THE MINES OF SELKA: A FASA Star TrekAdventure

JoeTucek (Martinez) Nitish Korula (Duranguil) Steve Bocchino (Turgowicz) PatrickMeredith (Vor) Game Master: Rob Bocchino

1. A New Mission Uh, oh, this can’tbegood, thought Lt. Jaime Martinez when he sawthe flashing con- sole. He knewhehad better alert the captain, eventhough she was offduty and probably asleep in her quarters. He pushed the intercom button. After afew moments, a sleepy voice answered, “Harrelson.” “Sorry to disturb you, captain, but there’satransmission coming in from Star Base 27 on a secure channel. Ithought you’dwant to see it right away.” “Put it through to my quarters.” Martinez patched the transmission through. Afew minutes later,the captain’svoice crackled overthe intercom again. “Lieutenant, we have new orders. Lay in a course for Star Base 27 and engage immediately.I’llinform you and the rest of the crewwhat’s going on in the morning. Harrelson out.” Iknewitwasn’tgood, Martinez thought. He sighed and carried out his orders. “Helm, set course for Star Base 27.”

***

The next morning, the crewsat assembled in a briefing room. The ship’scaptain, Commander Ellie M. Harrelson, led the meeting. Harrelson was an attractive woman in her mid thirties with brown hair and eyes. Toher left sat her second in command, Lieu- tenant Jaime J. Martinez. Martinez, a handsome man with pronounced Latin features, served as first officer and science officer.Nextwas the chief engineer,Lieutenant Com- mander Nidi-loo Duranguil. Duranguil was a good-natured and well-liked man with a smiling face and a full head of jet-black hair.Across the table sat Ensign Illya I. Turgow- icz, the helmsman and weapons officer.Though he observed the proceedings seriously, Turgowicz showed a scar prominently on his face, a reminder of a duel fought in his pre- Star Fleet days. Next to Turgowicz sat the chief sensor technician, Lieutenant Terrence R. St. Simon. Rounding out the crewwere Lieutenant Tina M. Orgullo, Ensign Roger S. Bar-David, and Ensign Arthur S. Nakamura, engineers; and Lieutenant JG Nahwadi I. Singh and Ensign Choi-li W.Yung, sensor technicians. ANew Mission 2

All were members of the Star Fleet Intelligence Command, on patrol deep in Orion space. Their ship was the USS Albert,NIA-1210. The Albert wasaspy ship: originally a25-thousand-metric-ton Tavares class freighter,itstill looked likeone on the outside. Inside, though, Star Fleet had added more warp power,weapons, and a highly advanced sensor array.Lately the Albert had been investigating suspected smuggling and piracyby the Regulans, the Orion clan that had been a constant nuisance to the Federation ever since it had tried to destroythe Enterprise and disrupt the Babel Conference. After months of painstaking intelligence work, the Albert’s crewhad obtained several leads and wasfollowing them up. All of them felt theymight be on to something big. Captain Harrelson addressed the assembled crew. “Crew, I hav e an announcement to make. Last night, I receivedorders that our previous mission is canceled and we are to report immediately to Star Base 27 for a newassignment. I knowthis will be a disap- pointment to manyofyou, as it means abandoning several months’ work. However, this newassignment must be important, or Star Fleet would not have taken us awayfrom the Orion mission. The assignment is for ‘Internal Duties’ — which means that we will be leaving Orion space and returning to Federation space. Ihav e no further information about our newmission at this time. Iwill learn more when we reach Star Base 27. Dis- missed.”

***

Later that day,sev eral of the crewwere eating lunch in the ship’slounge. All were slightly disappointed about the newassignment, and the atmosphere was glum. Bar- David brokethe silence. “I can’tbelieve they’re pulling us out of Orion space. We were just learning some good information about the Orions. Iwant to finish that mission.” Martinez, trying to inject some cheer,oratleast perspective,into the situation, responded, “Well, orders are orders after all. Besides, maybe we’ll get some shore leave at Star Base.” Bar-David said, “That’strue, I suppose. But sometimes I just don’tunderstand Star Fleet brass. Couldn’ttheyhav e gotten someone else to do this other mission?” Lt. Orgullo looked up and said, “Shore leave would be nice. We hav e been out here for a long time.” Martinez flashed a quick look at Orgullo and smiled. She’scute, he thought. Weeks out here, and I had never noticed that before. What’swrong with me? Martinez, though adedicated officer,was something of a womanizer. Duranguil quickly agreed with Orgullo and Martinez. “Yes, shore leave isalways nice. And perhaps we’ll get our sensors upgraded.”Duranguil, a devoted engineer,was continually tinkering with the systems to ensure that theywere operating at peak capacity. He had a particular passion for sensors and had specifically requested a posting to the Albert,with her advanced sensor design. Martinez turned to Duranguil and said, “If we do get shore leave,I’lldrink you under the table yet!” “I’dliketosee you try,” Duranguil responded. ANew Mission 3

Turgowicz, listening to the others, frowned and said, “Drinking contests are absurd.” Turgowicz took a serious approach to his duties aboard ship. Yethis shipmates knewhe wasn’talways as serious as he tried to appear: on shore leave hewas known to display a different side and evenget in a fight or two. Martinez looked at Turgowicz and said, “If we do get shore leave,perhaps there will be a bar fight for you to break up, Illya.” Duranguil grinned. “Break up? Or start?” Turgowicz said nothing, but frowned a bit harder. Then Bar-David said, thoughtfully,“Well, as long as this newmission involves some good intelligence work, I suppose it will be OK.”The others murmured assent.

