Eric Olafson: Space Pirate Page 17

  I said slowly and while reciting general orders in my mind, “Why don’t you take your filthy arse and that ragtag bunch of leeches and go there if you don’t like it here? I also suggest you let me go now.”

  “Give me some Creds and I’ll think about it, but you can’t tell me what to do. No one can, that’s what we are all about. No rules, no laws, just freedom. Not even if that swine Stahl would exist and be right here, not even he could make me do anything.”

  He wasn’t finished with his sentence when I grabbed him by his collar, twisted it tightly and pulled him close. “I’ll say this only once, so listen carefully. If you ever insult the Admiral in my presence again, I will send you on a journey where you don’t need any credits. Do you understand?”

  He spat me in the face and snarled, “Go ahead, government bully, beat me up. I am not afraid of you, and everyone will see what you are!”

  Despite all my efforts, my stomach began to cramp and I could almost physically feel my own rage boiling to the surface. He suddenly changed his facial expression. His defiant stare melted away and was replaced by sheer horror. I had never seen anyone with so much fear. He groaned and cried, “Please, please take it away!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, “The black flames, they burn!”

  I let him go, and he dropped to the floor, crawled backward, one arm across his face, still screaming, “Take it away, please let me go, don’t take me to that abyss, please!”

  I wondered what he was seeing or screaming about. The Perthanian policemen came running, his robot right next to him. “What is going on here, midshipman?”

  I pointed at the GalDrift who was now curling up in a fetal position, sobbing and crying. “He tried to panhandle money and harassed and insulted me. After he started physically touching me, I took him by the collar and told him to back off. He then started to scream and that is pretty much all.”

  The robot said, “Polio-Scan results complete. Citizen’s statement was ninety-eight percent accurate.”

  The police officer glared at me from his four yellow eyes and then growled, “I am sorry, Midshipman Olafson. We usually don’t have many GalDrifts on Checkpoint 98, but during the pilgrim season they come to panhandle and pick the pockets of the travelers.”

  I noticed more cops had shown up and they also rounded up the rest of the GalDrifts, while they protested loudly about police brutality and government oppression.

  The robot lifted the still sobbing and almost catatonic dread-locked guy from the floor and said, “Medical scan inconclusive, but subject carries a small vial of Califerm. Drug-induced side effects are a likely cause for a mental condition.”

  The Perthanian Officer made a sound like breaking rocks, and I realized he was sighing. “Califerm, now that explains everything. Thank you, Officer, and sorry for the inconvenience; we got enough now to arrest and charge the bunch.”

  The robot carried the man away, and he was still crying and muttering, “Take it away, please. No more fire. No more black flames, please.”

  I didn’t know much about drugs or Califerm, other than it was some kind of illegal and dangerous drug.

  With a handheld scanner, the Perthanian scanned me and said, “Just checking if you got any Califerm on you. That stuff makes you an addict by skin contact alone.”

  He checked his read out. “Looks like you dodged the beam, sir. I still suggest you check with a medical facility for decontamination. You got lots of hidden genetic material and some body fluids on you.”

  That statement made my skin crawl with disgust and I had the cop show me the next such facility.

  My good mood slowly returned after I had my uniform deep cleaned and myself showered and decontaminated at a med facility. Detailed scans of the attending med technician showed I was clean and unaffected, but he diagnosed that I still suffered from badly derma patched sunburns and a developing skin cancer. He fixed me up in no time and declared me fit and healthy.

  This time, I made it to the Fleet post and reported at the duty desk.

  A small furry being, not much taller than maybe forty centimeters, with a long bushy tail but wearing Navy black and the rank insignia of a lieutenant, sat on a vari-matic chair that looked more like a tall bar stool behind that counter and looked at me. The being had shimmering black button eyes, a tiny snout, and long whiskers. I had to restrain myself and not reach out and try to pet the shimmering soft-looking fur between the lieutenant’s rounded ears.

