by Sid Kar
Rockvyk knew that today was a waste. His mind was racing every which way and he would not regain control of it before a good night’s sleep. But the sleep would not come to him tonight and he would restlessly toss and turn in the bed going over this new dangerous revelation and its implications over and over. He thought about getting drunk, but that was too dangerous as he could blurt out in a state of drunken stupor, that which he had to be very careful with sharing.
But he had one passion, that when engaged, always concentrated his mind fully upon it. A game of cards.
Detective Rockvyk having settled upon this distraction to clear his mind and get himself back in a state to think clearly, hopped on one of the innumerous Airship rides to the big casinos at the other side of the forest. Rockvyk took a stroll down the crowded streets and finally decided to enter the biggest and most famous casino on Rainmar: Star Fortuna.
He would probably not get a chance to return to Rainmar anytime soon, he might as well experience it now.
He examined various card games in play, taking a glance here and there till he found a table with a game and betting pool to his liking.
“Deal me in,” Rockvyk sat down on a tall chair behind a semi-circular table and the dealer opposite to him threw him a few cards, but he did not turn them over because he would have to wait till the next round to enter.
“Small Pool minimum 30 stars and Large Pool minimum 300 stars,” the dealer raised a brow at him, “bet is 5 stars or multiple increments thereof.”
Rockvyk swashed out his wallet, fingered out a few notes and smacked down 700 stars of cash on the table. He advanced three notes of 100 stars towards the game board and received betting chips.
Next round he was dealt in and he played for about half an hour. Rockvyk particularly loved this game of ‘The Thief & The Detective’. This game was played on two levels. The small pool level where players tried to create a hand that had more points than other players and win the small bets, just like most other card games. However, the major twist in this game were the two hidden players: Thief & Detective who played for the Large pool. One had to accumulate a particular combination of cards to become either a Thief or a Detective and the objective was to identify and call out the other. Both the Thief and the Detective were required to play their cards in a certain way to provide clues to their identity but those could be obscured by dexterous play and a false accusation led to a huge loss.
Rockvyk enjoyed playing as a thief. Once in his life he could play the game from the other side of the law and even make money off of it.
Most players on his table were playing conservatively, but there was one man sitting in the rightmost corner who was giving him furtive glances and whom Rockvyk suspected of being his main challenger. He seemed like a professional gambler type.
Rockvyk decided to risk a gamble. He was going to ‘pass’ the next round. Then that suspicious fella’ would either have to challenge him or miss out on winning the large pool. Rockvyk smiled and was pleasantly surprised at this reaction. One whole night of cards and a bottle of whiskey and his spirits would rise high in spades.
Rockvyk lifted a new card the dealer had flipped his way and flicked it right back with his index finger and raised his thumb to signal ‘pass’ just then that gambler started raising his hand to call him…
“Detective Rockvyk,”
“Oh no colonel,” the dealer dropped his neck to a side, “You gave away the game.”
The professional gambler pulled his hand back. He was befuddled as he had pegged this new player to be holding the hand of a ‘Thief’ for the last few rounds.
“Oh no I didn’t,” the colonel grinned at the dealer while he approached the table, “He is a detective in real life.”
“Oh…” the card dealer said.
“Colonel Tollvyk!” Rockvyk turned his neck around and his jaw gaped open, “You are here.”
“So are you,” Tollvyk said.
Rockvyk suddenly realized that Tollvyk was Commodore Raptor’s best friend AND he had been assigned to Starship Conquistador…He grabbed his money from the table and jumped out of the chair, “I need to have a word with you, Colonel.”
“If this is an army matter, I am sure we could let Mr. Rockvyk out with his…” the dealer said.
“Yes it is,” Tollvyk replied and they walked away from the table. Usually, a mid-game quitter forfeited his Large & Small Pool and only walked away with his Reserve Pool, but Rockvyk was ready to pull out his SPASI badge and declare it a state matter if the dealer hadn’t. The casino guards could be persuasive on enforcing rules but they wouldn’t dare stop a state detective.