***

After twenty-sevendays of travelatWarp 7, the ship reached Star Base 27. The helmsman, Turgowicz, handed control overtospace dock, and the Albert glided smoothly into her mooring. Before the crewdisembarked, Captain Harrelson called another meet- ing and addressed the crew: “I’m nowgoing to meet with Admiral Teurook, the comman- dant of Star Base 27. He’ll give meour neworders. In the mean time, I want a full inspection of the ship.” Bar-David, hoping for shore leave,cursed quietly to himself. Harrelson continued, “Makesure that everything is space-worthyfor our newmis- sion. Check all vital mechanical systems: transporter,shields, warp drive,sensors. When you’ve done that, you may have shore leave.Weship out tomorrowmorning. That is all.” The crewsnapped to its task, eager to finish the work and visit the star base. Turgow- icz and Yung quickly confirmed that the helm systems were in fine working order. Duranguil, Orgullo, and Bar-David checked the warp drive,weapons, and shields. Sev- eral other engineers checked out the transporters. All systems checked out, with one exception: Orgullo found a problem with the forward deflector and promptly brought it to Duranguil’sattention. “Hmm, this is a problem,”Duranguil agreed, after reviewing what Orgullo had showed him. “It doesn’tlook critical now, but it could fail in a stress situation. Good work finding this, Orgullo. Nowlet’ssee if we can fix it. If we can’t, we may have to delay our mission while we sit in star base for repairs.” After working on the repair for several hours, Duranguil and the other engineers believedtheyhad fixed the problem. When the captain returned from her meeting with the base commandant, Duranguil reported what had happened. “Good work, you two,”said Harrelson. “What is your recommendation?” Duranguil responded, “If our orders are to leave,wecan probably manage.” Harrelson replied, “All right, well done. Nowtakesome well-deserved shore leave. We depart tomorrowfor our mission. I’ll brief you once we’re underway.Beready for duty at 0800 hours.” ANew Mission 4

Harrelson turned to Martinez. “Oh, and Jaime, the USS Landover is also in port here. Its captain is Felinor Quingal. I believe you twoknoweach other from your Academy days.” The captain left.

***

Duranguil and Turgowicz headed to the gaming area on Star Base 27. Turgowicz was quite proficient in zero-gravity handball — a champion from his Academy days — and waseager to find a worthyopponent and some exercise after manyweeks in space. Duranguil decided to come along and watch. As the twoofficers approached the handball court, theysaw a man playing alone in a zero-gravity compartment, through a window. After a while, the man stopped, clearly winded. Seeing Duranguil and Turgowicz through the window, heopened the door. “Fancyagame?” he asked. “Sure, I’ll takeyou on,”replied Turgowicz, thinking that this guy probably wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. “Fine, fine,”the other man answered. He was a portly man, and his broad face was red from exertion. “I’m MikeSandusky, bythe way.Iwork in Colonial Operations.” He extended his hand, which Turgowicz received. “Illya Turgowicz, Star Fleet Intel- ligence Command. This is my friend, Nidi-loo Duranguil.” “A pleasure, sir,” Sanduskyresponded. “Shall we?” he said, opening the door to the zero-gravity chamber.Turgowicz followed him in. The twoplayers floated around in zero gravity as theytook turns hitting the ball against the wall. Tohis surprise, Turgowicz lost the first point, and the second. Maybe this guy’sbetter than he looks, he thought. Or maybe I’m just out of practice. Turgowicz won the next twopoints but barely lost the fifth, and Sanduskywon the first best-of-fiveset. He’splaying me tough, thought Turgowicz. In the next set, Turgowicz smashed a winner,then won the next twopoints to takethe set. Sanduskywas winded, and Turgowicz clearly had the superior skill. “Good game,”Sanduskysaid. “Tie breaker?” asked Turgowicz. “Sure. Let me catch my breath, though.”Sanduskyhuffed and puffed for a moment, then was ready to go. The tie breaker set went to 2-2, but Turgowicz took the last point. Outlasted him! thought Turgowicz. “Say,you’re pretty good,”Sanduskysaid admiringly.“Where’dyou learn to play like that?” Turgowicz responded modestly,“Ihad a great teacher at the Academy.Itry to get in practice wheneverIcan.” ANew Mission 5

Meanwhile Duranguil, tiring of watching zero-gravity sports, wandered overtothe bowling area to look for attractive women. No one caught his eye. Then he decided to look for Martinez. Somehow the pretty girls always find him, Duranguil thought. He headed for the bar. Seeing that his friend had left, Turgowicz decided to visit the virtual-reality recreation deck. Locating it quickly on the star base map, he found an empty unit and went inside. “Computer,” hesaid, “makemeanice ocean beach scene!” The computer complied. “Computer,abeach chair and umbrella. And sunglasses.”Theyappeared. Turgowicz sat down and soaked in the rays. “Ahh,”hesaid.

