Transport Ship Arrowhead Ch. 07

----

So'Rit had been stalking around outside Larik'Ni's office since 0730 hours, despite the fact that the governor wasn't due in for an hour and a half. He even beat Larik'Ni's personal assistant, a human named Benjamin Wu, by thirty minutes.

"Councilor," Wu said, "you pacing around isn't going to make the governor get here any faster."

Wu was sitting behind a modest sized desk that looked like it was growing out of the floor. There was a holo-screen and interface panel on the left side of the desk, and a comm unit on the right. If the councilor was here already, then it was going to be a long day for both Wu and the governor.

At 0842 hours, Larik'Ni walked into the reception area outside her office and saw So'Rit loitering around her door. She tried not to growl in frustration.

"It is about time you decided to show up!" So'Rit spat.

"And good morning to you too, Councilor," Larik'Ni said with disdain. The contentment from her lovemaking session with Vas and Barret was quickly diminishing. She brushed passed the man and stood before what looked like a wall. A small aperture opened, and scanned Larik'Ni's retinal pattern. Seams formed in the wall, revealing her office door. It opened, and Larik'Ni stepped inside.

The governor's office was a large, semi-circular room with an ornate desk situated in front of a wall sized window overlooking the city. The capitol building was the tallest structure on Haven, something that made Larik'Ni uncomfortable.

She took a seat behind her desk, and waited for So'Rit to take one of the chairs facing her. "What is so important that you could not wait until my office hours?" she demanded in a harsh tone. She was sick and tired of this man's harassment and demeaning attitude.

"How dare you speak to me that way?!" the Birran man demanded. "You are lucky that I acknowledge you at all, you clan-less-"

Larik'Ni had her finger poised over the comm panel, ready to summon security. "Finish that sentence, and you will find yourself removed from this building!"

So'Rit scowled, then sat down. "Fine."

"I committed no crime, So'Rit! The raiders who attacked my clan ship and murdered my family did! I would also say that the Nitzhal committed a crime against us by instituting that stupid law! And what is worse, our own people comply with it! Our council of elders is so desperate for the Nitzhals' approval that they cast their own out to the harshness of space!"

So'Rit was taken aback by the venom Larik'Ni was hurling at him, and the way she spoke of the truly dominant species on Thelst. "The Nitzhal uplifted us from savagery," he retorted, spouting what all Birrans were taught as children. "They civilized us!"

"Abandoning those in need is civilized?" Larik'Ni demanded. "I have studied our history, So'Rit. We were not savages. We were less technologically advanced than the Nitzhal, or even the Hillot, but not savage. The Nitzhal called us that to justify pulling us from our villages. They are also the ones who dominate the majority of Thelst's resources! They say our orphans are cast out to conserve what little we have, but they use more of our world's resources than we or the Hillot do!

"You will notice that it is only Birran and Hillot orphans who are banished, not those of the Nitzhal. They are lying to us, So'Rit! They accuse those who lost everyone they held dear of being a drain on society, when it is the Nitzhal themselves who are the ones using more than they need!"

Larik'Ni settled into her chair, satisfied at the verbal tirade she finally unleashed on the insufferable councilor. She gave him an irate grin. "What do you want?"

"I... I want you to sign an order. An order leaving me in charge while you are... negotiating on Nova City," he said, trying to regain his composure. No one, let alone a clan-less bitch like her, had ever spoken to him that way.

Larik'Ni looked So'Rit in the eyes and said, "No. I will be in real-time communication, and will be continuing my duties from Nova City." She didn't add that she was still waiting for the quantum entanglement communicator. "If there is nothing else, you may leave."

So'Rit didn't like being dismissed, but there was nothing he could do. He stood up, and stormed out of her office in a huff. As he exited, Wu entered.

"I hate that guy," Wu said.

"The feeling is mutual, Benjamin," Larik'Ni sighed. She ran her hand over a panel on her desk, causing a hologram of her calendar to shimmer into view. "I see there is nothing pressing."

"I rescheduled the meetings that could wait until you get back. The important stuff has already been taken care of."

Larik'Ni smiled at her assistant. He was of average height, with piercing eyes, and dark hair that he wore in a ponytail. "What would I do without you?" she asked.

"Miss your appointments," he said with a grin. Wu took the seat So'Rit had abandoned. "Sheila and I are going to miss our weekly dinners while you're gone."

