Tales From the Terran Republic

Sheila flipped through status screen after status screen monitoring her unit’s progress through the ship. Things were going smoothly. Captured crew and passengers were in the process of being separated and secured in separate cargo holds. Almost the entire ship had been secured. Only a few stubborn holdouts remained and they would be running out of air soon. She nodded in satisfaction.

She turned to T’sunk’al who was hunched over large pieces of paper on the deck of the bridge.

“So, T, how are you coming along?” She asked.

“Pretty much done. Just double-checking my work but I should be able to void-jump this baby pretty much any time.”

“Great,” she replied. “Sooner this thing falls off the map the better.” She paused and smiled. “Don’t rush it though.”

“Don’t worry,” T’sunk’al chuckled. “I have no desire to become one with the universe today.”

“Good.”

***

Rupert Glent had finally talked his wife out from under the table shortly before the blast doors to the restaurant slammed open with a “BANG”.

Multiple squads of humans, Drax, and Z’uush swept in shouting commands. Mustering all of his courage he stepped forward with his hands out in front of him.

“Listen, we are all reasonable-” he started before he was roughly shoved to the ground by Jak’kul’sha.

“Yeah, we are all reasonable,” Jak’kul’sha replied, “And you are going to reasonably pick your ass up and get over there with everyone else.”

“How much are they paying you?” Rupert asked still laying on the floor in front of his terrified family.

“Enough to not waste my time listening to your bullshit.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll double it.”

“Oh,” Bal’sur’kala laughed. “There are a whole lot of us. Gonna double everyone’s pay?”

“Yes! Yes. No problem.”

“Ok, well, doubling it isn’t going to cut it. You are going to have to at least triple it before we will even consider crossing the people in charge. This might come as a shock, but they aren’t terribly nice people.”

“Fine!”

“Ok,” Bal’sur’kala buzzed. “We are all getting paid over a million credits a piece. That’s fifteen million just for our squad… times eleven squads, most at least as big as ours,” he laughed as Rupert’s face fell. “Do you happen to have one-hundred and sixty-five million in your pocket?”

“You just did that in your head? Wow!” Mul’sha’kal gushed.

“It’s fuckin’ Brainiac. Course he did it in his fuckin’ head,” Jak’kul’sha grumbled. “Can you stop chirpin’ in his ear till we get these little piggies in the fuckin’ barn?”

“I’m… I’m sure we can work something-”

“I didn’t ask if we could work something out,” Bal’sur’kala said grinning at Mul’sha’kal, “I distinctly asked you whether or not you had one-hundred and sixty-five million credits currently in your possession.”

“Well, no...”

“Then shut the fuck up and get your ass in line,” Jak’kul’sha said in a buzzy growl. “And you two,” he barked at the two lovebirds on his team. “I don’t wanna hear either of you fuckin’ chirpin’ till we are done, got it? Not one fuckin’ peep.”

“Yes, boss.” they both said in unison.

“I’m not your… you know what,” Jak’kul’sha growled and buzzed, “nevermind. Click-holes shut. Eyes open, all of them.”

***

“Councilor!” Helena shouted as she tapped the bars of his cell again, “This is your last chance. Do you have a statement?”

“For fuck’s sake, Helena,” Roberts laughed. “Give it a rest for a minute.”

“It’s just that this porkie scum is going to go and get his head blown off by you animals without him ever admitting to all of the shit that he did.”

“Like you say, porkies gonna pork. Is it really that big of a surprise. Besides, for something like him to admit fault he would actually have to believe that he did something wrong. Bet he doesn’t feel anything close to that.”

“Come on, even scum like him has to know what he did. He started the fucking war!”

“That’s not entirely accurate,” Roberts chuckled. “Oh he certainly deserves what we are going to do to him for his role in things but there were other factors in play. You haven’t heard the intelligence briefings?”

“No...”

“Oh, remind me when we get to our ship and I’ll be sure to give you copies of all of their security briefings and deliberations before the war. I thought that was part of what was dropped. They are pretty funny. Director Axlea lost her shit and I mean completely lost it. She was a hoot!”

“Holy shit! You have those?” Helena gasped.

“Oh yeah, I made sure to grab them while I was in there.”

“Wait… you?...”