***

Shortly after Martinez left the Albert,his communicator beeped. He flipped it open. “Martinez here.” “Hi, Jaime? This is Felinor Quingal, your old Academy roommate.”Quingal was a Caitian, and his feline voice purred as he spokethe words. “Oh! Hey! Howyadoing?” responded Martinez. “Oh, pretty well. Say,Iheard you were in port here too. Do you want to get together for dinner or something and catch up? Several of my crewwill be joining us. Bring along your shipmates if you want.” “Sure,”responded Martinez. “I hear there’sthis little watering hole in Section 4.” “All right, 1900 hours?” “1900 it is then.” “See you then. Quingal out.” Martinez snapped his communicator shut. It will be good to see Felinor again, he thought. Then he called the captain and the other crewmembers to convey the invitation. “Now: Time to hit a bar.” Walking into the nearest bar he could find, Martinez sawavery attractive woman sit- ting alone. It was still early afternoon, and the bar had fewpatrons at this hour.For Mar- tinez the decision was obvious: sit next to the pretty girl. He went overand sat down. “You seem to be alone,”hesaid. “Mind if I sit here?” Martinez was a charismatic man, and the woman was obviously flattered by the atten- tion. “My name is Sheila,”she said, smiling. “You can sit here, but I’m with someone.” Checking his disappointment, Martinez said, “Nice to meet you, Sheila. My name is Jaime. So, who are you waiting for?” “Oh, my boyfriend Biff. His real name is Eustace, but everyone calls him Biff.” “I can see whyheprefers Biff,”said Martinez thoughtfully.“Mind if I buy you a drink?” Sheila smiled coyly.“Sure, go ahead — Biffisn’tthe jealous type. IlikeRomulan ale, but that’sillegalaround here.”She sighed. “Any ale will do.” ANew Mission 6

“Barkeep!” said Martinez, “Two Vulcan ales, if you will.” “Coming right up, sir.” After a fewminutes, Biffreturned. He wastall, muscular,and broad-shouldered. He gave Martinez a sideways look. Martinez said, “HeyBiff, have a drink on me. Is Vulcan ale good with you? I just made port, and there’snothing likealittle trip to the bar and some shore leave after months out in space.” “OK, if you say so,”said Biffalittle sullenly.Heturned to Sheila. “Sheila, has this guy been bothering you?” he asked, as Martinez ordered another ale. “Not at all,”said Sheila. “Biff, be nice. He just bought me a drink.” At that, Biffmerely looked grumpy, but stopped complaining. Trying to break the tension further,Martinez ventured, “So, where’ve you been? We just got back from escort duty.Some freight haulers had mechanical issues.” Of course Martinez was not telling the truth. He was using a variant of the “freight- hauling” coverthat the Albert’s crewsometimes employed to protect its identity.This measure was rarely needed in star base, but Martinez was feeling cautious after his long stint in Orion space. “Well, I’m in military ops myself,”responded Biff. “I’m in ground support, marines, serving on a Chandley-class frigate. That is one bad-ass ship. Iserveonthe USS Mon- son.Iwasactually serving during that incident you may have heard of a fewyears back, where twomarine platoons were killed when theyboarded a Klingon ship and it self- destructed.” “I hadn’theard of the Monson incident, but that must have been a terrible experience,” said Martinez. “It was. I lost some good friends that day.Well, Sheila and I need to get going now,” said Biff. Sheila smiled again at Martinez. “Nice to meet you, stranger.” Martinez responded, “Here’stoseeing you again,”and downed his drink. After they left, he grumbled to himself, “Damn marines. Have tospend months with nobody but Orgullo.”

***

Duranguil wandered into a bar and sawMartinez chatting up a pretty girl. I’dbetter leave them alone, he thought. He sat down at a table near an Andorian wearing Star Fleet commander’sinsignia and ordered a Saurian brandy.While he waited for the brandy,Duranguil thought that the Andorian looked strangely familiar,asthough Duranguil had seen his picture somewhere before. After a while, the Andorian came over to Duranguil’stable and introduced himself as Feemwar Slit. “Good afternoon,”said Duranguil. Nowheremembered where he had heard of Slit —hewas serving aboard the USS Defiant when it had landed on a strange planet. Unknown to the Defiant’s crew, the planet was a living, intelligent being. It had obliter- ated a dilithium mining colonyand attacked the landing party.All worked out well in the ANew Mission 7

end, though, as the crewwas able to negotiate with the planet to use its dilithium. That had happened overten years ago, but the memory stuck in Duranguil’smind. He remem- bered reading about it at the Academy. “Didn’tyou serveonthe Defiant?” asked Duranguil. “Yes, I did,”Slit responded. “That was manyyears ago, when I served in the Galaxy Exploration Command. NowIservewith the Blue Fleet.”Duranguil knewthat “Blue Fleet” was an informal name for a group of Andorian-crewed warships. “I’m the naviga- tor on a Loknar-class warship. Howabout yourself?” “I’m chief engineer of the USS Albert,amodified Tavares-class freighter.Itcan’t match the firepower of your ship, but it’sgot a hell of a sensor system.” At that point Turgowicz entered the bar,having finished relaxing in the sun. He saw Martinez talking to a nice-looking woman and a rather muscular man; those twopassed him on the way out. He went overtoMartinez, who said, “HeyIllya, have a beer with me!” “Sure,”Turgowicz responded. “Who were they?” “Ah, some marine and his girl. The girl was, well, you sawher!” “Sure did,”Turgowicz responded. “Looks likeshe’staken, though.” Martinez sighed. “Better luck next time,”Turgowicz said, trying to comfort his friend. Overhearing their discussion while talking to Slit, Duranguil felt sympathetic to his friend’splight. He wasalso slightly amused. The other two, seeing Duranguil talking to an Andorian man, came overand sat down next to them. “AsIwas telling your friend here,”Slit said, “I serveinthe Blue Fleet. I’m enjoying serving with other Andorians. Ihav e nothing against humans, but it was hard being in a ship with no other Andorians for months on end. Most Federation ships are crewed mostly by humans, so sometimes it’shard on other cultures.” “Sure, that must be tough,”Duranguil agreed. “Anyway, you guys seem nice enough, and I’dbehappytohav e you on my crew,”Slit said. “What does Star Fleet have you doing?” asked Turgowicz. “We’ve been patrolling the Klingon border,” Slit said. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors that the Organians are no longer going to enforce the peace treaty.Wehav e to be prepared for that.” “Well, the prowess of the Klingons in battle is more than matched by the Andorians,” Martinez said. “Surely,that would mean war!” Turgowicz exclaimed. Slit responded, “That is true. Not necessarily outright war,though it could come to that. Certainly tensions would be higher along the border.Wemay well see more incur- sions of Klingons into the Neutral Zone.” ANew Mission 8