"As am I," Larik'Ni said. "You and your wife have been wonderful friends to me, and I thank you for that." The Wus were the only people on all of Haven who Larik'Ni took the risk of allowing herself to get close to. It was a risk that paid off. They were friends in the truest sense of the word, and support she had desperately needed.

"So have you, Governor," he said. "I spoke to the tech guys about your entanglement comm, and they're not sure when it will be ready."

Larik'Ni sighed. "Did they tell you why this is taking so long?"

"Something about programming and calibration issues," he said. "And they're not happy that the Arrowhead got here so early. It doesn't seem to matter to them that the unit was supposed to be ready last week so we could run extended tests on it to make sure it would work properly."

"Lovely," she said in an annoyed tone. "Please keep me updated so I may inform Captain Barret when we will be ready to depart." If she didn't need that communicator, she would have been on her way already. The holdup was inconvenient, and a little suspicious. Why was this taking so long?

----

Even as tired as he was, Barret had given up on going back to sleep after Larik'Ni left at 0800 ship time, 0600 local. He reluctantly got up, took a shower, and made coffee. Vas had gone back to sleep, so Barret went to the cockpit to start the Arrowhead's day watch. That way, any communications would go through the main comm unit in the cockpit, and not the one in their quarters. He didn't want to disturb her.

The late night, the migraine, and the early morning booty call had all done their part to wipe Barret out. He dozed off almost as soon as he was in the pilot's seat. It was a good thing they were docked; falling asleep in the pilot's seat while the ship was in flight was a big fine. The flight recorders would have picked it up immediately.

An alarm klaxon blared through the entire ship, startling Barret awake and almost making him fall out of the pilot's seat.

"What the hell?!" he bellowed. "Computer, report! And what the hell time is it?!"

"Attempted incursion at port airlock. Current ship time 1124 hours, 0924 hours local."

"Fuck, I fell asleep for three hours," he grumbled. "I must've needed it."

Vas came sprinting into the cockpit, holding her untied robe closed. "What the fuck is going on?!"

Barret pulled up the exterior feed. "Someone's trying to break in." He zoomed in on the quintet of people trying to force their way onto the ship. The one in the lead was holding a cube shaped object.

"Son of a bitch! They've got a code cracker! Call the dock master and tell her what these idiots are doing!" Barret made a mad dash for the cockpit door and sprinted all the way to the airlock. He got there just in time to hit the override on the locking panel, cycling the door's combination code and stopping the code cracker from opening the airlock.

Barret slammed his fist on the controls for the external loudspeakers. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"We're supposed to install an entanglement comm for the governor," the lead miscreant said.

"Okay, and why are you breaking into my ship?!"

"Sorry," the man said in a slimy tone. "We didn't know anyone was on board."

"So you have the dock master call us and ask for permission to come aboard, you fucking moron!" Barret yelled. "You sure as hell don't use a fucking code cracker to break in and come aboard without permission!"

Vas, her robe now tied, came running down the corridor. "The dock master is on her way! And I called Larik'Ni. She's on her way, as well."

"Good," Barret said. They could use the backup.

"I'm going to go put actual clothes on," Vas said. "I'm usually something of an exhibitionist, but I feel very exposed with these assholes."

----

Hevist Loriv muttered every obscenity and insult she could think of in her native language, Interlingual, and every other language she'd tried to learn in her entire life. She kept coming back to, "These fucking shit brained idiots!"

Loriv was a tall, muscular Muldaxian, with bright gold eyes, and long, flowing white hair that was pulled into a ponytail. Having worked in the dock for over thirty years before ascending to dock master, Loriv was built like a tank, and sometimes had the temperament of one.

She and Larik'Ni were running full speed towards the commercial dock, where the Arrowhead was currently berthed. She saw the group of five people, one Birran, two humans, and a Muldaxian, crowded around the airlock to the Earth transport ship.

"All right, back the fuck off, right now!" Loriv bellowed.

The lead goon, a shorter human with a shaved head, holding the palm sized box, sneered at her. "And who the fuck do you think you are?"

Loriv towered over the man, and her exposed arms were a mass of coiled muscle. She could break this jackass in half without even trying. "I'm the dock master, you little piss ant! I'm in charge here!"

