by Frank Carey
"They're fine. Speaking of kids, they’re all in town, so we're having a get-together tonight at the ambassador's residence. Feel like some of Lucien's League-famous roast beast? Losira and Royce will be there."
"Well, I certainly can't miss seeing the gang. Can I bring a friend?"
"A date? My nephew is dating? I think I may swoon!"
"Sorry to burst your bubble. I was hoping I could bring my copilot, Rayna."
"Is she cute? Single?"
"Yes, to both, and she's a Necrue who, like her Captain, chooses not to date her coworkers."
"Ooooh, a Necrue. I've always wondered how they did their makeup considering their skin was multi-hued. Yeah, bring her. It'll be fun."
They made it out of the training area when they were approached by an Alturan wearing a Space Patrol flight suit and sporting general's insignia. Bart stopped and went to attention and snapped a salute. "General Denton, sir!" he said.
"At ease, Captain. Marta, how did my captain do today?"
"He did fine, Den. Thank you for lending him to us. The recordings of today's exercise will be made part of our training curriculum."
"Outstanding. Dex, I'll get to the point. We want to buck Rayna up to captain and give her Amelia and a copilot to train. We'll be giving you a new prototype ship and another copilot. What do you think?"
"What, no dinner or flowers, Den?"
He waved a tentacle at her. "You know I don't work that way, Marta. Tear off the bandage and all that. So, Dex, what do you think?"
"Permission to speak freely, sir," Dex requested.
"Of course."
"It's about damn time, sir. Rayna is the best damn copilot I've ever trained. Space Patrol needs more pilots like her."
"So, you agree?"
"Yes, sir, whole heartedly, sir!"
"Damn good. I've got paperwork to do, so this won't happen until the two of you get back from your next patrol. Good to see you, Marta. We need to do dinner some time." The three exchanged salutes before the Alturan general turned and slid off to attend to his other duties.
"Are you going to tell her?" Marta asked as they resumed their walk.
"Nah. I want to see how long it takes her to get around to telling me."
"I have trained you well, youngster," she said as they got into her staff car which would take them first to his hotel room, then take her to the ambassador's residence.
###
"How do I look?" Rayna asked as she took a final spin in front of the giant mirror in the hotel lobby.
"You look great," he said from his overstuffed chair. "Now, relax. My family is just people."
She sat down next to him. "Just people? You've got an ambassador, a prince, Logash, GELFs, oh, and your aunt and mother are demigods?"
"What's your point? They all eat food, drink fluids, and breathe air. Remember: They're just people, though Aunt Jane and cousin Shenda can be pistols."
"And they know I'm Necrue, right?"
"Yes, they know. Oh, Aunt Marta will probably ask you about your makeup routine," he said.
"I don't wear makeup," she said.
"Neither does Marta, unless you count the black and green face paint. She's just fascinated by your patchwork coloration."
"Sir, ma'am," the bellhop said as he walked up. "Your conveyance is here."
"Thanks," Dex said as he tipped the hop, then took Rayna by the arm and led her to their ride.
###
They arrived at the residence and were escorted to the foyer where Marta was waiting for them. "You must be Rayna," she said as she stopped Rayna in mid salute with a hug. "No rank here tonight, young lady." She stepped back and admired Rayna's red cocktail dress and shoes. "Are you armed?"
"No, ma'am."
"I've got a spare stunner around here someplace. You'll need it to keep some of my nephews away. Damn."
"Thank you..."
"Marta. He calls me Auntie, and you can call me Marta."
"Thank you, Marta."
"Come on inside. The old elf's about to pull the roast beasts from the oven."
"Beasts?" Rayna asked. "There's more than one?"
"Yep. Royce is here, and that elf can eat. Come on, and let's get you introduced."
Dex gave her a smile when she hesitated. "Stop worrying. It's not like you're about to face an angry, juvenile wombat unarmed."
"Have you met your uncle Royce?" Marta asked while taking Rayna by the arm and leading her into the residence.