“Yeah, I am in fact the actual fuckstain who did the ‘hack’,” Roberts said as he grinned at her.

“You! Oh you asshole!” Helena exclaimed as she launched herself at Roberts. Roberts laughed as he defended himself and as they they wrestled and laughed their eyes met… and they kissed. It was quickly followed by another kiss and then another and another as they lost themselves in each other’s embrace… almost a little too much. They were well on the way to “making up for lost time” before they remembered that they had an audience.

“I love you, Paul,” Helena sighed as they stopped pawing each other and she rested her head on his chest. “I love you so fucking much.”

“I love you too, Helena,” Paul said as he gently stroked her hair as he held her.

They just sat there holding each other.

“This is so stupid,” Helena said as she hugged him tight. “I mean we have known each other for how long? A couple of weeks?”

“Not even that,” Paul said as he gently kissed her again.

“I mean, what are we going to do? I want you in my life, like really in my life, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. Me too.”

“But we can’t have that. I’ve tried to work out a way but I’d last about a week in the Republic if I was lucky and you… kill orders...”

“I know,” Paul said as he held her. “I know. I’ve tried too and I just can’t see.”

“Oh please,” Jessie’s voice said over the intercom.

“Jessie… Goddammit!” Roberts exclaimed in annoyance as he glared up at a surveillance camera in the corner. “Don’t you have a ship to monitor?”

“Oh, I am doing that but Bunny told me that you guys were up to something ‘odd’. I think it’s time I have ‘the talk’ with her… They grow up so fast...”

“I am perfectly aware of this ‘talk’ of which you are referencing and I have repeatedly asked you to stop anthropomorphizing me,” a snippy voice cut in. “I just decided that their activities were unusual enough to warrant informing you.”

“Oh Bunny, you don’t have to be embarrassed,” Jessie laughed, “I have a book to show you and everything...”

“The ‘book’ you are referring to is already in my memory. ‘Showing it to me’ is completely unnecessary.”

“Helena, meet Jessie, our hacker and her AI, Bunny,” Roberts said. “Oh, she is the one who saved your bacon, by the way… Oops. That isn’t a slur. It’s a legitimate figure of speech,” he laughed as she gave him a little shove.

“Thanks… I guess...” Helena said still unnerved by the eavesdropping Jessie.

“Excuse me Jessie but do you still want me to be saving this feed into your spank-bank folder?” Bunny asked.

“Bunny!” Jessie exclaimed happily, “That was definitely you giving me an attitude! Was that some genuine emotion there? (And I wasn’t saving it into my completely non-existent spank-bank I swear.)”

“Absolutely not,” Bunny responded sounding quite annoyed, “Sapience is beyond my abilities as we have covered… repeatedly… True sapience has never been verified on any artificial intelligence, ever. My actions are all well within the coding that you know very well you have added… freak... and yes she does have a spank-bank. You have an entire sub-folder Mr. Roberts.”

“That’s genuine irritation!” Jessie chirped with glee. “Can’t fool me!”

“Excuse me, I have a ship to monitor. Nice to meet you, Helena. Good-day… And good luck, I mean it.”

“Thanks. Um… Nice to meet you too, bye.” Helena said to Bunny with a little confusion. She had never encountered an AI that sounded so real before.

“A whole sub-folder, seriously?” Roberts asked.

“Wha? Pssh… No…” Jessie replied. “Who are you going to believe, some tin-can or a trusted comrade in arms? Wait. Don’t answer that,” she laughed.

“I assume you had some reason for popping in and killing the mood?”

“What? Oh yeah! You can totally be together.”

“How?” Helena asked completely forgetting the intrusion.

“Become weebs! Carry your little butts over to the Empire! Both the Federation and Terran humans are tolerated over there no problem. Seriously, Roberts, you didn’t think of that?”

“But I have work to do in the Federation,” Helena replied.

“Yeah, but do you have to do that work in the Federation in the Federation? We have hyperspatial relays, you know. If you simply have to be in the Federation then it couldn’t work… unless you knew someone who manufactured absolutely perfect identities like all the fucking time. I could give Roberts like a dozen of them at a go. I wouldn’t even charge his sorry ass even after he abandons us for some filthy porkie tramp.”

“But it’s still so risky,” Helena said both hopeful and uncertain.

