Star Struck by John Erik Ege - HTML preview

Chapter 24

Amrita and Enedelia spent a week caring for Atsuko. She walked around like a

zombie, not really speaking, except for a few words that didn’t make much sense.

Enedelia believed she was depressed, and Amrita was inclined to agree, but Drie

convinced them her apparent level of apathy was due to the changes happening in her body. These changes were being made by nanites that were enhancing her in some

unknown capacity. Seeing the process taking place, Enedelia wondered how she had survived without people there to guide her and watch over her while she was evolving into a pilot.

It only took a week for Solar Chariot to grow two beds in the adjacent room next to Enedelia room. Amrita loved it and made the bed on the right hers. Atusko was non-committal and sat on the opposite bed. Unfortunately, they only had the one sleeping bag, the one Enedelia had stolen from the truck driver. Amrita gave the sleeping bag to Atsuko, and Enedelia gave her one a blanket that had also belonged to the truck driver.

Enedelia returned to using the linen Bio-Corp had provided, which were comfortable enough, except they didn’t feel like home.

“Maybe we can go shopping at this Indigo Station you’ve talked about,” Amrita

said.

“Yeah,” Enedelia agreed, wondering how much credit she would have available.

After all, she didn’t have any new coordinates to offer. Jeden said they would get quite a bit of money from selling the damaged Kelindy ship, but there was really no way to tell how much she would get. She was hoping it was enough for some upgrades. For certain, she wanted to buy some shields for Solar Chariot. She didn’t want to be left vulnerable to another Kelindy attack. Or anyone else.

Atsuko mumbled something.

“What was that?” Amrita asked. Isis translated for them.

“I want to go home,” Atsuko said, in Japanese.

Enedelia bit her lip. They hadn’t really spoken of this to Atsuko, mostly because she had been so out of it. Atsuko stood up and repeated her demands. Enedelia explained to her the situation and that she could not go home.

“I want to go home!” Atsuko shouted.

“There is nothing I can do for you at this juncture,” Enedelia said. “However,

after I check in at Indigo station, if you still want to go back, knowing the dangers, I will take you.”

Atsuko nodded. Then she got up and walked to the living area where she began to

consume large quantities of food.

“This is a good sign,” Isis said.

“Really?” Enedelia asked.

“She’s much more sociable than you were after you came out of the implant

installment phase,” Isis said.

The first month that Enedelia had spent on the Solar Chariot, her only company

had been the ferrets, Isis, and the ship. She had felt cramped for space then, not necessarily from a lack of space, but because there were only so many places she could

go and explore. She already knew her ship by heart, due to the alterations that were made to her nervous system, but exploring the space and familiarizing the manual controls with hands on had only reinforced the idea that she was on a ship. Solarchariot was a small ship, comparatively, but bigger and more comfortable than the average yact. She

wondered if sailors on submarines felt the way she did, but suspected that she had more space to maneuver than even they did. She could dance and run in circles on the upper storage deck. She could go swimming in the pool. Of course, that had been when she had had the whole ship to herself. Now that there were people on board, vying for the same space, she was finding that she needed to recondition herself once again, becoming accustomed to the new social rules.

Amrita was very easy going and enjoyed assisting Drie in the preparation of

foods. She began to introduce Indian delicacies, starting by teaching Drie how to make roti, very much like fresh tortillas. Their meals became more spicy. Enedelia liked it spicy, Atsuko did not. The grays ate everything! The Spicy mango was really interesting, and the grays couldn’t get enough. The grays were the happiest people on the ship, followed by Amrita, who always seemed to be perpetually light hearted.

Atsuko, on the other hand, proved to be moody. She was restless. She wanted to

run, and until the candy had been fully transported over to “the Keeper” as Drie and Jeden were calling it, there just wasn’t room to run. When the pool was open for business, she swam for hours against the current. No other activities could be done in the living area when the pool was open. Enedelia did exercise with her, competing for numbers of reps on the pull up bar, but Atsuko quickly began to outdo her in all the physical activities, except for Tai Chi.

