“We come in peace,” they told us when we first encountered humans. In peace, indeed, they came, but evil followed after them in their jump wakes like a foul stench. It all started out with the best of intentions, but in the end, I had the blood of four innocents on my hands. Across the vastness of space, that vile Clay of Earth did drag five nameless moons to destroy them. They flew an unmarked ship into Union Fleet space docks and marked the ship for destruction to hide the evil they had done.

At the very gates of hell, in that vast sea of despair embroiled in the wake of chaos did I find hope – a single Leaf in the Wind – Dallas Blake. In our darkest hour, did Dallas Blake first step foot upon the decks of the Five Moons and change everything. He didn’t know that the ship was never meant for sale. He only knew that this ship was nothing he expected but everything he needed, so he bought it. He knew nothing of the evil that was done. Even so, he found the crew that evil men thought were lost and gone forever. And save the Five Moons? To use his own words: Damned straight he did.

Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons went where they were needed because making a difference started with them. They fought pirates and battled Mercs in deep space. Each life they saved added to the Nexus of Fates that the Five Moons had become. When people had nowhere else to turn, they knew where to find Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons – at the Pig and Whistle on Panara-5.

But the Five Moons had become more than just the Nexus of Fates. It had become Evil’s worst nightmare. So Evil set in motion his grand plan. It was more than just a plan; it was a masterpiece of evil. Dallas Blake may have been a warrior without equal, and the Five Moons a ship like no other, but this time dark forces hunted them. They were seriously in over their heads. Despite their best efforts, like the gears of a clockwork angel of death, Evil’s plan moved relentlessly toward its inevitable conclusion.

Leaf in the Wind found beauty in the light of four moons and set them free, but he didn’t find me. Only my Leaf in the Wind can do what it takes to set me free. Unless he does, none of us will survive. I am the fifth moon.

Five Moons: Nexus of Fates  Copyright © 2016 by Bill Parker

Five Moons: Nexus of Fates was No. 11 on Amazon’s Best Sellers List 8/10/2021.

 

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Review By Romuald Dzemo for Readers’ Favorite — “This story is the work of great imagination and the author’s genius comes across in the tantalizing plot lines, the suspense, and the powerful imagery that fill the pages of this gripping story. The writing is beautiful, with intelligent and engaging dialogues that help to tighten the pace. Bill Parker creates a setting that reflects a very fertile imagination, but the curious thing is that he makes readers believe in it and see themselves in it. The characters in Nexus of Fates are compelling and readers will stick with Dallas even after they have completed the story. This is the kind of book for sci-fi lovers looking for a fast and entertaining read.” He also wrote, “A book that successfully combines sci-fiction with fantasy to entertain and set the hearts of readers afire.”

Available in audio format 5/8/2019 on Audible.com, Amazon, and at Apple iTunes Store.

 

• Amazon Kindle
• File Size: 4427 KB
• Print Length: 190 pages
• Publisher: Five Moons Publications; 2 edition (July 8, 2020)
• Publication Date: July 8, 2020
• Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B08CQCJM38

 

• Amazon Paperback
• Series: Five Moons (Book 4)
• Paperback: 195 pages
• Publisher: Independently published (July 9, 2020)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 979-8665057385
• ASIN: B08CPLF55K
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches

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Sample Chapters

Definition

 

Nexus

noun: nexus; plural noun: nexuses

1. A connection or series of connections linking two or more things.

As in: “the Five Moons was the nexus of humans and anoza.”

2. A connected group or series.

As in: “the Five Moons was the nexus of Evil’s defeats.”

3. The central and most important point or place.

As in: “the Five Moons was the Nexus of Fates.”

 

Prologue

Clay of Earth, yours were the people cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in their hearts.  By their evil was the blood of four innocents on my hands.  Across the vastness of space did that vile Clay of Earth drag five nameless moons to destroy them, to hide their evil deed.  At the very gates of hell did the One Who Stands at the Center of Five Moons’ Shadows find a single leaf in the wind.

As much as by fate you were sent to us, I did indeed choose you.  In my choice of you, I am well pleased.  We found you an empty vessel, so we poured into you the light of truth.  To our great joy, the one who was dead in his heart but still walking was reborn in love.  In your resurrection, we do rejoice.

The Five Moons saved Sophie and Emma.  It fought pirates and battled Mercs in deep space, all to make the Outworlds a safer place to live.  Every soul that it saved added to the Nexus of Fates that the Five Moons has become.

Even more than the Nexus of Fates, we became Evil’s worst nightmare.