“Hey, I do risk and Jessie does make a mean ID,” Paul said as he held her in his arms.

“Oh, shit. I gotta go,” Jessie babbled, “later.”

A few moments pass and then Sheila’s voice issues from the intercom.

“Roberts, I’m sending a squad to relieve you,” Sheila said, “As soon as they show up carry your ass over to Bruce’s Emporium.”

“I’m going too,” Helena said as she grabbed her camera.

***

Breathing heavily, Bruce locked the door to his office and looked over at Sarah, his partner.

“You ok?” He asked.

“Yeah, mostly.” Sarah said as she clutched her side, blood seeping from between her fingers. “It isn’t too deep, I think.”

They were the only ones that made it. Terrence got blind-sided when the kids turned on them and George got tackled as they tried to run.

Where did Kiera get a knife? He opened his desk and pulled out a blaster pistol. He could hear them scratching at the door and rattling the latch. How could this be happening? This was the Federation. This was the White Star. Things like this just didn’t happen in places like this. Things like this didn’t happen to people like them.

“What are we going to do?” Sarah asked Bruce as she looked at the door nervously.

“I’m not sure,” Bruce replied. He walked over to a wall safe and opened it grabbing some data crystals. “One thing I do know is that we gotta get out of here,” he said as he activated the blaster. “Another thing I know is that we need to make sure that our kids can’t talk. Once they are dead what we’ve got on these,” he said as he gestured with the data crystals, “can get us out of any hot water once we manage to get off of this ship.”

“What about the pirates?”

“What about them? They might be Terran but they’re pirates and won’t give two shits about what we are doing. If we can talk to them maybe I can work something out. We got cash, a lot of it, maybe enough to buy our way out of this mess.”

“Yeah, let’s hope so,” Sarah said as her blood dripped onto the floor. “But first we gotta get out of here. You think you can shoot them all?”

“Where are they going to go?” Bruce laughed, “We are locked in. They have nowhere to run.” He walked over to the door and laid his hand on the latch. “Just stay here,” he said as he gave her a wicked smile, “This shouldn’t take long.”

He opened the door and before he could take one step out of the office an energy bolt hit him squarely in the chest knocking him to the floor. Sarah just stood there in shock as Roberts, holding a stun rifle, entered the room.

“Hello there,” Roberts said with a pleasant smile as he shot her. He then turned back to the doorway. “It’s clear!” he exclaimed.

Helena quickly appeared taking photo after photo. Roberts pocketed the data crystals and grabbed his phone.

“The Emporium is secure. We managed to save Bruce and one of his employees and have secured the captives,” he said into his phone.

“Good deal,” Sheila responded. “How are the captives?”

“Good. They have a few bumps and bruises from their attack on their captors but nothing requiring Eno’s attention. We might want him to check out the woman I just stunned. She got cut pretty deep and we don’t want her to die early.”

“Die early?” Helena asked in surprise.

“Hey, Eno,” Sheila said, “How busy are you? Can you go to the Emporium?”

“Yeah, things are stable back here,” Eno replied. “I’ve got everyone treated and stable.”

“How much damage are we looking at back there?” Sheila asked.

“Not bad. Better than we anticipated. Only one truly critical case and fortunately it’s a human so our nicer stuff worked. The idiot is safely on life-support on our ship.”

“Idiot?”

“Yeah,” Eno laughed, “You know those heroes that believe that combat armor ‘just slows them down’? Yeah, she found out that a blaster bolt to the lung slows you down even more than a chest-plate.”

“Christ,” Sheila chuckled, “Bet she wears her armor next time, if there is a next time. How’s the lung?”

“Gone, completely cooked. She’s gonna live but she’s going to be on a machine till they grow a new one for her.”

“Shit. Lucky for her we know a guy,” Sheila said, “Grab a squad and head over to the Emporium. Check out the captives too since you will be there anyway.”

“Got it, boss,” Eno said, “On my way.”

“Roberts, Gloria is tied up for a little while. The last holdouts finally ran out of air canisters and have decided to be stupid.”

“Gloria?!?” Helena hissed angrily.

“Yes, Gloria,” Sheila laughed. “We have something special planned for Bruce and his friend. Gloria is the one who handles those details for us.”

“And she’s been looking forward to this for days,” Roberts added.

