Vortex incursion, p.30
Vortex Incursion, page 30
After the Nyslara made Kilmer’s orbit, Miranda and the suited figures boarded a traveler for the planet.
Bethany, Johann, Stacey, Escher, Ceda, and the mickies, except for Gat’r, sought Yma and offered their help.
“Repairs are keeping the tanks full, but we would have expected a much longer waiting list by now,” Yma said to them. “We attribute the reluctance to Gant Borden’s leadership style. He was a difficult taskmaster, and many of the clones are suspicious.”
“We can certainly help with that,” Ceda quickly replied.
The suited figures visited the clones at meal breaks to encourage them to participate in repairs.
Gat’r had his own destination in mind. He visited the abandoned storeroom the Shoya’s gang occupied, but it was empty. Work hours, he thought. He had to be content with helping the other mickies visit with the clones and recruit them for the Jatouche tanks.
Near the day’s end, Gat’r revisited the lower corridor that led to Shoya’s storeroom. As he approached the storeroom’s open door, he could hear voices, and his steps quickened.
Three individuals were unloading the gang’s cart.
“Well, look who it is,” one of the gang members said, as Gat’r entered.
Gat’r stared at the individual, who looked nothing like a mickie. He was tall, well-built, and healthy. “Trigger?” he queried.
“In the flesh,” Trigger replied happily.
“Oh, please don’t get him going, Gat’r,” a female mickie requested. “He poses his new body every chance he gets.” Then she laughed and danced away as Trigger took a mock swing at her.
“Looking for someone, Gat’r?” the female mickie teased, as Gat’r gazed around. “I won’t do?” she asked and laughed again.
“We’re emptying the cart to go back for a second load,” a young male mickie explained. “Been a dry period. We need this run. It’s a good one.”
“I’ll help,” Gat’r said.
“We need the hoist to move the generator,” Trigger said, pointing at the rusting piece of equipment on the cart.
“Probably not,” Gat’r replied. Then he closed the mask-helmet, and signaled Hephaestus to lock arms around the generator’s body. With a heave, the suit lifted the more than one-hundred-kilogram mass off the cart, and Gat’r directed Hephaestus to drop it in the storeroom’s corner.
“If that isn’t a sweet breath of oxygen,” the young male mickie murmured. “I want one of those.”
“Let’s go,” Trigger urged his companions, and he guided the electric cart out the door.
Down one more level and into a mining shaft, Gat’r and the local mickies found Shoya and her gang standing off a rival gang intent on taking their stash.
“Reinforcements,” Shoya announced defiantly to the other gang leader. Her back was to the cart, and she assumed that when the rival gang hastily retreated that it was in the face of Trigger’s imposing stature.
When Shoya turned, she found Gat’r standing with hands on hips. “That would make any gang flee the scene,” she said, chuckling.
Little did Gat’r and Shoya know that each of them was hoping for a hug.
“I brought help,” Trigger said, claiming responsibility for Gat’r’s presence.
“As if he didn’t come looking for Shoya,” the female mickie with Trigger rebutted.
“Help we can use,” Shoya said, turning to the piled equipment to hide her embarrassment. “Grab the hoist,” she directed her gang members.
“Gat’r can probably handle the big pieces,” Trigger said with a wry smile.
“May I?” Gat’r offered, closing his mask-helmet.
Shoya shrugged, and Gat’r loaded the three large hunks of worn machinery faster than the mickies could have imagined a human moving.
Quickly, the remaining small pieces were added to the cart, and Trigger reversed its drive to back it down the tunnel.
“Welcome back,” Shoya said, as Gat’r and she walked behind the others.
Gat’r noticed that Shoya made a deliberate move to walk on his left side, but he hadn’t missed the fresh, ragged scar on her left cheek. It added to her growing list of injuries — scars and poorly healed breaks, such as the two broken fingers and a slight limp.
“Have the sisters signed up any of your gang for repairs?” Gat’r asked.
“The sisters are only taking clones for now,” Shoya replied. Tentatively, she’d reached for the new scar, but her hand froze midway.
Gat’r shared a meal with Shoya’s gang, which did much for the mickies’ prestige.
When Gat’r took his first bite, Shoya laughed at his grimace. “Nothing like starship food, is it?” she teased.
After the meal, Gat’r left the gang, made his way to the surface, sat on a short planting wall, and connected with Nalia, Céline, and his suited friends. Gat’r sent.
Escher immediately replied.
Gat’r sent,
Nalia sent privately to the others.
Céline sent, and Gat’r’s hopes rose.
Bethany sent.
Johann pointed out.
When there was a brief silence, Ceda interjected,
Gat’r proposed.
Jasper admitted.
Tammy pointed out.
Gat’r replied.
Stacey asked.
Gat’r explained.
Red interjected.
Lita asked.
Gat’r proposed.