CHAPTER FOUR
Space Patrol Captain Dex "Stargazer" Corrigan took the controls of his patrol cruiser "Amelia" and turned her onto the final leg of his patrol. Six hours from now, Dex would park the old girl before parking himself at a bar and tipping a few cold ones over a luscious steak dinner.
"Rayna!" he yelled out through the hatch. "Last leg! We're heading home."
A multi-colored face made an appearance. "Finally! On a boredom scale from one to ten, this trip rates an eleven. Hell, I was about to start a drill just to keep us awake," Lieutenant Rayna "Jester" Meer replied as she sat in the righthand seat. Unlike other Necrue who preferred dressing in white robes or robotic bodies, Rayna was dressed in an old-fashioned flight suit.
"I feel your pain, girlfriend. Soon we will be home. Speaking of home, when were you going to tell me you were promoted...?"
"Ummm..."
"And you were getting your own ship?'
She gave a nervous shrug.
He gave her a stern look, which was followed by a huge grin. "Congratulations on being the first Necrue to command their own patrol ship!"
"You're not angry?"
"Hell no. I'm damn proud of you. In my humblest of opinions, they should have done this months ago, after you saved the Restum."
"Wait, you saved the Restum."
"No. I kept that flock of hollyknocks busy while you went in and disarmed that attractor beacon. Did you see the letter of commendation the Restum leader wrote after the incident?"
"There was a letter?"
He reached down and opened a small bin between the seats and retrieved an envelope which he handed to her. "Read it yourself. I was going to have it framed."
She took the letter out of the envelope and read it. Soon, tears filled her huge black eyes. She put the letter back in the console, then composed herself. "Who wrote the nomination letter?"
Dex suddenly found an interesting gauge to tap.
"You nominated me?"
"Yeah. I know it meant losing you as my copilot, but you earned a promotion, so I accelerated the process."
Before she could reply, the comm system bleeped. Rayna reached over thumbed the mic button on the copilot's stick. "Go for Patrol Cruiser Amelia."
"Rayna! This is Shasta. Congrats on the promotion, girlfriend. Is Dex there?"
"Yep, let me put you on speaker." She looked up and looked at Dex. "It's Shasta. Space Patrol wants to talk to you," she said as she switched over to hands-free.
"Hey, Shasta, it's Dex. What can I do for you?"
"Hey Dex. Look, we got a weird call from a Canuran salvage team parked near your patrol corridor."
"Define weird," he asked.
"I'm not sure. The team found a derelict ship floating out near Proxima Centauri. I've attached the report to this transmission. The commander wants you two to head out there and give them a hand."
He looked at Rayna who looked at the computer readout then nodded. "Got it."
"Roger that, Shasta. Proceed to Proxima Centauri and assist salvage team. Anything else?"
"Nope, that covers it. As always, keep us posted. Command Center Earth out."
Rayna killed the comm, then sent the file to the cockpit's printer. Moments later, they were thumbing through the file. "Let's see... The Canuran Salvage Ship Galagu run by the Pela family: Captain Fala, XO Sant--his wife--and a crew of thirty--all family. No connections to smugglers or pirates, a few minor violations, but nothing noteworthy," she summarized.
He looked at the NAVComp. "We'l
l be there in an hour." He thumbed the transmit button on his control stick. "This is Captain Dex Corrigan of Space Patrol calling the Canuran Salvage Ship Galagu. Do you copy? Over."
"Captain Corrigan, this is Captain Fala. We copy your transmission."
"Captain, we are aware of your request for assistance and have set course for your location. Our ETA is approximately one hour from now. Can you add anything that may help us in assisting you?"
"Three days ago, our sensors picked up a ship on a collision course with a planetoid. We called them, but got no reply, so we scanned the ship. Detecting no life signs, we docked with her. That's when the caca hit the ventilator. When we got inside we found the place trashed--trash, papers, crates, and other junk strewn all over the corridors. We did a search of the living areas and found no bodies, so we moved aft and came to a thirty-foot wide double hatch blocking our way. I sent teams port and starboard, but they only found bulkheads."