Leaf in the Wind was of them but not like them.  He found beauty in the light of four moons and set them free.  My soul sings songs of joy in that, but he didn’t find me.  Only my Leaf in the Wind can do what it takes to set me free.  Unless he does, none of us will survive.

I am the fifth moon.

 

Captain’s Log: 5768.05.11

As I look back on it now, I was pretty messed up since that day they called me aside to tell me that my whole family was killed.  They told me that the expeditionary forces of Sarsen Tabbot had literally leveled my homeworld, Enara-4.  I hoped and prayed that maybe Fleet was wrong.  I hoped that my family was somewhere safe in hiding, but Fleet assured me everything that could be done had already been done.  They told me that Union Fleet Search and Rescue had combed the entire planet but could find not a single human life-sign.

The Corporate War was raging all around me.  At that point, I was angry beyond measure.  I took my pound of flesh and then some, but all that did was leave me empty and sad.  I did what I could to bury the pain.  I lost myself in getting a degree in Starship Engineering, but that wasn’t enough.  I went to Union Fleet’s own War College for a Master’s Degree, determined in my heart to find a way to inflict upon Sarsen Tabbot the pain and anguish that she had inflicted on me, but then the war came to an unexpected end.

One more time, my whole life was swept away when Fleet no longer needed millions of veterans.  They surplused us all out just like they got rid of thousands of ships.  I was once more called aside as I mustered out.  Sole Survivors were due reparations by the War Commission.  As if any amount of money could make up for what I had lost! It couldn’t, they agreed but suggested that maybe it could bankroll a fresh start.  They dumped me out at the space docks orbiting Etron along with millions of other veterans.  The place was utter chaos.  Where would I even begin to start my life over?

As I walked down the long exit passageway lugging everything I owned in a duffel bag, the answer was staring me right in the face – a huge animated 3D sign advertising all of the war surplus ships that Union Fleet was now selling at rock-bottom prices.  After all, I was a pilot.

I remember sitting with my buddy Kip, talking his ear off for hours on end about buying a war surplus scout-class ship and starting over.  Yeah, I know.  Me doing all that talking.  I was more thinking it through out loud.  But Kip had family to get home to, and so we parted ways.

Fleet Material Command was in total pandemonium when I tried to buy a surplus ship, but I was determined.  I calmed myself down and set my cap to get this done.  My father would have been proud of me.  I was a leaf in the wind.  That is where everything went sideways.

I know, this sounds screwy, but it all started with some yellow caution tape that I tore down in total frustration.  As I later discovered, it was there to mark this ship to be scrapped out.  But hey, what the hell did I know? Then this ship turned out to be way bigger than a scout-class ship should have been, but as I was later to discover, that was only the inside.  This ship was nothing I expected but everything I needed, so I bought it.

I thought that I chose this ship myself, but later Mariah told me that she hacked the Fleet records across the network.  She said that she had set the sale up.  So, in essence, Mariah chose me.  But hey! That was back when Mariah was artificial and damned well knew that she was artificial.  So were Jessica, and Jane, and Henry.  They were all artificial back then when I first bought this ship.  I am not the crazy one here.  I know what they were when I found them even if they don’t remember now.  I just needed to get this down on the record.  I am the sane one here, or so I keep telling myself.  As I was later to discover, they were four ‘moons.’ ‘Moons’ you ask? That’s a long story in itself.  I would sure like to ask the anoza what the hell they were thinking with that.  There is still one more that I have yet to find, but I will.

This ship – the Five Moons – is the nexus of fates.  It joined my fate forever to theirs and to the saga of its own existence.  When it found me, I was a man with nothing left to lose.  When I found it, I had everything to gain.

I didn’t know that evil men had conspired to destroy this ship to hide the evil they had done.  I had no idea that they flew an unmarked ship into space docks and marked it for destruction with that damned yellow caution tape.  They intended for its crew to disappear forever without a trace.  They thought that would be the end of it, but in all of that chaos, I found the Five Moons and it found me.  I didn’t know any of that when I bought a ship that was never meant for sale.  I didn’t know any of that when I first stepped foot upon its decks and changed everything, but I know it now.  And save the Five Moons? Damned straight I did.

And you know that crew they thought was lost and gone forever? Well, think again.  I found Jessica, Jane, and Henry.  I am still not sure if I found Mariah or if she found me but does it really matter anymore? Together, we all saved Sophie and Emma.  Today was their birthday.  It filled my heart with joy and reminded me that saving them was the beginning.

