“They didn’t give us a whole lot to drink, or eat, for that matter. I always wanted to be lean and mean. Well, I’ve always been mean, but the lean part has avoided my crispy-fry-eating ass. Until now, that is, but I’m not sure I can recommend that diet.”
Rivka snorted. “That’s the attitude. It is good to have you back. Where do you want to go?”
“Back home to Elgar 7, if I can. Hopefully, I haven’t lost my job. I got bills to pay.” Seequa shook her head. “Ain’t that some shit? I spend an eternity in that cage, and when I’m free, the first thing I think about is my damn bills.”
“We made sure you didn’t get evicted or fired. I expect you’ll get some downtime when we get back.” Rivka tried to sound reassuring. Seequa simply sighed and closed her eyes.
“Leaving the atmosphere,” Chaz reported.
“It won’t be long now,” Lindy said as she delivered a blanket to the doc, who nodded his appreciation.
“You have a call from General Reynolds, Magistrate,” Chaz reported.
“On screen.” Rivka stood close to block out the others behind her.
“Good afternoon, Magistrate. I hear great things about what you’re doing out there,” he said casually.
Rivka nodded. “General,” she greeted the nominal head of the Federation.
“I have to ask you to remain in orbit over Corran. I think I’m going to need your services sooner rather than later.”
“General?”
“I think you know my guest.” The camera swung to the side to show Corran’s governor-general. He waved at the screen.
“Ignacio! It’s nice to see you again. I admit that you have me at a disadvantage. Where are you?”
“I’m with Lance Reynolds on board my flagship in orbit over Corran.”
“You’re here, General?”
The image swung back until the General was centered on the screen. He raised one eyebrow at the rhetorical question.
“Keep this quiet for now,” Lance said, but he lifted a pad and showed a big signature scrawled across the bottom of the screen.
Rivka collected her wits. “Welcome to the Federation, Governor-General.”
“It’s a bittersweet moment for my people and me, Rivka. This will be a great change for us, but one that needs to happen.”
“That explains why Palatius expedited his plan for a second coup attempt. You will be safer if you make your announcement from orbit.”
“I know, but I have to go back and make the announcement in Amberly,” he replied sadly. It should have been a time for celebration.
“When are you going to do that?”
“Momentarily. Dock with my ship, and Lance will transfer his flag to your vessel. As soon as he’s clear, we’re all going to the surface to make the announcement.” The governor-general raised a drink toward the screen.
“We have the coordinates, Magistrate. We’ll be docking in three minutes.” Chaz accelerated Peacekeeper toward the Corranite flagship.
“See you in a couple, Rivka.” The General signed off and closed the link.
“There’s going to be a slight delay in taking you home,” Rivka said, still looking at the blank screen.
“Gear up?” Red asked hopefully.
“Yes,” she replied. Lindy and Red pounded into the corridor to their room and started banging and bouncing off the walls as they threw on their body armor and loaded their weapons.
Jay hung her head.
“You too, Jay, Tyler.”
The dentist hung his head. “This life is not for me,” he said softly.
“I know, but it was worth it to show you what we do.”
“I’m going too,” Seequa declared. “You got any of that body armor for me?”
“Are you sure?” Rivka asked. “I can’t put you in harm’s way, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s going to be some discontent when the Corranites are told that they aren’t any better than any other Federation citizen.”
“Oh, yeah. I want to see that. And that guard that hocked the king of all loogies on my face. Can I get a gun?”
“Body armor, yes. Gun? No.”
The door to the bridge slid open and Ankh appeared. “Although I would prefer to remain aboard, I think that I need to be on the ground, too.”
“Why is that?” Rivka wondered. He was their trump card when it came to interdicting an enemy’s electronic systems.
“Because they might mistake me for Skaine, the galaxy’s slavers. With me there, they might believe the Skaines approve of the change.”
“You think so?”
Ankh looked stone-faced but didn’t dignify her question with an answer.
Asking all kinds of questions that you already know the answers to, she scolded herself. I need some court time to sharpen my game. I’m losing my edge, counting on seeing people’s minds. I’ve turned into a legal cheat.
The ship bumped gently as it rendezvoused with the Corranite flagship.
“Airlock sealed.”
Rivka hurried to the entry corridor, where the inner hatch was completing its cycle. It opened, and a distinguished gentleman stepped through. “Lance Reynolds, requesting permission to come aboard.”
“Granted,” Rivka replied with a smile. The two shook hands.
“I hear you’re going to get a bigger ship,” he told her.
“Dammit!” she replied.
“I expected something a little less disconcerting.” He fixed her with a fatherly look.
“No! Not that. I’m sorry. I forgot to check in with TH after we returned with Miss Holmes.” Rivka motioned for the General to follow as she took the few steps to the bridge before turning and heading into the recreation room.