  I said instead, “Midshipman Olafson reporting, sir.” I swiped my CIT over the reader.

  The cute as a button being looked over a read-out on a screen only it could see and said, “Yes, Mr. Olafson. There are messages and an order chip for you.” His whiskers shivered, and it exposed two prominent yellowish teeth. “Midshipman, I am aware that I might be the first Holdian you’ve seen in Fleet uniform. I have served this fleet for nine years now and I am well aware of the strange attraction we Holdians seem to have on humans, but please refrain from petting my head.”

  I blushed. “Sorry, sir, I wasn’t even really aware I actually did it. I apologize.”

  A document conveyor snapped open, and the Holdian took a manila-colored dispatch envelope out and pushed it across the counter. “Here are your orders. Please sign here that you received them.”

  I pushed my thumb on the presented sign pad and apologized again.

  He waved his little hand and said, “Apologies accepted. It happens more often than I can count. Just resist that strange impulse if you meet the Outpost Commandant. She is a Holdian, too.”

  “I will, sir.”

  I went over to the seating group and opened the film cover that sealed the order envelope. If anyone else but me would have tried to open it, the message and the order chip would have been instantly destroyed. I wondered why I didn’t get simple orders directly onto my Fleet Com PDD, which was part of my new uniform.

  The envelope had the Seal of Fleet Command printed on it, and a message appeared, flashing over the envelope. Open and receive included messages in a secure environment.

  So, I asked the Holdian, who directed me to an empty office that could be made secure. Once the base computronic had identified me, it verified that all anti-eavesdropping equipment was active and the room secure according to Blue-Blue-Red protocol requested to be established by the envelope.

  I put the message chip in the desk unit, and Admiral Stahl’s holo appeared across from me, the red band below told me that it was a recording.

  The message began, “Receiving this message means that you made it back to Union space and you have hopefully arrived safe and uninjured. The reasons for this message to be delivered in such a fashion are the facts of your rescue that exposed you to the Gray Cats and the Commandant of NAVINT. You are not to reveal any details of your rescue to anyone. Not to your friends, not to Admiral McElligott or Captain Harris. Or putting it in other words, to no one. Even I do not know all the details and while the Commander and I are friends, the nature of her business and her position make it absolutely imperative that you keep those details to yourself. I know you will understand that and you have been exposed to those secrets because we know we can trust you with them. I am aware that no psionic trickery can make you reveal them; your friend Narth confirmed that with me. Please be aware that the level and nature of some of the secrets you now keep make it also necessary to deal with you according to Blue-Blue-Red protocol if there is any suspicion you might have or will reveal them.”

  He leaned back and continued, “I know your integrity is unquestionable, but I am forced by our protocols to tell you all that.”

  I said, “Yes, sir, I understand, and I will comply.”

  The recording appeared to have waited for that response, and he nodded with a smile. “I know I can count on you. Now, as for your current situation, we have dealt with the problems on Newport. Your friends are back aboard the Devastator. It was planned to also extend your team by one person, your Narth friend. However, he overextended his own abilit
ies saving us all and has returned to Narth Prime, but he is well and will also soon return.”

  I could not help but grin from one ear to the other hearing that my friends were okay. Even hearing that Narth did something that affected him, I knew instantly and without a doubt, he was safe and well.

  Stahl had not stopped talking to me, so I backed the recording up a few moments and started it again. He said, “Return,” and then continued, “The Devastator is on the way to Checkpoint 98, and our current ETA is nine days from when I made this recording.” I checked the displayed chronometer date and compared it with actual time and found that the Devi would arrive in four days.

  The ancient admiral smiled. “Don’t think we are making this trip just to pick you up, Mr. Olafson, but Fleet Command found it is overdue we show a little muscle in that area as there is increased pirate activity. Your orders are to stand by until we arrive. Take a day of R&R and then report to the station commander for a duty assignment, which should help to keep you out of any unusual situations till I am there. Again, welcome back; Stahl out.”