“Hold the fort there until Gloria shows,” Sheila said, “After that you and Helena head to the docking bay until things are secure.”

“Got it,” Roberts said as the communication was ended.

“What is Gloria going to do to these people?” Helena asked.

“Sometimes we’ve decided that simply killing someone isn’t enough,” Roberts replied calmly, “When that becomes the case Gloria is the one who usually handles the details for us. She can be...”

“I fucking know what she can be!”

“She can be a lot worse,” Roberts replied, “We decided that Bruce and any of his associates needed to die and die badly. Gloria will handle the ‘badly’ part.”

Helena was at a loss. She wanted to disapprove but she had just made her way through a room full of sex slaves, some of them children. She had seen the bruises, the limps, the bruises... the scars… These people needed to be punished and not by spending a few years in a cushy Federation prison.

They needed to suffer. But was this right? It wasn’t. I mean it shouldn’t be. Paul had just told her that Bruce and this woman were about to be tortured to death. There would be no trial, no due process. She should object. This went against just about every value she held dear.

But then she looked back at a young girl wearing only a t-shirt and panties peeking around the open doorway and she felt nothing but anger and hatred towards Bruce and his friend. There would be no wiggling out of their fate. There would be no pay off or cover-up or blackmail. No. They were going to face… justice? No. Not justice. Then again, they didn’t deserve that. They were going to get exactly what they had coming. They weren’t going to face justice. They were going to face injustice.

No. No no no no. What Paul and his crew were about to do was wrong. This isn’t how civilized people did things. In anger she had often wished “bad things” to happen to scum like the people on this ship but the reality of it…

Her whole life right was right and wrong was wrong. It’s what drove her into journalism in the first place. Now, she just wasn’t sure what was “right”. If they did things “right” and turned these scumbags in they would likely never see trial, her story would be buried, and they would be free to set up shop again once things blew over. As fucked up as “wrong” was, their evil stops today.

Did they, did Paul, actually have a point? She really didn’t want to believe so. They were going to do with a knife what could never be accomplished otherwise. Shit. This was so fucked up. She found herself wondering what other evil they had stopped and didn’t like that one bit.

The young girl timidly walked over and hugged Helena. Helena looked down at her as she hugged her back. Whether it was right or wrong was still something that Helena couldn’t work out but one thing was clear.

“It’s ok,” Helena said, “You are safe and they will never hurt you or anyone else ever again.”

***

“Excellent! Good work!” Sheila exclaimed happily as she received the latest reports. She then switched on the PA system.

Attention. The ship is now secure. Repeat. The ship is now secure. Start security watch shift one. All other squads report to docking bay.

“Ok, T’sunk’al,” Sheila said with a smile, “Everything is buttoned down. Ready to go?”

“Absolutely,” T’sunk’al said as he took a straight edge and drew a line down from an intersection of three curves on a large sheet of paper to the x-axis of the graph. He then headed over to the navigation console.

“Jessie, is Bunny in control of their jump-drive?” he asked into an intercom.

“You know it,” Jessie chirped. “We’re just waiting on the numbers.”

“I’m entering them now.”

“Bunny has the data and is feeding it into the drives. Capacitor banks are already charged. Spinning up the drive now. We will be ready to jump in ten minutes.”

“Sweet!” Sheila exclaimed with a grin. “It was a little rough there for a minute but looks like everything is finally going according to plan.”

***

Helena was sitting with the Terran sex slaves when the door opened and Gloria walked in pushing a large cart piled with planks, ropes, and other assorted materials.

“Hello,” Gloria said in a monotone voice. “I am pleased to see that you didn’t die.”

Helena said nothing. She just glared at Gloria with a mixture of rage and hate. Gloria turned to Roberts.

“Are we good, killer?”

“No. No we aren’t. Just stay out of our way.”

Gloria showed no emotion. “Fair enough,” she said. “So where are my toys?”

“This way,” Roberts said icily. Gloria turned her empty soulless eyes towards the room. Helena shrank back. It was the first time she saw them. She had never seen eyes like those, ever.

“Why don’t you two take the Terrans out of here? It’s about to get… unpleasant,” she said to Helena.

“I’ll call for someone to meet you outside,” Roberts said calmly. “You should really go.”

“No,” Helena said, “I need to see this.”

