A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 26

"Yes," Xhan nodded as he looked over the displays, "You are a little like an archeologist. I have read both of your publications."

"I wish to do a little of that on this world," the commander said, "in fact, I have already begun, a little. I came alone once to complete my evaluation of the outpost, and I arranged to have the time coincide with my vacation time. I found much of interest to me, but not so much on this side. I found more of interest to me on the other side of the planet. I wished to return to do more, but I needed a way to travel without using a Xer ship. It is a waste of resources and a misuse of my position.

Back then, there was still a maintainer stationed here. That is long over now due to cost cutting, since this is really an unimportant base to us, but not to the Merren. By chance, I walked out one evening to speak with the maintenance person who was stationed here then and I had a revelation. After I completed his evaluation, he showed me what he had been doing with his own time after his duty.

There was an old craft there; it had been unserviceable when he'd arrived and it was older than both of us. It was a supply skiff, worn out from hauling things up and down from supply craft and discarded from not long after the building of this place.

But you know from your studies that we Xer make everything in a modular fashion, so that replacement parts may be fitted and plugged in easily. He had been tinkering. He had replacements for much of what was needed for the skiff and had rebuilt it well.

He'd done it all to keep busy, and used what was already here. To my amazement, he showed me that the skiff would start and that the systems were completely functional. Since the craft had been written off the books, he had requested that he be allowed to purchase it for less than their scrap value -- not the salvage value, which was higher, and it had been permitted. He had a little fantasy of using the skiff to travel a little after his retirement, but since the work had not been approved by Xer inspectors at each step, he found that he could not renew the craft's certification for use off-world in Xer-controlled space.

So there he was, the owner a useless craft. But he was bored and he began to work on improving it. He was that kind of individual. When we talked, he was only a few months from his retirement, and he said that he had no idea what he would do with the thing, and that he couldn't even sell it, since there was no one here who would buy it, and it was not certified to go off-world."

Arrax looked over the logs of the cutter as they worked, and after a moment, he became aware that his nephew was waiting for him to finish what he had been saying. "Well?" Xhan smiled, "What happened?"

Arrax grinned, "Well, I offered to buy it from him. It would give him more for his retirement, and we arrived at a price in minutes. I told him that if he could assist me in the ordering, that I would buy whatever improvements that he thought it needed, and he was happy that he'd have work in his spare time to last him to when he left to go home."

He looked at Xhan in a conspiratorial way and smiled, "He installed everything that he could order and I was able to get it very cheaply, due to the supply depot wanting to be rid of such old parts stock. It was delivered in my name on the supply ship which brings the normal supplies here."

Xhan blinked, "But what good is it all? You cannot go off-world with it."

His uncle laughed, "I do not want to go off-world with it. It may not be up to the stresses of reaching escape speed for this world's gravity, but I do not want it for that. I want it for use here. It is certainly up to that. I want it for when I retire. I have decided to retire here and stay for a time, working at my pastime of searching for the past. The fuel cells are new and full and I have a spare set, and they will last a long time. The skiff will do to carry me and whatever I find around, and when I am ready, I will send a call to Xer and wait for passage home with my things. It will take months, but I am patient and have no need to hurry.

That is what I will do after all of this. When the outpost is closed down completely, I will still have access to the communication systems and I can make my call when I am ready. In the meantime, I will travel and enjoy my life, especially now that I am with no female again. I only need a place to live then. I cannot live here. But I am hopeful that I will find something, and I can live on my craft until I do."

He looked out of the ramp opening and sighed, "But before any of that, we have to earn a little of the Ambassador's money and fly her on her little hunt -- and she waits there now."

Ny'Zeille walked to where the cutter sat and Arrax beckoned her to walk up the ramp.

He put on what he hoped would be one of his last official smiles for Ny'Zeille, "Watch your step up the ramp. The team is already aboard. You're the customer, but they won't speak to you. They deal with Xhan, and you do too. That's standard Xer practice as well."

