Titan Stand

by Max Jager

  "I'm here to get my pilot's license,"

  "Blue building third level, department 10," came the reply. As he made his way over the building, he began to feel terribly alone. The Doors song "When you're a stranger," immediately came to mind.

  One thing was certain, and that was the fact that he kept getting a lot of looks, but then humans were still extremely rare out here. Finding the office, he soon found himself talking to another android who wanted to know what he was doing here.

  "I'm here to apply for my pilot's license,"

  "From what planet?"

  "Endor, Tryn-Isha system,"

  "What is its classification?"

  "Uh, human I guess."

  "There's no guessing allowed here, what is your planet classified as?"

  "Human."

  "Type of license, freighter, transport, fighter?"

  "Transport,"

  "Name of trainer?"

  "Um, Amber 67000 Contos X"

  "Hmm, an android, and a Tharg as well, how do you rate?" Exclaimed the droid

  "She's a close friend of mine," he replied.

  "Interesting. Go through the door over there and wait until you're called."

  He did as he was told, and upon entering noticed there Khufrian and two Vaeon's waiting patiently. The Khufrian was soon called leaving Matt with the Vaeon's

  "What race are you?" One of them asked.

  "I'm a human from the former planet Z'ha'dum, which we now call Endor," said Matt.

  "I've heard of the place," replied the Vaeon, "Isn't that where that new bar is located?"

  "That would be Mos Eisley," replied Matt, I know the owner Brand Ti'Korvo." At this point, the other Vaeon was called in leaving Matt and the talkative Vaeon.

  "What type of license are you here for?" Asked Matt.

  "Transport, my friend is taking the passenger shuttle exam."

  Suddenly thinking of Masaki, he asked.

  "I didn't know you needed a license for a shuttle?"

  "Only if you're doing planet to planet shuttle work. If you fly local you only need a certificate issued by whatever planet you're from or in some cases just the city. Then the Vaeon was called leaving Matt all alone.

  Before long, he too was called entering a room where a Golian sat at a consol.

  After he had given his name and swiped hid ID card the instructor asked him to sit in what looked like a pilot's seat.

  "As soon as you let me know you are ready, I'll begin the test which if you pass will qualify you for passenger shuttle, up through a class A transport. Do you wish to add a gunner's endorsement?"

  "What's that?"

  "It will authorize you to operate weapons turrets."

  "Yeah, why not," he replied.

  "That test will come after you complete the pilot's certification test,'" said the instructor, "Are you ready to begin?"

  "I'm ready."

  "Very well, here we go."

  Suddenly he found himself at the controls of a transport craft, and while the controls and instrumentation were different than on the Nora-Lee, he quickly recognized where everything was.

  "Where are you?" came the voice of the instructor over his comm set.

  Quickly checking his nav-comp, he stated,

  "The Zan-Argo system star point 233466 Dak Dak Amma."

  "Proceed at warp 4 to Sedor and proceed with landing protocol."

  The test called for him to land on the mining planet of Sedor, using the proper clearances, and landing proceedures. Here he was to take on a small shipment of ultra-refined Bralite ore and transport it to the small planet of Fren-Fari.

  "So far, so good," thought Matt. However, he knew the other shoe could and would drop at any time. It did, a short time later, when his "ship" suddenly lost all power including life support, and his nav-comp. Keeping his head, he went right down the list of everything Amber and others had taught him. Job one was to get life support back up, and with the aid of the small back-up computer he was able to do that. Next came the nav-comp. This is where things started to get edgy. When the power was lost, so was all data on his current position. Using the back-up computer he was able to get a rough fix using a star chart but here is where his old "bug-a-boo," Shalanterian Mathmatics came into play.

  "Just remain calm and logically think the problem through," he remembered Ilmi telling him. Of course, it didn't help that "they" were waiting for that ore on Fren-Fari, and he was on a tight schedule. The fact that he had broken down made no difference, he had to get that ore to Fren-Fari on time or fail the test. As soon as he entered the navigational figures into the computer the main power suddenly returned, he smiled to himself knowing it was no coincidence. Now a new problem had come up. The delay in restoring power had seriously cut into his time requiring a new course, a "shortcut," to make up the time. With the nav-comp back online that wasn't too hard, however it meant he had to travel through the Praia Doryl, a favorite spot for raiders to hang out.

  As he began to alter his course, Matt figured this is where he would be tested for the turret gunner endorsement. But then then he remembered something Brand had told him that might keep any raiders from harassing him and cutting into his time. Since this test was nothing more than a very elaborite computer simulation, he wondered if it would allow him to tamper with the comm signal.

