Nebulae and Cosmic Filaments - A Second Anthology of SF SD Shorts

Part 2 - Pieces on the Board

The Pegrin captain frowned as her cruiser slid around the bulk of Cygni Tau Four and the free port station appeared as a dot on her scanners.

"Krevor-ken, na'laro'ket," she hissed.  "Slow to quarter, signal the free port that we approach and request clearance to dock."

"Sir," her navigator chirped, his claws dancing over his control board.

It was still strange to her to have most of the commercial and some of the military traffic in the sector being routed through this system to take advantage of the massive space station the humans had discovered eight years ago.  Before the discovery, the Cygni multi-star system had been a wasteland, a system filled with too much interstellar debris to be easily navigable or useful.

Now, however, it was a hub of activity for the entire sector.  As a free port and therefore neutral, it didn't give the advantage to any of the factions vying for nearby territory.  And that granted it a certain amount of autonomy.  Which, of course, made the station a perfect shipping and commercial hub.  It was a destiny the station quickly embraced since it was the human company Dante Corp that had discovered it.  A company more than interested in getting their money back from their initial investment.

Carefully the cruiser sidled closer after getting docking clearance, until one of the docking arms reached out and snagged it with its graviton moorings before pulling it the rest of the way in.  Disembarking, the captain and her senior officers, with the data store in a sealed container in hand, paused just inside the dock to give the station's map a quick look.

There, the location of their exchange.  A bar in the human sector called the Seventh Rule.  After plotting the most logical route there, the Pegrin were on the move.

As the Pegrin were making their way deeper into the hive that was the free port, space blurred just beyond the station's reach.  A heartbeat later, a slipstream vent opened and a Vexxan pocket battleship, all guns, shield emitters and thrusters, snapped through and into normal space.  Breaking hard, they too began their approach after asking for permission to dock.

Kane let a long sigh ease out of his nostrils as he stared at the Rule's main entrance some ten metres away from where he sat in a darkened corner.  'Why did I agree to this again?  Oh yeah, a million in ASC big bills, cash,' he darkly mused as his foot twitched nervously under the table.

It was well into what they had called 'Happy Hour' back in the human territories.  The music had grown a bit louder, and a bit more insistent, a low throb that had faded into the background for Kane's desensitized ears.  The mechas up on the platforms had switched a couple times, to give anybody watching them a different look, their dancing becoming more sensual and grinding as the night wore on.

And yet, Kane found his mind on only one thing: the upcoming exchange.  The table in front of him was empty of his usual collection of shot glasses and drinking vessels and he studiously kept his eyes away from the all-too realistic mechas and their grinding.

It didn't help that he could feel the two groups of aliens as they made their way towards the Seventh Rule.  It was the only way he could describe it, a feeling.  It was almost like a map of the station was now installed in his mind's eye and he could see where they were.  And they were almost to the bar.

Settling himself, Kane stood and began to slip through the crowd of mostly humans, with the odd humanoid thrown in for measure, towards the entrance.

From what he knew, the Pegrin were an avian species, descended from a bird-like ancestor.  Even after millions of years of evolution, they still retained the lean, feather-covered body of their progenitors, complete with hollow bones, sharp binocular vision and beak-like lips.

In contrast the Vexxan were ursanoids, massive, burly creatures that looked much like the bear-like creatures they had evolved from.  And, like their ancestors, they were grumpy, belligerant and aggressive.  Since consolidating their own space nearly fifteen years ago, they had been aggressively gobbling up territory at an incredible rate.  Which included border territory claimed by the Pegrin.

One thing led to another and the Pegrin and the Vexxan ended up giving each other the bleary eyeball across the void.  Now, after five years into a hot war, Pegrin rebels fighting against their own government were about to sell out their own people for a chance to extend the life of their 'cause'.  'Idiots,' Kane mused darkly as he leaned against a wall close to the door.

Yet, was he any better?  Getting himself all tangled up in Dante Corp's plan for the ancient space station that was now his home?

Then he was forced to push those thoughts aside as three Pegrin pushed through the front door, pausing just inside the threshold to let their eyes adjust to the lowered lighting, hands on their holstered weapons.  And, just as quickly, they were shouldered aside by four Vexxan, the bear-like beings throwing glares at their avian counterparts before sniffing the thick air inside the Seven.  'And that would be my cue,' Kane thought, straightening up and stepping towards the two groups of aliens.

"Welcome to Dante Station, friends," he said as he came within visual and audible range.  "And to the Seventh Rule.  Leave your troubles at the door, if you don't mind.  Or you'll find more inside.  So before you come in here with some kinda attitude, better read the House Rules."  He reached up to tap the plaque set into the wall beside the door.

One of the Vexxan stepped forward to give Kane a sniff.  What he saw was a tall human, with broad shoulders and a muscular build, long, dark hair and a jawline beard and goatee decorating his chiseled face.  And he stank of alien nanites.

"First Lander!" the bear-like alien growled in barely intelligible Anglo.

Kane felt his lips curl upward in a thin smile.

"Yeah, a First Lander.  And don't you forget it, bub," was his flat reply.  "This is my house.  So any of you step out of line,..."

As if summoned, a handful of the bar's mechas appeared all around the two groups of aliens.  Most were curvy waitresses like Jazz.  But two of them were powerful-looking creations built for ending trouble however it got started.  Kane glanced significantly at the pair of mecha bouncers then back at the Vexxan as the waitresses asked for drink orders.

"Now that we're all properly introduced, shall we retire to our conference room?" he asked, keeping his tone light.  Then he was turning to lead the way.