All three of the girls practiced Tai Chi together, making it a morning ritual while Drie prepared breakfast. Amrita and Atsuko both brought new movements to add to the routine, personalizing a portion of their Thai Chi dance before they returned to synchronized movements, ending in formation. They ate together and shared stories.

Atsuko even laughed from time to time, but she was clearly more serious, which seemed reasonable considering her recent losses.

Enedelia introduced Amrita and Atsuko to her library, which they could access

via the Gray’s portable computers. Her available library was still small, but she was soon to release a second book of her choice due to the volume of books she had read. They could listen to an unlimited supply of classical music. Listening to classical music didn’t have the same release criteria as the books. After a total of three and half weeks, Jeden reported to Enedelia.

“Captain, I think Drie and I have removed everything that might fetch a fair price by itself, or can be used as a spare part,” Jeden said. “Whenever you’re ready to take the salvage ship to Indigo Space, we’re ready. The tandem cable is already in place.”

“Very well,” Enedelia agreed. “Prepare for a jump.”

Enedelia found the girls in the living area, reading. “We’re going. If you two

would like to join me on the flight deck.”

Amrita and Atsuko followed Enedelia to the flight deck and each took a seat on

either side of her. She showed them how to pull out the seat restraints from the hidden recesses. Once they were ready, she tripped the Quantum Drive. Two minutes, twenty seconds later, they were in Indigo Space. She found it interesting that had Amrita screamed joyfully as if she were on a roller coaster. Atsuko had seemed unimpressed.

On arriving, Enedelia became aware of three things right off the bat. Indigo Space STC was contacting her, two Indigo battle cruisers were closing in on her, and four Kelindy Warships were closing in on her. Ignoring directives from STC to stay put, she headed away from the Kelindy ships, towing the damaged Kelindy ship she salvaged with her. She was receiving a dozen calls simultaneously, directed at her with communication lasers, and various radio frequencies; the barrage was queries was distracting. She ignored them all and tried to raise her agent using a radio frequency that everyone in Indigo space could tap.

“BioCorp, Binder, are you there?” Enedelia demanded. “Binder, pick up!”

To her surprise, Binder answered. “Enedelia! What is this?”

“I found a derelict ship and I claim salvage rights,” Enedelia said. “You know the law stands with me on this.”

“The law is one thing, the Kelindy warships are another,” Binder said.

“If you won’t buy this derelict, then I will sell it on the open market to the highest bidder!”

A Kelindy Warrior virtually appeared on the flight deck. “You will not sell our

ship!”

“If you want to buy it back, then you will have to negotiate fair market value,”

Enedelia said.

“We will destroy you!” the Kelindy said, menacingly.

Another person appeared in her communication line up. The new person seemed

to be focused on the Kelindy speaker. “If you fire on a Republic citizen in Indigo Space, we will engage you as a hostile.” It was the Captain of one of the Republic ships on intercept course with Solar Chariot.

“She is not a citizen of the republic,” the Kelindy said. “She is a renegade slave.”

“She is not a slave,” Binder said. “She came to me as a free agent and BioCorp

bought her contract.”

“Whether that is true or not is irrelevant,” the Kelindy said. “She is in possession of stolen Kelindy property and I will take her into custody.”

“As long as she is flying in a BioCorp ship, with republic transponder codes, you will do no such thing,” the Republic Captain reasserted his position.

“You’re willing to go to war over a solitary human? A female child at that?” the Kelindy asked.

“If need be,” the Republic Captain said.

“We did put a lot of money into her,” Bindler said.

“You’ll lose a lot more than money in this conflict if I set off some nukes,” the Kelindy said.

“Enedelia, would you be willing to negotiate the property rights of the derelict?”

Bindler asked.

“No negotiations,” the Kelindy Captain said. “It’s ours.”

“Every ship Captain knows they are entitled to salvage rights,” Enedelia said.

“You’ll have more trouble on your hands than some angry Kelindy if you deny me my rights, Bindler.”

