Captain Valance's records up on a holographic display above her desk. It was an account of bounties delivered, ships captured, even some information on his last privateering venture. “I have to admit, I didn't even know you existed before you brought Minister Lorne's brother back to face grand theft charges. You saved his career, you know.”

  “I know.”

  “So you are aware, the only reason why you're talking to me is because you did manage to save thousands of lives in the Thadd system. The unfortunate part of that is that Regent Galactic bombed the planet before taking possession. They'll be putting fires out for years, St. Kitts is unrecognisable.”

  “I'm sorry to hear that. It was the closest port with rescue personnel.”

  “You're right. In the end the rescue vessels did end up in our space. The waking slaves have been freed but we're still rousing the ones that were in stasis. None of them have any personal memories from what we've seen so far. Vindyne technology was used to suppress them without physically damaging their minds.”

  “To suppress them?”

  “That's right. Some of our medical personnel are working on a way to bring their memories back but we're well behind on that kind of research.”

  Captain Valance looked at her quietly for a moment. “Did you find anything out about my daughter?”

  “I was wondering when you'd ask,” Minister Timmer said with a smile as she sat down. “We did. She was recently spotted on a frontier base. No one would have noticed her at all if she hadn't been responsible for putting three ship thieves out of business,” she brought up video footage of Alice throwing a handgun at a much taller fellow then running into her ship.

  “She must have been out of ammunition,” Stephanie said quietly.

  “Actually, port law prohibits the departure of ships carrying anyone who discharged a firearm. Law enforcement must clear them before they can depart.”

  “Smart girl. Looks like something you'd do sir.”

  “Thanks to this incident we know she flies the Clever Dream, an Arcyn Starskipper model craft with a wormhole generator. One of her eyes has been replaced with a very high end prosthetic that can gather more information than the average person can handle and she uses the same kind of vacsuit some of your crew wear. She was using the name Fran Molleneuvre on that base. Is that enough for you to start working for us Captain Valance?”

  “Did you find out where her next destination would be?” Jake asked.

  “She didn't register a plan with the Port Authority. That, along with a number of other obvious traits, seem to run in the family.”

  “All right, I'll work with you as long as you keep digging.”

  “And after we find her? If we manage to arrange a reunion or she refuses to see you?”

  “I'll do the publicity, I can guarantee that we'll make a few captures, but I won't stick around past what I've promised. There are a few things I'd like to chase down. My daughter is only the first.”

  “I understand. It may not be easy though. Much like you, any minor information we find on her is difficult to obtain and it's like she just appeared out of nowhere a few years ago. Just a year or two before you did.”

  “Being elusive runs in the family,” Captain Valance said quietly.

  “So it does.” She stood up and put a small data chip down on her desk. “Here is your letter of marque. It's ready to be programmed into your ship computer using whichever transponder you like, but only one. After you've accepted this you will be legally permitted to seize and destroy Regent Galactic vessels and property in the name of Aucharia. We've also gathered volunteers who may like to join you. They're all military so they should take orders easily enough. Our current administration doesn't take things slow. The Lieutenant waiting in the hall can show you to them.”

  Captain Valance stood and offered his hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you,” he said quietly.

  “And you, Captain. Bring us a storm.”

  Stephanie stood and was about to turn and leave, but the Minister offered her hand. She took it gently and locked eyes with her for a moment. A small smile peeked through the stern expression on the tall woman's face, Stephanie was forced to mirror her. “The hero is nothing without his pedestal. Be strong for the crew.”

  Stephanie could only nod as the woman slowly let go of her hand.

  A young Ensign led them down the hallway into an express tube. It shuttled them vertically and horizontally through the large ship until they arrived at the intersection of several hallways. It was a large square with a transparent dome ceiling with a vista of stars beyond. Dozens of citizens were moving about, most of them in light clothing suitable for the equatorial regions on the surface of the planet. A few wore robes of office, but the majority of the people there seemed to be civilians.