This ship – the Five Moons – is the nexus of fates.  It connects us all together for a reason – to make a difference.  Mankind was cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in his heart.  Union Fleet protects the civilized pilgrim worlds, but in the Outworlds, where civilization is thin, evil thrives.  We will change that where we can.  The Five Moons flies to wherever we are needed.  Making a difference starts with us.  Word is getting around.  People know where to find us — in the Pig and Whistle on Panara-5.  They have a damned good Reuben, too.

 

Captain Dallas Alton Blake

Chapter 1: This way evil comes.

Aeon-6 was as beautiful and perfect a T-10 class planet as ever there was.  By all measures, it matched the standard ‘Earth’ classification for being habitable.  It only lacked any real tilt to its axis, but that was really a major plus.  Its climate was mild the whole year with only a hint of seasons.  Its native plants bloomed all year as randomly as they grew, making Aeon-6 a lush paradise.  Man’s imported plants were the stark exception with definite growth cycles.  So, the farmers learned to take advantage of the climate to stagger their crop plantings for year-round harvests.

Life was good for Mark Jackson on Aeon-6.

“Time to get up,” Layla, his girlfriend, called Mark through his 3D wall display, but he didn’t hear her.  His android, Sprocket, heard her.  Layla’s sandy brown hair and big brown eyes suited her soft oval face to a tee.

“I will wake him up,” Sprocket volunteered as he went to do exactly that.

“Mister Mark,” Sprocket nudged him.  “Time to get up.”

Mark opened one eye and looked questioningly at Sprocket.

“Miss Layla told me to wake you up,” Sprocket fibbed.  He knew Layla would back him up.

“Yeah.  I have to get up and get going.  Busy day today.” The words came out, but he was slow to move.  It wasn’t like him to oversleep, but he had been stringing long days together and it caught up with him.  A quick shower put him back on track, as did a quick breakfast.  His house droid, Nikki, spoiled him with a hot breakfast every day, but he did his part, too.  He never left her a mess to clean, he always put his dirty clothes in the hamper in the bathroom every night, and he always tidied up his bed in the morning.  These were habits ingrained in him since he could remember.  His Uncle Hank had raised him to be a strong, self-reliant outworlder.  His Uncle Hank loved him as if he was his own son.

Mark made his way out to the steel building that housed his equipment.  His two android helpers already had the transport loaded by the time he got there.  They were snapped into their places in the transport, waiting for him.  Layla already had his work schedule up on the main display of the transport waiting for him too.  The Rackmann farm was listed as his first stop.  It showed as the destination in his Nav display.

“Confirmed,” he told it.  The transport lifted and off they went.  The suborbital hop took all of a half-hour.  Just enough time for Mark to read the trouble report.  Their android tractor had just stopped out in the field yesterday and was not responding to any commands.

Mark’s transport landed next to the Rackmann’s house.  Jim came right out.

“What seems to be the trouble?” Mark asked Jim Rackmann even though he had read the report.

“Actually,” Jim Rackmann explained, “as I think about it, the damned thing had been acting funky for days before it quit.” That was not in the report.

“Funky? What do you mean by funky?” Marked asked for more of a description.

“It would suddenly stop, and then start right back up as if nothing was wrong.”

Mark flew his transport out to where the tractor was sitting and began to troubleshoot.  The android’s intelligent processor was down.  There was no power.  In the meantime, his android helpers removed the covers that Mark had pointed out to them.  A broken power cable was the main problem.  That became quite obvious as the covers were removed.  The android helpers pulled it out while Mark got a new piece of cable.  After they had installed the new cable, Mark reloaded the android tractor’s programs and got that much back up and running by lunch.  After Mark had run it through its paces, he was sure that the android tractor was fine again.

“It’s all back working,” Mark reported to Jim Rackmann over his com.  “It was your main power cable, but then I had to reload your android his brains back.  The AI program must have been corrupted by the power surges.  That’s what made it act funky.  All you will have to do is give it a new work schedule and it will be back on the job.”

“Okay, I can do that.  Then you will bill me through the co-op?”

“Sure thing,” Mark replied.  He gave the co-op a good rate for his time.  In exchange, they made sure that he got paid in a timely manner.  That worked for everybody.

Mark went on to his next call.

“You are coming to my place for a nice dinner tonight,” Layla insisted over the com as dinnertime drew near.

“Okay.  I just need to finish this service call.”

He wanted to see Layla anyway, so he made short order of the work, packed up and was once more back in the air for another suborbital hop.  That is when he got his first glimpse of several starships pulling into orbit.  Starships did not come this way very often, so he paid particular attention to them when they did.  These were older, frigate-class ships and heavily armed from what he could make out.