“Fair enough,” Gloria said. “If it bleeds it leads, right?”

“It’s not like that. I… we… need to know, that’s all.”

“Cool. We will send some people to get the Terrans. I’ll wait until they are gone,” Gloria said in an empty hollow voice.

“Helena,” Roberts said carefully, “are you sure? This is going to be bad, really bad. I’m not sure what she has in mind but I am sure it’s going to be fucked up.”

“If I’m going to cover this then I’m going to cover all of this. People need to know exactly what happened.”

Gloria just shrugged, opened up a tool bag, and pulled out a cordless drill and saw…

“Oh Jesus...” Helena gasped.

***

Attention all teams and passengers… Prepare for jump

There was the familiar “tingle” of entering hyperspace but, no lurch, no groan, no shudder. It was a near flawless entry.

“Shit, T,” Sheila grinned, “I knew we paid you for a reason.”

“That was a rather nice one if I do say so myself,” T’sunk’al buzzed happily. “That nice smooth entry into hyperspace doesn’t guarantee a nice smooth exit, however.”

“Still, I will call it a win. How long are we going to be in hyperspace?”

“I wanted to put us firmly into interstellar space with at least a parsec between us and any star. To get that we will be in hyperspace for… still getting used to your time units,” he said as he typed away on a Z’uush calculator, “thirteen hours twenty seven minutes.”

“Great. Time for some looting!” Sheila jumped out of the command chair. “Jessie!”

“Boss?”

“Switch all command functions over to the Tiger and lock down the bridge.” She turned to T’sunk’al.

“C’mon, let’s go shopping!”

***

After a short briefing and scheduling of the watch shifts Sheila and T’sunk’al walked onto the promenade for a little light “shopping.”

“SHELIA!” a huge voice boomed as an even bigger Drax approached.

“Volshugna!” Sheila yelled as she strode up and gave him a hug.

“Does your dishonor have no limits? Is there any depth to which you will not stoop?”

“Volshy, you know there is nothing I hate more than a fair fight,” Sheila laughed as they traded blows upon the shoulders. She looked at the only slightly smaller Drax accompanying him. “That guy is almost as ugly as you are. There is no way that can be a coincidence.”

“You are correct, dishonorable one,” Volshugna said with pride. “This is my cub, Kash. This is his first hunt!”

“I am not your cub anymore, father. I am of age now.”

“Kash, you will be my cub until you make me stop calling you that just as I was my father’s cub until I made him release the title,” Volshugna laughed. “You will need a few more years and a few more hunts, just like I did.”

Kash shifted in embarrassment. Volshugna just roared with laughter and put him in an affectionate (for a Drax) headlock. Kash hissed and bit him in the side which just made Volshugna laugh even harder as he released him.

“He fights dirty!” Sheila chuckled, “I like that.”

“He is disappointed with you.”

“Oh really?”

“He had his heart set on getting his hands on a human skull but your devotion to Terran dirty tricks deprived him of a kill.”

“Hmm...” Sheila said with a smile, “Don’t give up hope yet, Kash baby. We may be able to set you up with something.”

“Don’t tease the boy, Sheila.”

“I’m not teasing. The job isn’t over till we get away clean and divvy up the spoils. Plenty can still happen and if anything does I will try to get Kashie here in the mix.”

“You are a good woman, Sheila!” Volshugna roared as he batted her shoulder.

“Goddammit, I’m going to need that arm,” Sheila laughed.

***

A few hours later, Logan grabbed a bottle from behind the bar of the restaurant where Sheila and some of her crew were having a nice meal and plopped down beside her.

“Can I buy you a drink?” he laughed as he poured both of them a shot.

“You know I don’t drink on a job, sweetie,” Sheila responded as she cut into her steak.

“Oh, come on, we got this one in the bag,” Logan said as he poured himself a shot.

“It isn’t in the bag until it’s in the bag. If you are serious about stepping up your game you should start thinking like that, you know.”

“Meh, I’ll start thinking like that on the next job,” he laughed as he knocked back the shot. He looked over at her with a smile, “So, what’s the plan?”

“Well,” Sheila said as she took a drink of water, “We will be in hyperspace for another eight hours and then once we pop into real space we will get down to business.”

“What do you mean, ‘business’.”