Everyone heard Jasper’s laugh.
Jasper sent.
Lita admonished.
Ceda sent.
Escher sent.
Johann and Stacey signed up too. As for the Geneva mickies, it was a done deal.
Gat’r sent.
Lita complimented.
Céline sent.
Gat’r replied. He stood and heaved a breath of relief. Now for the tough part, he thought.
Gat’r returned below. He tapped politely at the storeroom door in the event anyone was sleeping. They weren’t. Everyone was hard at work on the equipment that had been rescued. He winced internally, spotting the worn and broken tools the mickies were using.
“What do you need, Gat’r?” Shoya asked, rising from the floor and wiping her grimy hands on her none-too-clean coveralls.
“Could we talk?” Gat’r requested, indicating the corridor.
Amid some chuckles and snickers, Shoya followed Gat’r outside the storeroom.
“What do you think of Trigger’s present condition?” Gat’r asked.
Shoya’s eyes narrowed. “Do you always have to start a conversation in a roundabout way, or is it just with me?” she asked.
Gat’r laughed self-consciously. “It’s primarily with you,” he admitted.
“Then start again, and pretend that I’m some other mickie,” Shoya insisted. She realized that wasn’t what she meant, but she wasn’t going to correct it.
Gat’r chose to take Shoya at her word, and he asked bluntly, “Would you and your gang like to be repaired?”
“I thought Trigger’s repair was a one-off, an emergency,” Shoya replied, frowning.
“It was,” Gat’r replied. “I’ve requested the Norloth’s services for the Kilmer mickies. Nalia and Céline will supervise.”
“I’d like to see the gang repaired,” Shoya replied, “but I can’t afford to lose an individual for days or weeks at a time. It was tough enough losing Trigger, even though he was one of the smaller members of the group.”
“I know you can’t,” Gat’r replied. “That’s why I’ve arranged for help. I’m the replacement for anyone of your gang who’s in the medical station.”
“You talk like this is bigger than you,” Shoya pointed out.
“It is,” Gat’r replied. “We’re after all the mickies.”
“It could take annuals to repair that many people,” Shoya exclaimed.
“Probably not,” Gat’r replied. “In another annual, I think the multiple medical stations in your dome could be taking on the mickies. They’ll have priority over the employees. I’ll see to that.”
“Why are you doing all this?” Shoya asked. “Are you doing this just for me?”
“Yes and no,” Gat’r replied.
Shoya waited for more explanation, but it wasn’t forthcoming. She shrugged and said, “You’d better be the one to explain it to the gang. Before you do, know that I’ll be last.”
“I knew you would be,” Gat’r replied.
While Gat’r pursued his efforts with Shoya’s gang, Miranda had joined Z. As with most SADE partners, they touched foreheads. In ticks of time, relevant data was shared. Then they spent a little time communing.
Miranda sent.
Z admitted.
Miranda offered.
Z pointed out.
Miranda replied.
Z said, sending a blast of horns in amusement.
Miranda said, enjoying Z’s noise.
Z sent.
Miranda sent.
Z replied.
24: Tough Decisions
JARGAT, THARTATH SYSTEM
OUTPOST FIVE FLEET
At the time that Z sent his message about the realities of incursions in the Axis Crossing region, he knew it wouldn’t be received by Julien and Cordelia for weeks. In the meantime, the Thartath sisters’ migration choices had added to the impetus for the SADE leaders to accelerate their decisions.
The exit of the two hundred sisters aboard the Emergence with Captain Tocknicka was the turning point for the outpost fleet.
Afterward, nearly three hundred second-gen sisters chose to evacuate the Thartath system to distant outposts via the Messinant Q-gate.
Cordelia commiserated with her partner.
Julien replied.
Cordelia pointed out.
Julien replied, He received Cordelia’s signature silver bell chimes, and he smiled at her.
Cordelia suggested.
Julien reasoned.
Cordelia queried.
Julien replied.
Cordelia posited.
Julien sent.
Cordelia sent, accompanied by her laughter.
Julien paused and connected with the Thartath gate.
A SADE engineer was training a class of Jargats in the operation of the gate’s console. Julien patiently allowed the engineer to work with his students to set up a message cube, verbally accept Julien’s message via the comm system, place the cube on a platform, and send it. Three outgoing messages gave the class an opportunity to become familiar with the process.
When Cordelia noted Julien’s link with the Thartath moon drop, she sent,
Julien sent.
Cordelia sent.
Julien mused.
Cordelia reminded him.
Julien sent. It wasn’t meant to be a serious consideration. Noticeably, Cordelia didn’t reply, which meant she was thinking about it.
Cordelia asked.
Julien replied.
Cordelia offered.
Julien’s fedora appeared in appreciation of Cordelia’s approach to the subject. His partner had shortened the discussion by choosing to select the minority of the fleet that would continue in Thartath until stability was ensured. The rest of the fleet would sail for Axis Crossing space.