Trust nothing and then don’t trust that, his Uncle Hank would often tell him.

“Uncle Hank,” Mark paged him through the com.  Several seconds later, his uncle’s face appeared on the display.  He had wild gray hair to match the look in his eyes and his out-of-control eyebrows.  His wrinkled face gave away his age, but he had a resonant, deep voice that hadn’t aged a day.

“I am looking at a couple of ships that just pulled into orbit,” he told his uncle after sending him their pictures.

“That’s strange, no transponder IDs,” he told his uncle.

“Oh, that does not look good at all,” his uncle commented.  “I don’t like this one bit.  Are you headed for home?”

“No.  I am on my way over to Layla’s place for some dinner,” Mark told him.

“Well, okay but stay in touch.  I don’t like the looks of those ships at all.”

“Okay.  Will do.  I will call you after dinner,” Mark told his uncle.  Everybody thought that Uncle Hank was a bit weird, but Mark only thought he was maybe a little eccentric.  He was very smart.  A lot of people are intimidated by that.  Uncle Hank taught him everything he knew about androids.  To Mark, the man was a genius.

Layla looked at Mark when he finally arrived.  He was 185cm of pure man to her.  He was muscularly built because he worked with his hands all day.  His classic face and beautiful blue-gray eyes lit up her day.  He looked a lot better with his coveralls off and his hands washed.

“Dinner is ready,” Layla’s house droid announced moments later.

Layla talked on about her day.  Mark didn’t say much while he ate, but he listened to her every word with interest and nodded his head.  Out of her window, a glorious sunset was slowly unfolding before their eyes.

~~~

Hank Jackson knew full well that people thought he was a paranoid nutcase, but quite frankly, he didn’t give a damn.  He knew better.  He was brought up in the Outworlds and raised during difficult times that he would never forget.  The war came and the war went.  The whole time, Hank Jackson prepared for the worst that never came.  People said, “We are too far off the beaten path.  The war will never get this far.” This time people were right.  The war never did make it out as far as Aeon-6 but nonetheless, Hank was prepared.

Uncle Hank made the best use he could of his sensor array to analyze the ships in orbit.  He watched them intently for hours.  Something about them was not right.  They had no transponder IDs.  It was not legal to fly a ship anywhere in Union space without a transponder ID.  While Aeon-6 had no Approach or Departure Control, the ships had made no effort whatsoever to contact anyone dirtside at all.  They all just sat there, ominously, in orbit.

Hank’s house droid brought him a big dish of great smelling pot roast.  Hank ate his dinner and watched his display.  The hour grew late.  It was just about 23:00 Zulu when the activity began.  First, one of the ships in orbit launched a shuttle.  It made straight for the surface while ten more staged in orbit.  Hank Jackson knew exactly what was going on.

~~~

“Mark! Layla!” Hank called frantically, over and over, through the com to her house.  In desperation, Hank called up Mark’s transport and told one of Mark’s helper androids to go wake them up.  Finally, a sleepy looking Layla walked over to the 3D display.

“Uncle Hank? What’s up?”

“Dear Lord, girl, where have you been?”

“Mark and I curled up on the couch.  He fell asleep.  I guess I did, too.  Why? What’s up?”

“Pirates are invading us! They landed at the co-op! You and Mark better get the hell out of there right away while you still can! You need to come to my shelter right now!”

Layla’s house was not at all that far from the co-op.  She walked over to the window and opened it.  After all, her father had warned her repeatedly that Hank Jackson was a paranoid nutcase.  She was about to close the window back up when she heard a loud explosion and pulse-rifle fire.  Maybe Hank Jackson wasn’t so crazy, after all!

“Mark! Mark! Get up!” she yelled.

“What?” he asked with eyes at half-mast.  Then he heard the pulse-rifle fire, too.

“Pirates!” Layla told him.  “Uncle Hank called …”

“Good Lord!” Mark exclaimed as he grabbed his stuff.  “Get your emergency bag.”

“Emergency bag? My father told me I didn’t need one,” she replied.

“Well, your father was wrong! Come on!” he told her, but it was already too late.  Two men in black leather coats landed an old Union assault bike in front of Layla’s house.  They were drawn by her house lights.  They jumped off their bike and headed right for the front of her house with pulse rifles locked and loaded.

[M and M, Red Alert!] Mark commanded them through his network.  [To the front of Layla’s house, on the double! Take out the two men in black leather coats with pulse rifles.]  Mark’s two helper droids responded immediately.  Grabbing their weapons, they came up behind the two pirates trying to break down Layla’s front door and summarily took them both out in a hail of pulse-rifle fire.