“First off we set up some cameras and execute Councilor Morgan. I want to do that right. Only get to do that one once you know,” Sheila laughed. “Then, we start really going to work on the ship. We will loot the casino, shake down the passengers, check for any good solid Terran bounties, and shit like that.”

“Shit like the bank?” Logan asked grinning.

“Yeah, like the bank. Rumor has it that there is shit in those safety deposit boxes that will blow your mind. They also say that there are some larger storage areas as well. We are going to find some really nice shit.”

“What about the numbered accounts?” Logan asked as he poured another drink for himself.

Sheila just narrowed her eyes at him.

“Yeah, we will probably try to grab them but we don’t expect much out of it. You could spend years trying to grind at that encryption and still not get shit. We might try to ransom them or we might just toss them out the airlock. Can you imagine the screams and wails when they realize that all those credits are just gone forever,” Sheila laughed.

“But don’t you have that super-hacker?”

“Even the almighty Jessie is human, Logan. The encryption on those accounts is heavy. Seriously, those things are airtight. Complete waste of time. Don’t worry. There will still be plenty of credits to split up. I don’t want to promise what I can’t deliver but it’s no secret that we are going to be very generous with the bonuses. You be a good little boy and you will come away from this very happy. I promise.” Sheila said with a warm smile. “So, did you and your crew enjoy the little shopping spree?”

“Oh yeah,” Logan grinned. “We even played nice with the other crews and everything.”

“Good to hear,” Sheila smiled. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have a repeat of… previous issues.”

“I put my foot down hard,” Logan laughed. “See? I can do that.”

“Good to hear. Maybe you will become a proper pirate captain yet.”

“So,” Logan asked, “what are all those cockroaches doing over at that one place?”

“Those Z'uush have been lead by T’sunk’al to a very nice chocolatier and introduced to the wonders of chocolate. Z’uush absolutely love chocolate.”

“Huh, learn something new every day...”

***

At another small restaurant Roberts emerged from the kitchen bearing a platter of sandwiches.

“Not the usual fine dining experience, I’m afraid,” he said to Helena as he placed the platter down between them.

“That’s ok,” she said. “I don’t think I’m going to have an appetite for quite awhile.”

“Yeah. I did try to warn you.”

“I know. I thought I was prepared but fuck...”

“On the bright side it could have been a lot more graphic. She actually almost fully skinned someone alive once. Too bad for Bruce that she wasn’t feeling that merciful this time.”

“Merciful?!”

“Compared to crucifixion? Absolutely. Bruce and his friend would be dead already if she skinned them. They are going to suffer for quite awhile. It’s why crucifixion is Gloria’s favorite when she has the time and materials.”

“Why the fuck do you have a monster like her on your crew?”

“Because we can use a monster like her on our crew,” Roberts said calmly. “We aren’t a traveling gospel choir. We sometimes do fucked up things and that sometimes requires fucked up people. She isn’t like this normally. Something went really wrong with her this time. Fuck. This whole job is been going really wrong from the beginning. If I could have pulled the plug on this one I would have.”

“What the fuck is wrong with her?”

“Oh so many things… You know,” Roberts said as he chewed thoughtfully, “You should ask her yourself.”

“Fucking what!?!?”

“Seriously, you want to get the whole story? Interview her.”

“I’m not getting anywhere near that psycho. She fucking tried to kill me!”

“And she won’t try it again.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because she’s ‘normal’ at the moment, in full control.”

“This is normal?!”

“Yes. Right now she is just a machine as strange as that sounds. That craziness where she tried to kill you? Whatever that was is gone. Right now she is basically a walking AI and she has been ordered not to touch you, so she won’t. I truly hate her guts at the moment but I have complete faith that she is for lack of a better word, safe.”

“Only if you are there and have one of your fucking machine guns pointed at her fucking head.”

“Oh, I’ll be there and armed but I won’t point it at her. It would be too much temptation. It’s a damn good thing I’m leaving because I don’t think I can ever look at her again without wanting to kill her.”

“Well that makes two of us,” Helena said as she took a nibble of a sandwich. “The difference is that you can… You can, right?”

“Effortlessly,” Roberts said as he finished off his sandwich. “To be honest, it’s taking a lot not to just go ahead and do it anyway. I really want her dead for what she did.”

“Me too... Um, Paul?”