“He’s doing fine, still securing the Skaine vessels, but I’m happy to tell you that we’ve cut a major supply line. I think that was what helped us clinch the deal. The governor-general had been ready to sign, but the timing had been off. Without a new supply for the market, the traders would be more amenable to changing their line of work. It won’t affect the majority of Corranites, but it will affect the most wealthy.”
Rivka nodded as she thought through the General’s explanation.
“Makes sense,” she stated. “You met most of my crew on Crenellia, but that was in passing.”
The General was attentive as she went from Red to Lindy to Jay, and finally to Ankh.
“You and Ted have done great things for us,” the General said. “I want to give you my personal thanks for how far you’ve advanced us.”
Lance held out his hand, but Ankh only looked at it.
“He doesn’t shake hands. He’s going with us because he thinks the governor-general’s announcement will be better received if they think the Skaines support it.”
“Brilliant!” the General declared.
Rivka pointed to the dentist and his patient. “Doctor Tyler Toofakre. He is here as my guest because we tend to get hurt a fair bit. And this is Seequa Holmes.”
She stood up to greet the Federation’s leader.
“Seequa. I hope that you are the last to be kidnapped and put on the auction block.” He offered his hand, but she pulled him into a hug.
“I sure damn well hope so, because that sucked!”
Chapter Twenty
The Skaine cruiser
The countdown timer hit zero. “Go, go, go!” Christina ordered.
The explosives carved a mech-sized hole in the rear access hatch and the hold beyond decompressed violently. As soon as the inside equalized with the outside, Team One powered through. The first warrior stepped into the hold and immediately dropped to the deck from the ship’s gravity field. Gathering his feet under him, he proceeded through the cargo hold, looking for the forcefield generator. The emergency system had not activated with the breach.
The other three mech-suited warriors followed him in.
“Found it,” he reported. “Give me a minute.”
“Breach is stalled until we activate the emergency forcefield.
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“Sorry, this isn’t it.”
The team leader growled his dismay. “Load a cargo pallet in front of it and seal it.”
The mech’s power-augmentations made short work of dumping crates from a metal pallet. He slapped it against the breach and pulled a rapid-expanding foam extinguisher off the bulkhead. Its purpose was to seal small holes in the hull.
The warrior started to spray and ran out about three-fourths of the way around. They found one more at the far end of the hold and filled the rest of the space around the pallet. The hold did not automatically fill with atmosphere.
“What’s taking so damn long?” Christina demanded.
“Sealed the breach and looking for the activator to pressurize the hold.”
“Hurry the fuck up!” Christina reevaluated the timing. They were at seven minutes following the start of pumping the gas in. “Teams Two and Three, secure the airlocks and pass through.”
Both teams had already tapped the activation panels and were waiting to head into the lock, but only two mechs would fit inside at a time. Christina worked her way to the front of Team Two. “I’m going in first. Come on, Gefelton, we’re going in. You got my six.”
The outer airlock hatch rolled open and the two mechs squeezed through. They sealed themselves inside, and after they mashed the button to pressurize, a light flashed and the small space filled with air. When the light shone steady, Christina contorted her suit so it was on its side. She pressed the inner hatch button, and the barrier rolled aside.
An orange pallor hung in the inner air. Christina tried to get her bearings; the corridor angled toward the interior of the ship, not at a ninety-degree angle from the airlock. A second corridor was behind her, similarly situated at a thirty-degree angle away from the airlock. She couldn’t see anyone, and she couldn’t get farther into the corridor.
“Pull me back, Private.”
Gefelton helped her back into the airlock and steadied her so she could stand. She turned around to face him, opened the back of her suit, and climbed out. She stepped into the corridor with her Jean Dukes Special pistol strapped to her waist. She didn’t bother pulling it out. She listened carefully. The gas made her head swim.
Instead of putting her hood over her head and using the sleek shipsuit’s internal air supply, she growled and started to change. Her face stretched, and her nails became nine-inch long claws. She grew in height and length of limb.
She unleashed the Pricolici within, and that creature ducked under the low ceilings of the Skaine cruiser. She stalked the corridors, sniffing and listening. Christina charged forward to find a group of unconscious Skaines manning a checkpoint. She placed a single claw across a blue throat but didn’t do it. She didn’t kill him. Instead, Christina took their weapons, stringing them on one of her claws until she could find a place to stash them or a better way to carry them.
The colonel continued to prowl the corridors of the ship, listening for the sounds of conscious crew. She dropped to run on four legs in the jerky style of one whose back legs are longer than their front. Christina stayed low as she ran through the corridors, and everywhere she looked, the crew was out cold.
She opened door after door, ducking and dodging so she wasn’t outlined in case a Skaine with a weapon was hiding within.
But none of them were. Terry and Char had assaulted the cutter before the gas had time to take effect.