[All clear,] his helper droid reported to Mark.

Mark and Layla came out her side door and ran to Mark’s transport with his helper droids covering them front and rear.  The helper droids snapped into their places in the transport while Mark and Layla buckled in.

“Run silent!” Mark commanded.  The transport shut off all of its lights and turned its transponder off.  In response, Mark’s display filled with a combination of night vision, infrared, and forward-looking radar.  Mark grabbed the controls, piloting the transport himself.  Layla looked back toward the co-op buildings.  There were bright flashes and loud bangs.  While Mark wove in between buildings for cover, Layla called her father.

“Dad! Dad! Pirates! You need to get out of there right now!” she told his sleepy looking face in the 3D display.

“Have you been talking to that paranoid nutcase Hank Jackson again?” he scolded her.

“Dad! You have to listen to me! They came to my house with guns! They almost broke down my front door! We barely got out of there alive! They are invading the co-op right now! You need to get out now! Stop being so damned bull-headed!”

That was when her father heard the explosions and gunfire for himself.

“Head for my Uncle Hank’s place,” Mark told him.  “Stay low.  Go from cover to cover.” But the com went dead when the local wi-fi network suddenly went down.

“Where are you?” Uncle Hank asked Mark through the quantum-com, which was still working, of course.  Uncle Hank was not about to trust the local wi-fi.

“Edge of town,” Mark told him.  “I am headed for the Goodwin’s farm to make the first suborbital hop.” Mark maneuvered between the last of the buildings at the edge of town with his Nav screaming at him the whole time about being too low.  When his transport broke into clear space, Mark jammed the speed up to just under supersonic, allowing his altitude to increase just enough to stop the screaming Nav alarms.

Despite being strapped in, poor Layla was holding on for dear life.  Mark was intent on following Uncle Hank’s exact instructions, doing exactly what he practiced.  With the transport in Silent Mode, he needed to get as far as possible before gaining any real altitude, but that limited his speed.  Now, in the distance behind him, he could just barely make out two speeders and they were gaining on him.

He pushed it as hard as he dared and pulled up on the nose just a bit with the two craft behind him in hot pursuit.  There was no sense waiting until he got out to the Goodwin Farm anymore.  Mark set the suborbital target to Emergency 2 and hit the Confirm button on his virtual display.

The transport nosed suddenly up.  Mark could hear the engines whine as the transport leaped briefly above the atmosphere.  The less-than-perfect gravity fields did their best to keep up with his wild maneuver but still put them back in their seats and then momentarily weightless.

“Did we lose them?” Layla asked him when she could breathe again.

“Shit, no,” Mark replied.  An alarm sounded when the shields deployed automatically, just ahead of the first round of pulse-canon fire.

“This transport has shields?” Layla asked.

“It sure does,” Mark confirmed as he maneuvered as hard as possible, dodging pulse rounds as they plummeted toward the ground.  The two craft behind him were not gaining anymore but still did not relent one bit.

“I am going to come in real hot,” he warned Layla.  “Don’t be scared.  I have practiced this maneuver a hundred times.  I know what I am doing.” That was all well and good, but Layla closed her eyes and held onto his arm so tight she nearly cut off the circulation.

They were still headed nose down as two missiles launched straight at them from the ground.  Layla opened her eyes just in time to see them and then wished she hadn’t.  To Layla’s shock and horror, Mark headed straight for them.  Her eyes got big as the missiles suddenly separated, just barely enough for Mark to pass between them.  In the rearview camera, Mark saw the missiles strike their targets.

“Do you really have to scare the shit out of me like that?!” Layla complained to Mark.

“I thought you had your eyes closed,” he teased her.  She hit him in the shoulder.

Mark flattened out his trajectory, still at supersonic speed, awfully close to the hard deck.  He kept that speed up for a half-hour, maneuvering many times while looking at his tactical display for any signs of pirates.

Layla had looked any number of times at the display before she asked, “Your transport has a tactical display? What kind of transport has a tactical display?”

“This one,” Mark grinned.

Layla just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You did well,” Uncle Hank’s voice came through the com.  “You can come in now.”

Mark flew directly toward a canyon through the mountain range below, trimming back hard on his speed the whole time.  He flew right into that canyon.  Layla was fine with this.  She knew that Mark was an excellent pilot.  Mark followed the canyon to where it opened up considerably.  The canyon wall ahead and to their left suddenly had a large opening as Uncle Hank put down the camouflaged force field.  To Layla’s sincere relief, Mark finally landed inside the hideaway.  Nothing felt better to her at that moment than solid ground once more under her feet.