She walked up the ramp and it began to whine its way up behind her. Ny'Zeille looked around at the team, but she didn't recognize any of them. They all wore communication gear and they were bipedal as they sat, holding their weapons. Beyond barely interested glances as she walked aboard, they didn't look at her. She was a little surprised, but then she remembered that Xer were not normally known for their chumminess, unless they were being paid to be friendly in these kinds of situations.

She was shown to a seat and she strapped herself in as the engines began to hum.

"I specified that I wanted Xhan to be the pilot," she snapped.

Arrax rolled his eyes as he turned from the controls, "And that is what you have. I am acting as the co-pilot on this flight. Relax Ambassador; I've cut you a deal. This ship requires a flight crew of two for this sort of thing. If you like, I'll shut down and have Xhan go to find someone who is willing to act as co-pilot, but that would be an additional cost and it would be up to that person to set his or her price. Your clock is already running. How long do you want to sit and wait?"

She nodded and waved her hand, "Let's just go."

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The day was dark and overcast in the mountains, and it was still snowing somewhat. Sariel and Nahl'een were out at the chicken coop when they heard it. They looked at each other and did as they'd been told, Nahl'een going back inside first followed by Sariel. He looked up for a moment as he reached for the basket of eggs and pulled it inside. They closed the blast valve which had allowed them to get to the chickens and then they went as fast as they could down below.

The adults stood around the pair as they tried to get clear meaning from what a pair of excited children could tell them. Shaevre listened more closely than the rest and she had questions, but afterward, she summed it all up.

"It sounds like a cutter, but they said that it was dark. That makes it a Xer cutter, and not one used to support Merren diplomatic flights. Was it low or was it high?"

Sariel said that it was very low, but she knew that he'd never seen one before. Nahl'een said that it was a little high and not moving very fast, but not crawling either.

"Did you see lights?" Shaevre asked and they nodded, "Flashing ones, " Sariel said, "They all flashed at the same time -- together."

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked.

"It is Arrax, and there is danger," Shaevre looked up at Rachel.

She left Selena to explain who Arrax was to the others. She was off at a run to get ready. She almost ran over Nahl'een as she stood with Sariel on her way back. The girl looked worried. "Why do you have to go outside?" she asked in a small voice.

"Little friend," Shaevre smiled, "I must know what is going on. If your grandmother is there, it will not take her long to find this place, and then none of our friends would be safe. I do nothing more than I was always ready to do."

She looked at Sariel, "I do not know what you can do with this blade that I saw you with, but if you have ability, then use it to protect your mother and my friends here if you must." She smiled at them, "I will return, Nahl'een."

As she stood before the blast doors, waiting for them to open, she was joined by several others but she was adamant on a couple of points.

"I must try to talk with Arrax very carefully," she said, "I do not know the situation, and it is not the right ship, but he told me that if the strobes were flashing in daytime, it would be him. They always flash as a warning to other craft close by, but out here alone, they would not do this, so it is him."

She looked at the others, "Keep Nahl'een in here with Selena, at the very least.

I must go, why do you come?" she asked Cha'Khah and Vadren, "This is not your fight. If a Xer craft is here, it may contain other Xer fighters to hunt us."

"We will come." Vadren said quietly, "We will not close a friend outside and sit in the dark. You would do the same, Shaevre."

She looked at them for a moment and then she nodded, hefting Meg onto her shoulder, "I need a cloak," she said, "something to break up my shape in the snow."

A moment later, Shaevre strode down the long passageway wanting to shake her head. She was very surprised. She'd thought that she'd go alone, but now walked with Dahlgren, Faith, and Azrael. Behind them, the two Drow strode as well.

As soon as they were outside, the others worked out a tentative plan while Shaevre looked at the little box in her hand. She took a deep breath and was careful not to turn on the beacon, but after a minute, she switched it to the guard frequency and turned the transmitter on.

Arrax responded after the fourth attempt, just as her finger was about to shut the device off. His voice sounded tight and clipped, but he outlined what was going on in the briefest terms.

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"This is where Shaevre got off for less than three minutes," Xhan said to Ny'Zeille as they stood on the lowered ramp while the craft hovered along the open meadow slowly, throwing up enough snow from the tilted thrusters to make visibility impossible.

