The Nathan Daniels Saga: Part 1 (6 page)

“
Two: pirates trying to hit us before we jump.  However, pirates usually want plunder and tend to strike at the null points when a ship is barely moving.”

“
What else?”

Nathan could see the slightest flicker of fear in those deep, dark eyes.  As if she knew what he was going to say.

“Somebody knows you are on board, and wants your demise to look like an “accident” or “attacked by pirates.” Nathan donned a headset.  “Let’s see what we can find out.”

“
Spacecraft Nora to unidentified spacecraft: we show you on a collision course.  Please respond.” Nathan swung the main guns around, attempting to target, but they were still out of range.

“
Well, there goes theory number one!” He shook his head.  “Unidentified spacecraft, this is spacecraft Nora, we are a merchant vessel en route for transit point to Rhadasia.  We do not intend to change course.  We show less than 5 minutes to collision.  Please respond.”

It was almost time for the tough decision.  In all likelihood, the enemy thought they were unarmed, as Remi had.  This meant Nathan’s first shot would take them by complete surprise.  The question was whether to use that surprise as soon as they were in range, or wait until they were fired upon.  If they were professionals either way was chancy.  Nathan decided that his “do unto others” rule applied.  He depressed the fire button.

One of the realities of space flight is that space battles are just plain boring.  First, they can’t happen at all during FTL, for the same reasons that conventional drives are useless.  Second, at sub-light speed ships point themselves in a direction and give a push, or a series of pushes, then midway they turn around and push in the other direction.  Any change of course has to be planned for in advance.  Hence, there was no dog-fighting, no evasive maneuvers, no attempting to out position your opponent.  Changes in direction or speed that could accomplish that were just too expensive in terms of fuel.  All this means is that a classic space battle is usually ‘continue to fire into each others shields until one shield collapses.’  That being the case, at times it all comes down to who got a microsecond advantage by shooting first.

Nathan saw the glow in the monitor that showed his shots were connecting with the enemy’s shields.  Moments later, the
Nola
’s shields lit up, as they were absorbing and dissipating energy.

Nathan knew the shields would hold, they were military grade.  What worried him was if there would be a resolution before a collision.  The ships were close enough now that anything he did to avoid that would not only be expensive, but would likely be immediately countered by the enemy craft.  It was obvious they had no intention of returning home.  Or at the very least, they were prepared not to.

He glanced over at Remi.  She was fast at work on the computer, diverting every bit of energy to the weapons and the shields.

“
Don’t worry about the shields.  If we can’t trash them in the next fifteen seconds, its not going to matter!”

The collision warning indicator was counting backwards from fifteen, when it reached six, the other craft’s shields flared up and collapsed.  The other ship was not far behind in disintegrating.

CHAPTER III

Remi's picture perfect landing at the Rhadasian spaceport signaled the end of a voyage that was devoid of real excitement, which was good, as excitement during FTL travel usually means you don't make it to your destination. 

There was only one city on Rhadasia, and it had grown up around the spaceport.  While this was generally true on newly colonized worlds, as the world grows, the city tends to grow in one direction, away from the 'port, until eventually the city and 'port are two distinctly different entities.  Two hundred years of regular visits from off world had led to the 'port on Rhadasia essentially being encapsulated by the city, giving the spaceport/city combination the look of a giant eye from above.

Since the 'port was built by off-worlders for the use of off-worlders, there was enough technology available on site to see to it that ships could be re-fueled and re-supplied.  Nathan tasked Omany with the resupply operations, and asked Remi to accompany him as he headed to the cargo hold.

“As you mentioned a week ago, the 'people' of Rhadasia have very large litters.  The females create a nest, and will lay literally hundreds of eggs, which will be fertilized by the male.  After fertilization, the male then buries the nest, and both mom and dad move on.  Some months later, the eggs hatch, and the young work to dig themselves out of the nest, killing and eating each other on the way out.  This reduces the number of young by fifty percent, but there are still at least one hundred young Rhadasians that survive this stage.  As you can imagine, this leads to a total disregard for the young, and a culture that can be
very
brutal.”  Nathan turned to Remi.  “This is about the most I can tell you to prepare you for what you are about to see, and it certainly isn't enough.”

Nathan pressed the button that started the cargo ramp lowering, and stopped it when it was about half-way to the ground.

“Change your mind?” Remi asked.

“
No.  If we were to lower the ramp all the way to the ground, in the time it took us to walk down the ramp and close up the ship behind us, the hold would be so full of young Rhadasians that the only way we could be rid of them would be to open the hold to space after we lift.  Not something I really care to do, if I can avoid it.”  The pair walked to the end of the ramp and jumped off, tiny lizards scurried out of the way in an effort to avoid being crushed as they hit the ground.

The little Rhadasians were
everywhere
.  They covered the ground like a living carpet, and you could see them scurrying up the sides of buildings and up lampposts.  The young lizards start life tiny and non-sentient.  The ones that survive grow larger and smarter over time.  Just before puberty Rhadasian young have roughly the intelligence of an Earth dog, but by the time they finish puberty they are as intelligent and cognizant as any other adult Rhadasian. 

Although they are not sentient, the young lizards are fully capable of survival, and are left to their own devices.  The ones that make it to puberty are then educated and fully integrated into society, those that don't, end up dead.  With every generation the number of Rhadasians who make it to adulthood increases dramatically, both because of the increase in the safety and technology of the society, and the decrease in the natural predators of the Rhadasian young. 

Nathan began to stride casually in the direction of the Spaceport Tavern, but quickly noticed that Remi was not keeping up.  He looked behind and saw her struggling to move without stepping on any of the tiny lizards.

“
Problem?” he called back.

“
How do you move without stepping on anybody?” Remi responded.