When Layla glanced back at the entryway, the force field was already back up.

“What about the others?” Layla now asked Mark.

“I don’t know.  Let’s go ask Uncle Hank,” he told her.  They walked up a winding stairway to the main level of Hank Jackson’s hide.  It was hardly what you would expect.  While the other settlers here worried about only their day-to-day business, Hank had taken his hide from a very spartan minimal shelter to a spacious, modern home with all of the comforts.  In fact, his shelter was now Hank Jackson’s main home.  Uncle Hank’s ‘little house on the prairie’ was nothing more than a decoy.

Hank sat at his desk with the wall-sized 3D display broken up into tiles with various content.  One had his overhead satellite view.  Another was a view of town.  That didn’t look good at all.  There were armed men walking around.  One of them was dragging a body out of what had once been the co-op building.  It now had several large blast holes.

“What about my family?” Layla asked Hank.

“They made it to their hide, but like I tried to tell them, it is way too close to town.  Eventually, the pirates are going to find it.”

“What are we going to do?” Layla asked Hank.

“WE? WE? If people would have listened to me, all they would have had to do now would be to wait them out, but that won’t work anymore.  Too many families are way too close to town, and I would venture to guess that some of them had no hide at all.  They will be out there like a bunch of little, lost puppies, wandering around with their heads up their asses, wondering what the hell to do.  Well, good luck to you with that.  It’s a day late and a dollar short for that now, isn’t it?”

“Well, we can’t just sit here.  We have to do something,” Layla complained to Hank.

Hank got all exasperated.  “Yeah! That’s the damned problem now, isn’t it? Well, I hate to tell you this, but for right now, all that WE can do is sit and wait.  We can’t venture out until dark or they will spot us for sure.”

“The pirates have sensors, too,” Layla countered.  “Light or dark, they will still spot us.”

“Not really,” Hank came right back.  “We have that covered, don’t we, Mark?”

Mark smiled.  “Yes, we sure do.  Our transports are all Union Fleet war surplus landing craft.  They are totally stealth.  If I turn the transponder off, no one can spot us with sensors.  We tell that to no one.  When Uncle Hank was gone last year, he bought them on Panara-5 and brought them back here.  Without all of the military markings, no one could tell.  Uncle Hank sold our old transports at a good price to some folks here that really needed them.”

“Plan ahead,” Hank told Layla.  “The whole thing about being an outworlder is to plan for the worst and hope for the best.  We needed new transports anyway and Union Fleet was selling these at rock bottom prices.  I got a hell of a good deal and they were all like brand-new.”

Layla sighed.  “All we can do now is wait?” She wasn’t very happy at all with that.

“No, of course not.  You can go get some sleep so you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when you do go out.”

“Oh, yeah,” Layla grumbled.  “Like I can sleep now.”

“Well, you better at least get some rest then,” Hank told her.

“What are you and Mark going to do?” she asked.  They were obviously headed back down to the landing pad.

“We have to get all of Mark’s equipment out of his transport and put some seats back into it if we are going to have to go get your folks,” Hank replied without looking back.  Hank was aggravated that after all of his warnings to these people, he was still going to have to go bail their sorry asses out of this problem of their own damned making.

~

Layla never slept a wink and was still wide-awake as evening twilight fell onto her family’s hide.  She followed Mark down to the landing pad only to be led further on to what she discovered was Uncle Hank’s armory.  Mark quickly suited up in recon armor – another of Uncle Hank’s Fleet surplus acquisitions.  Mark then began holding up pieces of recon armor for Layla.

“I will never fit into this,” she told him.

“Oh, yes you will,” Mark insisted.  “Believe me; it will adjust to all of your beautiful curves.  Just put it on.”

“But I am no warrior,” she insisted despite his compliment.  But Mark kept handing her more pieces of it.  True to his word, the armor adjusted and fit all of her curves perfectly.  She was still grousing about it when Uncle Hank came in.

“Layla my dear, this will protect you from pulse weapon fire.  We sure don’t want you full of blaster holes, now, do we?”

“No, I guess not,” she finally gave in.

“It can adjust its camo to make you almost invisible,” Mark told her as he handed her a sidearm.

“Is this why it was so important when you taught me how to shoot?” she asked Mark.

“Yes!” Uncle Hank answered for him.  “He loves you enough to do what’s best for you.”

That made Layla smile.  “He loves me?”

“Yes,” Uncle Hank confirmed for him.  “Of course he does.  Even an old fool like me can see that.  So, come on now.  Stop all of your hemming and hawing around.  Let’s get you two on the move.”