Duranguil said, “Let’shope not. The increased patrols might cause people to cool down.” “The cold war with the Klingons hasn’tthawed at all because of that artificial treaty,” Turgowicz observed. “That’strue,”agreed Slit. “The treaty hasn’tstopped the underlying hostility.And in my opinion it was neveragood idea to rest the peace and security of the Federation on another race, evenone as apparently godlikeasthe Organians.” Changing the subject, Slit said, “Have you guys everserved in galaxy exploration?” “This is my first cruise,”Turgowicz responded. “Well, good luck on your first cruise then!” Slit raised his glass. Duranguil said, “I have not worked in galaxy exploration either.” Slit turned to Duranguil and asked, “What have you been doing in the service lately?” “For a while I was doing development work on engine drives,”Duranguil responded. “I worked on the Excelsior-class engine design.” Slit answered, “That sounds interesting, though I was neveranengineer myself. Any- way, the Excelsior is a prestigious assignment. Ibet you were happytoget that.” Duranguil answered, “Yes, but I’ve I’v e always been fascinated by sensors, and so I wasassigned to the Albert.” “So the Albert is a sensing ship? It must be one of those Tavares Qmodels, with extra sensors. What’syour mission? Are you allowed to say?” “We’re between missions,”said Martinez, guardedly. “Well, I hope your next mission is interesting,”said Slit. “So do I,”Martinez agreed. Slit excused himself. “Nice to meet you, and good luck on your mission.”Heleft.

***

That evening, the group went to the restaurant in Section 4 where Martinez had agreed to meet his old roommate, Quingal. When the group arrived, Quingal was already there. A slender,hairy,catlikeperson, he raised his hand to the group. “Hi,”hepurred. The others returned his greeting, and Martinez introduced him to the group. “Felinor Quingal, Captain, USS Landover.Nice to meet you. There’satable reserved for us. Let’sgosit down.” Afew minutes later,Captain Harrelson joined the group, along with Orgullo and Yung from the crewofthe Albert.Quingal’sfirst officer was there as well. Martinez made sure to sit next to Orgullo. The waiter explained that the night’sspecial was authentic (not replicated) fish har- vested from a nearby star system. Quingal politely declined: likeall Caitians, he was a strict vegetarian. Duranguil silently marveled at the cat who didn’teat fish. Then, having no such compunctions, he ordered the fish for himself. He was glad he did; he ANew Mission 9

thoroughly enjoyed it. During dinner,the conversation turned to the responsibilities of command. Then there was more talk about the Klingon issue. The officers from the Albert learned that Quingal’sship was also a spyship; its assignment had taken it near Organia and Klingon space. Duranguil quickly discovered that Quingal’sfirst officer was also a sensor specialist, and he did not pass up the opportunity to talk shop with a fellowexpert. As the twoof them debated the merits of various sensing techniques, Martinez rolled his eyes more than once. He felt that a fancydinner at star base was an opportunity to relax, not to dis- cuss sensors. Duranguil, undaunted, said, “I was the lead designer of the sensors for this class, and so I’m curious about howthey’re working in practice.”The Landover’s first officer seemed interested, and a bit impressed. Quingal said, “Theyare a very good sensors system.” Duranguil tried to look modest, but failed. Quingal turned to Harrelson and asked, “Have you told them the mission yet?” “No, I’ll do that tomorrow,”she responded. Quingal turned to the others. “Well, I’ll let your captain brief you on the mission. But it is a very important mission, I can tell you that.” After the dinner,the waiter brought around Saurian brandy and cigars. Everyone was feeling relaxed and comfortable. Martinez took the opportunity to flirt discreetly with Orgullo, and she was flattered by the attention.

***

At 0800 the next morning, the crewwas aboard ship, preparing to depart for the new, as yet unknown, mission. Captain Harrelson commanded the helm to takethe ship out of space dock, with thrusters only. “Star Base, this is the USS Albert,requesting permission to depart,”said Turgowicz. Control responded: “Permission granted, you are clear to depart.” After the Albert cleared space dock, the captain ordered the helm to set course for the Selka system at maximum warp. Then she called another briefing of the Albert’s person- nel. “Crew, while we were docked in Star Base, I met with the base commander,Admiral chiGuy Teurook. He gave methe newmission. “Asyou know, the Federation has demilitarized manyofits border areas to decrease tensions, particularly with the Orions and Romulans. Forthat reason, theyneed a ship likeours, nondescript but with good sensors, for this mission. “During the last several years, an inordinate number of Federation ships have been lost in this region of space. Computer analysis can’taccount for the losses. There have been no unusual hazards, likeion storms. This problem has been a detriment to the growth of the entire region, and an embarrassment to the Federation. Our duty is to dis- coverthe reason these vessels have been disappearing, notify Star Fleet, and if possible ANew Mission 10