“
Just walk.” Nathan replied.  “Ninety-five percent of the time, they will move to avoid being stepped on.”

“
And the other five percent?” Was her response.

“
Natural selection.”  Nathan waited another beat, and watched as a look of seriousness spread across Remi's face, then she just started to walk forward, and quickly caught up to the Captain.

It was only a short walk to the Tavern, and both Nathan and Remi managed the walk without flattening any Rhadasians.  This particular establishment was (as were the best bars in the galaxy) run by a human.  Humans seem to have a knack for the bar industry, even though they were not the only race to have discovered the joy of fermented sugars.  As the pair sat down, the owner came over.

Floyd was a large man, so large he made Nathan look like a Rhadasian by comparison.  The size of his biceps led one to believe he could successfully arm wrestle a robot.  He wore a patch over his left eye, which he lost a couple of years ago breaking up a bar fight.  Had his establishment been on a more advanced world, he could have had it re-grown.  But not on Rhadasia.

“
Nathan Daniels!  Haven't seen you in ages!  I see you have put your daughter to work!” He chuckled, nodding in Remi's direction.  “Actually, I take that back, there is no way a man as ugly as you sired a woman as beautiful as this.”  He took Remi's hand and made a big production out of kissing the knuckle of her index finger.

“
Floyd, you old weasel.” Nathan retorted.  “This is Remi, my new apprentice.  She needed passage off-planet, but she couldn't afford it, so she agreed to work as my apprentice for a while.”

“
My sympathies, Miss Remi.”  Floyd grinned. 

“
What the Captain neglects to tell you,” Remi chimed in, “is that the apprenticeship was negotiated only after I turned down his first proposal, which he insisted was the “standard fare” for those without the financial means to pay for passage.”

At this, Floyd guffawed, slapping the bar and shaking it from end to end.  “Rest assured, however hard he works you, you made the right choice!”

“You are not the first to tell me that!” Remi said with a sly smile.

“
Floyd, what new poison do you have on tap today?”

“
I actually just received a shipment of whiskey from Dixie.  I'm quite sure
you'll like it.  May be a bit on the strong side for the little lady, though.”  Floyd nodded in Remi's direction.  He lifted a shot glass to the bar, and filled it with an amber liquid.

Rising to the challenge, Remi grabbed the glass and downed it.  Nathan watched her face.  There was a slight flicker of distaste in her eyes, but that was all.

“So, what are you hauling this time, Nathan?”  The barkeep asked. 

“
Halifren gems,” Daniels replied.  Floyd let out a long whistle.

“
Nobody's brought in any of those in quite a while.  I hear Zantril is giving the best price for them right now.  What are you planning to lift with?”

“
Floyd, you know better than that.  I open my mouth in here about that and before you know it a couple of upstarts beat me to the punch and my cargo ends up being worthless!”  Nathan downed the second shot that Floyd had set up.  “Besides, I usually don't know what I’m buying until thirty seconds before I make the deal!”  With that, Floyd left to serve some new arrivals. 

“
Is that true, what you said?”  Remi asked.

“
Which part?”  Nathan responded. 

“
About not knowing what you are going to buy until thirty seconds before you buy it?”

“
Close enough,” Nathan said, lifting the remaining shot that Floyd had set up in front of Remi.  He tossed it back, and slammed down the empty.  Just as the glass hit the bar, Nathan felt the Barrel of a gun in the small of his back.

“
Captain Danielssss,” a Rhadasian hissed, “I do believe we have sssome unfinishsshed busssiness.”  The lizard moved around to the stool on Nathan's left, which Nathan noticed had been vacated by Remi.  'What is that girl up to?' Nathan thought.

“
Third things first, Ixlar,” Nathan began casually.  “I'd hold that gun a little lower if I were you.  Floyd doesn't take kindly to people shooting his customers, and he's only slightly more forgiving of people threatening them.”

The lizard shifted his weapon to make it less visible to the barkeep.  “Do not worry, Captain, I am not going to shoot you ....  yet.  I am sssimply here to collect the money you owe my bosssssss from your last trip.”

“How does he figure I owe him a dime?”

“
He made you a perfectly reasssonable offer for your lassst cargo, but you ssselfisssshly sssold to sssomeone elssse.  you owe him for the profit he lossst.”  Ixlar waggled the gun.  “Let'sss go captain.  He wants you to pay in person.”

From out of nowhere Remi flew into action.  Her first kick knocked the gun out of Ixlar's hand.  Her second swept the stool out from under him.  As he fell, Remi pinned his head to the bar, letting his body dangle from the neck.

Nathan stared into the lizard's terror filled eyes.  'Poor sap thinks we are going to kill him,' he thought.

“
I've got two messages for you to take back to your boss.  First, if he's not willing to pay top dollar for my cargo, then he doesn't get my cargo and I don't owe him a micro-credit!”  Nathan paused for emphasis.  “Second, if he wants me taken anywhere, he'd better send more than one stooge with a cheap gun!”  Nathan signaled to Remi.  She let go of the lizard's head, he fell to the floor and quickly scampered out.

Nathan signaled to Floyd for two more whiskeys.  “I had things under control, you know,” he said to Remi as the ales appeared in front of them.

“I seem to remember someone talking about 'do unto others',” she responded with a smile.

“
Yeah,” Nathan grinned.  “So, thanks.”  They finished their drinks in silence.  After leaving the tavern, they went out to the marketplace, which literally surrounded the spaceport on Rhadasia.  as they wandered through the stalls, Nathan stopped and talked with every merchant who was dealing in Halifren gems to find out what they were paying.  Since Floyd's information was usually correct, he planned for their last stop to be Zantril's stall.  As they walked, Nathan explained cargo selection to Remi.