“Anyway, thanks for coming out tonight andsetting everything up to run on its own till the bank takes over. Youcould have come tomorrow, you know.”
Terry scuffed aboot in the dust. “Well, I would have missed you if I’d waitedtill then. You said you were leaving tonight, right? Iowe you…” He shrugged, embarrassed to be making such a longspeech. “Hell, I owe you a lot. You showed me something I’mactually good at.”
His hand was on the back of his neck again.“Tonight might be the only chance I have for the next few months…”
Frank shook his head ever so slightly and lookedback up at the speck of light. “Got another court date?”
Some more scuffing in the dirt. “Publicurination…”
Frank closed hiseyes. I just know I’m gonna regret this.
The last timeTerry ended up in the county lockup, he’d come out with a lot ofgangster nonsense in that fuzzy noggin of his. Hewas a good kid but, with Frank no longer on Earth, he stood nochance.
There was nobody else.
“You want to come with me?”
“To Asia?”Terry said. “But my courtdate…”
“Already told you, I’m not planning to comeback,” Frank cut in. “You really care what the folks down at thecourthouse think of you?”
“Never been toAsia,” Terry said quietly.
“That’s not likely to change if you come withme,” Frank told him. “This is gonna sound more than a littlecrazy…”
Post Ambush
The Mouse. TheModanii Trade Lanes
“Unchartedmass-event ahead!” thetacticalofficer announced. He highlighted the coordinates on the fleet’sholographic path-display.
“Helm, dropus out, engagement distance,” Eth ordered. “Setfull combat alert throughout the squadron.
“Corvettes, break umbilicals and stand by forcombat dispersal,” he commanded as his helmet snapped shut.
It had been unnerving the first time they’dtested rigging for combat while still in path. He still wasn’tterribly fond of the idea but it was better than stumbling into anuncertain situation in a pressurized ship.
A sharp rumblecame up through the air in his suit as the three corvettes attachedto the Mouse’s hullbegan cutting their mechanical connections.
Exercisesconducted outside Babilim had shown the folly of traveling as atraditional fleet. Coordination was impossible in path. In asituation like this, when an unscheduled drop from path-travel wasrequired, a group of ships would invariably get strung out forhundreds of thousands of kilometers.
Eth had been onthe verge of having the Mousebroken up to build several more corvettes but large ships had finallyfound their place in the Human forces, thanks largely to Gleb’sfiancée.
She’d startedthem thinking about fighters and the carriers that supportedthem. The corvettes weren’t fighters in the traditional Irth-sensebut they were still small enough, just barely, to travel attached tothe hull of a heavy cruiser.
Noa haddeclaredher a visionary, starting to work on the concept within hours ofhearing it. In less than two weeks, they’d figuredout a smaller fighter concept, giving a modified cruiser a complementof roughly thirty craft but that was still beingrolled out to the Human fleet.The Kupharwould be the first to modify herself to carry three squadrons.
She’d be postedto the first colony wherethe firepower would bea welcome addition to the small fleet. Fornow, the ability to quickly deploy three stealthy corvettes ondrop-out would do for Eth’sneeds.
“Normalizing,”the navigator announced, “in five, four, three, two, one… Normalgeometry restored.”
“No hostilesevident at this time. It’sa trade packet,” Tacticalannounced. “Loose,sphericaldefensive formation. Twomedium freighters look to be drifting in the center.”
A chime sounded.
“All three’vettes are away,” Tacticaladded, “and a full brace ofmissiles have been ejected on standby mode.”
It was unlikelyany ships in the area would have noticed the three stealthyattack-ships deploying. The blast of energyreleased on drop-out wouldhave temporarily blinded any sensors with an overload.
“By now, they’re getting a return off ourhull,” Tacticaladvised, “and our transponder code is broadcasting in the clearso…”
“Mouse, this is Balthazar, commodore ofthis trade packet. We request assistance. Two of our ships weredamaged in an illegal attack...” A holographic image of thecommodore shimmered into view in front of Eth and, when the Quailurealized who he was talking to, he stuttered to a halt.
He was wearing the uniform of a Meleke Corporationfleet officer.
The company that hadsold Humans to Mishak’s family on the pretext that they wereextinct.
Irony is a dish best served often,Eth thought. “Commodore, this is Eth of Irth,commander of the republic’smilitary forces. We’re dispatching damage-control parties to bothships immediately.” He raised an eyebrow toward his engineeringofficer as he said this and hetook the cue.
“What happenedhere, Commodore?”
“They used a grapple-pair,” the commodoresaid, finally recovering his ability to speak. The twinnedperturbations of a grapple-pair encountering the bow-wave of apathing ship would tumble itback into normal space and it would affect any other paths in thevicinity.
“They tripped us out and boarded every singleship,” he growled.
Eth frowned. “To what purpose, Commodore? Didthey steal your cargoes?”
“Didn’t take a damn thing. They just searchedus.”
“For what?”
“For you.”
“They were looking for me?”
“Well, not you specifically. They were lookingfor your people.”
“Commodore, do you mean citizens of the republicor Humans specifically?” Eth didn’t need to be in the same roomwith Balthazar to know he was uncomfortable having to deal withHumans.
“Humans,” Balthazar clarified.
“And did they find any Humans aboard the shipsof this trade-packet?”
“Of course not!” Balthazar insisted a littletoo indignantly.
Eth looked at the holographic Quailu quietly,drawing out the awkward silence that ensued. He used ocular trackingto open a tasking menu and dispatch a team to Balthazar’s ship,ordering them to transpose directly into the data center, rather thanbothering with shuttles.
“Ships belonging to the Meleke fleet,” thecommodore began haltingly, “they’re crewed entirely by Quailu.”He was probably unaware of the way his hand waved out to the side,disassociating himself from his words. “You would never find…natives on our ships.”
“Come now, Commodore,”Eth chided. “We both know that’s not true, don’t we?”
Balthazar’s right foot shifted back, his lefthand covering his throat.
It was pretty well established, by now, thatHumans had been captured ‘in the wild’ and shipped from Irthfor centuries as genetic stock. Eth hadn’t quite said that, though.He was just trying to needle the bastard a little.
“I have damage-control parties on two of yourships right now, don’t I?”
Balthazar’s posture returned to normal. “Ah,yes. I see your point. They certainly got there very quickly…” Hestopped suddenly, realizing he was seeing evidence of
