Flash Fiction # 456 -- Raiders/6

 Lisel jogged up to join us and gave us a quick nod.  "Thank you.  We are so few, you see -- and if we can also save more of your people --"

I put a hand on Lisel's arm.  "We'll do what we can."

"They were hiding in fear," he said.  "People helped, but there are those here who think they run the station."

"Bully boys," Krisin snarled.  "What about local authorities?"

"From what I can tell, the station hired this group and now can't get rid of them."

"Well," I said.

"Yes, yes -- we'll take care of that, too," Lisel replied.  "Right after we save everyone."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Krisin replied.

"Where do we start with the big problem?" Lisel asked with a quick look around as though he only now remembered why we were here.  "We might not have much time."

I glanced around as well -- and discovered something odd.  The people looked ... friendly.  They hadn't been unfriendly before, but now they seemed to have gone another step.  People smiled.

That would help.

But we still had to be careful.  I put in my call to the admin sector, but the computer said no one was available.  No one at all.  I looked at the woman running the table next to us -- lovely scarves, hand-woven, too -- and frowned.

"I'm trying to get through to Admin," I said with a wave of my pocketcomp.  "What's the secret?"

"No one's been able to get through for the last four days standard," the woman said with a glare toward the center core of the station.  "Even the guards were saying they can't get contact."

I looked around with a start.  "But they're still running things."

"Yes, the station is fine," she said with a wave of her hand and dismissing that concern.  "But it is annoying."

"How long? Lisel asked.

"Four days," she said and gave us a slightly more worried look.  "Should we be more worried than we are?"

I wanted to just blow away her concern with a wave of my hand.  I couldn't do it.

"There's been trouble on other stations in the area," I said.  "Bad trouble.  You might want to be ready to head to the core.  Send the word around, but be careful.  We don't want to upset the wrong people."

She looked from me to Krisin and then Lisel.  I think she realized that we'd saved the Catchin and not the humans.  There was a look of distrust -- but it passed quickly.

"You didn't have to say anything," she acknowledged.  "And no matter what, the Cat's needed out of here before the guards killed anymore.  We'd have sent them off on our own if we could have."

I believed her.  So did Lisel, who picked up a scarf from her table and draped it around his neck.  He paid her ten times the worth.

"For honor," he said.

So Krisin and I did the same thing.  We bought from others and paid more -- and we won friends everywhere as word passed through the market.  People gave us things.

The guards showed back up again, too, with several more members.  I sighed and kept an eye on them.  They wandered around a few yards away, making trouble for some of the sellers but mostly behaving.  They didn't want trouble with anyone but us.

We'd been making our way closer to the hall that led to quarters and admin.  I had the feeling once we moved out of this area that we'd run into guard and have trouble.  I was ready for it, too.  The whole place was making me really, really nervous.

Then the call came that the Belgium was pulling out right now.  Not even time to go back if we wanted to.  I looked, half-panicked to Lisel.  He gave a single nod.

"We do what we can," he said.

I took a deeper breath. News that the ship was going would spread quickly.  We were going to look like easy prey soon.

Well, fine.

I was ready when the bully boys cut us off.  More than ready.  My adrenalin was up to fighter pilot level, which meant I was hyper-focused on all the areas around me.  I wasn't tricked by the five who moved to cut off the hall.

"Restricted area," one said with a snarl.  He wasn't one I'd faced before, and I thought I saw a glimmer of more intelligence.  "Locals Only, not ship scum."

Well, I had a little hope for him right until that moment.  I had even been impressed that he didn't look to the right where four more of his boys were preparing to 'surprise' us.

"Let me give you some advice," I said.  "If you plan on a sneak attack,  don't use gorillas."

I spun and kicked the first one in the knee as he rushed forward.  Lisel grabbed two others and just bounced them against each other and the wall.  Krisin kicked the last ... well, higher than I had kicked.

The leader of the bully actually smiled.  "I can't hire you, can I?"

"No, not going to happen.  You going to stop us from trying to get to admin?"

He looked for a moment at his four downed people and the four he still had standing and then waved them all away.

"Let them go.  Hell, maybe they'll have better luck than we did."

While I was glad not to have to fight my way through -- well, sort of glad -- I was also happy to get this part of the job done.  I had thought the bully boys were part of the bigger problem.  Now ... no.  Or maybe they thought to trap us down this hall.  Once we were past, I gave a slight twitch of my head to Lisel.

"I'm listening.  One is following.  I think it's their leader.  We can deal with him either way."

Yeah, we can handle it, I thought, along with all the other trouble...