“Toll, you were assigned to Conquistador under Raptor, weren’t you?” Rockvyk asked. They were on casual terms in private because both shared a passion for cards and had played many rounds together back on Bravo.
“You should know that, Rock,” Tollvyk replied, “You are the Chief Detective for SPASI of our region.”
“Just wanted to confirm,” Rockvyk then cleared his throat and stopped, turned to face Tollvyk and spoke slowly and hesitatingly with each subsequent word sliding in volume, “Com. Antrar asked me for a little help about an incident with your starship…” Rockvyk let his words trail off into silence then watched Tollvyk’s face keenly.
“YOU!” Tollvyk blurted out loudly then quickly reduced his voice to a whisper, “How much did he tell you?”
“How much has Com. Raptor told you?” Rockvyk asked instead.
“Joking Rockvyk, that’s my best friend and I am a senior officer of the command room now,” Tollvyk pointed to his insignia, “And I secretly escorted Com. Antrar out of our Starship.”
“Boy, we got big trouble,” Rockvyk let out a big breath, “I was investigating for Antrar…” then he stopped speaking and looked everywhere, “We need to talk in private.”
“Agreed,” Tollvyk replied.
“And I really need to meet Com. Raptor,” Rockvyk said.
“He is here,” Tollvyk said, “But first I have to do a task for him.” Then he looked at Rockvyk for a few seconds and smiled, “And now that you are here, perhaps you could help me. This is right up your alley. We need to find an army officer named Capitan Norvyk Lehyett, who is likely to be in Star Fortuna, and if not, almost certainly in other casinos around here.”
Rockvyk waved his hand, “follow me. Type of grunt work we assign to the new juniors,” Rockvyk grinned widely and walked towards the casino’s guards section. He was feeling better now that Conquistador was back. He had some allies again and Com. Raptor had almost become a national hero, if anyone could…but all of that later.
The casino guard in the gray uniform with a laser pistol attached to his belt watched nervously and stiffened his back in anticipation when he saw a big, tall man walk straight at him. As the large man got closer, the guard’s fingers started grasping around his belt. Then he saw an army officer behind the first fellow and his mind eased a bit.
“Sorry sirs, only casino guards and managers can go down that hallway,” the guard said.
“Chief Detective of SPASI,” Rockvyk flipped his badge in front of the guard, “I need to speak to your capitan.”
“Yes sir,” the guard replied, “Just a second.” Then he hesitated a bit and said, “Alright, you can follow me.”
Rockvyk and Tollvyk followed the guard down the narrow hallway and he knocked on the door to their right. He whispered a few words and they were let in. The capitan of casino guards approached them. He alone was dressed in a black suit and black pants with a white dress shirt. The rest of the eleven guards in the room were dressed in their gray uniform. There were a large number of display terminals around the walls and a few guards were watching them intently while others were on their break.
“Capitan, apologize for the interruption, but I need to use your instruments to find an army officer, it’s a state matter,” Rockvyk showed him his badge.
“Glad to help, feel free,” the casino guards’ capitan stretc
hed his arms wide and pointed at the security and surveillance equipment present in the room.
“Clever, detective Rockvyk,” Tollvyk said, “I should have thought of this.” He walked over to the controls for display terminals and leaned over to read the labels. “We will need to zoom on the card tables. This fellow is a card hound like us.”
Rockvyk curled half of his lip and grinned at Tollvyk. Then he walked over to a speaker set, picked up the radio, pressed the button for ‘Casino Announcements’ and spoke, “Capitan Norvyk Lehyett, please report to the casino guards room.” He waited half a minute then repeated his announcement. “Let’s wait a few to see if we have stirred up some waters,” he said afterwards.
“Fool of me,” Tollvyk shook his head, “Overlooked the simple, thinking you had use some clever detective technique.”
“I could have,” Rockvyk said, “But we work our way up from easy.”
A few minutes later the outside guard escorted an army officer inside the room.