"And I am the governor," Larik'Ni added. "Anything Dock Master Hevist decides to do to you, I will turn a blind eye to!"

"Look," the man snarled, "I have my orders from Councilor So'Rit to install this thing, so I'm gonna install it!"

Loriv grabbed the cube from the man. "So you try to break in using a code cracker? These things are illegal, you fucking imbecile! This is what thieves use to break in to people's houses, so what the fuck are you doing with it?! We're already on shaky ground with the Freighters Guild, for fuck's sake! This will get us fined and sanctioned up the ass, and they won't use lube first!"

"Please, Dock Master, calm yourself," an even slimier voice said. Everyone turned to see So'Rit strolling leisurely to the airlock. "I am sure there has been a misunderstanding."

"No misunderstanding," Barret said as he stormed out the opening airlock. He had backup, so he wasn't afraid of anyone trying to bum rush their way onto the ship. "Your group of merry men here were trying to board my ship without permission, which is an act of piracy, even when the ship is docked!" He got in So'Rit's face and looked him dead in the eyes. "Did you authorize this?"

So'Rit growled. "The device must be installed, so yes, I authorized it."

"So you get with dock control so we can call Captain Barret and request permission, Councilor," Loriv said. "You don't pull this kind of shit! These folks could have your ass on a silver platter for this!"

"Yes, of course," So'Rit said. "I am sorry, Mister..."

"Captain," Barret hissed. "Captain James Barret, one of the owners and operators of the transport ship Arrowhead."

"Captain," So'Rit growled. "May my crew come aboard and install the quantum communicator?"

"Get everyone back," Barret said. "I want a word with the dock master and the governor first."

Reluctantly, So'Rit's crew backed off. Vas, now fully dressed, came out of the airlock and joined her mate.

"Captain, I am so sorry about this!" Loriv said. "I had no clue these chuckleheads were even down here! They bypassed normal entry procedures!"

Barret was still glaring at So'Rit and his cronies. "Not your fault."

"The question remains how they gained entrance to the commercial dock," Larik'Ni said. "This is a restricted area. Only dock personnel, elected officials, and the crews of the ships berthed here are allowed, unless they have been granted clearance."

"And if they were here to install a communicator, they could easily have gotten that clearance," Loriv said.

"So now what?" Vas asked.

"I'll let them aboard," Barret said, "but I'll be hovering over their shoulders the entire time."

"That might not be a good idea, Captain," Loriv said. "These guys seem pretty severe. They may try something."

Barret grinned. "Let them try. I have a surprise on board, right where I can get to it."

Loriv got a worried look on her face. "Is this something... illegal, Captain?"

"Not at all," Barret said. "I'm ex-military. Let's just say that a good friend of mine provided us with some good, military grade ship's security."

Vas grinned at her mate. "Sentry?"

Barret returned the grin. "Sentry."

----

Barret led two of the men into Arrowhead's transmitter room. Unfortunately, one of those two was the slime ball who had tried to break in. The guy, Simon Clements, wasn't too happy about the escort.

"We don't need you breathing down our necks," he complained.

"You tried to break in," Barret snarled. "I'm not letting you roam my ship unattended."

"Look, man, I'm just doing my job," Clements said.

"And I'm protecting my ship."

Clements's lips curled into a devious grin, and his hand went to a holster on his hip. "What if I don't want you here?"

"Unauthorized weapon detected!" another voice said. There was a slight humming sound, followed by the appearance of a floating, almost rectangular construct roughly the length of a man's arm, that ended in a tapered tip. It had two spindly manipulator arms that ended in three long fingers. Electricity was arcing between the fingers of the left hand.

Clements scowled. "Get that fucking drone away from me!"

"No," Barret said, crossing his arms. "That's my security system. It's doing its job and keeping you from making a big mistake."

Thank you, Grant Bonner for giving me this drone, Barret thought. Normally, a security drone like this wouldn't be allowed on a civilian ship, but Barret's service record, and his old friend Bonner's standing in the System Patrol, gave him the clearance he needed to have it on board.

"Unauthorized weapon detected," the drone repeated. "Move your hand away from the weapon. You have ten seconds to comply."

Clements growled. He wasn't going to back down.

The drone floated over to Clements and got in his face, its sparking fingers mere millimeters from his bulbous nose. "Five seconds."

"Fine." He moved his hand away from the holster, and the Sentry drone backed off.

