A dutiful, ace soldier from Mars faces a dilemma. She can accept an offer from an infuriating gen-eng man from Venus, grab her loyal cat + dig up her inner rebel and maybe become the first human to explore the Galaxy. OR she can keep flying security...
Time Stamp: 31st of the 3rd month, year 2696 CE, 10:01
Location Stamp: Space cruiseliner Solar Wind, home port Mars, owned by the Stellar Cruises Inc., in orbit around planet Jupiter, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy
***
Lola's drama was short-lived. Dr. Mikado showed up for one security meeting to tell Shameel that his simulations show (with a 98.3% certainty) that the brig is using Solar Wind's greater mass to elude the scanners of the Interstellar Transportation Board.
***
File Excerpt: Interstellar Transportation Board, an alien regulating body
The Interstellar Transportation Board (commonly known as It-Be) is a powerful alien-run body that regulates the access to the Milky Way Interstellar Network. The sentients that control the It-Be, control the Interstellar Alliance. The depopulation of planet Earth and setting it up as a historic-cultural preserve after the 2296 mega-volcanic event in Yellowstone was largely achieved with the It-Be's sponsorship.
***
After that, our 'Science Corps' marched out, separated his capsule lab module from the 'Solar Wind' and initiated accelerated descent to Jupiter.
It's been two weeks since then, but Lola still stewed over Mikado's unauthorized and inexcusable move during our orbital safety meeting. "This... this man endangered priceless equipment. He... he..."
Honestly, she sounded more jealous than outraged. "Don't hold back, Ll! Yell me how you really feel, Ll."
Her thirteen guileless eyes blinked at me.
"Curse him out," I explained. "It's therapeutic."
"Well... this... asshat! Though, to be fair, it extends the duration of his flyby and the sampling window."
The twitching of Lola's whiskers got me snorting. "Then he can stay behind on Jupiter till the next boat, that will give him a good, long sampling period!"
Shameel shot us a dark look. "Lola, if you're done giggling, please, appraise us of your conclusions." It wasn't a remotely polite 'please'.
"After I correlated—"
"Just the conclusions!"
Lola raised to her many feet and straightened up, like she had a proper spine. "The brig's crewed by the variel, Sir!"
***
File Excerpt: Variel Species
Mono-peds, resembling upright anemones, except they only have one feeler on top. A mouth-hole in the middle of their tube-shaped body is their one vulnerable spot.
Special abilities: The variel have a marked preference for throwing weapons that return to sender.
Character: This nomadic species cruise the Galaxy in hierarchical clusters, always ready to hire themselves out as mercenaries. They fall back on piracy when they cannot find a conflict.
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***
"And what do we know of the variel, Gorelko?" Shameel asked.
"They are petty crooks, smugglers, Sir. I doubt they'd dare take on a cruise-ship full of the who-is-who of the twenty-seven allied systems. Mikado is probably right, and they are using us as a cover after some petty heist."
"Did I ask for an analysis, Gorelko?"
"No, Sir, you did not!"
"I... I think I should be able to ID the cluster by the time we're scheduled to leave Jupiter," Lola said, despite throwing me a hurt look when I mentioned Mikado. "We... we can report them to the pertinent authorities then."
"Make it so." Shameel nodded to Lola, but he was beaming at me.
I chewed on my lip, wondering what he had in store for me. The wait wasn't long.
"Next order of business, team," Shameel said. "One of our staff has built an extra-special rapport with a passenger. So, we have a personal request for Gorelko to escort a sahib on a private hoverboard tour of Jupiter. The name's Zan'Zar."
The algorithm brought up Zan'Zar's likeness on the screen the moment Shameel mentioned him.
All eyes in the meeting room fastened to the lifelike image of my early-morning bird. Well, my early-morning squid...
Even from an unscaled image, it was obvious he was a giant next to a human. The holo-imaging made Zan'Zar's purple-and-indigo skin look garish, though his tentacles went really well with that massive beak. He brought to mind the ancient pictures of scary aliens the humans drew before they had encountered any actual aliens. All he lacked was an overturned fishbowl for a helmet and a laser gun.
"He is mild in person," I said. My teammates slanted their eyes at me and sniggered.
Lola belatedly wiggled her freshly painted nails—lapis-lazuli today—to replace Zan'Zar's snapshot with the variel's brig.
I licked my lips. "So... erm... are we positive the raiders don't ride this brig?"
"Yes, Gorelko, we're positive." Shameel regarded me with a toothy smile. "But don't worry about the variel, Gorelko. You can fully dedicate your time to the cha'na now. It's your extra-special assignment."
My brow creased. I could sense a catch as surely as I could sense the raiders' mines, but where was it?
"This Zan'Zar fellow is fishy," Shameel went on. "He spends lavishly, and the origin of his funds is obscured by a financial process so byzantine that Lola can't get to the bottom of it."
"I can, Sir.... I mean...if I didn't have to resolve the clearance issues through the legal channels." Lola's voice oozed with restrained emotions. I wish, I loved anything as deeply as Lola loved the proper protocol!
"If you want to fly this proposal by the management, don't let me stop you. Fill out a form!" Shameel snapped at the tech-wiz.
It felt half-hearted, but Lola retreated into the wall anyway. In the meantime, Shameel's glacial gaze coasted on me. "I expect a formal report at the end of each day. And hourly updates."
Aha! There it was. My boss created busy work for me as a punishment for moonlighting. I sighed, while the asshats in the room—to borrow Lola's expression—sniggered some more.
However, busy work was a double-aged sword. I saluted Shameel. "Sir, yes, Sir! I shall stick to this suspicious cha'na like glue. I'll document his every step on Jupiter."
"Jupiter is a gas giant," Lola said, because a mym can't help it. They live for sharing information. "There is... there's no solid ground to walk on. It's a ball of hot air."
Not unlike Shameel.
"Then I won't let him hoverboard a single ah... hover-stride without me reporting it. I'll get all the answers. His finances, personal character failings, the whole nine yards!"
That was for Shameel. As for my teammates... I crossed my arms on my chest and regaled them with a grin. "I'll hoverboard all over Jupiter, while you batten down the hatches for the return journey."
If only Lola could time-lapse their faces as a memento for me, going from gleeful to long, the moment would have been perfect. Sure, hoverboarding on Jupiter was extreme and dangerous, and extra-reporting was a nuisance, but next to checking seams and wires for the cranky engineers?
"It would be like a holiday, really. A jolly Jovian holiday."
