Regan's Reach 2: Orbital Envy (38 page)

[See you soon]

Regan jogged up the pipe, rehearsing what she would say to the Coran's on arrival. Life was about to change for them big time.

Entering the Gym she could see a queue stretching out from the Antigrav room, hoots and catcalls ringing in the air. Looking past the throng, just visible she could see a single person drifting through the air toward a large target. Gently pressing past the queue she entered the room, having to squeeze in with the crowd gathered on the side watching. And there, like ringmaster at the front was Jared.
What the . . .

He was clearly directing proceedings, a larger version of his catapult/flinger being used so that two people, presumably team mates, could launch a third across the room at the target.
Don't people here have enough to do!
Without shutting things down she couldn't reach him through the crowd, so she subbed.

[Jared, what are you up to there?] On hearing the voice he looked around, spying her toward the back and waving.

"It's my competition; they try and hit the centre. If they do they get a hundred to one." His voice was almost drowned by the crowd.

[A hundred to one . . . what?]

"Dollars silly. They pay a dollar for each shot."

[You're collecting money!]

"No Hilary collects it. It comes out of their pay. She's holding it for me. You should have a go; I'll give you a free one."

Regan laughed. [So if I hit the target I get a hundred dollars?]

"No mom, you don't get how this works, a hundred times nothing is still nothing."

She shook her head, searching for something to say, [So has anybody won yet?]

"Just one," A huge cheer interrupted him, ". . . Make that two."

[Can you afford this mate?]

"I'm doing good mom. Six hundred tries only two wins so far."

[Wow, so if you stopped now you'd have made . . .] She hesitated, letting him fill in the number if he could.

"That's four hundred dollars . . . less Hilary's cut . . . I'm a bit busy mom. Talk to you later."

She laughed out loud. What a tonic.

* * *

Ham piloted the Coran warship in, nudging the huge vessel into position, perfectly joining the dance with Hillary station. In time they would extend a connecting spacebridge but for now he had no intention of allowing the Coran crew onto Hillary and simply held station parallel with the earthward end near the flight decks. It was time to talk. Gathering all crew on the ship flight decks proved simple. The threat of vacuum which Ham could just as easily provide inside the ship was a useful motivator.

As Marin, Regan, Leah and Hayden waited near the field screen the crew sorted themselves, all looking for the best view and all nervous. Commander Merryl, by agreement waited in front with a small group of officers. He had offered to formally surrender and this was agreed as the best way to move forward. He looked understandably tense.

Regan stepped forward two paces and waited. There seemed none of the traditional earth military formality and Merryl simply strode forward to meet her. Unusually he extended his left hand, catching her off guard. She looked confused for a second then too reached out while looking sideways at Marin for confirmation. In that moment he grasped her hand.

Leah's dive followed her first glimpse of the blade. Just a hint as it dropped down from his right sleeve while he pulled Regan toward him. With one stride she leapt taking Merryls legs in a rugby tackle. At the same moment to Merryl's surprise Regan, much stronger than him, hauled back on the arm pulling him toward her while also stepping back. The combined effect with the tackle was to flatten him to the deck. Marin stamped hard on Merryl's right hand holding it in place and then made great show of reaching down to lift the long slim blade with his fingertips. He held the blade in the air.

Turning to face the ship crew he stepped forward with the blade. "This," And he waved the blade in front of them, "This, is not the way of Cora! We, you and I, are brothers and sisters. You know who I am. I am of the tribe of Mariner. My father worked alongside yours for the good of all in our system. For generations we worked together with mutual respect. Yet now, can it be true the people of Cora are those who would take another tribe's home, even my own home orbital? Are the Coran's now a people who would wipe out millions of another race or species on a whim? I cannot believe it. Who put this great tribe up to this? I fear I know, and I am ashamed. My own mother is behind this, of this I am sure. And if there is any justice I will end her life with my own hand. She is not a leader to follow, not for my people, nor yours. This must stop now! You are alive today only because of the generosity of these people whom you attacked unjustly. They have not shown you the disregard you showed them. It is time to put your foolishness aside. Work with these people and you will find a future. Work against them and I can tell you the future will be bleak."