The Pricolici relaxed and strolled through the last hatch leading to the bridge.
The plasma burst hit her mid-chest and threw back into the corridor to slam into the far wall. She slid down it and crumpled to the floor as the bridge access closed.
Amberly on Corran
Peacekeeper followed the flagship into the upper atmosphere through the flames of re-entry, and descended toward the planet, slowing before arriving at the outer limits of the capital city. The larger ship took a leisurely route over Amberly where the citizens could see it.
The governor-general sought to make the biggest impression as part of his grand announcement.
Politics. It was a different animal.
General Reynolds sat on one of the chairs at the table, even though Rivka offered him the recliner. She joined him at the table and turned over the comfortable seat to Jay and Floyd. Lindy and Red leaned against the kitchen counter in full combat gear. Tyler continued to minister to Seequa, but after ingesting both food and water, she was remarkably improved.
“Why don’t you use the bridge?” General Reynolds asked. Red and Lindy chuckled as they waited for Rivka’s revelation.
The Magistrate hesitated a long time before answering, but the General waited. He was the father of a daughter, so he knew that sometimes there was no rushing an answer.
She finally blurted, “Ankh needed it more than I did.” She didn’t add the part where she’d reassigned his laboratory.
“I can see that. If he was on my team, I’d give him whatever he wants too. Is that all you had to promise him?”
“Well…yes.” Rivka was surprised by the question.
“Hell! You won that arbitration. Well done, Magistrate!”
“I don’t feel like I won.” She swept her arm to take in the rec room.
“Trust me, you won.” The General looked at the team. “When we hit the ground, we back up the governor-general. Even though Corran is now a member of the Federation, there is a phase-in, phase-out period. Slavery will be illegal in due course. No new sales will be allowed, but old contracts are still in effect. Instead of new sales, salaries and benefits will be negotiated with the labor force, and each worker given an advocate. Sorry, I don’t need to get into those details. This is Ignacio’s show. We’ll follow his lead. I’ll say some kind words about how we value our new friends from Corran and so on.
“I’m proud to say that I’ve made this speech dozens of times. I think the Federation is stronger because of our new members. Corran will be the same. Over time, they’ll be great, and their participation will be important to give us a more rounded group, diverse in all aspects of ideas and history. We are stronger together.”
“I’ve told my team the same thing, General. Thanks for letting us tag along.”
The General started to laugh. “We’ll see if Ankh can convince them that the Skaines support Corran’s move to the Federation. It’s doubtful that he can sell it, but worth a shot. We have to take any chance to stop a shooting war.” The General leaned forward to get close to Rivka. “You said that there was going to be a second coup attempt. The governor-general is counting on it. When the shooting starts, I need your team to secure the governor-general while the loyal troops reestablish control.”
“What if the loyal troops don’t win?”
“Then we’ll give them a little nudge so they do.”
“There are only six of us, General.”
“Like I said, a little nudge.”
Rivka looked skeptical. The General smiled back, appearing unconcerned.
She had a difficult time reconciling the man before her with the leader of the Federation. Leader. Of the Federation. Then it dawned on her.
“You have an ace up your sleeve.”
“IF you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” Lance Reynolds admitted. “Only a few rich Corranites will be put out, but they earned their money at the expense of other people’s lives, so screw them. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing Justice delivered.”
“Me too, General.” Rivka nodded as she replied. When she turned, she found the rest of the team nodding in agreement.
Lance stood and headed for the hatch. “Looks like we’re almost there.”
Red hurried to get in front. “Sorry, General. I always go out first.”
“Because we need the sun blocked?” Lance quipped. Lindy snickered as she passed.
“And me. We need to make sure it’s safe for the Magistrate. It’s what we do,” Lindy explained.
“I’ll stay close to her, then.” The General winked at Rivka.
&nb
sp; “My daughter always had people watching out for her, but she watched out for them, too.”
“It’s what good leaders do.” Rivka studied the father of the Queen. She could feel the aura he radiated. She didn’t understand how he was so much bigger than life, but real as well. She had dedicated her life to following and supporting him.
Now that she’d had the opportunity to spend some time with the man, her career path was confirmed. She was doing the right thing as a Federation Magistrate.
For the greater good of the galaxy. Even if they did shoot at her more often than she liked.
“What?” General Reynolds asked, looking at her glistening eyes. He reached over to her face and with a gentle finger, brushed the tear away that fell.
He stopped as the ship settled and Red hesitated, waiting for the General to stop speaking before he opened the hatch.
“Let me share my favorite poem from Robert Frost.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
“Beautiful,” Rivka replied not having heard it before.
“It’s how I’ve lived my life. It’s how my daughter has lived hers. It has made for a better life for both of us. I think you are on the path trod lightly, leaving your tracks for others to follow you.” The General looked at the bulkhead and realized that they were parked. “Shall we?”
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