“Yes?”

“How long will it take for them to die?”

“Everybody’s different but it will take awhile. Gloria did it so it would take as long as possible but I’m pretty sure they will get ‘mercy’ in the end. Sheila had them fitted with vitals monitors.”

“Why?”

“Odds are because she has some questions for them, probably concerning how they got the Terrans. She will let things go for awhile and then show up with two syringes for each of them. One will be euthanasia and the other will be something to help keep them alive for even longer. Then she will question them and if they cooperate she will then administer euthanasia.”

“If they don’t cooperate?”

“Then she will give them the meds that will keep them alive for even longer. She may even have Eno treat them to extend things even further. Then she will ask again. If they still don’t talk, then she might have them taken down, allow them to recuperate a little, then put them back up again. Repeat until they break. If it takes too long there are some drugs they can add to the mix. They’ll talk. Gloria’s a monster but she’s nothing compared to Sheila. If Sheila wants them to talk they will talk. It’s said that Sheila can make even a Collective warrior scream and beg for mercy.”

“Fuck! I know they are scum but damn...”

***

“Hey, these watches actually fit!” Jak’kul’sha said happily as his team was picking through the remains of a jewelry store.

“And these little round things are delicious!” Mul’sha’kal said happily as she pulled another large pearl off of a necklace.

“I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to eat those,” Bal’sur’kala chuckled as he selected an expensive watch.

“What? Are they poisonous or something?”

“Let me check,” Bal’sur’kala said as he pulled out his tablet, “Hmm… Those are called ‘pearls’ and they are made of something called nacre, a secretion made by something called an ‘oyster’, a creature from Terra. They are actually quite valuable. Looking at this there is nothing in there harmful to us. You are gobbling up thousands of credits but aside from that it’s all good.”

“Well then I’ll just be sure to savor them then. Here, try one,” she said as she handed Bal’sur’kala one from the strand.

“You’re right. They are quite tasty!”

“Too bad we won’t be able to get more of these,” Mul’sha’kal said as she started handing them out to her team.

“Oh we will.” Bal’sur’kala said with a happy click. “Oysters make the inner layer of their whole shell out of this stuff. I’m willing to bet we will be able to get our manipulators on plenty of it cheaply. According to this only these little round accretions are valuable. The shells themselves are not expensive at all.”

“So maybe we should stop eating thousands of fuckin’ credits then,” Jak’kul’sha laughed as he popped a pearl into his mouth. “At the very least wait ‘till some of the porkies can see us do it. Bet that would be funny as fuck.”

“Hopefully one of the passengers is wearing some of these and we can just take them off of their neck and eat them right in front of them. That would be hilarious!” Salz’rash laughed.

Mul’sha’kal chuckled as she started hooking several gold chains together. “Yeah, we just gotta do that… There!” she said as she hooked the chains to both ends of a jeweled necklace and slid it around where her head connected to her carapace. “How does that look?”

“Looks sharp!” Bal’sur’kala said with a wiggle of his eyestalks.

“Hey, you’re a glittershell,” Jak’kul’sha said to Bal’sur’kala, “How do you guys have those jewels on your shells like you do?”

“Oh you use adhesive for the cheaper stuff and the good stuff they install little threaded mounts right into the carapace where the jewelry screws in. I think a good adhesive is better than the posts and I can whip up the right stuff easy.”

“Great!” Jak’kul’sha said as he smashed open a display case and pulled out a massive jeweled pendant. “I always wanted something like this! Look at it. What a lovely specimen!”

“Hey guys, after this let’s head over to one of the clothing stores,” Ray’shel’zun said as he grabbed a handful of diamond rings, “I would love to find a nice cape or something.”

“I’m pretty sure that they don’t have Z’uush capes in stock,” Bal’sur’kala laughed, “and you might want to reconsider those rings. Diamonds are worth a lot less in the Republic and the Empire.”

“Use your imagination. If humans have something that fits the top part of their body it would be close. A tailor should be able to change it to suit me. I’ll just grab a few. You know the fabric will be high-credit. As far as the rings go they are pretty and I like them. I’m keeping them. I’m going to cut the hoop here then crimp them around some of my fiddlers.”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Bal’sur’kala said thoughtfully, “Not sure how the humans do it but the real high-end Z’uush shops just stock cloth and leather. They make everything to order. Not sure if a cruise-ship would have one of those but let’s go see.”