“Let’s all just agree to meet on Indigo station and resolve this without conflict,”

Bindler said. “Jehan, you can have an arbiter of your choice.”

“Very well, but no one touches that ship until we have concluded our

negotiations,” the Kelindy Captain said.

“You can leave your ships to guard it,” Bindler said.

“We want in on the negotiations,” the Republic Captain said.

“We will destroy that ship before you have access to it,” Jehan threatened.

“Gentlemen, let’s discuss this like rational people first,” Bindler said. “Enedelia, drop the salvage where you are and come into Indigo Station.”

“Yeah, right,” Enedelia said. “I’m not leaving my salvage until I have some

guarantees.”

“My ships will watch over it,” the Republic Captain said. “And I will personally escort you in.”

“Fine, but I want all my docking fees waived until this matter is concluded,”

Enedelia demanded.

Bindler chuckled. “I knew there was a reason I liked you. I’ll meet you at the

docking platform.”

Enedelia reeled in their tandem QD cable and released the line to their salvage, setting it to drift. The republic and Kelindy military ships surrounded it and outside their perimeter a number of commercial ships lined up like vultures on the side of the road, so to speak, vying for a chance to grab some road kill, while taking as many scans as they could work in. True to his word, the Republic Captain escorted her in to Indigo station.”

Chapter 25

“Okay, I’ll be back in an hour or so,” Enedelia said.

“We want to go,” Amrita said.

“No,” Enedelia said. “We don’t want Atsuko running into the Kelindy.”

“We want off the ship,” Atsuko said.

“Fine,” Enedelia said. Giving in. She really had no authority over them. And, it would be nice if Atsuko got the language virus. “Maybe you should both get off the ship.

There is a language virus that will enable you to speak common and we won’t have to use translators to speak with you, Atsuko. Jeden and Drie? Take them shopping. Get them some of that ice cream. And some bed supplies.”

She stepped into the airlock. They started to get in but she stopped them.

“Wait ten minutes after I leave, though,” Enedelia said, and shut the inner door.

She turned to face the exit and opened it.

Bindler met her.

“What’s going on?” Bindler asked. “Why the delay?”

“Sorry, just instructing the Grays,” Enedelia said, walking purposefully away

from the ship knowing Bindler was bound to follow.

Bindler had really wanted to get on Solar Chariot, debated for a moment, and then followed, struggling to keep up. He took her arm to slow her pace, wanting to have a private chat with her. “Tell me what happened.”

“I found a derelict ship,” Enedelia said.

“In Earth’s orbit?” Bindler asked. “How did you get to Earth?”

“What makes you think I was at Earth?” Enedelia asked.

“Because that’s the last recorded location of the derelict,” Bindler said.

“Enedelia, if you want me to help you, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

“I made a blind jump, ended up in Earth’s orbit, this guy shot at me, I circled an asteroid, and when the missile followed, it hit them by accident,” Enedelia said. “What do you think happened? I have no weapons or defenses. You think I would openly attack a warship?”

“But the odds of you jumping back to Earth are… Well, I can’t even begin to

calculate the odds,” Bindler said.

“Beginners luck,” Enedelia said, stepping off the star bridge and onto Indigo

station proper.

The Republic Captain greeted her, his entourage moving in to surround her and

Bindler. They were armed to the teeth. “Captain Garcia? I’m Captain Jeffers, of the Republic ship Trail Blazer. I would really like to talk to you about your find.”

“Captain Jeffers,” Endelia said, shaking his hand. “I really doubt I can tell you anything important. Like I was just telling Bindler, I am just a new pilot. I have no weapons, no defenses, and certainly no experience. I had a lucky blind jump, found this derelict, and here I am, just trying to make a little profit.”

“The Kelindy reported their ship missing over three weeks ago,” Captain Jeffers

said.

“Well, I have no space suit, and it took a while using life belts and the tools I had available to jury rig a tandem cable to pull the ship through the jump with me,” Enedelia said.

“That makes sense,” one of the officers told Captain Jeffers.

“Let me through,” Jehan pushed through the guards, his armed men right behind.