Marin turned back to Merryl and hauled him to his feet. Taking the blade in his right hand he held it to the Commanders heart, just the tip touching his suit. They made eye contact and Marin held it, silent and expectant. Slowly Merryl raised his arms grasping Marin's hand tightly in both of his. Then in one swift motion he pulled the blade into his chest. In the deathly silence that followed Merryl slowly dropped to his knees falling forward as Marin stepped back. The action drove the blade through, deep into his chest.

Regan hardly looked down. Stepping over the body she walked toward the crew taking a few paces before turning from one side to the other as if assessing the measure of each individual. She then proceeded to speak, beginning quietly and slowly building. Gasps at hearing their language spoken by a human quickly gave way to respectful silence. Her delivery was mesmerizing. She spoke with authority. She made room for compassion, and she did not seek to apportion blame. She spoke of the future, how close the two systems would soon become, of the opportunities for trade, of opportunities for all the people of Cora, for each of them as individuals and for their families. As she talked most had the sense she was speaking personally to them, and most began to feel the first sense of hope they had known for countless Coran Periods. Lastly, she was fair and honest. Those who wished to return home would be able to. However those who wished to begin a new Coran/Human partnership could start now. They were asteroid miners, not soldiers or troopers and she could use their skills. They could start a new colony here, in this system, working for her mining asteroids in the outer belt and they would be well rewarded. They could bring their families here. And soon, they could freely travel back and forward between systems.

Those who did not wish to participate would be returned as soon as possible but not with this warship. In the meantime they would be sent to earth, to Russia. There would be no demands. They were free to choose.

Finally, perhaps the greatest challenge. They must decide and advise their position to the new ship mind, her partner Ham. If they wished to discuss anything further it would be with him, no one else. If anyone stepped out of line they would have him to deal with. If they wanted to move forward it was time to put all prejudices aside.

"Be very clear," she said, her gaze slowly panning across the hundreds assembled. "Ignore Ham at your peril. Work with him and you will thriiiive." She deliberately emphasized the last word, extending it as if it were a blessing. In what could have been a tense moment, the lift in spirits was almost tangible. With a nod she dismissed them and immediately a hum of excited chatter broke out across the deck.

With more respect than Regan felt Merryl deserved, Marin stood over the body a few seconds as if in prayer, then lifted it and carried him to the Pod. When he returned he looked thoughtful. "We should return him," was all he said.

Three hours later having finished their tour of the ship they gathered in the control room of the vessel alone. Leah stood looking aghast at the bloody stains wondering what atrocity occurred here. It was a thought they all shared.

"I'll have that cleaned up ASAP," Ham advised, "I didn't think it did any harm to have a reminder there for the crew. The Commander was becoming a despot and they knew it."

"What happened?" Hayden asked looking around in shock.

"Seriously, you don't want to know. Let's leave it as a part of their sad history and their own nightmares. You don't need it Hayden." Ham moved quickly on. "An update for you Regan, around one third of the crew wants to go back immediately. Most of those have family they can't leave. Some may want to return here later with family. Only a few are dangerously bitter. I'll make sure they are off ship as soon as possible."

"Well," she replied, "make sure they understand they will only go back as soon as I can send them, and it won't be soon. What about the others?"

"There are a surprising number who are excited. This crew was young with fewer attachments back home. Many have established partners on this voyage and for them this is an opportunity to start anew. It helps that you envisage free movement between the systems, it gives them hope."

"What about their engineering and flight crews?" Hayden asked.

"Flight crews want to stay. They're young and they've seen what we can do. They're like young people anywhere. We seem to have better tech and they want in. Engineering however is split but I'm still working on a few. It would be good if they stayed."