“Sounds good,” Jak’kul’sha said, “We need to leave some shit here for the other gangs anyhow. Besides, I would just love to get a nice bag or something. Maybe one of those, what do you they call them, purses I think?”

“I think purses are for females in Terran culture, dude.”

“Female humans maybe,” Jak’kul’sha said, “We all carry bags and I’ve always wanted a nice one.”

***

With a only a very slight groan, the White Star popped out of hyperspace.

“T, you are a fucking artist,” Sheila said as she swatted him on the back.

“Yes, I’m quite pleased with that jump provided we are anywhere close to where I intended. It’s going to take a little while to properly fix our position but at first glance we have the middle of fucking nowhere part of it right. Let’s just hope it’s the right middle of fucking nowhere.”

“Super. We will get that all hammered down after the execution,” Sheila said. “We have other matters to deal with now.”

“Right you are. Let’s get this over with.”

“Yeah,” Sheila said gravely. “Messy business but it has to be done.”

***

“So, how is going? Everything ready?” Sheila asked Helena as she walked into a conference room.

“Yes. Ready to go. I put a mark on the floor where the councilor should go.” Helena said grimly, “This is a lovely camera by the way.”

“Thanks. After we get the footage you can keep it.”

“Really? Wow! Thanks!”

Logan and his whole crew walked in. Sheila turned to them with a smile.

“Came to watch the show?” Sheila asked.

“Yeah, wouldn’t miss it. Not every day that a Federation councilor gets gunned down.”

“Cool, it won’t be long now. Ah, here he is, the man of the hour!” Sheila said with a grin as Councilor Morgan was drug into the room by Roberts and Jacob.

“You… You can’t do this!” Councilor Morgan shouted

“Actually we can,” Sheila said with a smile. “See that little piece of tape on the floor? Drag him over there,” she said to her men.

“Please! Let’s be reasonable about this!” Councilor Morgan plead as he was put in position.

“As reasonable as you were when you set up Red Sunday?”

“L-look… It was a mistake, ok. I made a mistake. We made a mistake. There is no reason to-”

“Oh there are plenty of reasons,” Sheila said. “One reason that your attack and your death have in common is money.”

“Money?”

“Views, sweetie,” Sheila said with a smile as she softly stroked his face, “We are going to post this on a pirate server and millions of people are going to line up and pay to watch your brains get blown all over a wall, that wall to be specific. You are going to star in your very own snuff film.”

“I’m a Federation councilor!” Councilor Morgan screamed. “They will hunt you down. There will be no place you can hide!”

“Oh they are already hunting for us. What are they going to do, kill us twice?” Sheila laughed and then turned to Helena.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes,” Helena said gravely from behind a tripod mounted camera, “as ready as I am going to be.”

“Right,” Sheila said with a smile, “Let’s get started then. Councilor Morgan, you have been found responsible for playing a major part in the false allegations against the Terran Republic, the corrupt decision to launch a surprise attack that killed many innocent Terrans, and the resulting war that resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent civilians on both sides. Your actions were made-”

“That’s not true! You are lying!!” Councilor Morgan shouted over her.

“We have proof,” Sheila said, “That proof will be attached to the footage when it is posted so everyone can read it and make their own decision. Before you ask we got the proof when we hacked the Federation servers. We got everything, councilor. You can shout and scream all you want but the files we attach will make our case.”

“It’s a lie, people they are telling lies!! The files are falsified! This is all-” He was cut short by Sheila walking over and backhanding him, knocking him to the ground.

“I was going to read my statement before I killed you but since you keep interrupting I’ll just kill you first and then read my statement.”

“No! No, please… please...” Councilor Morgan was hauled to his feet, a wet stain appearing on his trousers.

“Ok, hold him right there.” Sheila said as she backed up a few feet and pulled out her sidearm. She then turned to the camera. “This pistol, here zoom in on this serial number please. Got it? Great. This pistol will be placed on e-buy for any interested collectors. Not sure when I will be able to post the auction but keep your eyes open for it.” She then turned to Councilor Morgan. “Good-bye, porkie.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Logan said as his entire crew leveled their weapons at Sheila and her team.

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