by Saxon Andrew
“Well, we both agree showing the ability to control the filaments is not something we should do. However, showing them the force field isn’t something that will cause us immense problems.”
“So, how do we do this exactly?”
Gregor smiled, “Computer, take us to back to Jester.”
“WHAT!! ARE YOU INSANE?!”
Gregor sat back in his chair, “Computer, I want you and your buddy to think this through and get back to me when you’ve looked at all the permutations.”
Kaylee started shaking her head, “Gregor, you know the Movement has ships there?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Of course they have ships there!! I just killed Sam.”
“And what do you think they’ll do once they arrive and don’t see either of our ships there?”
“But none of them have passed us on the Jester Filament.”
“Think it through, Kaylee.” Gregor looked at the scanner monitor and said, “Move us off the filament far enough away where we won’t be seen and keep a scanner watching for the ship on Jester.”
The two ships moved out of the filament’s outward flow and boosted away into open space. Twenty minutes later, both ships powered down.”
• • •
Thirty minutes later, Kaylee’s computer announced, “I have a ship moving out at high boost.”
“Shut down the drive fields and enter normal space.” Both ships dropped out of under space into normal space. Gregor asked, “How long before that ship arrives at the place we left the filament?”
“An hour,” Kaylee’s computer answered.
“Well, let’s give it two.”
“Gregor.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve looked at all the data and we are forced to reluctantly agree that you’re probably right.”
“You sound like it hurts you to admit it, Computer.”
“Neither of us saw it and that is troubling. We’re wondering how you did.”
“It comes from being a pirate and living a life on the run.”
Kaylee raised her eyebrows, “Pirate?”
“You know, take from the rich and give to the poor.”
“What are you talking about, Gregor. You kept everything you and Emmett ever took!” Gregor’s computer replied.”
“Are you saying that Emmett and I weren’t poor?”
Kaylee laughed out loud and then said, “I guess any behavior can be justified.”
“That’s now humans work, Kaylee. The Movement has justified their plan and the Dragons justify conquering other civilizations. Emmett and I never killed anyone during our pirate days but some of the ones we relieved of their treasures weren’t as reluctant to do the same. I learned to run and hide from the best of them. Emmett was a good teacher and he always said, ‘Do what they least expect.’”
“Going back to Jester is something they will never expect,” Kaylee’s computer responded.
“This is how we’re going to handle it. I’m going to dress up exactly like I did when the Dragons came roaring into Jester.” Gregor looked at Kaylee, “That was the first time I met you.” Kaylee nodded. “I’m reasonably certain that the Dragons have a reward poster at all the possible places I might go and someone will contact them about my presence on the planet.”
“You’re just going to allow them to come in and trap you on Jester?”
“No, Kaylee, I’m not, but this time we have force fields and they don’t. You and your ship are going out to the intersection and watch from long distance for their ships to arrive. You’ll immediately notify me on my link that they’re coming and I will go to my ship and lift off the planet. You’ll boost in ahead of them and we’ll put them in a crossfire between us.”
“It won’t be a good thing to be close enough to Jester for them to see what’s happening.”
Gregor thought about it for a moment and then replied to Kaylee’s computer, “You’re right. I’ll move into the filament’s outflow and move outside the planet’s scanner range.”
“They could just fly right past you.”
“They won’t, Kaylee. I’ll use my communicator to let them know where I am.” There was a long silence and Gregor said, “You don’t like my plan?”
“We’re discussing whether or not you’re incredibly brave or really stupid,” Gregor’s computer replied.
“Why do you have to say that?”
“You’re putting a lot of faith in a force field you’ve really never tried and you’re going to be facing some of the most powerful warships in the known universe.”
Gregor shrugged, “I guess that’s true. If it were just me, I’d probably not attempt this. But between the two of us, I think we can do it.”
“All of their ships can open fire on just one of us!!”
“I know that computer, that’s why we’re going to open fire on them first and leave just one of them unharmed.”
“Why, Gregor?”
“Kaylee, we’re going to contact the Dragon’s Ruler and have a discussion about how his civilization is now a second rate power in the universe. I hope he responds like the Dragons always do to a threat.”
“How do they respond?” Kaylee asked.
“Kaylee, they want to bite something in the worst possible way. If they can’t get their teeth into it, they’ll use their blasters instead. The Venzel Dragons are not an enemy you want to have.”
“And you’re setting a trap for them?”
“Kaylee, they like a worthy adversary. If things go well, then they’re going to love us.”
Kaylee stared at Gregor’s image on her computer screen and said, “Hey, Gregor’s Computer. What do you think about this?”
“He’s going to do this one way or another! As I mentioned earlier, if this is going to happen, I prefer it happen here instead of inside Dragon Space.”
“Gregor, what if I say I’m not going to risk my ship in a space battle. What would you do?”
“I’d ask for you to come up with a plan that will delay the Movement attacking Bellingham. As a matter of fact, I’m totally open to doing it another way, Kaylee. What do you recommend we do?”
