Resurrection (The Inherited War) (14 page)

Once they became unable to hold their position or enough of the Esii showed up to defend their world, Jarrod would unleash his secret weapon.  With any luck this weapon would destroy all the Esii forces in the system and many of the Esii on the planet.  It would render them unable to prosecute their war for hundreds of years buying the necessary time for the rest of the galaxy to prepare for the eventual return of the Esii.  It would also spell the doom for the Pure Humans in the galaxy.

Jarrod looked out the forward view port and gazed at the automated ship yard hidden among the asteroids in this far off corner of the galaxy.  The next eyes that see this sight would be tens of thousands of years after his death but would herald his peoples return.  That thought brought him comfort as he launched his final attack.

PART 2

ADAPT AND OVERCOME

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” Stephen Hawking

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative” H.G. Wells

CHAPTER 11

             
The small beat up freighter came out of warped space and the front screen filled with the Nebula.  Thalo fiddled with the control systems and let out a low whistle.  “This place has sure as hell gone downhill since we left.”

             
Sky leaned over to get a look at the read outs.  She hated traveling on this ship, she was spoiled from spending so much time aboard the Retribution.  “What?  I don’t see anything.”

“Exactly.  What happened the last time you came here?” 

“We came out of warp and turned to the moon.”  She thought for a moment.  “We were quickly hailed by Pitt security forces.”

“Ding, ding. We have a winner.  We
shou2ld have never been able to get this close to Pitt without being challenged by security forces.  Something big has happened here.”  Thalo turned his attention back to piloting the junky looking craft.  Sky hated to admit it but when she boarded the craft for the first time she was pleasantly surprised.  Though she didn’t look like much on the outside, she had it where it counts on the inside.  Amidst the scrapped and burned hull plates and damaged peripherals were hidden state of the art warfare and surveillance systems.  Her engines and grav collectors were top of the line, for non-human ships and she was rather comfortable to live in.

“Will this be a problem, do you think?”  She asked him.

“Well, we shall see.”  He said as they drew closer to the rogue moon.  The city of Pitt had only existed for relatively short period of time.  It was a moon that had broken orbit from its planet and had sailed out into the greater galaxy.  A planet that was going through a terrible civil war had discovered the moon close to its own system and used it for temporary housing of refugees.  The war ended up rendering the planet unlivable by its native species so they vacated their temporary homes on Pitt and relocated to other worlds around the galaxy.  The moon continued on its wayward path and up in a sector of space that a couple dozen species used as a jumping off point for travel around the galaxy.  A few of the original residence were still on the moon and set up a layover area for those ships.  The moon was expected to stay in the junction for at least five hundred years and soon a booming industry of crime and vice took over.  No single planet had the power to annex the moon so no one really enforced any laws.  The Pitt was the one place in the galaxy where anything was for sale.  Fences, pimps, criminals, and slavers called the Pitt home. 

Thalo and Jeth had called it home as well for the past fifty years, until Cole had arrived.  At that time there had been a few major criminal gangs that had set up a quasi-government in the city.  They mainly enforced tariffs and fees and left everyone else alone.  They also provided a fleet of fighters as a local defense force who moonlighted by taking bribes for the primo landing spaces.

“Wait a second.  Yup, here we go I have a ship incoming.”  Thalo reported moments before the com light lit up.

“Unidentified freighter, please heave to and identify yourselves.”  A voice crackled over the com.

Thalo reduced his speed and replied.  “This is Captain Thalo, I’m sure you have me in your records.  I need a place to dock my ship and I plan on spending a few days dirt side.  What’s the going rate?”  Thalo seemed confident in his handling of the situation, so Sky leaned back and let him deal with the locals.

“Yea, scans confirm it is you, but you got two others on board.  That’s three people and a ship…total of twenty thousand credits.”  Thalo almost choked out his response.

“Ten, you got to be joking right?  Two months ago I would have paid five.”

“New boss new fees.  Take it or leave it.”

“Fine, here you go, transmitting now.”  Thalo linked his account to the one the security officer gave him and transferred the credits.

“Pleasure doing business with you, proceed to docking bay five.”  With that the security ship turned and headed back in system.

“That seemed, excessive,” Sky taunted Thalo.