rectify the situation. “Star Fleet has assigned a number of ships to this mission. The Landover is one of them. The Albert is another.We’ve each been assigned to a different system where com- puter projections suggest likely leads. Our assignment is to the Selka system, which is eight parsecs from Star Base 27. At our present speed, we will arrive there in 27 days.” “I knowsome of you may still be disappointed at discontinuing our previous mission in Orion space. However, this newmission is very important to Star Fleet. We must all do our utmost to makesure it is successful. Anyquestions?” “What can we expect to find in the Selka system?” asked Duranguil. Harrelson answered, “I have uploaded some information on Selka that we can pull up on the computer.It’samining colony, primarily Andorian, with some humans. There’s no class M planet there, but there are mining settlements with artificial life support in the system’sasteroid belt.” “Howbig is the population?” “It’ssmall, mostly miners and a fewother civilians. It wasathriving community when the mines were booming, but nowit’sdepressed as the mining has dried up. The largest asteroid is called Selkadroon, and that’swhere the main starport is. We’llgoto Selkadroon first, and meet with the security chief there. Then we’ll conduct our investi- gation.” Turning to her first officer,the captain said, “Martinez, I’dlikeyou to pull up the computer files on Selkadroon. We can learn more there.”Martinez quickly complied. Scanning the file, the crewlearned that three firms — Interstellar Mining and Manu- facturing; Andor Metals and Mining; and Crystals and Rare Earth, Unlimited — had combined to finance the settlement of Selkadroon. Theywere still the major players there. When the mines were booming, the three companies had provided support services such as food, lodging, and equipment at a tidy profit. As the mines petered out, the ser- vices were closing down, and the economy was depressed. Some of the colonists had left for other worlds; others were nearly starving. From time to time riots brokeout, causing injuries and destruction of equipment. The crewalso learned that Selkadroon was divided into eight underground volumes (or “volms”) where the population livedand worked. The volumes were Outsysvolm (the star port and area for merchants), Insysvolm (a stopping point for miners), Storvolm (the storage facility), Agrivolm (a facility for agriculture, both hydroponic and soil-based), Factovolm (factories, nowdepressed), Powervolm (power generation), Resivolm (residen- tial area), and Adminvolm (administration and services). Zero-gravity tunnels connected each volume with several others, and there was a magnetic subway,also at zero G, con- necting all the volumes. When the crewhad finished learning about Selkadroon, Duranguil wondered how manyships had been lost in the Selka system. Looking this information up in the file, he found his answer: three. He ordered Lt. JG Singh, who was an expert at information retrieval, to followup. Singh learned that a high-end chartered transport, the High Rider, waslost near Selkadroon sometime within the past several months, but the Albert’s files had no further information. ANew Mission 11

“Makeanote of that,”said Harrelson. “Wecan investigate further when we arrive. “One other thing,”the captain continued. “Before we arrive,wewill need to decide whether to go in under cover, ortoshowStar Fleet colors. There are advantages and dis- advantages to both choices. As Star Fleet, we command attention and authority; but we may drive away whoeverisdoing this. On the other hand, under coverwemay be able to get people’strust; but it may be harder to get people to cooperate.” Martinez opined, “I vote for using cover. IfwegoinasStar Fleet, I think that this sort of trouble will simply wait for us to leave.Wecan go with my favorite lie: we’re here to haul freight.”Duranguil and Turgowicz agreed. “I’m inclined to agree with that too,”said the captain. “So we’re all of the same mind: we’ll go in under cover. When we get there, I’ll takeMartinez with me to meet with the security chief. Meanwhile, the rest of you should mingle with the people in the various volumes and see what kind of information you can drum up. Are we clear?” “Yes, ma’am!” the others responded, wondering what adventures their newmission had in store.

2. Selkadroon En route to Selkadroon, Lt. Commander Duranguil decided to examine the forward shield one more time. In his careful inspection he noticed a subtle flawinOrgullo’s repair work, one that could have put the ship in danger had the shield come under stress. Duranguil pointed out the flawtoOrgullo, being careful to note that the problem was adifficult one and she had done a good job, despite the flaw. Orgullo, a young and upcoming engineer,appreciated the feedback. Captain Harrelson commended both engi- neers on their good work.

***

About ten days out of Star Base, Ensign Turgowicz, manning the helm, detected an incoming transmission on lowpower.Recognizing that he needed an expert in communi- cation systems, Turgowicz called Lieutenant St. Simon to the bridge. Moments later,St. Simon appeared and asked, “What is it, ensign?” “Sir,can you makeanything of this lowpower transmission?” Turgowicz asked. “I’ll try,” St. Simon responded. After manipulating the controls for several minutes, he said, “I’m not sure what it is exactly.Itlooks likeadistress beacon on very low power,but I can’ttell for sure. Let’sinv estigate a bit. Ican track it to the source. Set the helm to these coordinates.” On closer approach, the ship’ssensors revealed that the transmission was coming from a log buoy. Lt. Martinez, his shift just beginning, walked onto the bridge yawning. St. Simon said, “Sir,we’ve detected a log marker beacon, probably from another ship. Shall we beam it aboard?” “Yes, let’sdothat,”said Martinez. “And keep a lookout on sensors in case there’s anything else noteworthyout there.” Selkadroon 12

