Hard Ground

Agreebo: an alien planet not too close to the frontier that pirates and raiders would bother me and far enough from Sagan Security on Columbus to ease the tension making my shoulders and neck ache.

I still burned with resentment and anger. Oh, and toss in frustration at how my life could go from triumph to down the crapper in such a short time.

I thought about it, constantly, on the three week trip out to this… place. From the moment I took the bounty on Peero – mass murderer and world killer – to Rahman Chezerain – former lover and sworn enemy - stealing that bounty, on to accessing my inheritance, to my dear, darling Uncle Randall manipulating me into joining Sagan Security and finally the bounty on my own head for the recruitment officer’s murder.

On whom did I lay the blame? Me or those who forced my decisions? Some was on me; most was on squarely on the shoulders of others.

The question, of course, was what I did about it. Answer: what could I do?

I made a mental list: evade Rahman, get back my bounty, find out why Randall had done this to me and clear my name of murder, not necessarily in that order.

Agreebo customs hailed me and I frowned. I was too far out from the planet for them to worry about me yet. I wasn’t expecting a call for another twelve hours.

“Unidentified ship, please heave-to and prepare for inspection. I repeat: unidentified ship, heave-to and prepare for inspection.” A bored voice said over the com.

Where…?

Ah… there. I checked my sensors and sure enough, off the port side, floated a small craft. It hadn’t registered at first because I had my sensors configured to larger objects like asteroids, meteors and big ships. The sensors also indicated the minnow was armed and those weapons were hot. Now that was a problem.

When entering a star system, most Customs Officers merely directed you to a docking bay on a space station, or a geo-stationary orbit around the planet. Other systems assumed everyone carried contraband and wanted to keep those ships as far from planet fall as possible until checked out. Of course, there were the few, like the planets on the frontier who covertly supported pirates and illegal goods trafficking. Was there a better way for a marginal system to acquire ships and money from cargo than confiscating them?

Any star system was, after all, sovereign territory and they could do what they damned-well liked.

I brought up the visual of the Customs Officer. Yep, alien. A sickly, green alien with what looked like fern fronds stuck to his round face; no eyes, or a nose or mouth. As I watched, those fronds rippled and two rose, trembled.

“You are the Captain?”

“I am. Bounty Hunter Rhianna Sagan.”

“What cargo do you carry?”

“None, sir.” I replied politely.

“No cargo? Then why are you here? Only transports are permitted.”

This was new. Agreebo relied on being a transport hub, yes, but it also served as a resupply station for ships and luxury cruisers. When had that changed?

“I’m sorry, sir, I thought to resupply here and continue on.”

I kept my eyes on the plant-like face. I thought I knew all the alien species, but not this one. The idea that something catastrophic had occurred out here grew.

“No longer. We are cargo depot only. Heave-to for inspection.” The trembling of fronds became more agitated. “We do not allow unknown vessels in our system. Heave-to for inspection!”

A red light flashed to my left. The small craft activated the close-quarter sensors. They were coming in whether I wanted them to or not and I had no reason – yet – to blow them into small pieces.

I did not know these people and I did not want them aboard my ship. I didn’t know what had gone wrong in Agreebo, and I sure as Hell didn’t want to die ‘accidentally’ during a hostile boarding. I could easily imagine other ships complying without hesitation, to their peril. Customs inspections were expected and every ship’s master knew the drill.

The red light went out and the hatch connector light turned green. The armed shuttlecraft had sealed to my ship.

“There is no need for this hostile action, sir.”

The fronds did nothing.

Could I escape with a craft attached to the side? No, I could not because the shape upset the streamlined configuration required to get into hyper. My shield didn’t extend that far to reconfigure the curve needed. Worse, achieving hyper-velocity required a nice long run up before jumping, just like coming out of hyper required a nice long deceleration in the outer system so you didn’t slam into any immovable objects… like a planet.

So. I had to get that damned parasite off and… oh, crap. They’d breached the hatch. How could they do that so fast without the access codes or something to cut through the steel and ceramic nano-bonded polymer? The how mattered less than the fact they were now aboard my ship.

I glared at the Officer. “Piracy is a galaxy-wide offence.”

“Not to us. Your ship is now ours and your life is forfeit.” His fronds undulated as if laughing as he turned the vision off.

Okay, fine. Time to repel boarders. I locked down the bridge hatch and access to the engines; control either, and you controlled the ship.

“Mess with a Hunter, would you?” I growled. You couldn’t have a bounty escaping from custody and trying to take over the ship, so Blue Dragon came with a few… modifications, like crowd suppressant gas.

The internal visuals showed me two groups of three intruders, one group at the bridge hatch and the other moving towards the engine hatch. They stood two metres tall, with the same frond facial features covering their unprotected bodies.

“Lords of Space, are they… roots?” I zeroed in and yeah, the aliens used root systems as if they were feet and they moved fast.

Great, I’d been boarded by a garden.

I accessed the gas and pressed the button, waited for them to fall kicking and screaming and grabbing their sensory organs. But they didn’t; they moved as if the gas were nothing but a breeze, their fronds flickering and waving.

What else did I have in my arsenal that could defeat foliage? All my counter measures assumed the villain had a complex, organic, blood-fed nervous system. The crowd suppressant gas was based on chilli juice. They should be writhing on the deck. Unfortunately, they had no eyes to attack with the acidic cocktail. Maybe they fed on organic material?

I also didn’t have any handy-dandy weed-killer because I didn’t have a hydroponics section.

Evolution could sure be a bitch sometimes. What I wouldn’t give for some of Peero’s toxins.

I pursed my lips and shut down the lights. Plants needed light, didn’t they? And oxygen… but then, so did I. I could vent the engine room, but recharging the air came from the rest of the ship. Then again, I didn’t need to recharge it, since I knew little about how the engine worked. If it got me to where I wanted to go, good; and to make sure, I maintained a regular service schedule.

The group at the far end of the ship breached the engine room hatch with ridiculous ease. I waited until they’d closed and locked the door, then opened the external maintenance access panels. Three weeds found themselves sucked out into space. I buttoned up the panels, nice and tight. One bunch of greenery mulched.

Lack of water, salt? My mind raced with ideas quickly discarded as being unworkable. One weed outside the hatch had a frond over the controls while the other two stood back. They’d be in here soon, if I didn’t come up with a strategy.

Damn it! Think! What else killed off plants?

I got out of my chair, paced. None of the group had gone for the armoury, which meant they had their own form of weapon. Poison darts? Sap? Deadly fruit? Did they spit poison pips? What?

Well, it didn’t really matter now, because the red light above the hatch turned green and then slid open…

© Copyright 2008 Jaye Patrick