"Here's the deal," Barret said, "do your job, and get out."

"If I don't?" Clements sneered, still thinking he could take control of this situation.

"I'll turn the safety off and let Sentry here pour enough juice through you to make you flop on the deck like a fish out of water! Then I'll report your ass to Haven Security and the Freighters Guild."

"Fine. Whatever." Clements joined his compatriot, who was carrying a sphere the size of a grapefruit; the main core of the quantum entanglement communicator. He also had a small box.

"This," the technician held up the sphere, "will network with your ship's own comm system, which is how we can keep it so small. Basically, this houses half of the entangled pair of particles that allows real-time communications with Haven. It doesn't even use a standard channel, so you can still use your own comm system while this is in operation." He then held up the cube. "This is the driver that will need to be networked with your main computer."

"Just get on with it," Barret said. He opened the door to the transmitter room. All three of them went into the cramped quarters.

Barret stood back and watched, keeping a close eye on his unwanted guests. Joke's on them. Of course I'm reporting them to the Guild. Them, and that asshole So'Rit. No one tries to force their way onto my ship and gets away with it!

----

Loriv escorted the councilor and his band of reprobates from the dock. It was all she could do to keep from bodily throwing them out on their asses. After the undesirables were gone, Loriv led Vas and Larik'Ni to her office, where they looked up Simon Clements on her terminal.

"This guy has delusions of being Al Capone, except he'll get his hands dirty," Loriv told Vas and Larik'Ni after looking Clements up.

"I am sorry," Larik'Ni said, "who?"

"An organized crime kingpin on Earth who lived five hundred years ago, during the period humans call the Twentieth Century," Loriv explained. "He was behind a lot of killings, but law enforcement wouldn't do anything. He paid a lot of them off. He was finally busted on tax evasion."

Vas raised her eyebrows. "I only know that name because of a museum James took me to when we were on Earth. The advantages of having a human bond mate, I guess. How did you know about him?"

"I was born and raised on Earth," Loriv said. "In Chicago, where this guy operated. My mother's best friend was a professor of Twentieth Century history, and her specialty was on the Prohibition era mafia. But that's neither here nor there.

"Clements showed up here three years ago, and took over half of the rackets in Korivik District. Now he's working with our esteemed Councilor So'Rit."

"He probably has someone from Haven Security on his payroll," Larik'Ni surmised. "That would explain how he is still operating."

Loriv looked over at Vas. "Are you sure it was a good idea leaving Captain Barret alone with that guy?"

Vas smiled. "He'll be fine. The Arrowhead has a sophisticated security drone an old friend of James's from his System Patrol days gave us. It'll deter those jackasses from trying something."

"I'll take your word for it," Loriv said. "Well, Governor, you're the boss. What do we do?"

"Forward everything to my office, Ms. Hevist," Larik'Ni told her. "I know who the honest security operatives are. I will get our evidence in order."

Larik'Ni let out an annoyed sigh. "First the communicator is behind schedule, then a criminal is in charge of getting it installed, and he has So'Rit's backing. Does anyone else find this more than suspicious?"

"Unfortunately," Vas said, "there's nothing we can do right now. James will let me know when they're done with the transmitter." She pointed to her left ear. "I grabbed my comm link on the way out."

"Then we should depart," Larik'Ni said wearily. Her good feelings from this morning were gone. She and Vas walked out together.

"Are you going back to your office?" Vas asked.

"No. Home. I need to calm down before I return to work. Otherwise I will be the worst bitch imaginable."

Vas linked her arm through Larik'Ni's. "I think I know a way to calm you down, lover."

----

Larik'Ni's apartment wasn't very big. There was a living room furnished with the equivalent of a small couch, a cooking and dining area, a bathroom, and the bedroom.

Larik'Ni's bedroom was only big enough for a bed, and a chest for her clothes. There were no real personal touches. Larik'Ni wasn't allowed to take anything from her old home on Thelst after the death of her family. She was practically broke when she arrived on Haven. What money her family had possessed was taken by the Triumvirate; Thelst's ruling body.

Larik'Ni had been given a small pittance to pay for her passage, but that was mostly gone by the time she finally reached Haven. Everything she had, from furnishings to clothes, was either found or bought second hand. Even now, when she was making a very good living, she still lived like she was poor. A lot of her money went to help those in need, as she had once been.