It was decided that two Trident squadrons under a commodore would suffice for defense. The engineers, techs, and medical staff, who would support the Thartath citizens, would reside aboard a Quadrant. Finally, a single, class one freighter would complete the nine-ship fleet.
Cordelia pointed out.
Julien remarked.
Cordelia returned.
Julien sent.
Cordelia opined.
Julien commented, reviewing the latest messages from Axis Crossing space.
Cordelia summarized, as she read.
Julien offered.
Julien connected with the commodore and the captains of the nine ships that would remain at Thartath, and he communicated his directive and answered their questions.
a captain queried.
Julien replied.
the captain persisted.
Julien replied.
Cordelia sent. She’d used the ship’s controller to check the captain’s status and had intuited the reason for the captain’s questions. He was a new father. Privately, she received his thanks.
the commodore inquired.
Julien replied.
the commodore replied.
Cordelia sent.
the commodore acknowledged.
Julien asked.
Bethany, Johann, Stacey, Escher, Ceda, and the mickies, except for Gat’r, sought Yma and offered their help.
“Repairs are keeping the tanks full, but we would have expected a much longer waiting list by now,” Yma said to them. “We attribute the reluctance to Gant Borden’s leadership style. He was a difficult taskmaster, and many of the clones are suspicious.”
“We can certainly help with that,” Ceda quickly replied.
The suited figures visited the clones at meal breaks to encourage them to participate in repairs.
Gat’r had his own destination in mind. He visited the abandoned storeroom the Shoya’s gang occupied, but it was empty. Work hours, he thought. He had to be content with helping the other mickies visit with the clones and recruit them for the Jatouche tanks.
Near the day’s end, Gat’r revisited the lower corridor that led to Shoya’s storeroom. As he approached the storeroom’s open door, he could hear voices, and his steps quickened.
Three individuals were unloading the gang’s cart.
“Well, look who it is,” one of the gang members said, as Gat’r entered.
Gat’r stared at the individual, who looked nothing like a mickie. He was tall, well-built, and healthy. “Trigger?” he queried.
“In the flesh,” Trigger replied happily.
“Oh, please don’t get him going, Gat’r,” a female mickie requested. “He poses his new body every chance he gets.” Then she laughed and danced away as Trigger took a mock swing at her.
“Looking for someone, Gat’r?” the female mickie teased, as Gat’r gazed around. “I won’t do?” she asked and laughed again.
“We’re emptying the cart to go back for a second load,” a young male mickie explained. “Been a dry period. We need this run. It’s a good one.”
“I’ll help,” Gat’r said.
“We need the hoist to move the generator,” Trigger said, pointing at the rusting piece of equipment on the cart.
“Probably not,” Gat’r replied. Then he closed the mask-helmet, and signaled Hephaestus to lock arms around the generator’s body. With a heave, the suit lifted the more than one-hundred-kilogram mass off the cart, and Gat’r directed Hephaestus to drop it in the storeroom’s corner.
“If that isn’t a sweet breath of oxygen,” the young male mickie murmured. “I want one of those.”
“Let’s go,” Trigger urged his companions, and he guided the electric cart out the door.
Down one more level and into a mining shaft, Gat’r and the local mickies found Shoya and her gang standing off a rival gang intent on taking their stash.
“Reinforcements,” Shoya announced defiantly to the other gang leader. Her back was to the cart, and she assumed that when the rival gang hastily retreated that it was in the face of Trigger’s imposing stature.
When Shoya turned, she found Gat’r standing with hands on hips. “That would make any gang flee the scene,” she said, chuckling.
Little did Gat’r and Shoya know that each of them was hoping for a hug.
“I brought help,” Trigger said, claiming responsibility for Gat’r’s presence.
“As if he didn’t come looking for Shoya,” the female mickie with Trigger rebutted.
“Help we can use,” Shoya said, turning to the piled equipment to hide her embarrassment. “Grab the hoist,” she directed her gang members.
“Gat’r can probably handle the big pieces,” Trigger said with a wry smile.
“May I?” Gat’r offered, closing his mask-helmet.
Shoya shrugged, and Gat’r loaded the three large hunks of worn machinery faster than the mickies could have imagined a human moving.
Quickly, the remaining small pieces were added to the cart, and Trigger reversed its drive to back it down the tunnel.
“Welcome back,” Shoya said, as Gat’r and she walked behind the others.
Gat’r noticed that Shoya made a deliberate move to walk on his left side, but he hadn’t missed the fresh, ragged scar on her left cheek. It added to her growing list of injuries — scars and poorly healed breaks, such as the two broken fingers and a slight limp.
“Have the sisters signed up any of your gang for repairs?” Gat’r asked.
“The sisters are only taking clones for now,” Shoya replied. Tentatively, she’d reached for the new scar, but her hand froze midway.