“How dare you try to interrogate her before we arrived?”

“Oh, calm down,” Jeffers said. “It’s clear to me that this is just a child who had a touch of luck, Jehan. Surely you can see that she did not attack your ship.”

“Then explain her transponder code in the Earth Sentry,” Jehan said. “And

explain why two of our ships are missing from Earth space.”

“Someone must have attacked your ship and I just chanced upon them,” Enedelia

said.

“There is no way that you will have me believe that you made a blind jump to the Earth system,” Jehan said. “You are a republic spy and I will have you hung.”

“Spy!” Jeffers laughed. “She didn’t even show up on any registries until she was caught trying to smuggle illicit substances through Indigo customs.”

“You never told me told that,” Bindler said.

“I didn’t know caffeine was illegal,” Enedelia said.

“Is that how you want to play this little girl?” Jehan said.

“Whoa, now, I can’t have you threaten my client when we’re trying to establish

fair negotiations,” Bindler said.

“Fair? Do you see an arbiter anywhere?” Jehan said.

“Let’s all retire to the conference room and discuss this matter like civilized

beings,” Bindler pleaded.

“I will not leave you alone with her!” Jehan said.

He and his men retrieved their weapons and brought them to bare. Jeffers and his men mirrored their hostility. Enedelia felt sick at her stomach, wishing she hadn’t gotten off Solar Chariot.

“Gentlemen!” Binder said. “This is not the way. Jehan. Whether she is guilty of

something or not, you need information. You need to know what happened in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. There is too much intelligence here to destroy it all in a senseless firefight.”

“Tell them to stand down,” Jehan demanded.

“Both of you, have your peoples lower their weapons,” Bindler said. “We can all

walk together. Jeffers is on ones side of Enedelia, and Jehan on the other. No one has an advantage. Enedelia, no talking until we arrive at the conference room. Please.”

Enedelia didn’t say another word. The situation deescalated to weapons holstered.

Binder escorted them, walking in front of Enedelia, while Republic Guards walked on her right, and the Kelndy warriors on her left. They all walked together to a conference room, the opposing forces scowling at each other. Indigo citizens watched from a distance where they could, but mostly Binder took them down corridors that had been temporarily shut down to normal traffic. They were met by an arbiter, a tall woman, her skin as blue as Binders, suggesting she was the same species, only very tall. Jehan seemed satisfied with the arbiter, who introduced herself as Trend. She invited them into the conference, where they had to take turns to enter. When the doors closed on the conference room, Enedelia found herself suddenly cut off from her ship. She nearly panicked. She hadn’t realized how accustomed she had become to having Solar Chariot’s emotions in her head.

She was also missing having Isis there, providing her information whenever she needed to know something.

“All communications to your ships and outside computer terminals have been

suspended for the purposes of these talks,” the Arbiter said. “So we may resolve this conflict in privacy.”

“I’ll offer you two point six billion credits for the Kelindy ship,” Captain Jeffers said.

“How dare you,” Jehan protested. “Her claim on the ship has not been established.

For all we know, she could be a pirate.”

“A pirate?” Jeffers laughed. “Look at her. Does she look like a pirate to you?!”

“I made a public claim for the salvage rights as soon as I returned to Indigo

system,” Enedelia said.

“You stole the ship from Protectorate space!” Jehan said. “You were trespassing

in our space, you openly attacked us, and stole our ship.”

“Now, just a moment,” Jeffers said. “The Republic and the Protectorate have a

treaty allowing all ships free pass if a blind jump lands either of us in either of our space.

Do you really want to deny her that pass, because if you do, I know a few systems where Kelindy ships keep popping into with a regularity that suggests blind jumps may not be responsible. As for the matter of her attacking you, it would seem obvious by looking at her and the relative age of her ship, that she is hardly a match for one of your ships, much less two. However, if you want it known throughout Republic space that an unarmed girl got the better of your trained warriors, well, I would be happy to spread that message.”

Jehan scowled at Jeffers and turned his attention to Enedelia.