  The Ensign, a young man with dark hair, led them down one hall a few meters then through a doorway. It was a plain, large common room with tables and chairs for seventy. The walls played host to Newsnet replays, some focused on the breaking storm below on the planet while others featured news of the war. Over a hundred young men and women were inside, all of them fell silent as the Captain entered. “They've all heard of you sir. Everyone has known exactly who you are ever since the Thadd rescue hit the news,” it was the first thing the Ensign had said.

  “These are all volunteers?” Captain Valance asked.

  “Every one of them sir.”

  “They're so young,” Stephanie whispered. “I didn't expect them to be so young.”

  It was true, the oldest of them looked twenty. “Do you have a recorder of some kind?” Captain Valance asked the Lieutenant.

  “Everything in the capitol is recorded.”

  “Then tell your superiors they're about to get their recruitment clip,” he said as he walked to the front of the room. They had set up a simple metal podium for him and he stopped to stand beside it. “I'm Captain Jacob Valance of the Samson. A few days ago I was hired by Regent Galactic to hunt down a cargo train that had been stolen. This wasn't something new. I've been cleaning up messes for super corporations for years. When we hooked up to the cargo train and I saw the dead and dying masses within I was horrified. I said; 'no more.' We turned and set our course for a friendlier star. It was time to start doing the wrong thing for all the right reasons.

  I am a very bad man. I have done what most people would refuse to and moved on to the next dirty deed that would get me and my crew a good payday. That is how I have become the very best at doing my very worst. It is not time for me to retire. It is time to make a change.

  I won't do anyone's dirty work just for the credits. Not after what I have seen, not after hearing a call that beats with the same rhythm of my heart. Regent Galactic and corporations like them take advantage of the weak, the solitary, the immigrants, transients and the minorities while they use marketing and empty entertainments to subdue the masses. Whether they keep their subjects in chains or in the bondage of manufactured culture, Regent Galactic and companies like them are slavers.

  The Aucharians, your government, have given me the opportunity to go after them in their name. I will disrupt Regent Galactic's trade, take their provisions, free their slaves, steal their weapons and kill their soldiers. Corporations like them helped me become the best hunter, killer and a famous bearer of bad news. I'm going out there to do my worst to all the right people, burn all the right bridges and break the bonds of millions. Come with me.”


  Listeners From Afar

  “Damn, after hearing that I'm almost ready to turn this ship around and sign up as a privateer,” said Captain Engel from the command chair of the Midland.

  “He always was a good speaker,” Ayan agreed quietly from his left. The rest of the recruitment clip was only contact information and other details about the war between Regent Galactic and the Aucharians. She wore a white vacsuit that left only her face open. Over top she wore a white hooded poncho.

  “I'd say he's gotten better,” Laura said from where she leaned on a deactivated secondary communications station.

  “How old is this, Captain?” Asked Ayan.

  “We got it in the last burst transmission ma'am, when we turned around and started heading for home three days ago. It was five days old then.”

  “Do you know if Freeground Fleet Intelligence has sent any requests to these Aucharians?”

  “I wouldn't have access to that Major. It's a little over my head.” Replied the Captain. He had been very patient with the specialist team on board. Ayan, Laura and a team of engineers with the Special Projects division were there testing a new combination wormhole hyperspace system. The tests were going very well, the drive was a success and as a reward Captain Engel would continue as commander of the Midland. It would be the fastest ship of its class for at least a year, most likely longer. The Special Projects team, lead by Major Ayan Rice, was easier to accommodate than he expected. Her team were chosen from a pool of hundreds of volunteers, they all wanted to be there. Most of them, especially their commander, were polite and easy to communicate with.

  The most difficult thing about the last five months was watching Major Rice's health slowly deteriorate. Her energy was waning while her dedication and enthusiasm forced her to constantly overextend herself. Commander Laura Everin, her subordinate and best friend was the only person who could convince the Major to slow down, or pace herself at all.