Gat’r shared a meal with Shoya’s gang, which did much for the mickies’ prestige.
When Gat’r took his first bite, Shoya laughed at his grimace. “Nothing like starship food, is it?” she teased.
After the meal, Gat’r left the gang, made his way to the surface, sat on a short planting wall, and connected with Nalia, Céline, and his suited friends. Gat’r sent.
When there was a brief silence, Ceda interjected,
Gat’r proposed.
Gat’r proposed.
Everyone heard Jasper’s laugh.
Johann and Stacey signed up too. As for the Geneva mickies, it was a done deal.
Gat’r returned below. He tapped politely at the storeroom door in the event anyone was sleeping. They weren’t. Everyone was hard at work on the equipment that had been rescued. He winced internally, spotting the worn and broken tools the mickies were using.
“What do you need, Gat’r?” Shoya asked, rising from the floor and wiping her grimy hands on her none-too-clean coveralls.
“Could we talk?” Gat’r requested, indicating the corridor.
Amid some chuckles and snickers, Shoya followed Gat’r outside the storeroom.
“What do you think of Trigger’s present condition?” Gat’r asked.
Shoya’s eyes narrowed. “Do you always have to start a conversation in a roundabout way, or is it just with me?” she asked.
Gat’r laughed self-consciously. “It’s primarily with you,” he admitted.
“Then start again, and pretend that I’m some other mickie,” Shoya insisted. She realized that wasn’t what she meant, but she wasn’t going to correct it.
Gat’r chose to take Shoya at her word, and he asked bluntly, “Would you and your gang like to be repaired?”
“I thought Trigger’s repair was a one-off, an emergency,” Shoya replied, frowning.
“It was,” Gat’r replied. “I’ve requested the Norloth’s services for the Kilmer mickies. Nalia and Céline will supervise.”
“I’d like to see the gang repaired,” Shoya replied, “but I can’t afford to lose an individual for days or weeks at a time. It was tough enough losing Trigger, even though he was one of the smaller members of the group.”
“I know you can’t,” Gat’r replied. “That’s why I’ve arranged for help. I’m the replacement for anyone of your gang who’s in the medical station.”
“You talk like this is bigger than you,” Shoya pointed out.
“It is,” Gat’r replied. “We’re after all the mickies.”
“It could take annuals to repair that many people,” Shoya exclaimed.
“Probably not,” Gat’r replied. “In another annual, I think the multiple medical stations in your dome could be taking on the mickies. They’ll have priority over the employees. I’ll see to that.”
“Why are you doing all this?” Shoya asked. “Are you doing this just for me?”
“Yes and no,” Gat’r replied.
Shoya waited for more explanation, but it wasn’t forthcoming. She shrugged and said, “You’d better be the one to explain it to the gang. Before you do, know that I’ll be last.”
“I knew you would be,” Gat’r replied.
While Gat’r pursued his efforts with Shoya’s gang, Miranda had joined Z. As with most SADE partners, they touched foreheads. In ticks of time, relevant data was shared. Then they spent a little time communing.
Miranda sent.
Miranda sent.
24: Tough Decisions
JARGAT, THARTATH SYSTEM
OUTPOST FIVE FLEET
At the time that Z sent his message about the realities of incursions in the Axis Crossing region, he knew it wouldn’t be received by Julien and Cordelia for weeks. In the meantime, the Thartath sisters’ migration choices had added to the impetus for the SADE leaders to accelerate their decisions.
The exit of the two hundred sisters aboard the Emergence with Captain Tocknicka was the turning point for the outpost fleet.
Afterward, nearly three hundred second-gen sisters chose to evacuate the Thartath system to distant outposts via the Messinant Q-gate.
Cordelia commiserated with her partner.
Julien reasoned.
Julien replied.
Julien paused and connected with the Thartath gate.
A SADE engineer was training a class of Jargats in the operation of the gate’s console. Julien patiently allowed the engineer to work with his students to set up a message cube, verbally accept Julien’s message via the comm system, place the cube on a platform, and send it. Three outgoing messages gave the class an opportunity to become familiar with the process.
When Cordelia noted Julien’s link with the Thartath moon drop, she sent,
Julien’s fedora appeared in appreciation of Cordelia’s approach to the subject. His partner had shortened the discussion by choosing to select the minority of the fleet that would continue in Thartath until stability was ensured. The rest of the fleet would sail for Axis Crossing space.
It was decided that two Trident squadrons under a commodore would suffice for defense. The engineers, techs, and medical staff, who would support the Thartath citizens, would reside aboard a Quadrant. Finally, a single, class one freighter would complete the nine-ship fleet.
Cordelia opined.
Julien connected with the commodore and the captains of the nine ships that would remain at Thartath, and he communicated his directive and answered their questions.
Julien replied.
