Law's End (26 page)
Authors: Glenn Douglass
Tags: #adventure, #travel, #dog, #future, #space, #rescue, #supercluster
Captain Connelly moved to the anchor ring with
an easy grace that marked her as having spent most of her life in
space. She wasn't as fashionably muscular as Greene and instead her
frame supported a pleasingly rounded form that, in spite of its
surface level averageness, never failed to make Kassad's heart skip
a beat. Long years in weightless and microgravity had sculpted the
captain's body and features into gorgeously perfect curves
cascading one unto another that he could not resist.
Quickly recovering from the thrill of their
reunion Kassad complained, "Cheryl, can we move along to the
medical aid part of this rescue?"
Captain Cheryl Connelly was dispassionately
matter of fact in her reply directed entirely towards Greene. "I'm
afraid it looks like we're going to be a bit longer before getting
your people to medical care." Then addressing Kassad she said,
"That Lawship you ran from, the Armhamon, is here and demanding
custody. They're moving to dock now."
More than a little annoyed Greene asked,
"Demanding custody of what exactly?"
Giving Greene an appraising stare Appaloosa's
Captain answered, "I don't doubt we'll find that out when they come
aboard."
With exaggerated indignation Kassad demanded,
"Under what authority? This is still a rescue operation until those
people are in the hands of proper medical care. They have no right
to delay us."
Unimpressed by Kassad's complaint Connelly
replied coolly, "I don't see any need for immediate emergency
treatment. You're still alive and functional. Treatment can wait
until we get this sorted out."
In a last ditch effort to change a mind Kassad
knew to be hard to change he made his case in extreme earnestness,
"Everyone aboard has suffered prolonged exposure to Lawless Space.
Our sensory processing is still all mucked up, there's no knowing
what other affects it could have had on us, and we're only getting
by at all with guesswork medical treatments. Without immediate
medical aid the damage could become permanent."
In a tone of finality that was crafted to end
all arguments Connelly explained, "I've already made the call on my
authority to detain everyone involved. The Armhamon is only a few
minutes out, they out gun us, and they have made it clear they
think I'm involved in some kind of conspiracy with my former
fiancée." Connelly gave Kassad an intensely bitter glare. "They
also seem eager to shoot this out, and if we're getting drawn into
a fight I'd rather do it here with lots of witnesses."
One of the anonymous and interchangeable
armored search party figures called out, "Captain they've taken a
position a kilometer off our bow and dispatched a small craft.
They're coming in hard and will be docking any second."
Captain Connelly nodded curtly in response then
after a moment and in response to the questioning gazes of her crew
ordered, "Take the boarding parties into the ready rooms and stand
by. If they try to take the Appaloosa… make them bleed."
A disgruntled Kassad watched as the Appaloosa's
crew moved out of sight and asked, "I suppose you want us right in
the middle of things?"
Pointedly ignoring Kassad Connelly leaned into
Canis who responded with a vigorous and enthusiastic yipping and
wagging of tail that caused his whole body to waggle.
Cooing soothingly Connelly spoke to the dog,
"You poor thing, what has the bad man gotten you into?" Taking the
animal's head in her hands she rubbed her face against the top of
Canis' head only to be driven back by and onslaught of friendly
licking.
Rolling his eyes Kassad observed, "Oh, him
you're happy to see."
"Canis I trust. It's just too bad he can't
speak." In response Canis barked loudly causing Connelly to smile
in spite of herself. "Now maybe you two will tell me, before your
friends show up, exactly what is going on here?"
"We don't know." Kassad looked to Greene for
support. "Right?"
Rather than support Kassad's assertion Greene
said, "We think they might have found a way to alter the physical
laws of space. There was some kind of incident, intentional or not,
and that's how they got trapped behind Law's End. The platform they
were working on was destroyed. We can't be certain but it looks
like they destroyed it themselves." Greene sighed and cast a
worried look towards Sabha's cargo hold. "They might have been
trying to destroy evidence."
Annoyed at the outburst of honesty Kassad tried
to perform some damage control. "But we don't know any of that. We
can only speculate. We don't have the whole story. The people in
our cargo hold might not even have the whole story."
A keen observer of people Kassad thought he saw
an opportunity to press his argument. While Kassad could see that
his own words had no weight on their own there was a glimmer of
respect between Connelly and Greene that could be advantageous.
That glimmer of respect represented itself physically as a subtle
interplay between the two in eye contact and body language… unless
Kassad was mistaken. If only he had the time, and his observations
were correct, then persuasion was inevitable; unfortunately Kassad
wouldn't be afforded the time to verify his observations or win
over his former fiancée.