“Capitan Tollvyk!” he exclaimed in surprise when Tollvyk walked towards him, “When I heard my name called on the casino speakers I thought it was some army matter…”
“Colonel now,” Tollvyk replied with a smile.
“Oh yes, sir, Colonel Tollvyk,” Norvyk sharply saluted him and quacked his boots, “You have been promoted. Glad for you. I see you still remember the great times we had playing cards in this casino.”
“We did,” Tollvyk said while Rockvyk came and stood next to him, “Detective Rockvyk by the way,” Tollvyk introduced them, “SPASI Chief Detective of my region of Bravo. And he too enjoys a mean card game. But no, we did not fetch you for a game. This is an army matter and a war matter.”
“Oh yeah, I am all ears,” Norvyk replied.
“Let’s talk outside,” Rockvyk suggested. The three of them exited the room and quickly trotted outside the casino. The streets were populated with pedestrians but they were wide and spacious enough that the three of them had privacy as they wandered away from Star Fortuna.
“Are you still looking for an assignment abroad a starship as a Stardjacker?” Tollvyk asked him.
“You know it,” Norvyk replied, “I have bothered you many times in this regard. My apologies but the postings are scarce and the army has stuck me to a rocket base as a glorified sentry capitan.”
“How would you like to be the Stardjacker of Starship Conquistador?” Tollvyk asked.
“Joking?” Norvyk suddenly stopped and turned to face Tollvyk, “I would kill for a chance.”
“And that is exactly what you are going to have to do,” Tollvyk said.
“Huh?” Norvyk remarked.
“We are at war and our last Stardjacker died fighting the Dark Star Company,” Tollvyk said.
“Oh yeah,” Norvyk said, “I mean you bet I would kill and risk getting killed. But can you put forward my name on the shortlist?”
“Dogs take the list,” Tollvyk chuckled, “You remember Raptor, my friend.”
“I do, not terribly interested in cards was he,” Norvyk said.
“Pigs take the cards,” Tollvyk laughed, “he is the COMMODORE.”
“WOW!” Norvyk said.
“I have convinced him to appoint you as the Stardjacker if you agree to take the position,” Tollvyk said.
“Colonel Tollvyk,” Norvyk saluted him formally, “I am at your and your commodore’s service.”
“Welcome abroad then,” Tollvyk said then turned to Rockvyk, “You coming abroad too?”
“I have to talk to Com. Raptor,” Rockvyk said.
“I have parked my AirJet nearby, it can seat one more,” Tollvyk said.
“Take detective Rockvyk with you,” Norvyk said, “My AirJet is parked just over there.”
He pointed to a large, circular disc a block away in an empty spot amongst otherwise tall buildings, upon which many air transport vehicles were parked.
“Mine too,” Tollvyk said and then began proceeding towards it at a brisk pace.
They had walked halfway when a shrill alarm rang out.
“Haven’t heard that noise outside of a drill,” Norvyk said.
“It’s the damn space raid alarm,” Tollvyk said, “But how can there be a drill in a civilian area?”
“And how can there be a raid on the headquarters of our Starfleet Command?” Rockvyk said.
They picked up their pace towards the parking disc when they saw a couple dozen soldiers in infantry uniform walk towards them from the other side. They too were looking around but didn’t appear to be too concerned about the alarm, indeed they were on their scheduled break, out for a good time gambling and drinking. The civilians were confused but uncertain and unsure of the space raid siren. Rainmar was well inside Starfire Space and one of the most heavily fortified planets with one of the largest concentration of army starships. It was not a frontier region planet whose residents would have recognized the siren.
Then suddenly a few strange airships appeared in the air whose structure marked them out as alien vessels. Civilians and soldiers alike pointed to them. One of them slowed down and a door slid open upwards revealing half a dozen shooters dressed in a blue-green uniform wearing a blue mask like helmet with tubes and blinking lights embedded upon it.
They drew their laser guns and opened fire on the group of soldiers, felling some to the ground in an instant and sending the rest to scatter every which way.