  I destroyed the message. Knowing the Devi was coming with my friends aboard was the best news I’d heard in a long time.

  With my personal mood once again completely restored, I left the base office and looked for a public GalNet terminal.

  First, I called home; the call to Olafson Rock was answered by my father. There was no hello or anything. We just stared at each other for a while and then he broke the silence and said, “It is good to see you, son. You look every inch like the Starfleet officer you always wanted to be.”

  “Thank you, Father. How are things back on Nilfeheim and at the Burg?”

  “Shortsummer is still three years away and it is a particular cold Longnight this season. Ice fishers complain that the ice cover is thicker than usual and the fish even less active.” He shrugged. “But you know how it is. They say that every Longnight around this time. Our clan is doing well, and I am very proud of Elena, and I will step down as clan chief after the next Yuletide meeting and plan to make her officially the first Clan Chief of Nilfeheim.” He paused and looked down. “You are not opposed to that, right?”

  “No, Father, I made my decision, and recent events made me realize that it was the right one. I am proud of Elena, too, and I know she will be a good chief. But will she be accepted by the others?”

  He slammed his huge fist on the desk he was sitting behind. “I break anyone’s neck that gives her any disrespect. She is Olafson. Besides, most of our associated clans have long accepted her. She runs things for quite a while now, and she is doing a better job than I could have ever done. We are prosperous, and our coffers are full with profit. She is courted by every single warrior, as she has truly become the most beautiful woman on Nilfeheim. I think there will be a wedding soon.”

  I greeted the good news and asked, “How is everyone else, Uncle Hogun and Exa?”

  “Elena, my brother, and his family, which includes Exa, are off planet, they all went to a place called Para-Para. Ever since the first visit to Pluribus, the spell seems to be broken, and everyone travels a little more. The space bus service is now weekly, and the bus is always booked.”

  We exchanged a few more words and then concluded the call.

  Next, I tried to reach Egill and got a connection, too, but instead of Egill, it was Elena who answered! “Eric!” she yelled. Then she turned to someone outside the viewer field. “Hurry, Exa, tell the others Eric is calling!”

  Elena was wearing a dark red bikini and the PDDs visual sensor gave me a very nice look at her well-developed chest. Her hand manipulated what seemed to be a small PDD and switched its optical to wide view. Now I could see her sitting on a wooden recliner right at a beautiful beach with white sands and an azure green ocean. There were many others around them; no one wore much in terms of clothing. Like a beaching landing tank making gushing tidal waves, Uncle Hogun came running from the water. I had never seen him just in a pair of swimming trunks; he was truly humongous. Most of his chest and his arms were covered with black hair. Right behind him surfaced Aunt Freydis. I saw Exa hopping up and down the beach and waving at someone to come.

  Elena moved the PDD around and said, “Uncle Egill went to the beach store to get ice cream, his Saresii friend went with him, but the Narth is here.”

  I saw a Narth in his typical getup, looking completely out of place at the beach, but floating in a very relaxed body position as if he was using a recliner, a few feet off the ground.

  Next to him floated a basket-like contraption that was partially covered with a blue cloth. Even though Narth looked alike, I knew it was not my friend, but most likely the Narth representative.

  Elena said, “Uncle Narth is watching over little Eric. The Narth representative takes his godfather duties very serious.”

  The Narth turned his head without changing his position, but now I could see there was also a glass of something orange with fruits and a straw floating on the other side of him. “It pleases one to behold the sharer of what is Narth to be well and safe. One likes to convey that your Hugavh sharer is also well and will return shortly.” His voice was very low, and then he said, “One wishes to ask you all to reduce the level of acoustic expressions perhaps by a factor of seventeen percent. One observed that noises beyond this tend to wake my godchild.”

  Elena objected before I could say anything, “Eric doesn’t call all that often, and he should see his nephew! He never has!”

  The Narth did change his position now and got up. “Analyzing human social behavior indicates that you have raised a valid objection, she who is Elena.”

