T. Harris - The Tactics of Revenge

On his way to the shipyards, Adam couldn’t shake the feeling that he and Sherri were still knee-deep in some shit.

Even if they were able to contact Kaylor, he still couldn’t conceive of a scenario where the alien could land the Exitor-class starship on the planet and then manage to leave the planet without the whole might of the Juirean forces in this Sector crashing down upon them. The only alternative Adam could think of would be to contact Kaylor now, and then lay low for a while until the fervor died down. If they could stay hidden for that time, the Juireans would assume that they had somehow managed to get off the planet and would then allow the normal shipping routine to return to Hyben. Kaylor could make his landing then.

If Adam had planned for such an eventuality, he might have devoted more time to studying up on the planet Hyben. As it was, he had only a done cursory amount of research, and mainly to see what advantages he and Sherri might have on the planet in regards to gravity, native strength and coordination — you know the superman stuff.

As usual, it appeared that the two Humans would find no challenge in the shrimp-like natives. Of course, that conclusion didn’t take into account all the other creatures who resided on the planet. Even though Hyben was located only two hundred light years further into The Expansion than The Fringe, it seemed that the closer one got to the more senior members of The Expansion, the more homogenous the populations became. So the Hybens themselves wouldn’t be a problem, but who knew what other challenges might present themselves from the other aliens on the planet?

It wasn’t long before Adam began to notice the silhouetted outline of the sprawling shipyard complex. As would be expected, the compound was vast, covering over a thousand acres, and dotted with massive hangers, sky cranes, staging docks and landing fields. The term shipyard , however, was a misnomer. Even though the facility did service smaller starships at their surface compound, its main clientele consisted of Class-3’s and larger, ships that normally did not make landfall. As such, during its hay day there had been a constant stream of shuttles flitting back and forth between the yards and the ships in orbit, bringing with them new equipment, supplies and repair crews. At one time, over two hundred separate sorties per shift would ferry workers from the surface to the starships, making this particular facility the busiest in the five Sectors that made up Region Six of the Expansion.

As the two Humans and their Hyben guide neared the main security gate, Adam pursed his lips in disgust at this recent misfortune. If the shipyards were still in full operation, he and Sherri could have easily stowed away aboard one of the shuttles and escaped from the surface. Yet now the yards lay nearly deserted; no shuttle had departed the facility in nearly a month, and the interstellar behemoths that had once dotted the sky far above, had all since departed, leaving the shipyards as a virtual ghost town.

Yes, the Juirean warcraft were gone now, off to join their sister ships for the first head-to-head conflict with the Humans, while most of the commercial vessels had also left, seeking the relative safety to be found further into Juirean territory. And even though the Juireans were busy building more starships, the fact that Hyben was so close to The Fringe meant that these new ships may never call upon the planet. Even if the impending battle did go in the Juirean’s favor, the facilities on Hyben were stuck in no-man’s land. If the Juireans prevailed, then their forward military bases would be moved into the Fringe. If they didn’t succeed against the invaders, then the Sector could be easily overrun by the advancing Humans.

It was obvious to all that the good times on Hyben had passed, and not until the war was concluded, could the people and affairs of the planet return to any semblance normalcy. And then, no one could tell at this time if it would be under Juirean or Human masters.

Entering the shipyards proved to be a non-event. With so little activity taking place behind the security walls, the guard at the gate simply looked at Poul’s ID and waved them all through.

The comm center was located in the main administration building, near the center of the complex. Adam was grateful for the assistance of the Hyben, because all the buildings in this section of the compound looked the same, with their only distinguishing characteristic being signage on each written in Hyben. In Adam’s nearly two years in space, he had never bothered to learn any particular written alien language, not with the translation bug and the Library audio functions providing reliable conversion to English.

The buildings in the shipyards were of universal design and construction — boxlike such as would be found on Earth — not the dome-shaped structures of the native Hybens. During the fifteen minute walk to the admin building, the Hyben began to chatter. He told them that he was one of only a few employees left in the complex, but that he was working half-shifts, primarily keeping the automated systems running in the yards. At one time, over twenty-five thousand Hyben and other races had worked at the facility. Now it was down to about a hundred.

They entered the admin building without incident and took an elevator to the ninth floor. The communications facilities took up the top three floors of the building, and here they found more security.

As they approached, three bored-looking Hyben uncurled their articulated back shells from the customized chairs they sat in and stood to face them. Adam couldn’t tell from the solid black eyes if there was any suspicion in their expressions, but he did notice all three carried MK’s strapped around their lower torsos, the grips on the weapons oddly shaped to accommodate the three fingers of their mid-arms.

“Stop,” one of the guards commanded. “What is your business here?”

Poul stepped forward. “We are here for a recalibration of the comm signals. Just routine-”

His comments were interrupted by an alarm that suddenly began blaring from a speaker on the wall next to the security station. One of the Hyben placed a portable communicator to the side of his head and appeared to be listening intently. The other two creatures began to withdraw their MK’s.

Adam was the first to react, as the flash and ping of three quick electric bolts shot out from Adam’s MK-17. The three Hyben fell to the floor, traces of smoke slowly wafting into the air from the bolt-holes burned in their chests.

Poul turned, his tiny mouth once again forming a perfect ‘O.’ “What did you do that for? I could have got us through.”

Adam shifted the MK and sent a level-two bolt into the speaker on the wall, quieting the alarm, although he could still hear more alarms off in the distance. “I think they’re on to us; that didn’t take long. Now who do you think could have warned them about our coming?” Adam stared straight at the Hyben.

“Only my mates knew-”

“Never trust a woman with a pile of money sitting on the table,” Adam said with a smile, looking over at Sherri.

She frowned back at him, “It seems women everywhere are just as dissatisfied with their men as they are back on Earth. Can’t blame ’em for being pragmatic.”

“But why would they report me ? They are my mates!”

Sherri looked at Poul, “Maybe you should have brought the credits with you — for insurance. Looks like you’re expendable, Poul.”

“Come on, we don’t have all night.” Adam shoved the still-stunned alien down the hallway. “Find us a terminal.”

“I’ve only been up here a few times, but I think there are some units at the end of the hall.”