"Could they hunt her from here, even though snow has fallen if Arrax lied to me?" Ny'Zeille asked tersely.

"If there are signs to follow, a Xer can track there," he said.

"Send them out then and let's get started. Land and drop the ramp or whatever you need to do."

"A team of six on their way to you - eventually," Arrax said as he looked out once they were down. Ny'Zeille stood in the snow observing as the six circled the area at a run.

"I must be brief," he said, "We are down where I last saw you. Good news -- the six are the fools from the outpost staff playing at hunting. Bad news - the Ambassador is with them. Out."

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Shaevre turned the box off and shrugged into the harness of the weapon system before she asked for help to pull the cloak over everything. She put on a pair of goggles and adjusted them, "Listen please," she said, and the others came to her. She turned the receiver on again and inserted the earpiece as they gathered.

"There are things that I have learned from Arrax. The cutter is where we landed. There are six Xer to hunt us, but the main trouble is that Ny'Zeille is here with them. She will probably use them for their noses -- to find this place. That must not happen. The Xer may have trouble getting in, but I do not wish to test the strength of the defenses here against the demon. They will be here in maybe an hour and a half. I go to hunt the hunters. They will not pass me."

She looked at the expressions on the faces of the others and nodded, "Xer run very fast if they have a scent and they hunt. Also, they will come hidden, little more than shadows on the snow. Look for moving tracks.

We are hard to kill. Leave the six to me. I think that we will all be needed to deal with your mother, Dahlgren. Someone who is wild with rage does not think, and they do not feel pain the same way either."

She raised the weapon and slaved the image in the goggles to a floating impact point that she saw in them, an infrared laser dot projected from the center of the rotating barrels. When she was satisfied, she turned everything off.

"What are those things on your head for?" Cha'Khah asked.

"To help me spot my brethren and to lay the point where the bullets will land in the right place. If all goes well, do not hurry after me too much, Dahlgren. I wish to remove the hunters, or the game will become the worst sort of brawl.

You have never seen fighting such as the Xer fight," she said to Cha'Khah and Vadren, "hang back a little and do not let yourselves be seen too soon. I will need what help you can give against Dahlgren's mother, I do not wish to have you in Meg's way. "

She pursed her wolfish lips and blew a single note for a second. "When you hear Meg sing, then move up carefully, but stay low." she said as she turned and began to run with the pair of Drow running lightly on top of the snow after her.

The three half-demons looked at each other and a minute later, they'd decided to approach from two directions near the area where they'd spent the night on the way there. They took off and split up, Azrael on one side, Dahlgren and Faith on the other.

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"There," Ny'Zeille cried out triumphantly into the headset that she wore, "You see? They run now, on the trail of Shaevre. I knew that you lied, Arrax."

Xhan requested an update from the Xer on the ground and looked toward the now-excited Ambassador. He shook his head, "No, they think they may have found where she stood for a time, but they have found tracks and scents of horses under the fresh snow. One of the team has identified the scent of one horse as your own, Ambassador. They follow this trail. It is the best chance."

She was pleased. She hadn't even noticed that the horses were missing, but it made sense to her. "Your nephew rises in my opinion, Arrax, while you sink. When this is over, I will demand an investigation from the Xer into your involvement." She turned and ran after them.

Arrax grinned at Xhan as he pulled the markings of his rank from his body and began to shrug into a battle harness, "Stay on the secondary channel as you listen to her garbage on the tactical one. I may need you for close support. If they meet between here and wherever the girl is hidden, you can reach it in minutes once you are in the air. Be ready, Xhan."

"Where are you going?" the young officer asked.

"I do not know if Shaevre and the others have found this Azrael, but I must assume that they have. Those ones may know nothing of what comes to them. Also, there is Nahl'een to think about, and somewhere out there is our warrior. I will do my best to keep her alive." He ran down the ramp and Xhan watched Arrax fade from sight as he ran in a slightly different direction.