Chapter 21: "Between Enemies"
"Crews will put up with pompous, arrogant,
and even belligerent officers if those same officers consistently
bring their crews back alive. A lack of survivability is the only
unforgivable trait for a Lawship captain, and it virtually
guarantees a mutiny."
-Excerpt from interview with Hans Solfridge,
veteran Lawship crewman
entrance the captain of the Armhamon strode menacingly into the
Appaloosa's hanger on loudly clanking magnetic boots. Clad from the
neck down in a full suit of gleaming vermillion poly-ceramic
powered armor finely decorated with gold inlays Andrews held the
armor's hawk faced helmet clutched casually in one hand, and held
an oversized side arm at the ready in the other. While the color
scheme made her the obvious focus of attention extra reinforcement
on the legs and feet made her a full head taller than anyone else
present. It was cutting edge tailored fitted armor designed to make
a statement simply by its being worn, but didn't skimp on
protection to achieve this.
Behind the captain a pair of more generically
clad underlings served as honor guard for the formidable figure.
Their armor was lighter as necessitated by the absence of the
expensive built in strength enhancing augmentation that their
captain enjoyed. Even with the lighter weight the two struggled to
keep pace with their captain, their torsos pushed out ahead of
their legs as if they were charging. One could almost hear the
strained breathing behind the face concealing armored helmets.
Without preamble Captain Andrews announced,
"You will immediately deliver those fugitives into my
custody."
Unperturbed by the demand or intrusion Captain
Connelly retorted, "Captain Armhamon," addressing her fellow
captain in the formal form, "if you have claim on these persons you
will present it before I deliver anyone into your custody."
Ignored the unarmed and unarmored Connelly
Andrews swaggered up to the group. Approaching to within easy arm
reach of the anchor ring Andrews dismissed Canis' warning growl
with a sneer as Kassad made soothing noises to reassure the animal.
Handing off her helmet to an underling Andrews gave the group a
quick look over and quickly spotted what she was looking for. With
a swift grab and pull that wrenched Kassad free of the anchor ring
Andrews extracted the data card from Kassad's pocket.
Over Kassad's shocked protest as he flailed at
the anchor ring Andrews announced, "I'll be taking this," she waved
the data card significantly, "along with this pirate, his ship,
crew, and passengers along with whatever else I find from the
expedition." Her armored thug escort made the alternative clear
with the barrel of their weapons and quickly muted Kassad's
objection.
With her tone dangerously emotionless Connelly
stated, "You'll be leaving empty handed if you can't provide legal
cause."
Andrews responded in a jeering tone and
pronunciation that mocked Connelly's own, "Captain Appleloose, as
I'm sure you've already been informed these 'scientists' were
involved in illegal research. They are all to be hauled as evidence
before a University review board. While this one," Andrews jabbed a
finger at Kassad who was only now restoring his purchase on the
anchor ring, "failed to yield to my lawful orders."
Connelly didn't acknowledge the slight against
her ship in any manner beyond dropping her voice ever further into
cold matter of fact tones. "What I've heard so far has been
speculation. As for Captain Kassad he has already confessed to
evading pursuit and turned himself over to my custody." Kassad
raised a finger to object to the specifics but then thought better
of interjecting his words as Connelly continued, "The Code of Law
is clear. If there is any additional evidence of criminal activity
you must turn it over to me. If you are demanding transfer of
prisoners or property you must provide proof of your jurisdictional
pre-eminence before I am compelled to turn anything over to
you."
With a provocatively dismissive smirk that was
just begging for a fight Captain Andrews replied, "I have reason
based on past association that you are working with the criminals
in this captain." The thumb on Andrews' gun hand caressed the
weapon's grip eagerly. "Since you've failed to yield to my lawful
demands I'll simply have to take your ship as well, but I'll give
you the opportunity to save yourself and your crew. Surrender
immediately," Andrews grin threatened to become manic, "or by all
means let's do this the hard way." Behind her Andrews' entourage
braced for the fight they knew their captain wanted.
If anything Connelly looked more annoyed and
bored by the threat than anything approaching intimidated. "Now
you've gone and threatened a licensed Lawship captain, her crew,
and ship." Connelly stated plainly, and then went on allowing her
annoyance to edge into her voice, "Captain Andrews call your crew
and tell them to stand down. You're going to stay here as my guest
and all of us will be going to Mareville to await a magistrate."