  Brand had shown him how to adjust it in such a way that it would "disguise" the ship's signature into that of a gunship.

  "It's an old bounty hunter trick," he remembered Brand telling him.

  "If we "smell" a trap or are damaged, often time it will keep the raiders off our backs. Now of course if they get close enough for a visual then all bets are off, but it's something to keep in the back of yur mind."

  Surprisingly, the simulation allowed him to make the small adjustment.

  It must have worked, because on two occassions, his scanner picked up what could have only been raiders. By careful use of speed, he was able to avoid getting too close. Shortly afterward, his nav-comp went down again but he had gotten smart and had been backing up nav data every minute so he was able to restore his position data without too much trouble.

  The end of the test came when you supposedly made first contact with ground control however he found that in his case the test didn't end until he had a visual of the landing field. As soon as he did, the test was over with two minutes to spare.

  When the lights came back on, and the instructor congratulated him, he thought something would be said about him fooling with the comm frequency to fool raiders. However, the instructer simply said,

  "Your license information will be added to your ID card, however here is your pilot's pin, along with a jacket emblem, if you want more, you have to buy them."

  He looked at the small silver pin with the same galactic emblem as on the four-color patch, he planned to stick on his flight jacket, Holliqua and Amber would sure be damn happy.

  He wandered over to the lounge where Holliqua had told him to wait and ordered a small bowl of eabak along with a mug of Dol'Meul something he rarly drank but right now beer or hard liquor was the only other option.

  Dol'Meul was a spiced red liquid that was the alien equivalent 0f tea. It tasted like nothing on earth and other than Doctor Black, and Mrs. Dyson, he was the only one who would even touch the stuff. As he sat and ate, he noticed two Golians staring at him out of the corner of his eye.

  Pretending to ignore them he continued to stare at his bowl of eabak until both came up to where he was sitting.

  "Pardon us for interrupting you but are you a human?" He looked up at them, nothing special, typical Golian faces.

  "Yeah, I'm from Endor." They didn't look like they were going to leave so he offered them the other seats at the table. Immediately taking up his offer, they introduced themselves. Remden and Diff, with no last names. Usually that meant one of two things, they had been disinherited by their families, or they were clones out of a test tube.

  From what he knew of the situation, bein
gs that came into the world in this mannor were outcasts. The practice of creating beings with no parentage had been outlawed several yeans ago but not before the damage had been done.

  Without family Golians in this situation had no connections, often having trouble getting work or attending decent schools, it was part of the darker side to their so-called advanced civilization.

  "So what can I do for you two?"

  "We have been hearing stories of this…Endor," said Diff, "But that it's a human classed world."

  "Well that's only partially true," replied Matt, "There are other races living there, why are you so interested in it?"

  Both Golians looked at each other, then with a sad expression, Remden said,

  "Because we'd like to live there."

  Chapter 159

  Titan Stand Chapter 159

  "Diff and I are what is known as "Sistorki" it means "nothing," literally, nothing. Currently, there around forty-eight of us. We lived shunned lives, picking up work where we can find it. Tell me Matt do you know anything about us?"

  "A little," he replied, basically you all were created in test tubes kinda like clones and nobody will have anything to do with you."

  "Then you do know of our problem," added Diff. "We are not wanted here, no one will have anything to do with us."

  "Let me guess," said Matt, "You'd like to come live on Endor?"

  "If you would have us?" said Remden. Matt sighed,

  "You people aren't in any trouble with the law or anything are you?"

  "Other than the fact that we are outcasts, no," replied Diff.

  "Nothing serious, no capital crimes, treason, theft, drug addiction, stuff like that," added Matt.

  "Once again, no," said Diff.

  Matt sat and studied his empty bowl for a moment, then looked at the two Golian's.

  "Are you people capable of going into the wilderness so-t0-speak and establishing your own community?"

  "We're not sure we follow you," said Diff.

  "I mean can start your own settlement from scratch? We have a large group of elves who have done just that, they have their own community. Although they are citizens of Endor, they are another race minding their own business and pretty much doing their own thing. We humans live roughly 200 quans north of them in our own town. Endor is a damn big place and there is room to spread out. If you're looking for a place where people won't bother you then Endor is what you're looking for"

  Remden and Diff talked in hushed voices to each other then looked at Matt.

  "Yes…yes, I believe we could do this. Over time we have all acquired varied skills some menial, others more advanced."

  "Well I hate to keep pushing this," added Matt, "But I don't want to drop you people someplace then come back later and find everyone dead from starvation."

  "Both Golian's laughed,

  "You needn't worry about that," said Remden, "But how about paying jobs?"