“Where is the other ship?” Jehan demanded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Enedelia said, trying to look innocent.

Jehan appeared to be suffering an internal struggle. He glanced at Jeffers, then the Arbiter, and then back to Enedelia. He forced himself to relax.

“I would consider dealing with you for fair market value of the salvage of this

ship if you would be more open about what happened,” Jehan said. “Where is the other ship? What is the condition of the crew?”

“I’ve decided to keep the other ship,” Enedelia said, deciding that the more

truthful she can be, the more likely she would be able to sell her story. The more Jehan believed her, the faster this process would be over. “I’ve relocated it to a location I discovered on a blind jump. Deep, interstellar space. An undiscovered place of no interest, and no available coordinates except through me. I die, so do your hopes of recovering that ship.”

“You said nothing about a second ship!” Bindler said.

Jehan was visibly upset, but he was coping well. Jeffers was reevaluating the girl named Enedelia Garcia.

“I can’t tell you everything, Bindler,” Enedelia said. “It makes it harder to

negotiate with you.”

“But…” Bindler began to protest.

“Like you tell me everything,” Enedelia said.

“I told you everything…” Bindler said,

“Everything you thought I wanted to hear to close a deal,” Enedelia said.

“Enough!” Jehan said. “I want that ship.”

“I understand the salvage rights of Republic space,” Enedelia said, putting her

hands in her lap. “I found the crew dead on that ship. The ship belongs to me.”

“Those rules apply to Republic space, not the Protectorate. You were in our

space,” Jehan said.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Jeffers said. “If she beat your warriors in a fair fight, she’s has the right to war trophies. That would make your ships legitimately hers.”

Enedelia frowned at Jeffers.

“Is that the way you want to play it?” Jehan asked Enedelia. “You still have to

make blind jumps for a living. You never know when you might find yourself in

Protectorate space.”

“We have a treaty,” Jeffers said.

“Treaties,” Jehan laughed. “A stray ship in our space, experiencing

communication difficulties, accidents happen. You know this as well as I do. We want our ship back.”

“Sorry, I’m unwilling to negotiate on this matter,” Enedelia said.

“Will you negotiate for the return of the property on the ship?” Jehan asked.

“The spacesuits?” Enedelia asked.

“I’m not talking spacesuits!” Jehan said, slapping the table. “I’m talking property!

I’m talking slaves.”

“I do not consider human beings to be slaves,” Enedelia said.

“You know, all of this is a waste of time. Either you recognize her salvage rights, or you don’t,” Jeffers said, wanting to get Enedelia alone to discuss the other ship. “I don’t think you have a leg to stand on, and if you want to keep your technology off the market, you need to step up and beat my offer.”

“I want to know exactly what we’re negotiating for,” Bindler said. “Are we

negotiating for both ships, or the property on the ships.”

“The second ship is not open for negotiations,” Enedelia repeated. “The ship I

brought back for salvage is all I’m offering.”

Jehan sighed.

“Will you negotiate the release of the bodies of my warriors?” Jehan asked.

“Now, that, I will give you, free of charge,” Enedelia said.

“Now, don’t be so rash, Enedelia,” Bindler said.

“I don’t know how the Kelindy feel about their dead, but I will not sell people, dead or alive,” Enedelia said. “So, in an effort to demonstrate my willingness to be reasonable, I will return the bodies here in six days, barring any technical difficulties.

Fair enough?”

Jehan bowed slightly. He offered his hand to shake on it. Bindler blocked the

hand shake.

“Arbiter?” Bindler said.

“I find that both parties are in agreement on the issue of returning the warrior’s bodies,” the Arbiter said. “No charge, a gesture of good will.”

“Fine,” Bindler said, looking a little miffed at Enedelia. “Let’s discuss what the other points are.”

“The return of both my ships and the stolen property,” Jehan said.

“You’re not getting the second ship, or any of the property on it,” Enedelia said.

“I will, however, give you some information. You can attribute the loss of both ships due to bad luck and probably mismanagement.”

“Enedelia, no free disc