Kassad knew what the look on Connelly's face meant and he
cautiously edged himself out of the line of fire.
Grinning evilly Andrews was thrilled to have a
fight on her hands. "I'll have my boys shoot right now, cut your
hulk to pieces, and take my chances, but I will have what I came
for."
"You're a bigger idiot than he is." Connelly
indicated with a jerk of her thumb an indignant Kassad, who had
given up protesting his misrepresentation, then with exaggerated
patience Connelly explained, "There are one hundred and seventy two
mining skiffs in this asteroid field, each of them has a thirty
kilojoule mining laser, and while none of them could pierce the
Armhamon's hull outright all of them are now targeting it. You may
poke a few holes in my hull, but together those mining lasers will
drown your crew in molten structural steel before any serious
damage is done here." Connelly rolled her eyes at Andrews' outraged
expression. "I put this trap together to catch whoever has been
pilfering the ore shipments, but it will work just fine to deal
with a bullying thug with delusions of grandeur." When Andrews
hesitated at conceding to reason Connelly continued, "No matter how
you play this you're coming with us to Mareville and if you're
stupid enough to put up a fight," with a gesture from Captain
Connelly the boarding teams re-emerged taking up positions
surrounding Captain Andrews and her entourage, "there's plenty of
room in the ship's morgue."
Red faced rage constricted Captain Andrews'
face until it seemed it would have pinched clean off, but
eventually she relented in a tone that spoke of revenge. "Fine."
Tapping the communications circuit on her wrist device she ordered
in angry growling tones, "Armhamon, this is your captain. Stand
down and wait for my signal. We're going to the local settlement to
await a magistrate." Closing the channel Andrews' wrathful
expression was joined by a vengeful tone. "You just lost your ship
captain. I'm working with University sanction on this one, and
you're sided with a known felon and a group of rogue scientists."
Shaking her head Andrews concluded, "You're not going to walk away
from this one."
Kassad objected weakly, "I am not a known
felon. There have been misunderstandings…" he trailed off as no one
was listening.
Speaking over Kassad Connelly explained, "Right
now I'm walking to the bridge and wherever you walk six of my men
will follow to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Directing
herself to the boarding party with a nod she received six in
return, then tapping the communications circuit on her wrist device
Connelly ordered, "Communications officer, call for a Code of Law
Magistrate. Navigation, set a course for Mareville, and I want us
docked in time for dinner."
an easy grace that marked her as having spent most of her life in
space. She wasn't as fashionably muscular as Greene and instead her
frame supported a pleasingly rounded form that, in spite of its
surface level averageness, never failed to make Kassad's heart skip
a beat. Long years in weightless and microgravity had sculpted the
captain's body and features into gorgeously perfect curves
cascading one unto another that he could not resist.
Quickly recovering from the thrill of their
reunion Kassad complained, "Cheryl, can we move along to the
medical aid part of this rescue?"
Captain Cheryl Connelly was dispassionately
matter of fact in her reply directed entirely towards Greene. "I'm
afraid it looks like we're going to be a bit longer before getting
your people to medical care." Then addressing Kassad she said,
"That Lawship you ran from, the Armhamon, is here and demanding
custody. They're moving to dock now."
More than a little annoyed Greene asked,
"Demanding custody of what exactly?"
Giving Greene an appraising stare Appaloosa's
Captain answered, "I don't doubt we'll find that out when they come
aboard."
With exaggerated indignation Kassad demanded,
"Under what authority? This is still a rescue operation until those
people are in the hands of proper medical care. They have no right
to delay us."
Unimpressed by Kassad's complaint Connelly
replied coolly, "I don't see any need for immediate emergency
treatment. You're still alive and functional. Treatment can wait
until we get this sorted out."
In a last ditch effort to change a mind Kassad
knew to be hard to change he made his case in extreme earnestness,
"Everyone aboard has suffered prolonged exposure to Lawless Space.
Our sensory processing is still all mucked up, there's no knowing
what other affects it could have had on us, and we're only getting
by at all with guesswork medical treatments. Without immediate
medical aid the damage could become permanent."
In a tone of finality that was crafted to end
all arguments Connelly explained, "I've already made the call on my
authority to detain everyone involved. The Armhamon is only a few
minutes out, they out gun us, and they have made it clear they
think I'm involved in some kind of conspiracy with my former
fiancée." Connelly gave Kassad an intensely bitter glare. "They
also seem eager to shoot this out, and if we're getting drawn into
a fight I'd rather do it here with lots of witnesses."