Flash Fiction # 455 -- Raiders/5

 I couldn't see the bay door where we took on supplies.  The Catchin were all taller than me.  However, they were moved ahead at a steady pace, and while we were drawing a few stares, no one seemed anxious to get in the way and start trouble.

Wise.  Catchin were fierce when provoked, and Catchin with children -- yeah, I wouldn't cross them.  We had a few watching closely, though.  I noted that group.  I could almost see the disappointment in their eyes as some came closer.

The woman looked to me, her claws showing, though she kept her hands down.

"Just go," I said.  "We'll handle this."

"I won't leave you here to face these beings alone," she replied.

I gave an exasperated snarl of my own.  I'd come up against Catchin pride and determination a few too many times.  Her lips curled up, and her eyes crinkled.

"You have been with Lisel for a long time."

It was not a question.

"Long," I agreed.  "At least in adventures.  But I suddenly think I don't know him well at all.  His name means something to you."

"As does yours, Tana."

I glanced her way with a start and would have asked more, but four big, burly men were heading our way, and I didn't like the look on any of their faces.

I moved out in front of the Catchin woman and startled the men who might not have seen me behind the larger Catchin.  They came to a quick stop, probably because I had my hand on my laser pistol.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

A few of the Catchin looked back at the sound of my demand.  I waved them on, and so did the Catchin Woman, though she lingered at my shoulder.

"You can't take them," one of the men said.  He was the smallest of the group, so that made him only twice my size.  "They're ours."

Oh, not the thing to say to me.  I reached up and grabbed the man's collar, jerking the fool's head downward so I could look straight into his beady brown eyes.

"Tell me that you did not just imply that these Catchin are your slaves."

He started to speak, but his brain must have made a short circuit attempt to save his life.

"Owe me money," he mumbled.  "Can't go if they owe me money."

"Get me the invoices.  Right now."  I tapped his pocketcomp.  "We'll have it vetted through the ship."

"You can't --"

My hand went to my laser this time.  I was getting nervous because most of the Catchin were several yards away now, and I didn't like that my companion and I were out here on my own.

"I don't need no invoice.  I'll take this one in payment --"

Sometimes it's just not wise to antagonize local people, either in ports, on their ships, or on stations.  I knew this, of course.  I also knew that my crew and I would be here literally looking for trouble, and I didn't need to make more for us.  

I still shoved the pistol right into the fool's fat stomach.  I did not pull the trigger.

"She is not for sale.  She is not a slave.  If you have a legitimate claim for credits due, then file with the Belgium.  We'll cover anything you can prove."

"Listen, woman --" one of the others said and grabbed at my shoulder.

Krisin had arrived when I wasn't paying attention.  Krisin isn't as good a fighter as me, but he is larger, and he tends to be more relaxed.  He's also scary.  Though not so much as Lisel when he arrived, his fur bristling.

"You are the three who have been harassing my people," Lisel said.  "They told me as they went in the ship.  I believe we have reason to file charges --"

A few more guards were coming out of the bay.  I don't know what the men thought would happen, but they didn't stick around to find out.    There was a lot of snarling and posturing, but they retreated.

"To the ship," Lisel ordered the last woman.  "The Captain needs to leave soon.  Go."

She looked at Lisel with a frown and must have seen something more in his face.  "What is going on."

Lisel frowned, but then he answered in a quick series of snarls, growls, and clicks.  I saw shock come to her face this time, and she looked around with a shake of her head.

"You cannot stay," she said and caught both my arm and Lisel's and looked like she wanted another arm for Krisin.  "Come.  To the ship.  You can't stay."

"We have work to do," I said and managed to pull free of her.  "Lisel, take her."

He recognized that as an order and nodded, taking tight hold of the woman and speaking to her again in their own language as he urged her along.  I looked over at Krisin and shook her head, though I wasn't sure if it was shock or disbelief.

"Let's move out of the open," Krisin said and glanced around with a snarl of his own.  "We are not making friends."

"Is this going to make it harder?"

"Probably," he said and then gave a bright grin.  "Should we have done anything differently?  The Captain didn't even make a noise of being upset, you know."

"No surprise," I said.  We were heading back toward the market area.  I hoped Lisel didn't take long to catch up.  I really didn't want him out wandering around without us.  I almost called the ship and suggest they keep him there -- but no.  He was part of my crew.

People watched us a little more carefully, but I didn't see anything that looked like outright anger.  That made me feel a little better.  It occurred to me that the market people must have known that the Catchin were there -- that they were helping to hide them.

I wanted to save them all.