St. Simon notified the transporter technicians, who beamed the buoyaboard. Mean- while, Turgowicz put the Albert back on course for Selkadroon. Then he said to Mar- tinez, “Sir,I’d liketotakeacrack at dumping that log buoytothe computer system and examining it. Ihav e some experience with computer ops.” Martinez responded, “Makeitso.” Turgowicz went to one of the ship’smeeting rooms and plugged the log into the com- puter console there. Upon examining the log, he sawthat it came from a vessel called High Rider.The name sounded familiar.Then he realized: This is the ship that that Lieutenant Singh found in the computer records! The one that had mysteriously disap- peared. Turgowicz became excited. This could be an important clue! he thought. Turgowicz kept reading. The log told the story of a voyage abruptly cut short by an attack. A crewoffive humans was bringing twoAndorian executivesand their wivesto Selka to reviewthe mining situation there. Theypassed near an ore carrier requesting assistance with an ill crewmember.Theyacknowledged the request and altered their course in response. As the ore carrier approached, the High Rider’s captain hove toand ordered the sick bay readied. When the ship docked with the ore carrier,the crewofthe High Rider found that there was no sick crewmember,nor was there evenaproper ore- carrying crew. Instead, a group of heavily-armed Andorians demanded that theysurren- der their vessel. The crewjettisoned the log moments before the intruders captured the bridge. Digging further,Turgowicz learned that one of the passengers listed on the manifest had the same last name (Teurook) as the admiral at Star Base 27 that had just giventhe Albert her orders. Turgowicz cross-checked the Albert’s computer for that name and dis- covered that the passenger was Admiral Teurook’sdaughter.Sensing that he had made an important discovery,Turgowicz brought this information to Martinez and Duranguil, who by then had also joined the bridge. The three officers were initially confused as to whyAndorians would be attacking a Federation ship. Then theyremembered the inci- dent in which Orions disguised as Andorians attacked the USS Enterprise en route to the Babel conference. “Those Orions are up to no good again!” exclaimed an outraged Turgowicz. During his childhood, Turgowicz’sfather had been captured by Orions during a raid on a trading post on a frontier world. Turgowicz harbored no love for Orions; in fact he had joined the Albert’s spy mission out of a secret hope for vengeance. Later,Captain Harrelson came on duty and asked for a report. When Lt. Martinez explained the situation, she looked concerned. “Did you report this to Star Fleet?” she asked. “Not yet, Captain,”answered Martinez. “Wejust finished downloading and reviewing the log.” Harrelson looked a little irritated and said, “Well snap to it, mister!” Martinez snapped to it. He knewthat Harrelson, though sharp-tongued at times, was avery good commanding officer.Star Fleet Command acknowledged the report and told the Albert’s crewtokeep a sharp eye out for anyother clues. Selkadroon 13

The rest of the journeyproceeded without incident, and the Albert made her way to the Selka system. The mining settlement theywere to investigate first, Selkadroon, was located in an asteroid field. Ensign Turgowicz prepared a computer program to raise the shields automatically upon detecting an incoming asteroid. This strategy protected the ship as much as if the shields were constantly on, while saving a great deal of power.

***

The Albert approached Selkadroon for landing. The encampment was carved out of the rock of an asteroid. On approach, the crewnoticed several craft in the landing area. Most were smaller,intra-system ships. There was also some work going on in a shipyard, where several starships were under construction. The Albert landed smoothly on the surface of the asteroid. Technicians in space suits connected an air lock to the ship’smain door.Port inspectors boarded the Albert,inspect- ing the ship and her papers. Harrelson expressed some annoyance at the delay. After an hour or so, the entire crewwas escorted through the airlock into the asteroid below, and to customs. By this time, the crewhad changed out of their Star Fleet uni- forms and into civilian clothes, in keeping with their decision to go in under cover. The customs officials asked the crewafew questions about what theyintended to do on Selka- droon. Then the crewreceivedpasses letting them into anyarea except Powervolm, which was restricted. The crewfelt a little disoriented by the lowartificial gravity of the asteroid, which was at 0.5 G. The officials reminded the crewthat gravity boots were required in all zero-G areas of the asteroid. Finally,one of the officials recommended that the crewcheck out the Blue Flame bar in Outsysvolm, the area directly adjacent to the landing area. “I don’tknowifyou are interested in this sort of thing,”the official said, “but they have some female Andorian dancers there that have tobeseen to be believed.” Captain Harrelson ordered Lieutenant Martinez to accompanyher to see the chief of police on the asteroid. She ordered the rest of the crewtofan out and see what theycould find out in Outsysvolm.

***

Harrelson and Martinez went to the subway connecting the volumes. Beside the sub- wayentrance was a warning sign, a bright yellowrectangle with alternating black and yellowdiagonal stripes on top and bottom. In the space between the stripes it stated: ZEROGAREA Gravity boots must be worn at all times Martinez double-checked his boots, and the officers entered the subway area. The subway quickly took them to Adminvolm, the administrative area on the asteroid. Theymissed a turn or twobut finally found their way to the office of the chief of police, anxious to keep their appointment on time. When theygot there, theywere unpleasantly surprised to be kept waiting for almost an hour: apparently Chief Staso was occupied with other business. During the wait, Harrelson became more and more irritated, mutter- ing under her breath about “damn backwater police.” Selkadroon 14

It’salmost liketheydon’twant to talk to us, Martinez thought. Finally,theywere shown in to see the chief. Chief Staso was an Andorian with strange-looking skin: it was a much lighter blue than anyAndorian’sskin that Martinez or Harrelson had everseen. His skin also seemed to be flaking off, and he continually scratched at it. Martinez’sinitial thought was that the “chief” was an Orion impostor; but he quickly realized that this was just an Andorian with a bad skin condition. The chief appeared grumpyand not particularly pleased that the officers were there. Martinez said, “Hello, sir.” Chief Staso gruffly acknowledged him, then motioned for the officers to sit down and promptly started complaining. He complained that there were not enough funds to pay for adequate patrols of the asteroid belt, that the asteroid was becoming depressed and riots were occurring, that the police manpower was insufficient to maintain safety.“Why just last month there was a miners’ uprising at Lozanz strike—” “Will you please get down to business!” Harrelson erupted. She had had about enough of this bureaucratic nonsense. “Lieutenant Martinez, please explain what we are doing here and what we need from the chief.” Martinez said, “Well, there has been an unusual number of disappearing ships in the area.” “What do you want me to do about that?” the chief responded. “I can’tevenmanage my own affairs here.” Trying to soften the chief up a bit, Martinez said, “Well, it looks likeyou’re doing an excellent job giventhe deplorable lack of funds you’ve been given.” The chief softened visibly and said, “Thank you. But really,what can I do?” “Well, for starters, can you tell us about the situation around here? Are anyraiders likely to be visiting this asteroid? Or might someone here be helping to supply them?” After evading Martinez’squestions for a while, the chief grudgingly admitted that he did knowsome things. One of his subordinates had been doing some computer analysis. He learned that pleasure craft and interstellar vessels that had been disappearing all passed through the antipodal, or opposite, portion of the Selka asteroid belt from Selka- droon. “My crewwill need access to those files,”Captain Harrelson interjected. When Staso resisted, she snapped, “Listen here! You will cooperate with our investigation or I’ll bring Star Fleet down on your head!” Martinez took a different tack: “Well sir,it’sobvious that you’re under-staffed. It is commendable that your subordinate did such an analysis. We can provide more assis- tance in analyzing the data.” The chief said nothing, but frowned. “If we can root out the raiders,”Martinez continued, “then your troubles here may ease.” Staso responded, “All right. But I want you to promise that you will investigate all the mining colonies in the Selka system, not just Selkadroon. Also, when you report to the Admiral, please describe all the extensive security problems here, that you’ll see Selkadroon 15