“What the hell?” Tollvyk yelled as him, Rockvyk and Norvyk drew their laser pistols. All of them rushed to the corner of a building that had a metallic scaffolding they could use as a cover.
Rockvyk moved out of the corner and opened fire on the airship aiming for the opening. He shot down two aliens who both tumbled forward and fell hard to the ground. His squad mates turned their attention towards Rockvyk and opened fire but Rockvyk had jumped back into the corner.
“Who the hell would attack our soldiers, and here!” Tollvyk said. He was checking the charge on his pistol, then got ready to move but the incoming lasers were striking close to their spot.
“Very accurate shooting,” Norvyk said while he clutched his pistol, “Some type of forward patrol, special elite forces of whoever...”
“Where is your Stardjacker armored uniform?” Tollvyk asked him.
“Let’s get inside the building, the airship is coming around,” Rockvyk said. They were about to move towards the door when they saw the airship receiving ground laser fire from multiple directions. The infantry soldiers whom it had attached earlier had now recovered from the sudden ambush, found various cover positions and were firing back on the alien airship. Most of their lasers were bouncing off of its armor but they were aiming to get a few in through the open side used by the alien shooters.
The airship stopped coming around to them and instead engaged the ground soldiers in laser shootout. The other side of the airship also opened up and shooters fired out from both sides.
“This is our opportunity,” Norvyk said, “I am wearing my Stardjacker armor under my army uniform. But I need my helmet which is in my AirJet. Without it my head will be vulnerable. If I can get to that, I can take on these invaders.”
“Alright, we will provide you cover,” Tollvyk said.
“Forget the cover,” Norvyk said, “I just need a momentary distraction and those soldiers have already given me one. Just wait for me,” he said and smiled at Tollvyk and Rockvyk.
Before they could blink, he had turned the corner, was out in the open and then he took off running towards the parking disc. He sprinted faster than the fastest cheetah as the special micromachines implanted into his bone joints and muscle sinews came active and provided additional thrust from mechanical force to his body joints. His special boots suctioned air from their sides and pushed it back out through the sole almost levitating him and he did not but touch a bare toe every few feet, nearly running on the air to his destination.
Neither the alien soldiers nor the Starfirians even registered his run through their
crossfire. If one or two of them saw him, they dismissed him as another civilian running for cover.
Norvyk reached his AirJet, entered his code into a side compartment, yanked out his helmet and had it over his head in less than a second. He pressed a button and the neck armor and the helmet locks clicked and sealed him completely inside the special armored uniform of a Stardjacker leaving no vulnerable spot exposed.
Then he rushed back towards the alien airship. The Starfirian soldiers were surprised but happy to see his presence. The alien shooters were confused at the arrival of this strange looking creature, as the helmet was carved out and decorated to resemble a lion’s head, and one of them aimed his laser gun at Norvyk.
But before he could pull the trigger, Stardjacker Norvyk ran headlong towards a building that was closest to the airship. While running he activated micro suction vacuum pumps on the palms of his uniform and in his boot soles. Then he jumped high in the air and grabbed onto the wall nearly twenty-five feet from the ground. Using the vacuum grip provided by the suction he ran straight up the wall to the utter bewilderment of the alien shooters in the airship who swung their laser guns towards him and opened fire. But Stardjacker was running up the vertical wall faster than they could aim their guns.
Almost immediately he had climbed up to the forty second floor of the building while the airship was floating below near the thirty first floor at a distance of less than a hundred feet from the building wall. Stardjacker turned around, pushed hard against the wall with both of his boots and then took a headlong jump towards the opening in the airship.
The alien shooters were startled at this incoming object and scrambled to avoid a collision. But the Stardjacker was in control of himself and as he dived through the opening in the side of the airship, he delivered a hard midair punch to the closest alien shooter even before his foot had touched down, broke the alien’s masked helmet with his armored fist and part of the momentum of his jump carried through with his punch to turn alien’s skull into a watermelon burst after a full metal jacket hit. A blue spurt of blood sprayed over Stardjacker’s red and black uniform.