Flash Fiction # 454 -- Raiders/4

 "What we know isn't for the furless," a woman said as she strode forward.  I had rarely seen a Catchin female, and this one looked as though she ruled this corner of the station.

"Then we'll go," I said.  I didn't like standing here, and it couldn't be safe.  I took a step back.  So did Krisin, who looked -- well, not afraid, but more worried than usual.

"Be still," the woman ordered.

I wasn't sure if I should breathe at that point.  Lisel, though, looked annoyed.  The fur on his neck began to rise, and I wasn't the only one who noticed. The woman's eyes narrowed, and her lips pulled back in the start of a snarl.

"I am Lisel," he said.

That won a strange reaction.  Every Catchin in the area went still and then turned Lisel's way.  What the hell?

The woman took a step back and bowed her head.  "Welcome to you and your fellow crew."

Lisel glanced my way and gave a quick grin.  "I have a reputation, and I am going to use it for the good of my people."

"Lisel --" I started.

He stared at me.  I thought about what I was about to say and decided not to do it.  I bowed my head instead.  

"The station is in danger," he said, looking around at the others.  "But if you all try to run to the nearest ships, you will start a panic, and few will get away.  If I had known you were here, I might have made a plan already and brought you onto Belgium.  How many?

"Thirty-Six," the woman said.  "Ten are young.  If we can get them away, then it would be to our honor."

"We can do this," I said.  "If we can get word to Captain Dundas, she can make it look as if you are the reason we came here.  We went straight to this spot.  Krisin --"

"I need to get back and stop her from leaving port," he said.  He frowned.  "There are other children.  We need to consider how to get them on other ships at the first sign of trouble."

"Go, go," I said, slapping him on the arm.  

Krisin looked at Lisel.  He nodded.

Krisin left quickly.  I looked at Lisel and spread my hands.  "Start getting this prepared.  We won't have much time."

Lisel went with the woman to help the others.  I stayed where I was, not because I felt uneasy about them -- but rather that I worried about what was going on in the rest of the station.  I felt as though everything was coming apart in places that I couldn't see it.

But the Catchin were quick.  They were primarily women and children, and only two older men and one young man walking with a cane.  He looked as though he moved slowly, but he had a small child in his arm and a pack on his back.

"Belgium is in Bay 4.  We'll do our best to get you there, but if there is trouble, let us handle the humans," I said.  Catchin nodded all around me.  "We have no time to waste.  Lisel, do you want to take the lead or the rear?"

"Lead," he said as he came up to me.  "They won't have trouble finding me in a crowd."

"Good point," I said.  I did not pull my laser pistol, but I knew right where it was.  "Listen for Krisin and any orders he has.  My thought, though, is to go straight into the bay."

"Let us go."

I stood aside as they filed past me.  A couple of the women looked nearly panicked, a sort of look I was not used to seeing in Catchin.  The children behaved.  I thought about them all but hiding here on the station, no doubt worried about anyone who might come in after them.

The older woman came last with me.  She still looked distrusting, but I knew enough about Catchin history that I didn't blame her.  I only bowed and let her go ahead of me.  I saw the hair on her neck start to stand up.  She didn't like having humans at her back, so I moved very carefully.

This was not what we went to the station to do.  Dundas might be angry with us, but I was glad we had a chance to save this group.  We'd seen what some people had done to other Catchins, including skinning some and selling the pelts.  That made me so angry still that I had trouble even looking at any human who scowled toward a Catchin.

We came out into the market with sounds of protest starting to grow.  It didn't matter.  We were moving at a reasonable speed, even the young man with the cane, though I kept an eye on him.  I thought the woman in front of me watched him too.  When he almost misstepped, she moved closer.

Good.  Just keep moving.  We were not that far from the bay.

My pocketcomp buzzed, and Krisin was on the screen with a scowl.

"She says to move.  If they're there in the next fifteen and have the agreed contract payment, then they're in.  Our Catchin crew will take them in.  It's a damned good thing the Oblisk has a credit with us still, but she'll have words with them taking this contract and not fulfilling it."

Oh, nicely done.  The older woman even backed up to walk by me, her eyes a little wide with surprise.

"We're at the bay.  In the bay doors for the ship?"

Krisin paused for a moment, looking off-screen.  Then he turned back and nodded.  "Yeah, that works.  I'll be right out to help."

The line went dead.  I glanced at the woman beside me.  "Just get everyone in the bay.  Once there, you'll be as safe as we can make you.  The Captain is going to want to leave as soon as possible, though.  Move quickly."