One of the anonymous and interchangeable
armored search party figures called out, "Captain they've taken a
position a kilometer off our bow and dispatched a small craft.
They're coming in hard and will be docking any second."
Captain Connelly nodded curtly in response then
after a moment and in response to the questioning gazes of her crew
ordered, "Take the boarding parties into the ready rooms and stand
by. If they try to take the Appaloosa… make them bleed."
A disgruntled Kassad watched as the Appaloosa's
crew moved out of sight and asked, "I suppose you want us right in
the middle of things?"
Pointedly ignoring Kassad Connelly leaned into
Canis who responded with a vigorous and enthusiastic yipping and
wagging of tail that caused his whole body to waggle.
Cooing soothingly Connelly spoke to the dog,
"You poor thing, what has the bad man gotten you into?" Taking the
animal's head in her hands she rubbed her face against the top of
Canis' head only to be driven back by and onslaught of friendly
licking.
Rolling his eyes Kassad observed, "Oh, him
you're happy to see."
"Canis I trust. It's just too bad he can't
speak." In response Canis barked loudly causing Connelly to smile
in spite of herself. "Now maybe you two will tell me, before your
friends show up, exactly what is going on here?"
"We don't know." Kassad looked to Greene for
support. "Right?"
Rather than support Kassad's assertion Greene
said, "We think they might have found a way to alter the physical
laws of space. There was some kind of incident, intentional or not,
and that's how they got trapped behind Law's End. The platform they
were working on was destroyed. We can't be certain but it looks
like they destroyed it themselves." Greene sighed and cast a
worried look towards Sabha's cargo hold. "They might have been
trying to destroy evidence."
Annoyed at the outburst of honesty Kassad tried
to perform some damage control. "But we don't know any of that. We
can only speculate. We don't have the whole story. The people in
our cargo hold might not even have the whole story."
A keen observer of people Kassad thought he saw
an opportunity to press his argument. While Kassad could see that
his own words had no weight on their own there was a glimmer of
respect between Connelly and Greene that could be advantageous.
That glimmer of respect represented itself physically as a subtle
interplay between the two in eye contact and body language… unless
Kassad was mistaken. If only he had the time, and his observations
were correct, then persuasion was inevitable; unfortunately Kassad
wouldn't be afforded the time to verify his observations or win
over his former fiancée.
Chapter 21: "Between Enemies"
"Crews will put up with pompous, arrogant,
and even belligerent officers if those same officers consistently
bring their crews back alive. A lack of survivability is the only
unforgivable trait for a Lawship captain, and it virtually
guarantees a mutiny."
-Excerpt from interview with Hans Solfridge,
veteran Lawship crewman
entrance the captain of the Armhamon strode menacingly into the
Appaloosa's hanger on loudly clanking magnetic boots. Clad from the
neck down in a full suit of gleaming vermillion poly-ceramic
powered armor finely decorated with gold inlays Andrews held the
armor's hawk faced helmet clutched casually in one hand, and held
an oversized side arm at the ready in the other. While the color
scheme made her the obvious focus of attention extra reinforcement
on the legs and feet made her a full head taller than anyone else
present. It was cutting edge tailored fitted armor designed to make
a statement simply by its being worn, but didn't skimp on
protection to achieve this.
Behind the captain a pair of more generically
clad underlings served as honor guard for the formidable figure.
Their armor was lighter as necessitated by the absence of the
expensive built in strength enhancing augmentation that their
captain enjoyed. Even with the lighter weight the two struggled to
keep pace with their captain, their torsos pushed out ahead of
their legs as if they were charging. One could almost hear the
strained breathing behind the face concealing armored helmets.
Without preamble Captain Andrews announced,
"You will immediately deliver those fugitives into my
custody."
Unperturbed by the demand or intrusion Captain
Connelly retorted, "Captain Armhamon," addressing her fellow
captain in the formal form, "if you have claim on these persons you
will present it before I deliver anyone into your custody."
Ignored the unarmed and unarmored Connelly
Andrews swaggered up to the group. Approaching to within easy arm
reach of the anchor ring Andrews dismissed Canis' warning growl
with a sneer as Kassad made soothing noises to reassure the animal.
Handing off her helmet to an underling Andrews gave the group a
quick look over and quickly spotted what she was looking for. With
a swift grab and pull that wrenched Kassad free of the anchor ring
Andrews extracted the data card from Kassad's pocket.