when you investigate. Then maybe I can get some more funding around here.” “Wewill investigate thoroughly,you can be sure of that,”Harrelson replied. “You had just better give usthe cooperation we need to do our investigation.”

***

Meanwhile, Duranguil and Turgowicz emerged from the customs area into a wide open compartment with a prominent bubble in its center: an emergencyshelter in case of sudden depressurization. Numerous bars and shops framed the central open area. There wasmuch activity,with manyhumans, Andorians, and a smattering of other races bustling to and fro. The officers passed by a knot of people watching a performer talking up his act. Turgowicz stopped for a moment to watch the performer,asDuranguil continued on. The performer claimed he was going to shoot himself with a phaser on stun, and with- stand the effects — much likealatter-day fire-eater.Eventually,hedid it: his body was enveloped in a glow. Hegrimaced in pain, but remained conscious. The crowd gasped. Then theythrewcoins in his hat and dispersed. Turgowicz approached the performer.“Youmust have some endurance to be able to do that,”hesaid. May Isee the phaser?” The performer said, “Oh yes, inspect it for yourself. It’squite real.” Turgowicz examined the weapon, and it was, indeed, an actual phaser. “Don’ttry this at home!” the performer said. “Unless you’ve built up a tolerance, like me. A phaser on stun at close range can kill! Youhav e to knowhow toshoot yourself just right, and it takes practice.” “Practice must be tough!” remarked Turgowicz, thinking of the manyhours he had put in at zero-G handball. The performer responded, “Yes it is. Nowifyou’ll excuse me, I must be going. I hope you enjoyed the performance.” “I did, thank you,”Turgowicz said. He started to leave.Then he noticed the per- former looking at him expectantly.Hetossed some moneyinthe performer’shat and went to catch up Duranguil. Meanwhile, Duranguil had asked someone where to find the Blue Flame. He and Turgowicz went there, but it was closed at this time of day.“This bar seems to be closed, Illya,”said Duranguil. “Let’ssee if we can find one that’sopen.” “OK.” The twoofthem found a bar,entered, and sat down. Theynursed their drinks, wait- ing for Martinez to finish his business in Adminvolm. An hour and a half or so later, Martinez joined them. Theysat for a while discussing their situation and deciding what to do next. Suddenly,the conversation in a nearby booth got much louder.Theyturned to look, and sawsome Andorians arguing with some Tellarites. Selkadroon 16

“You started it!” one of the Tellarites screamed. “Well you nevershould have been admitted to the Federation! Pigs!” rejoined one of the Andorians. The Star Fleet officers realized that a brawl was imminent. Theywalked overtotry to break it up. Theysaw two Andorians and twoTellarites, nowstanding and shouting at each other.One of the Andorians threwapunch, and knocked a Tellarite backwards. The next moment, blows were flying every which way. Martinez ran towards one of the Andorians, jumping and trying to execute a flying tackle. He succeeded, knocking overboth the Andorian and the Tellarite he was fighting, and bringing down a table with them. “Break it up, you two!” Martinez shouted at the combatants struggling underneath him. Martinez tried to pin the Andorian to the ground but failed. The Andorian took a wild swing at Martinez and missed. Martinez attempted the pin again; this time he succeeded. “Calm down, man!” he shouted at the struggling foe. Meanwhile, Turgowicz movedtopull the other Andorian awayfrom the melee. He grabbed at the Andorian but missed cleanly.Then the Andorian turned towards Turgow- icz. He flailed at Turgowicz and missed, his balance slightly offinthe half-gravity envi- ronment. Turgowicz again tried to grab his opponent, and again he missed. The Ando- rian swiped at Turgowicz and hit him in the face. While Turgowicz was struggling with the Andorian, Duranguil successfully pulled aw aythe Tellarite he was fighting. “What’sthis about now?” he asked, and receivedan elbowinthe ribs for his efforts. Duranguil attempted to wheel his foe around, but he could not get the proper leverage and stumbled. Duranguil and the Tellarite continued to flail at each other.Duranguil lost his footing briefly because of the lowgravity. Meanwhile, Turgowicz regrouped and was able to immobilize his opponent in a grap- ple hold. Duranguil also succeeded in grappling his Tellarite, and that took the fight out of the brawlers. All four looked angry and sheepish, but were no longer fighting mad. “What’sthis all about now?” asked Duranguil again, nursing the injury to his ribs. One of the Tellarites responded sullenly,“He started it,”pointing to an Andorian. “You mean he started bandying insults?” Martinez asked. “Wewere just discussing the Scandal of Archimedes,”the Tellarite responded. Martinez, Duranguil, and Turgowicz knewthat the Scandal of Archimedes was a major Federation crisis that had occurred about fifty years before. An Andorian colony world had appealed to the Federation for protection against a Tellarite merchant fleet. The Federation did nothing, and the incident exposed the weaknesses of the Federation bureaucracy. Itcontributed to the influence of the “Terra Return League,”which wanted to abolish the Federation. The Andorians and Tellarites here were arguing about who had caused the Scandal fifty years ago. Selkadroon 17