Flash Fiction # 453 -- Raiders/3

 I don't like stations.  Have I mentioned that before?  Everything echoes oddly through the circles and corridors.  Unlike a ship, the sounds in the open bay area bounced and circled, and I could not make out one voice from the other or what they said.  

Cold, too.  Some of it was in my brain because I knew what a thin layer of metal between me and the vast, deadly universe beyond.  It was no less delicate than that on the ship and certainly better than what we had on the fighter -- but the ship and the fighter could move.  Tying yourself to a gravity well and hoping for the best seemed suicidal to me.

We had shepherded the fighter off into the hands of the local repair crew and said we'd be back soon.  

"The Captain wants us to sit on it," I said with a roll of my eyes.  The woman in charge, Befly, gave a nod of understanding.  We had only made a couple of stops here since I joined the Belgium, and I didn't think she meant anything specifically against Dundas.  Probably a lot of ship's captains didn't trust station crew.  I had to worry a bit myself.

However, Befly had redeemed herself by asking good questions and by not glaring at Lisel.  So she stood on the good side of the line.

As we walked away, I wondered If she would be one of the few who survived if the three of us didn't do ... something.

"We're expendable," Krisin said to my left.  I glanced at him, surprised by the words and the look of consternation on his face.  "That's why she sent us out."

"We have always been expendable," Lisel replied.  He sounded calm.  "We are a fighter crew, Krisin.  We get sent out to fight the weres, and it's a surprise whenever we make it back."

"True," he agreed with a sigh.

"But there is a reason why she sent us and not another crew," Lisel added.  "And it's because we do come back, and we have faced more than a few strange situations and figured them out.  We might be expendable, but we're not sacrificial."

I looked at him with a quick grin.  "Yes, you're right.  Krisin, you're going to have to start scanning for abnormalities in the station communications."

"You're joking, right?" he said with a lifted eyebrow.  "Stations aren't like ships.  It's chaotic out there.  Different groups, different ships --"

"Well, you better get to work then."

He sighed and pulled up his comp.  I moved to his side so that Lisel and I could keep him from tripping over things or running into people. We were getting enough glares as it was.  I  wondered if it was more than just the usual glares for people in ship uniforms.  Was there a feeling of distrust in the air?  Did they know about the other stations now?  What news had the other ships brought and let loose?

Oh, there was a troubling thought.  We might look like the problem itself, having come in quiet as we did.

I almost suggested we go back to the ship, but ... maybe I'm just stubborn.  That might have been the reason that Dundas sent us out, too.  I hated to give up.

And I would drag my two crew with me.

Lisel stopped a hand on Krisin's shoulder to stop him.  He frowned.

"Catchin here," he said.  "And from the scent, they have been here for a while.  I think the Captain doesn't realize it or she would have said.  Wouldn't she?"

"I think so," I said.  "But ... maybe the captain feared what you would do to save your own people."

He snarled, his lips drawn back to show the edge of his pointed incisors.  It was not a look I often saw in him.  That was anger and distrust.  

"Lisel," Krisin said with a tap on his arm.  "She most likely didn't know.  I don't even see reference to them on the lines, Lisel.  What would they be doing here?  Are they from one of the ships?"

"I'll find out," he said.  He almost turned away and then stopped.  "But not now.  You're right.  I do tend to act without thought where my people are concerned."

"And this is not a good situation," I added.  We began walking again before we drew any more attention.  "Let's see if we can find the market and get a few things off the Captain's list.  That gives us the best chance of finding information.  Maybe we'll see some Catchins there, too."

"Yes," Lisel agreed and looked calmer again.

Dayer had a surprisingly large market area, spread over two inner sections.  I stopped at the entrance with a moment of surprise, but the guards must have been used to it and just waved us through.

"They're the station on the line from inner and outer areas," Krisin explained.  He put his pocket comp away and walked carefully around the displays and booths.  "They always have gotten a lot of trade goods.  I was here a couple of years ago, and I've wanted to come back."

I only nodded.  Looking at all the people here bothered me again.  Run!  Go!  I wanted them all to escape to somewhere else and be safe.  Looking at the women and even a few children made me ill.

Who were the rebels?  Where would we find the trouble?

Lisel pulled us off down a small passage between several cloth-covered displays.  The way was narrow and then opened --

Catchins looked up, nodding at Lisel and then looking shocked at the two humans he brought with him.  I heard a spattering of hisses and growls, and Lisel answered in the same odd language.

"We can go wait back at the end of the corridor," I offered.  That drew a lot of worried stares.

"We crew together," Lisel said, looking around the area.  "You can trust them.  And me.  Something is going on.  Tell me what you know."...