  "Good question," replied Matt, "Right now jobs are scarce but that could change very soon. A friend of mine is talking about building a distillery, maybe even two on Endor that means not only farming jobs but work in the distillery."

  This was sounding better all the time to these two with Diff asking,

  "Before we decide, is there anyway we could come to your world and have a look for ourselves?"

  "Yeah," replied Matt, "But the ship I'm waiting for isn't big enough for you two. Tell you what; I can stick around here for a couple centons. We've got a small transport I can take the two of you to Endor where I will have my shuttle pilot give you the dollar ninety-eight tour. You select someplace that suits you and we'll go from there okay. Where would be a good place to pick you two up other than here?"

  "There is a place… it is on the western edge of the city, it is called waterside quhalt. We will await you there."

  "I'll be there guys," said Matt, "By the way, if you would, get me some sort of list of skills that your people have so I can get some idea of what you guys are capable of."

  The two Golian's then left and shortly after Holliqua showed up.

  "Well?" She asked, he smiled, and showed her his new patch. She let out a squeal along with wrapping her arms around him. After a ton of kisses, she exclaimed.

  "Oh I knew you could do it Matt. Well this definitely calls for a celebration, and I know just the place."

  "Before we do that," he replied, "I need to get a call out to Amber, there's a couple people here on Golia I want her to pick up and take to Endor." With a curious expression she asked,

  "Who's that?"

  "What do you know of these Golian's who call themselves "Sistorki?"

  "Not a whole lot…why?"

  "Well for the past milacenton I've been talking to two of them, listening to their story. I don't know, maybe I got suckered, but I've invited them to come and live on Endor, that's who I want Amber to pick up." Holliqua said nothing for a moment, then replied,

  "A number of yeans ago there was a medical research company on Golia that was secretly creating these…beings in the laboratory. They were hiding the project under legitimate cloning research. Anyway, it seems they were shipping these Sistorki to a distant mining planet using raiders to transport them. Most of this is still very classified and I honestly can't tell you anymore, other than the company was found out, and everyone connected with the project is spending the rest of their lives on Eishor 4 the notorious prison planet."

  "Oh, one more thing, don't mention the subject to any other Golian's, the whole matter is a very sore spot with them. You say they want to come and live on Endor, how many are you talking about?"

  "I was told around 48 or so," he replied. Holliqua thought a moment then nodded,

  "That's probab ly about right, last I heard there were around sixty or so left, that's sixty out of 300. Most were sent off to the outer mining colonies and never heard from again. It's a real point of shame with most Golian's. Remember that little adventure we shared on Tumar-Ju and those creatures the Khufrian's created?"

  "Yeah," he replied, "Who could ever forget that?"

  "Well since Golia is a more important, as well as a much bigger planet than Kufria there wasn't as much fallout from the incident. And in addition, the Golian's did a better job of covering the whole thing up. Those poor unfortunates through no fault of their own are still suffering for it."

  "Do you think I'm doing the right thing by inviting these people to live on Endor?" She thought a moment then shrugged,

  "Hard to say, oh I'm sure it will be better for the Sistorki, but I really wouldn't say anything to anyone, especially other Golian's, just…just put them somewhere away from everyone else and don't mention it to anyone."

  "What, you mean like Brand?" He asked.

  "I don't know, I only know him by reputation."

  "Well he and some of the other bar owners want to build a big distillery on Endor; I was kinda thinking the Sistorki might make good workers for the distillery."

  "I don't know Matt, it's up to you, just don't draw me into this."

  After speaking with Amber who promised to pick up Remden and Diff once she was finished on Xandrus, they flew to the main city landing field then took a shuttle to a part of the city Holliqua said all the clubs were located in. Before that however, they checked into what he assumed was a hotel although it had no sign outside. He started getting suspicious when Holliqua leaned over the front desk and said something to the clerk.

  "We're all set, room's on the first floor, but first, we'd better get you something to wear."

  Following her to what appeared to be a small clothing shop just off the main lobby Holliqua spoke to the clerk who was also a Malhazar.

  "Hello Narcain, my friend and I are going out partying tonight and we need something to wear."

  "Well of course M'lady, right over here." Right from the start he suspected this guy knew Holliqua by the way he looked at her…and him. The clerk had him stand in a small circular chamber and spread his arms and stand with his leg
s apart.

  "Just getting your measurements Mr. Grainger," said the clerk, "That should do it.

  "How the hell did he know my name?" Thought Matt, I sure didn't tell him nor did Holliqua…or did she?" He didn't have anymore time to think about it as clothing was now being projected on him. He stood there looking at a screen that projected him 360 degrees while the computer "tried" on numerous outfits.