He wasn’t paying attention.  “Look, there are no ships here.  Well there are a few but there used to be hundreds.  Bay five, I never used to get in the double digits let alone that close to the center of the city.  This place has fallen on hard times.  That could be good for us or bad.  I wonder what happened here?”  Thalo lapsed into a sullen silence as he pondered the fate of the moon he had spent so much of his adult life living and working on.

He flew the dilapidated looking freighter down to the moon and landed in bay five.  The bay was empty and was strewn with trash kicked up by his landing thrusters.  “Very wrong.” He mumbled under his breath.  Go get in your costume and tell Snow to get ready to go, I am going to step out and see if I can find out what is going on.  He looked up at the ships chrono and said.  “I will be gone thirty minutes, be ready to go.”  Thalo stood and exited the small cockpit and headed for the exit ramp.

A moment later Sky saw him through the forward view ports heading for the hangar doors.  After seeing him leave, Sky got up and went back to the passenger compartment.  Her sister was sitting on the picnic style table that served as their meeting room/lunch room.  “We’re here get ready.”  Snow nodded her head and disappeared into her cabin while sky went to her own room.  She sighed as she looked in the mirror.  How had she let her sister talk her into this and why had Thalo insisted on her wearing this get up?  It was embarrassing, to say the least.  It was vulgar to say the worst.  Sky removed her Second Skin duster and deactivated her Second Skin suit.  She grabbed the bag that contained her new outfit and dumped it onto the floor.   She stepped onto the pile of deactivated stuff and took a deep breath.  She activated the Second Skin and watched as it crawled up her legs, over her hips and finally covering her torso.  She left the head gear off for now.  Her cheeks turned red as she looked herself over.  How did the Quinn live in this getup?

Sky gave herself one last look and headed back out to the common area.  Her sister was already there.  She was leaning against the far wall and had an amused smile on her face as Sky stepped out.  She opened her mouth and Sky cut her off.

“Not.  One.  Word.  Clear?”  Sky said to her sister.

“Of course.”  She said sweetly with a smile.

“Thalo went to check on things, he should be back soon so let’s wait on the ramp, stay in front of me.”  That elicited a giggle from her sister as she turned and headed to the ramp.  They got there at the same time Thalo was coming back up.

“I figured out what is going on…” his eyes landed on Sky and he slowly trailed away as he took her in. “The Quinn I have met never looked that good in that outfit.”  He had meant to say that to himself but he said it aloud as he looked at Sky.  Her suit looked like it had been painted on.  It was shiny black and didn’t hide any of her features.  In fact the Second skin was so thin it showed every couture and curve of her body.  The definition of her musculature stood out on the shiny black material.  His eyes went from the tightness of her abs to the nipples that poked out on her chest.  You could see everything.  Thalo found himself smiling.

His eyes started to drop back down her body when Sky snapped.  “Damn it, Thalo this was your idea, if you can’t handle it then come up with a new plan.”  She crossed her arms over her chest and kept her legs tightly together.

Snow couldn’t control herself any more, she clutched at her sides while gales of laughter shook her body.  Thalo turned bright red as he realized what he was doing.  He started to stammer out an apology before he realized Sky was laughing at him too. He took a second to compose himself.

“Sorry,” he started, “I wasn’t prepared for that. Cole is a lucky man.  Let me get used to it for a second.”  Sky punched him in the shoulder.

“Har, har.  Get with the plan.  What are we doing?”  Thalo finally got himself under control and started to brief the Nixa.

“Well it seems our little war against the Esii has had some inadvertent effects on the galaxy.  It seems the various underlords and crime bosses on the Pitt relied heavily on their slave trade with the Esii.  Apparently the only export the Esii have to trade with is the plundered loot off of the ships they attack.  That’s like eighty percent of the economy here.  The Esii attack shipping and transports, take the cargo, then bring it here to trade for slaves.  The bosses take the cargos and resell them legally around the galaxy and buy more slaves to trade to the Esii when they come back with more loot to unload.  With the destruction of over half of their fleet at Nixa, the Esii stopped coming here.  Without the Esii bringing in stolen cargo, the criminals lost their revenues and moved on to greener pastures.  Since almost all of the economy here is criminal in origin, the economy tanked.  Anyone who could, jumped ship.”  He paused to think for a second.  “This may be good for us though, because the guy we need to meet is still here.  I don’t think he dealt with the Esii, I think he only sold hard to get merchandise and sold to wealthy non Esii.  Frankly the slaves he sold were a little too expensive for the Esii and he deals only in credits, not ill-gotten loot.  He may be desperate for what we are bringing him.”