"Isn't that a little odd?"
"Normally, yes. The only time I ever saw anything like that was a hazardous material hauler."
"But your scans were clear."
"Completely. No life signs, no radiation, no power usage except for life support."
"Then what happened?"
"Intermittent life signs appeared on the scan. Then my people started to seeing people. One minute they were there, the next they weren't. It gets worse. Ship’s systems were going on and off at random. That's when I evacuated the ship and called space patrol."
"Any strange happenings aboard your ship?"
"No, none. You believe us?"
"Yes, sir, I do. We'll be there in less than an hour to check things out. Meanwhile, you may want to break seal and stand off a few yards to be safe."
"I don't want to lose..."
Dex nodded to Rayna who then pulled up data from the InterWeb. "Captain Fala, this is Lieutenant Meer, I checked, and your claim is dully registered..."
"You are Necrue!"
"Yes, sir, I am. Now about your claim."
She heard screams from the other end as the screen filled with Canuran faces. "Mistress, it is an honor to meet one such as yourself," an older female--Dex guessed she was the matriarch of the male--said while putting her left palm to her forehead.
"And it will be an honor to meet with you and your family, Matriarch."
"Captain, we need to prepare for arrival. Is there anything else we can do until we arrive?" Dex asked.
"No, Captain, and thank you. Fala out."
Dex shut down the link, then leaned back in his seat and looked at his partner. "What was that all about?"
She took a moment to rub her face before answering. "A number of League species consider the Necrue divine messengers of the creator."
"Divine messengers... They think you’re angels?"
"Angels, harbingers, messengers, call it what you will, but they hold us in high regard."
"I guess they haven't seen you after one of your all-night parties."
"Funny. Just cut them some slack. We're working on normalizing our relations with people like Fala's family."
He raised his hands in surrender. "You have my word. No smart-ass remarks about you hitting on that Logash alpha you met at Bart and Elanor's wedding reception."
She gave him a hairy eyeball while waggling a finger at him. "I assume you want me to prep Trudy and Renfrew?" she asked referring to the two search robots they had aboard.
"Why thank you, ma'am. That would be wonderful. I'll get the rest of the ship ready for arrival."
CHAPTER FIVE
The Amelia dropped out of other-space about twenty clicks away from the Galagu. Using the Canuran ship's beacon, the Amelia was soon docked at one of the ship's locks. "Rayna, we've arrived," Dex yelled through the door as he stepped through it into the cabin.
Rayna ran out from her cabin wearing her white robes over her flight suit. "How do I look?" she asked while spinning around.
"Wonderful. I thought you burned those while we were at Orinoco Station."
"I thought about it, but they are kinda nice," she replied.
There was a knock at the hatch. Two Space Patrol pilots walked over to the airlock controls and activated the external cameras. A flight-suited Canuran male and a couple-dozen Canurans in white robes stood outside the lock.
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Rayna said as she looked down at her own robes.
"Pshaw, you look fine. You can lose the robes after they get to know you better."
"Are you sure?" she asked with wider-than-normal eyes.
He placed a hand on each of her shoulders before looking her in the eyes and nodding. "Absolutely. Now, let's get this party started."
She gave him a weak grin, then activated the airlock. When the cycle was finished, and the doors open, the group of robed crew members ran in and mobbed Rayna while the one in a flight-suit joined Dex. "Captain Corrigan?" he said.
"Captain Fala," Dex replied as they shook hands.
"My family seems to be smitten by your XO," Fala said.
"She has that effect on people," Dex replied. "I assume you don't believe in the divinity of the Necrue with as much fervor as the rest of your family?"
"You assume correctly. What about you?"
"Nope, but I have the disadvantage of seeing her without her makeup."
Captain Fala laughed. "Would you like to get a look at our problem?"
"Please!"
Fala led Dex to the control room which had a 360-degree view of the space around the ship. Hanging in space a few clicks away was the alien derelict. Bart squinted at her. "Definitely not from around here. Captain, were you able to get an age reading?"