Over Kassad's shocked protest as he flailed at
the anchor ring Andrews announced, "I'll be taking this," she waved
the data card significantly, "along with this pirate, his ship,
crew, and passengers along with whatever else I find from the
expedition." Her armored thug escort made the alternative clear
with the barrel of their weapons and quickly muted Kassad's
objection.
With her tone dangerously emotionless Connelly
stated, "You'll be leaving empty handed if you can't provide legal
cause."
Andrews responded in a jeering tone and
pronunciation that mocked Connelly's own, "Captain Appleloose, as
I'm sure you've already been informed these 'scientists' were
involved in illegal research. They are all to be hauled as evidence
before a University review board. While this one," Andrews jabbed a
finger at Kassad who was only now restoring his purchase on the
anchor ring, "failed to yield to my lawful orders."
Connelly didn't acknowledge the slight against
her ship in any manner beyond dropping her voice ever further into
cold matter of fact tones. "What I've heard so far has been
speculation. As for Captain Kassad he has already confessed to
evading pursuit and turned himself over to my custody." Kassad
raised a finger to object to the specifics but then thought better
of interjecting his words as Connelly continued, "The Code of Law
is clear. If there is any additional evidence of criminal activity
you must turn it over to me. If you are demanding transfer of
prisoners or property you must provide proof of your jurisdictional
pre-eminence before I am compelled to turn anything over to
you."
With a provocatively dismissive smirk that was
just begging for a fight Captain Andrews replied, "I have reason
based on past association that you are working with the criminals
in this captain." The thumb on Andrews' gun hand caressed the
weapon's grip eagerly. "Since you've failed to yield to my lawful
demands I'll simply have to take your ship as well, but I'll give
you the opportunity to save yourself and your crew. Surrender
immediately," Andrews grin threatened to become manic, "or by all
means let's do this the hard way." Behind her Andrews' entourage
braced for the fight they knew their captain wanted.
If anything Connelly looked more annoyed and
bored by the threat than anything approaching intimidated. "Now
you've gone and threatened a licensed Lawship captain, her crew,
and ship." Connelly stated plainly, and then went on allowing her
annoyance to edge into her voice, "Captain Andrews call your crew
and tell them to stand down. You're going to stay here as my guest
and all of us will be going to Mareville to await a magistrate."
Kassad knew what the look on Connelly's face meant and he
cautiously edged himself out of the line of fire.
Grinning evilly Andrews was thrilled to have a
fight on her hands. "I'll have my boys shoot right now, cut your
hulk to pieces, and take my chances, but I will have what I came
for."
"You're a bigger idiot than he is." Connelly
indicated with a jerk of her thumb an indignant Kassad, who had
given up protesting his misrepresentation, then with exaggerated
patience Connelly explained, "There are one hundred and seventy two
mining skiffs in this asteroid field, each of them has a thirty
kilojoule mining laser, and while none of them could pierce the
Armhamon's hull outright all of them are now targeting it. You may
poke a few holes in my hull, but together those mining lasers will
drown your crew in molten structural steel before any serious
damage is done here." Connelly rolled her eyes at Andrews' outraged
expression. "I put this trap together to catch whoever has been
pilfering the ore shipments, but it will work just fine to deal
with a bullying thug with delusions of grandeur." When Andrews
hesitated at conceding to reason Connelly continued, "No matter how
you play this you're coming with us to Mareville and if you're
stupid enough to put up a fight," with a gesture from Captain
Connelly the boarding teams re-emerged taking up positions
surrounding Captain Andrews and her entourage, "there's plenty of
room in the ship's morgue."
Red faced rage constricted Captain Andrews'
face until it seemed it would have pinched clean off, but
eventually she relented in a tone that spoke of revenge. "Fine."
Tapping the communications circuit on her wrist device she ordered
in angry growling tones, "Armhamon, this is your captain. Stand
down and wait for my signal. We're going to the local settlement to
await a magistrate." Closing the channel Andrews' wrathful
expression was joined by a vengeful tone. "You just lost your ship
captain. I'm working with University sanction on this one, and
you're sided with a known felon and a group of rogue scientists."
Shaking her head Andrews concluded, "You're not going to walk away
from this one."
Kassad objected weakly, "I am not a known
felon. There have been misunderstandings…" he trailed off as no one
was listening.
Speaking over Kassad Connelly explained, "Right
now I'm walking to the bridge and wherever you walk six of my men
will follow to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Directing
herself to the boarding party with a nod she received six in
return, then tapping the communications circuit on her wrist device
Connelly ordered, "Communications officer, call for a Code of Law
Magistrate. Navigation, set a course for Mareville, and I want us
docked in time for dinner."
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