Flash Fiction # 452 -- Raiders/2

 

Our fighter sat off to the side, ready to slip out into battle at any time.  The others must have thought we were heading out, but Krisin took us to the back.  He opened the engine compartment and pulled out his pocketcomp.

"I think the problem is in a set of relays," he said, just loud enough that a couple people nearby heard.  "I'll have to get some techs in to help out."

Everyone in the area disappeared.  I managed not to grin as I handed over the chit.  This was our best chance of keeping the information to ourselves.  The bay had so much ambient noise and power surges that no one would be able to lock into our little comp.

We read quickly.

And yeah, it didn't look good.  The trouble started inside the station and most likely from in command.  Dundas had somewhere gotten a list of people who had joined admin for Dayer in the last year.  She had a partial list from three other stations and some notes on the damage.  Breached walls, massive explosions, critical air loss.  

"I don't want to do this," Krisin said.  He lifted a hand before either of them could speak.  "Don't tell me either of you really want to do this, either.  That doesn't mean we won't."

"I don't see any real pattern," Lisel added, his long-fingered hand moving toward the pocketcomp.  "Not that we have enough information.  Everything points to admin, but ..."

"That may be what people want others to think," I said.  "We've read it.  Clear it, Krisin.  Decide what to do here with the engine."

He nodded and deleted the file.  Then he reached in and pulled something out, holding a small chit in his hand.  "I need a slight scratch, Lisel.  Just through the surface, not to the interior."

Lisel looked, nodded, and one of his claws showed.  He ran it softly over the little chit, his face frowning.  It was delicate work.

"And now this one.  A jab, not a cut."

He did it with a frown.  "What are we doing?"

Krisin had pushed his head back into the engine compartment and seemed to take a long time before he pulled back.

"We just sabotaged our own fighter," he said with a quick grin.  "We'll have to report it.  I can handle that part, don't worry.  I saw something on our last flight, talked it over with you and the captain, and I'll report it later tonight.  She'll send it off the ship for repair to give our guys a break from having to deal with me."

That almost made sense since Krisin had gotten into disagreements with the bay crews before.

"We're only two days out," I said.  "I don't want to wish any bad luck on Dayer, but if something is going to happen, I would rather it at least started before we got there."

"I think we need to rest," Lisel said.  He stepped away from the fighter with a shake of his head.  Then his voice rose.  "You had better see to the problem, Krisin.  I don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere and have another glitch."

"Yeah, I feel the same way," I said.  "But let's go have dinner.  There's no hurry.  No sign of trouble in this sector."

The other two nodded and at least tried to look happier, but honestly, I felt like we were on a gangplank of a pirate ship and about to leap into the dark, deep sea.

We had a nice dinner, though.  Crew no longer dared glare at Lisel when he took dinner with the two of them.  The three of us had done too many things to save others, and the two humans would not allow their Catchin team member to be slighted.

I sometimes thought Lisel looked more amused than pleased, though.  Still, it was good to have him here tonight.  They splurged.

We who are about to die. . .

Here is the problem.  I do well in combat, in the quick decisions, the outlandish actions.  However, give me time to think about it, and I'm screwed.  I doubt I'd sleep before we got to Dayer, and that certainly wouldn't help.  I get short-tempered when I'm tired.

I know it.  It doesn't mean I can sleep, even knowing it would be the wise thing to do.  Instead, I sat on the bed and stared at the stark walls of my tiny cell.  At least I wasn't in with others.  Dundas had moved Krisin and me into private quarters after had trouble with some of our own.  Mostly it was over Lisel.  I didn't think he had a problem, though.  I didn't know much of anything about his home life.

I should get holos or something for the walls.  But of what?  Earth scenes annoyed me, and I saw starscapes and odd worlds on nearly every flight.  I wasn't big into current culture, either.  Maybe abstracts, though.  Things that were just colors and shapes and didn't make me think too hard.

Yeah.

Odd how that thought helped me relax, and I slept for several hours.  The next day seemed surreal.  I didn't see either Krisin or Lisel as I did some study for the next piloting test I'd have to take soon.  No one else knew what was going on out there.  I tried not to look worried.

I was pleased when Dundas announced we were four hours out from docking.  She came down to the fighter bay, talked to Krisin, and told the bay master to have the ship repaired on the station.  Nothing unusual there.  Then she said to me that the three of us would deliver some packages for her and then talk to the repair crew.

"I want this done right," she said.  "So you sit on them.  I trust you to make sure the fighter is ready to go when we need it."

Do this right.  We understood...