“I get that part, but why are we dressed like this?”  Sky waved indicating herself and her sister who was wearing a robe that was too long by far for her.  It was a dark brown in color and had a deep hood that hid the features of her face in shadows.  Its sleeves extended well past her hands and the robe pooled around her feet on the floor.

“As for that, you are known where we are going Sky so I had to cover you up.  The Quinn are the only race in the galaxy that covers their entire bodies from head to foot that you could pass yourself off as.”  Thalo stated.  Sky nodded her head in agreement.  The Quinn were a relatively new race amongst the space faring races of the galaxy.  No one is quite sure who found them and brought them to the stars but they have a unique physiology.  They are oxygen breathers but with a twist.  There is a chemical in the air of their planet that they can’t live without and if they come in contact with atmosphere that doesn’t contain it they will quickly suffocate.   Also an atmosphere without the chemical tends to burn and dissolve their skin so they were special suits made from the resin of certain trees from their home planet.  It is nearly as strong as second skin and regulates their body temperature almost as well too.  It has to form a skin tight seal with their skin so they paint the stuff on.  A mature Quinn who travels outside of their home world leaves little to the imagination.  Where Second Skin conforms to the body it also hides anatomical features most consider best left to the imagination.  The Quinn’s body paint doesn’t.  They just look like they have shiny black bodies.  You can see every bump, lump, ripple and cleft on their bodies.

“As for your sister, that was her idea.  I suggested spending some of the old Admiral’s money we still had access to but her plan probably has a better chance of working.”  Sky turned and looked at her sister.

Her sister steeled her nerve and began speaking.  “This being we are going to see deals in hard to find objects and slaves, what better than to offer him a one in a billion find.”  She held out her arms indicating herself.  “A snow Nixa.”  She held up her hands.  “Now before you go protesting my plan just remember I will not actually be sold to him.  Once Thalo gets the information on the Kin from him we alter negotiations and all three of us leave together.”  She paused for a moment.  “Or if worst comes to worst, you bust me out later.”

Sky quietly ground her teeth as she kept her mouth shut.  She had to remind herself that her sister was a grown Nixa and could make her own choices.  “Fine, but if things go bad I won’t leave you behind.”

“I would hope not.”  Her sister smirked.  “Now, can we go?”  She asked.

“Please, let’s.  I have a ride waiting outside the hangar.  After you, ladies.”  Thalo bowed and held his arm out in a sweeping gesture.

“Not likely bub.  You stay in front of me.  We need you focused on spotting threats not on my posterior.”  Sky grabbed Thalo by the shoulders and propelled him out of the door and down the ramp. Sky and Snow followed him down the ramp and across the hangar floor. Sky activated the helmet function of her suit and hid her face from the world.   They exited the hangar into one of the main thoroughfares of the city of Pitt.  They were instantly accosted by a dozen or so street venders and street urchins that were excited to see some visitors to their small city.  Most were content to stare at Sky for a few moments before remembering they had something to sell.  A medium sized anti-grav vehicle was waiting in the middle of the street.  Thalo opened the door and got in first.  He slid across the back seat and made room for Snow then Sky to enter.

He had obviously told the driver where he wanted to go beforehand because as soon as the door shut the vehicle was off.  The three sat in uncomfortable silence for the ten minute ride to their destination.  The driver was very familiar with the city it seemed because he kept the vehicle going at top speed and seemed to hit all the turns and corners perfectly.  Sky kept her legs crossed and arms folded over her chest the whole ride.

“Relax Sky, Quinn don’t care about how they look, remember?”  Thalo said quietly out of the corner of his mouth.

“We are not trying to fool the driver and since I’m the one in the suit, I sit how I want.”  Her voice emanated from the small pack on her back.  For a Quinn, it would be where the chemical they need to live would be mixing in with their air, for Sky it held a pair of small plasma blasters and her suits external speakers.  The box rode high on her back so she could reach up and grab her guns if needed.