  The Narth gently took a baby out of the basket. It was a healthy-looking boy of about one year of age. He wore to my surprise a little version of a Narth robe, without the hood. The boy stretched his arms and clung to the Narth.

  Uncle Hogun and Aunt Freydis followed by Exa came into view, and the greetings and hellos were heartwarming, and I felt blessed to have family after all. After exchanging the usual greetings and news, Hogun took the child from the Narth and said, “Eric, meet Eric-Narth Olafson, your nephew. Don’t ask why he looks like a little Narth, but that’s what the little bugger wants. Besides, it is supposed to be nearly indestructible, and his godfather is more protective of him than a Tyranno Fin mother of her nest.”

  Egill and the Saresii representative arrived, carrying a tray of ice cream, and I was instantly reminded of Krabbel.

  Egill looked completely different now than he had when I saw him first. He was no longer as thin, and while he still looked like an old man, he appeared to be very healthy. His skin had a nice tan, and his usual yellowish white stringy beard was now white and full and neatly trimmed. I knew the Saresii was male, but there was no telling. He looked as good as any Saresii woman.

  After I had greeted them, too, Egill explained that it had been Exa’s idea to take a little vacation to a nice place and so they all decided to spend a few weeks on Para Para.

  I had to promise to call more often and come home after I graduated and spend my vacation with them.

  These calls managed to push the bad experiences further into the background, and Alvor’s Cove and Sin 4 became just another set of memories.

  I spent the rest of the day eating at three different restaurants. I even found a fish restaurant that offered something called clam chowder, Boston-style, and it was almost as good as Tyranno Fin stew.

  Checkpoint 98 had only one settlement, and it was right by the spaceport. There weren’t many local attractions worth visiting. The independent tourist development board of Checkpoint 98 praised an amusement park, a large Terran-style forest with lake and camping area and an ice canyon tour. The very word canyon made me decide against that tour and the amusement park really didn’t attract me. So I went to the forest, protected by a large dome from the freezing near-vacuum conditions on the outside. It was much better than I expected. Golden sunlight filtered through the green canopy of large trees. Birds made a
pleasant noise, and I saw a four-legged animal with an elaborate horn thing on its head. Little unintrusive holographic signs identified the trees like oaks, conifers and birch trees. The animal, according to the computronic, was a deer and all the plants grasses, trees, birds, and animals came from a Terran region called North America.

  The surroundings were soothing and had a calming effect, and I actually wondered if I should try to visit Earth one day. The lake was clear and cold. At its shore was a rustic-looking boathouse made of rocks and logs, where you could rent little electric boats or sit on a wooden platform and buy drinks and snacks. There I rented a locker and purchased swimming trunks and a towel and moments later dove head first into the fresh cool water. It had been ages since I was immersed in water and could swim and dive. I could not tell how long I swam, competing with the small, fast fish that were abundant in this cool and clear lake, but this day so far had turned out to be as perfect as a day could be. I was back, had talked to my family, and had a long swim.

  Back in my uniform, I was sitting at one of the little tables, drinking nice cold lemonade and watched the little boats glide over the shimmering surface.

  Someone said, “I didn’t think I would see you so soon again.”

  I turned to put a face on the familiar voice and stared in the smiling face of Tirkov the Mercenary, but this time he was clean. He wore a dark gray combination with reinforced knees and elbow pads and a leather jacket. I noticed the motion capture pads and neuro interface connectors on his suit and recognized it as a Battle Walker Control Suit. Marines no longer used Battle Walkers, ever since the advent of the Quasimodo Main Battlesuits, but I knew Orbital Assault Units of the Union Army still did. He was in the company of a tall redhead. She would have been a beauty, and she had a nice body, but half of her face was covered with swirly tattoos, and her right eye and ear were covered or replaced by a cybernetic implant. Cyber implants could be made invisible, but I heard that most cybers loved to show their hardware openly. She, too, wore an identical control suit.