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Shaevre listened to the rhythm of her breathing as she loped. She couldn't run as fast as she normally would due to the weight of her weapon system. She had always been able to take up to seven steps for each inhalation or exhalation when she was in fighting form in the Brigades while wearing a meg. She knew that she'd always been able to count on six steps per breath. Here today she was holding her own at a steady five with about every third or fourth count coming out at six. She resolved that it was likely due to tension and uncertainty, and then she threw the notions aside.

If by some wonder, she lived through today, she resolved to run a lot more. The difference in gravity slipped her mind entirely. She also hadn't considered that she'd been running like this for thirty-five minutes carrying well over two hundred pounds of weapon. Whenever she'd thought about that back in the day, she'd always grinned that once it began, Meg would get lighter every second.

Today, she carried a lot more on her mind than she'd ever done going into a fight. Back then, it had been simpler. There was the distinct possibility of being badly wounded or killed then, as there had always been. But she'd had only her life to lose and fighting pay was what kept her fed then.

Today she had other things on her mind. She didn't know what was wrong in the demon's brain to cause this, and she didn't really care. She only thought about Nahl'een being taken off-world to be trained from this young age to be a Ranger somewhere, indoctrinated in the same garbage about balance which the Merren believed.

She snorted, how many fights in the Mornian campaign were really these stupid attempts to rebalance what the Merren saw as wrong -- and it was done with how many divisions of Xer fighters who also didn't belong there?

To Shaevre, who loved the little girl, this was a crime that she'd not allow to occur, not while she had a say in its outcome. Her thoughts ran to Selena, and she felt tears come to her that she pushed down instantly. They'd only just begun. She wanted to spend her life close to Selena; they'd had so much fun planning their daydream about sharing males between them. There was no exclusivity to this, other than they loved each other, but that didn't rule out enjoying a male with each other, it was something that Shaevre really wanted to do with her friend someday.

At that point, Shaevre knew what was different about today.

She was afraid, though not for herself all that much. She felt a fair degree of certainty that she wouldn't be walking away from this one, that was all.

Shaevre slowed to a slow walk as she strained to listen. She smiled after a moment. If these were Death hounds, they wouldn't make a sound, but the ones that she hunted were loud by comparison, actually speaking to each other as they came. She could even hear the snow squeaking under their feet as they walked. She shook her head.

She was hunting buffoons.

After a look over her shoulder and not seeing the two Drow, she looked around for a commanding position and then she grinned as she saw it, a boulder a little close to the torn trunk of a tree broken off in a lightning storm years before. Looking at the landscape here, it was a natural thing to follow up the middle of the shallow draw in the woods if one was an amateur.

Amateurs walk the path of least resistance and don't think about what they might blunder into until it is too late. With a little luck, these ones would walk right up the draw and not see what it was that killed them all.

This would be about perfect. She stepped over to it and began her preparations, hunkering down a little and leaning into the boulder on her left. She drew the cloak over herself a little more and settled in to wait, making sure to cover her snout to hide the steam from her breath in the cold mountain air as best she could.

Ny'Zeille flew above, trying to draw a line from where she saw her team laboring up a hillside to what might lie beyond, some sort of house or perhaps a cave where the fugitives might be hiding. Xhan had told her that the team had been instructed to get Nahl'een out first as carefully as possible before dealing with the others with prejudice. If it was needed, Ny'Zeille was prepared to use a lot of honey in her voice to draw the little one out after deceiving anyone with her.

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Shaevre saw the demon high above and faded out of sight under the hood of the cloak. She'd been here for over twenty minutes and she now wore a light dusting of snow herself over the cloak. She watched the demon wheel around to head the other way and knew that her quarry was just over the lower ridge three hundred feet distant through the thin winter forest.

When she saw the first of their motions up the draw, she slowly drew back the cloak from the barrels of her weapon and armed the system. The barrels rotated ninety degrees and then stopped. Shaevre saw the ready indicators next to her right thumb on the grip. She reached up slowly to turn on her goggles and waited as the two systems acquired each other. A second later, she saw the impact dot and reticule in her right goggle lens.