As Layla boarded the transport, she noted that Mark’s two helper droids were clicked into their racks in the back.  They looked different to her, but there was no time for questions.

Mark maneuvered out into the canyon.  Where Uncle Hank had built his hide, the canyon was almost two kilometers wide, with a flat open field and stream down below.  You would think to simply fly up and out, but that would surely give away the hide’s location.  So instead, Mark made his way to the far end where it narrowed back down.  He followed the canyon to where it exited the mountain range onto the flat prairie.

He stayed low and kept his speed just under supersonic while he swung a wide arc.  Suddenly the nose of his transport went up as they made the suborbital hop toward Layla’s family hide.  Layla kept silent the whole way, not wanting to distract Mark one bit, but as they arced over the top, her curiosity kicked in.

“What are we going to do?” she asked Mark.

“Well, the plan is to sneak in, get your folks, and sneak out.”

The transport arced over the top.  It came down over a hundred klicks out from the hide but began maneuvering right away.  It wove its own complex path toward the ridgeline that hid Layla’s family hide until it settled a hundred meters short of the hide.

“It’s over there,” Layla pointed at it in the dim light of Aeon’s two moons.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then why did we land all the way over here?” she asked.

“So we can check it out on foot first,” Mark told her.  “Come on, M and M,” Mark called his two droids.  They unclicked from their racks and followed Mark with pulse pistols at the ready.  Layla led the way carrying the pulse pistol that Mark insisted that she needed.  She walked right up to where the hide’s door was concealed.  It looked just like the rest of this rock face, but she knew what she was doing.

“Mom? Dad? It’s Layla!” she said in a loud whisper.  After several long seconds, the door opened up.  Before Layla could react, two nasty-looking men in long, black leather coats jumped out at her.  She screamed but did not use the pulse-pistol in her hand.  When the lead man grabbed her, Mark’s android, Mack, dropped him on the spot with two quick pulse-pistol shots.  Mike, the other android, dropped the second man before he could move.

Mark snatched Layla, quickly hauling her back to cover as pulse rounds flew all around them.  Someone inside the hide tried to close the door, but now the two dead pirates on the ground blocked it.  Mark quickly looked inside the open door.  There were twelve people, at least, being held by eight men all dressed in those same long black leather coats.  Mark sent the images to his androids with the bad guys and friendlies clearly marked for them.  He was set.

“We have hostages!” a gravelly voice from inside the hide shouted.

“If you want to live, throw out your guns and come out with your hands up!” Mark boldly demanded.

“Are you crazy?! What the hell are you doing?!” Layla asked him in shock.

“Trust me,” he simply whispered back.

“If you want your people alive, then you better send someone in to negotiate,” the gravelly voice shouted back, “unarmed.”

“I am coming in,” Mark shouted back, “unarmed.”

Mark tucked his pistol into the back holster on his camo.  “Come on, M and M.  Let’s go do it.  Layla, cover my back.” She had forgotten all about the pulse-pistol in her hand.  Now she fumbled with the safety but turned it off.  Her mind was in shock.  She really was not thinking at all, let alone prepared to cover him.

Mark moved boldly into the open doorway flanked by the androids.  The man with the gravelly voice raised his gun to fire at Mark.  In the next quarter-second, the androids identified the unfriendlies.  In the following half-second, their pulse rounds flew, taking them all out.  It took a few more seconds for the pirates to actually fall down dead where they stood.

When they dropped to the floor, the women and children all screamed but everyone was unharmed.  As everyone gathered their senses back from what they had just been through, Layla’s father asked Mark, “Where did you learn to negotiate like that?”

“My Uncle Hank,” Mark told him.

Layla came in crying but was relieved to find everyone okay.  So much for her providing Mark any cover.

“I am sorry, folks,” Mark announced, “but we really don’t have time to dawdle.  Please gather your emergency bags and follow me.” Needless to say, not a one of them had an emergency bag.  Not a one of them was prepared for this at all.

“Who are all of the extra people?” Mark asked Layla’s father as he led them all back to the transport as fast as he could keep them moving in a group.

“Well, I couldn’t just let the damned pirates get our neighbors, so I told them to come on over to our hide.”

“How did the pirates find you?”

“The pirates must have followed one of the neighbors,” Layla’s father admitted, still pissed off about that.

Everyone piled into the transport and Mark got it moving just in time.  In the distance, Mark could see another one of those damned pirate speeders headed right for them, but this time he was not about to turn tail and run.  Instead, he broke pedal-to-the-metal straight toward them.  Pulse cannon fire went by all around them, deflected by angled forward shields, as the speeder opened fire.