“Uhhhhhh….”
“Come on, Kaylee; you have twenty more years of training than I received and you really should be the one in charge. What do we do?”
“Gregor, you’re not being fair.”
“What do you mean, Computer? She’s the one that suggested she wouldn’t participate in my plan.”
“She may have more knowledge and skills but she does not have real world experience to know what to anticipate.”
Kaylee said, “I’m not sure what you’re saying, Computer.”
“Look no further than Gregor’s suggestion to go back to Jester. Would you have ever thought about doing that?”
“Well, I guess not.”
“Would you have considered revealing our force field to the Dragons to frighten them into taking action against the Movement?”
Kaylee sighed, “No, that didn’t enter my mind.”
“Gregor has real world experience that gives him an edge in planning.”
“I guess I can see that. I was just thinking that instead of attacking the Dragon Warships, we could just shut down their reactors and communicate with them while they’re dead in the water.”
Kaylee’s comment was greeted with silence and Gregor finally said, “And you can make that happen?”
“I told you most of the twenty years I spent in training was spent learning how to mentally control machines. I’ll just shut down their reactors while you try to get them to contact their monarch.”
“I hate to bring it up, but you almost failed controlling your computer and you’re suggesting you can knock the power out of several ships simultaneously?” Gregor asked.
“I’m not going to try and control their computers; I’m going to trip the power relays to their reactors. “They’ll have to manually reset them and I’ll just keep tripping them. I couldn’t do tha
t with my ship.”
“Why not?” Gregor asked.
“Because my reactor does not have a relay installed on the reactor; it is hardwired to my systems,” Kaylee’s computer answered.
Gregor stared at Kaylee and then said, “The Movement knew you could disable the ship if it had a relay and built it so you couldn’t?”
“I found that out when I attempted to trip it. Then it became a struggle to maintain control of the computer.”
“How will you know when they turn them back on?”
“Gregor, their lights will come on or our scanners will detect them.”
Gregor stared at Kaylee on his computer screen and shrugged, “We’ll use your plan.”
“Are you saying you can do this power tripping thing with numerous warships?” Gregor’s computer asked.
“No, Computer, if there’s more than eight, I might have problems keeping all of them shut down.”
“I do hope all of you realize that if you trip their power relays, all of their ships will leave Under Space and pop into normal space,” Kaylee’s computer announced. “And you’ve never tried to do this with more than five ships.”
“I can do it!”
“Well, if you can’t, I will open fire on any Dragon Warship that regains power and starts charging their blasters!” Kaylee’s computer announced emphatically.
Kaylee smiled at Gregor, “Perhaps that is how you’ll stop the others from turning their systems back on.” Gregor’s computer said.
“Alright, “I’m headed back to Jester. Kaylee, take your ship close enough to the intersection to see their arrival and let me know if any Dragon Warships appear. I’ll leave the planet and move off the filament just outside the planet’s scanner range. I do need you to accelerate ahead of the arriving Dragons and meet me off the filament.”
“We’ll be there before they arrive. How are you going to handle it when they arrive?”
“That will depend on how many of them come and whether or not you can knock their power out so that all of them leave Under Space close enough that the first ones don’t have time to reset their relays before we drop into normal space.”
Kaylee looked nervous, “Gregor, if there’s more than five…”
“Both of our ships will open fire and cut their numbers down to five. I’ll let you know which five to focus on.”
“Ok; we’ll see you later.”
“Kaylee, I honestly don’t expect them to send more than three or four warships.”
“How did you make that determination?” Kaylee’s computer asked.
“It takes a lot of fuel to boost here from Dragon Territory and they have to believe that the probability of my staying here long enough for them to arrive isn’t that good. They’ll have to send some ships because whoever turns us in will want their reward. I suspect they will send whatever ships they have that are close by.”
“That makes sense, Gregor. I’ll let you know when they arrive and how many ships they sent.”
“Good, be careful, Kaylee; remember the Movement might still have ships at the intersection and might follow the Dragons in.”
Kaylee’s eyes went wide, “What will we do if that happens?”
“Assist the Dragons against them. I doubt that will happen but you just never know what the universe will throw at you.”
Gregor’s ship turned and headed back on the filament toward Jester. Kaylee watched it go and pursed her lips. “What’s bothering you?” Her computer asked.
“Computer, I thought I was being clever with my suggestion about tripping the reactor relays but I did not consider the other things Gregor saw after I made the suggestion. He really is more competent at planning than I am.”
“You’re right and you’re going to have to make a decision about who is going to lead.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you recognize he is more competent to lead us, then you shouldn’t withhold information in order to make yourself look good. You should have given it to him up front and let him figure out how to use it.” The computer paused and then continued, “I have to admit that I really detested him at first but now I realize he was deliberately making me feel like that to force me to look at the situation and overcome the electronic shackles the Movement installed in my processors. His computer has shared a lot of its data with me and I’ve seen how Gregor has handled himself over the years. I can honestly say that the Movement doesn’t have anyone close to his command abilities.”