"Five hundred years give or take a decade. Design does not match anything in the League Master Data Base." He handed Dex the data file they generated as part of their salvage registration process.
Dex thumbed through it and frowned. "Sir, you have no idea what's in the center section of the ship?"
“Engines aft and living areas forward, yet the center section is completely unknown. We checked space around her and found nothing--no radiation, no electromagnetic signals, no out-gassing, and no debris. Not to sound mysterious, but the ship is stone cold dead except for the times it isn't. Do you have a plan, Captain Corrigan?"
"Yes, Captain Fala, I do have a plan. I'm going to jet over to the derelict with two rescue bots in tow. Once inside, I'll head to that doorway leading to the center of the ship and gain entrance to what lies beyond."
"What about your copilot?"
"She'll stay here and monitor the operation just in case I need help."
"Do you expect trouble?"
"No, but we prepare for it. We don't expect to have to eject the FTL drive core, but we prepare for it just in case."
"Good philosophy. When would you like to get started?"
"Now, if that's all right with you."
"That would be fine."
"Good. If you could get us within 100 meters of the derelict, I can prep for a spacewalk."
They walked back to where Rayna was talking to the rest of the family, each member hanging on every word she said. "Rayna? Can I tear you away?"
Rayna bowed a few times and clasped a few hands before joining Bart and Fala. "We got a plan?"
Bart informed her. She wasn't happy. "You sure about this?"
"You'll be watching, and Trudy and Renfrew will be right there with me, so I should be fine."
"And if I see you running and screaming down a corridor while being chased by something angry and toothsome?"
"You will immediately drop what you are doing and save my bacon!"
She patted his shoulder. "Hold that thought."
Bart and Rayna headed back to the Amelia while Captain Fala moved the Galagu closer to the derelict.
###
Bart stood in the airlock and visually inspected the derelict sitting about a football field length away from him. Sitting on the Amelia's hull to either side of him were Trudy an
d Renfrew, the Amelia's two rescue bots, each bipedal in construction but with joints that allowed them to reconfigure their mode of locomotion from biped to quadruped depending on the conditions they encountered. Each bot was equipped with laser cutters, rope cannons, and other tools used to rescue people from dire situations.
"Rayna, are you set?"
"Roger that, Dex. Recorders on, scanners on. Amelia is stationed above you, ready to dock with the derelict at a moment's notice."
"Picking up anything?"
"Nope. Life support is normal, but the rest of the ship's systems are quiescent. No life signs or odd energy signatures detected. You are go for transfer."
"Trudy, Renfrew, go,” Dex said into his comm. The two bots left the Galagu's hull and headed to the derelict with Dex following a moment later. Once the three had reached the hull, Dex typed an unlock code into a terminal attached to the ship's airlock control panel which cycled the lock open. Trudy entered the lock first, followed by Dex, then Renfrew. When the three were inside, Dex cycled the lock.
Inside the ship they found things as described by Captain Fala--the place was trashed. It reminded Dex of a dorm after a graduation party. Dex tapped a control on his helmet. "We've entered the derelict. I'm having Trudy run a spectroscopic survey of the atmo just in case the civilian analyzers missed something. After a minute, Trudy gave a thumbs-up. "We're clear. Retracting helmet." Dex pressed a button on his right gauntlet which caused the plex helmet to retract into his suit's collar. He pressed another button which activated the suit's scanner array. "Scanning initiated. All clear. Scans show a central corridor. We'll use it to get to the center bulkhead."
"Captain Corrigan, this is Fala. There must be something wrong with your scanners. If you check the data we gave you, you will see there are two connecting corridors--one port and one starboard. According to your position locator, you should see the starboard one in another ten feet."
Frowning, Dex pointed down the corridor. "Renfrew with me. Trudy, down the hall until you come to a corridor." After a brief walk, Dex stopped in front of a store room. Turning toward the bow, Dex found a fire extinguisher hanging on a wall. Meanwhile, Trudy signaled she found a lengthwise corridor at the centerline of the ship. Dex relayed the data to Fala.