“This thing has shields and pulse cannons?” Layla’s father asked him in total disbelief.

“Oh, yeah,” Mark replied quietly.  “This is really a war surplus Union Fleet landing craft.  Fleet had thousands of them for sale on Panara-5.  The Union was selling them to outworlders, but I guess only my Uncle Hank gave a crap enough to buy some.”

“Good thing he did,” Layla’s father now agreed.

“Everybody buckle in!” Mark warned them.  “The artificial gravity in this thing isn’t very good.” Mark armed the first missile and watched it acquire the oncoming speeder.  He broke hard left and up as he let the missile fly.  Somewhere down below him, the missile did its job as Mark pushed his engines hard to gain suborbital altitude.  This time, he lucked out – there was no one following him.

They arced up over the top still in the upper atmosphere.  Mark would not go directly back to the hide but instead, weaved a twisted path.  His next suborbital jump was much closer.  The artificial gravity was just fine when he wasn’t making extreme maneuvers.  An hour later, as morning twilight was just barely breaking at the hide, Mark approached the end of the canyon.

“Nav Auto Hide,” he commanded.  The transport took over the rest of the way in and landed them in the hide’s hanger bay.  When the doors popped open, a whole group of weary, exhausted people slowly exited and looked around.  Hank Jackson stood there to greet them.

“Where are we?” a young woman with two children following after her asked.

“Far enough away from town to be safe… at least for now,” Hank assured her.

“What makes you so sure of that?” Ben Caradine, one of the ‘neighbors’ asked sarcastically.

Hank bluntly called him out.  “They got your sorry ass in short order while I was sitting here laughing at them the whole time.  I was ready for this, and obviously, you were not.”

Ben didn’t like that answer at all.  “I say we take a vote,” he started to say to the others, but Hank caught him short.

“The first vote you take will be for where else you plan to wait this out! This is my hide! I am the boss here.  You are more than welcome to leave any time you want, but while you are in my hide, you will live by my rules… period… end of that discussion.  So, I am calling for the first vote.  Who wants to leave?” Not one hand went up.

Hank looked at them all for a second.  He was making a point, but he meant it.

“Okay, now that we have that settled, I have plenty of food, but I only have one house droid.  So, she is going to need some help cooking for all of you.  Any help in the kitchen would be greatly appreciated by everyone else, me included.  Come on with me, please.”

They all followed him up the winding stairs and were amazed at the size of his place.

“There are rooms down that hall.” Hank pointed at it for them.  “There should be plenty of beds, but they are war surplus cots.  There are plenty of pillows and blankets too.  At the end of that hall is a laundry.  The kitchen and dining room are this way.”  That is where Hank went to get some java and let them sort out their new surroundings for a while.

Mary Richards organized the cooking while the rest tried to settle in.  She found Hank in the dining room relaxing quietly and drinking his java.

“I wish we could contact Union Fleet,” she told Hank quietly, “but the only quantum-com was in the community center.”

“I have already contacted Union Fleet to let them know exactly what was happening here,” he confided to Mary.

“What did they say?”

“They gave me exactly the answer I expected.  They told me they would get here as soon as they could get a ship free from one of their other overwhelming disasters.  That is what they told me.”

“How long will that be?” she asked him.

“Well, I certainly would not hold my hand on my ass waiting,” he replied.

“What will we do until they get here?”

“The best we can,” Hank told her.  “The best we can.”

Later, over a really good dinner, Ben Caradine reopened the conversation.

“I kind of got off on the wrong foot,” he admitted to Hank.

“No offense taken,” Hank replied and offered his hand.  They shook on it.

“I was making a point,” Hank told them all.  “I have worked very hard to be prepared for something like this, so when it comes to running my hide, I am firm that I am in control of it.  If you all want to vote on housekeeping and other items, please feel free to do so.  For all able-bodied adults, Mark will help me train you on weapons so that we can all defend the place should it ever come to that.”

“I have surveillance cameras and sensor displays everywhere, but if you see something, tell me right away.  Let me sort it out.  Don’t you go looking yourself and get yourself nabbed by the damned pirates.”

After Hank’s talk, they all settled in and settled down to business.  They were all outworlders, even if things did get off on the wrong foot.

 

Released July 20, 2016 by Double Dragon Publishing

ISBN-10: 1-77115-321-0
ISBN-13: 9781771153218
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/SF
eBook Length: 181 Pages
Published: July 2016

The paperback was released 8/15/2016 at Amazon.com

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (August 13, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1537076027
• ISBN-13: 978-1537076027