“Does that include me?”
“Kaylee, you are more physically skilled than he is and there are things you can do that he can’t, but you aren’t close to being the strategic thinker he is. I do believe that the two of you together are much stronger than either of you are alone.”
“Thanks, Computer; I needed to hear that.” Kaylee looked at her scanner display and said, “Let’s go look for some Dragons.” The ship fired its boosters and it accelerated toward the distant intersection.
“By the way, Kaylee, I had the mini-shuttle fly to Gregor’s ship so he’d have a way to go down to the planet.”
“We should have thought of that.”
“Gregor suggested it to his computer who then contacted me. He did think about it.”
Kaylee sighed heavily, “Just more evidence to support what you’ve said.”
“Yes, it is.” Kaylee sat back in her chair and thought about allowing Gregor to be in command. She liked her autonomy and giving it up to him disturbed her. However, she had to admit to herself that Gregor didn’t miss much.
• • •
Gregor was sitting at the bar in M’s Tavern and a pretty woman came up to him, “Buy a lady a drink?”
Gregor turned and saw she was very attractive and he raised his hand for the bartender. The woman moved in between Gregor’s chair and the Arepian sitting next to him. She leaned on the bar and smiled, “What’s your name?”
“Gregor.” He immediately saw the Arepian change color from light red to green. It didn’t look at him but turned to the woman and smiled, “You may have my chair.”
“Well thank you very much.”
The Arepian nodded and Gregor saw it walk away and disappear into the crowd on the dance floor. The bartender took the woman’s order and Gregor smiled, “It’s good to see another human.”
“I agree. I was seeing another man but someone killed him outside the front door.”
“What?”
“I know! We were getting along fabulously and I took a short break and he was gone. The next thing I know, well, someone cut off his head.”
“You don’t appear to be very upset about it?”
The woman shrugged, “It’s a dangerous universe. I think they must have killed him because of some organization he was working for or something like that.”
The bartender brought the woman’s drink and she smiled at Gregor, “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. You mentioned some sort of organization.”
She took a big gulp and Gregor was impressed. That drink was strong enough to have walked over to her on its own power. She lowered the glass and smiled, “Yeah, I heard him talking to someone earlier in the evening and he said he wasn’t ready to leave to go to Fallsham.”
“Fallsham?”
“Something that sounded like that. Anyway, he was told to be ready to join the others in four days and to shut up whining about it. I knew he was just going to be fun for a few days.” She stood up from her chair and moved in between Gregor’s legs and put her arms around Gregor’s neck, “You look like you could be a lot of fun.”
Gregor raised his hand to the bartender and he nodded. The woman’s smile grew bigger. “When did you hear him say that?” he asked.
“Yesterday. He was killed a few hours after that. But he’s gone and we’re here, let’s not dwell on unhappy thoughts.”
“What was his name; I might have known him.”
“His name was Trent.”
“Trent?”
&n
bsp; “Yes and he was yelling at the one ordering him to leave. “I heard him say, ‘Grahame, she might come back and I should stay here.’”
Gregor’s eyes widened, “Did you say he was talking to someone named Grahame?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed slightly and she said, “Yeesssss, Grahame Corner or something like that.”
“Could it have been Grahame O’Connor?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Why did he mention the man’s last name, that’s not usually done in normal conversations.”
“He didn’t say it to the man, he said it to the one he contacted right after the call ended. He complained about having to leave and was told that this Grahame O’something was the boss and he better do as instructed. I suspect he was killed for resisting his orders or some other reason.” She moved closer to Gregor and kissed him deeply. He looked over the woman’s shoulder and saw the Arepian across the room pointing a device toward him and knew it was taking a photo of him. He removed his dark glasses and saw the Arepian raise the device again. The Arepian then rushed out of the front entrance and Gregor broke the kiss and raised his hand. The bartender came over and Gregor handed him a large coin, “Give the Lady whatever she wants.”
“What…aren’t you going to join me? Drinking alone is no fun.”
Gregor kissed her on the cheek, “No, I have to ship out now but you’ve been excellent company.”
The woman pouted, “Don’t you have a little bit of time to go to my room to drink a little?”
“Sorry, but thank you for this brief moment, I’ll remember it forever.” Gregor saw a human man walking by the bar and he reached over and grabbed his arm, “Hey, buddy, can you do me a favor.”
The man looked at Gregor and then did a double take when he saw the woman, “What is that?”
Gregor nodded toward the woman, “My friend here hates drinking alone, would you mind keeping her company; I have to leave.”
The man and woman looked at each other and the woman smiled broadly. The man looked at Gregor, “Are you sure about this?”
“I am. Have a great time.” Gregor stood up and started walking out of the tavern and saw ten or fifteen other aliens taking his photo. They must have seen the Arepian taking pictures and then recognized who he was. His job was done and hanging around any longer wasn’t worth the wasted time.