Hayden turned to Regan. "We could probably use them Regan, what do you think?"

"Provided they pass the Ham test I see no problem with it, what do you think Ham?"

"There's only one Pilot I wouldn't want. Merryl's squeeze and she doesn't want to stay anyway."

"Ok," Regan sat pointedly in Merryl's command chair. "Here's my thinking. It's a big ship, and perfect for a base for the Coran's establishing a mining enterprise. At least until we build them their own orbital. But first, we may want to use it to get back to Dahlia and do some mischief. Ham, when Aaron is finished with The STEIN we should get him over here quick sharp and see what he can do to tweak the Warp drive of this thing. We may need that extra speed." she paused, gathering her thoughts. "Also, the ship has a complement of six large shuttles and two bombers, all with displacer technology. My thinking is we make two of these available to our allies, one to pull apart for the tech and the other as a working model. With the help of the Coran engineers they can play with it and make their own leaps into space. What do you think Ham, shuttles or the bombers?"

"Don't give them the bombers . . . can you imagine?" He sounded disgusted at the thought. "The shuttles give them the displacer tech anyway and they can come up with their own designs. Plus, the bombers are bigger with good load carrying capacity we can use."

"Regan," Hayden interrupted, "Another thought. If you're going to give them the shuttles as a gift at least insist they contract USDynamics to do the work and do any builds on Hillary."

She smiled. "Hayden, remember you're no longer USD CEO? You're the Commissioner for Hillary Station."

He laughed. "I haven't forgotten, but our citizens will need work remember."

"What about the Russians?" Leah asked, "Can we afford for them to be out of the loop? What's that old saying, better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in?"

"Hmm," Regan smiled, "Kev said something similar, let me think about it."

"And one other thing," Leah wasn't finished, "No offense intended but managing this ship in the meantime sounds a bit more like admin to me. Isn't that more Hilary's cup of tea?"

Regan laughed. "He put you up to that didn't he? Ham, you negotiate it with Hilary, its fine with me."

* * *

Returning to THE STEIN in the Interceptor, Regan felt on a high. The afternoon, barring the disturbing demise of Merryl, had been a triumph. For the first time in months she had that optimistic feeling she most enjoyed, a sense that things were headed in the right direction. Unconsciously she reached across and began to twirl her fingers in Leah's hair.

"Hey," Leah smiled. "Get your own . . ."

The thought hung there for a moment, realization settling in, new beginnings, and new possibilities. "You know, "Regan replied, I just might." and it immediately felt right.

"Really . . ." Marin said, "Well if you do it so will I."

The women exchanged looks, wondering what a hirsute Marin would look like and then they laughed, some intuition guiding them to a common thought. Exiting the pod into the lift they were already stripping suits before the doors closed. Marin stood back anticipating. Leading him into Regan's room the two stripped his suit, pushed him back onto the bed and stepped back to consider.

"I don't know . . ." Regan said thoughtfully.

They weren't looking at his head he noticed. The women knelt down and began examining him in detail, stroking, cupping and lightly dragging fingers down the length of him. Finally, in unspoken agreement they looked up and nodded.

"I get it," he said, "only up here!" and he massaged his skull.

They both laughed in agreement.

"It's a deal then," he said, "provided it's the same rules for you. And now," he groaned, "Please don't stop." He looked desperate for them to continue but they were already walking to the bathroom.

"First a shower," Regan replied, then looked back, winking at him, "come on . . ."

* * *

Cliff Johnston shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His excitement over the offer was undeniable but it surprised and embarrassed him how conflicted his emotions were. To have to share the knowledge with partners, to have no special advantage, it just didn't seem right.

Regan continued. "I can imagine what you're thinking sir, I guess every one of the group would like a shuttle to themselves. But think of it like this; once the foundation technology is known there is no reason why your own specialists can't continue to develop your own ideas. All we ask is agreement that you contract USD to do the work."