Martinez laughed. “And nowthey’re at it again!” Then the Andorians and Tellarites started arguing about who started the bar fight. Martinez intervened quickly.“Well, that was fifty years ago, and this is now. Now,I’m thirsty.How about a round!” One of the Tellarites said, “OK,”and the four of them reluctantly sat down at the offi- cers’ table. “And what’syour poison?” asked Martinez. The Andorians and Tellarites each asked for ale from their home worlds. Turgowicz said to the Andorian who had clobbered him, “You can pack a punch!” “Thanks, you’re not a bad fighter yourself,”the Andorian responded. “I’m not usu- ally one to brawl in bars, but these two” — waving at the Tellarites — “really got me going.” Martinez called the bartender.“Barkeep! Andorian ale for the Andorians! Tellarite ale for the Tellarites! And some whiskey for me and me mates.” The bartender said, “Yes, sir,” and brought the drinks. One of the Tellarites brusquely demanded an apology from the Andorian who had called his race “pigs.”The Andorian complied, apparently mollified by the liquor and no longer in a fighting mood. The Star Fleet officers sat and talked with their newacquain- tances for a while, attempting to learn some information that might help their inquiry. The Tellarites were merchants, the Andorians ore haulers. “Howoften do you pass this way?” Duranguil asked one of the Andorians. “Occasionally,” the Andorian responded. “We’re bothered by the rumors of the disap- pearing ships. ‘Don’tvisit the opposite side of the belt,’theysay.Sowedon’t.” “Any idea what’shappening to those ships?” asked Turgowicz. “Wedon’tknow. The whole Selka system is economically depressed, and security isn’tgood around here. It could be anything — pirates, maybe.” Martinez asked, “Have you seen anypirate types hanging around?” One of the Andorians responded, “It’snot always easy to identify ‘pirate types.’But yes, there are some rough customers around.” Asked about the local security situation, the group said that local security was fair, except in the very depressed parts of the asteroid, such as Factovolm. Theynoted that the people in Factovolm were starving, and there were riots there. “Starving?” asked Martinez. “Is it really that bad?” “Yes, there are slums. The police there carry phaser IIs in plain view. I’v e neverbeen there, but I’ve heard it is pretty awful.” Duranguil bought another round of drinks, and was thanked by the company. “Thanks!” said Illya. “I need it! These bruises are starting to swell up and hurt.” “Walk it off!” chided Martinez. Selkadroon 18

“Oh, I can takeit,”responded Illya, the accomplished brawler.“Ijust need to be ready for our next action!” Martinez turned to the Andorian next to him and observed, “Of course, you Andori- ans do deal some pretty big lumps.”The Andorian smiled and sipped his drink.

***

That evening, Martinez, Duranguil, and Turgowicz went to visit the Blue Flame bar, which was nowopen for business and hopping with activity. Theyentered a large open space with manyhumans and Andorians talking and enjoy- ing drinks at tables. The lighting was a dim blue, giving everyone’sface an eerie cast. Throbbing, aggressive music pulsed through the place, with strobes flashing in time. Tw o scantily-clad female Andorian dancers were doing their thing, enticing the mostly male audience by suggestively stroking their antennae. The group went to an empty table and sat down. A waitress came overtothe table, a human girl in her twenties, with blue hair.She was attractive,despite being somewhat disheveled. She said, “Hi, I’m Polly,and I’ll takeyour order.” Itwas hard to hear her overthe din of the music. The three ordered drinks and she left, returning with the drinks after a bit. Polly put the drinks on the table then hesitated slightly,asifshe wanted to say something to the group. Martinez noticed this, and looked up at her.Finally,she said, “I haven’tseen you in here before. We hav e alot of regulars. Are you newtothe system?” “Yes,”Martinez responded. “Our captain decided this would be a good place to pick up cargo.” Polly said, “Well, you look likehonest folks. I’m looking for someone who can help me. Maybe you can?” “What can we do?” asked Duranguil. Polly answered, “My father and twobrothers were prospecting on a distant orbit a fewmonths ago. Theydidn’treturn and haven’tbeen heard from since.”Tears welled up in her eyes. “This is a dangerous place, and people disappear all the time. But I don’t want to give uponthem.” “Of course,”said Duranguil, reassuringly. “Would it have happened to be on the antipodal side?” asked Martinez. “I don’tknowexactly where it was,”Polly responded. “What else can you tell us?” Duranguil asked. “May I sit?” Polly asked in response. Duranguil drewupachair for her,and she sat down. “Thank you.” Looking at Duranguil, she continued, “Well, I have reason to believe theyare still alive.Afewweeks after theydisappeared, I was at an auction where vessels were being put up for sale. Irecognized one of them as my family’sprospecting ship! Iwas certain of it because I recognized a mark on the hull. It was from a laser accident. The Selkadroon 19

auctioneering firm didn’tbelieve me. The ship’sserial number didn’tmatch, but I think someone changed the registration.” “Where was this, and howlong ago?” Duranguil inquired. “This was here in Outsysvolm, a couple of months ago,”Polly responded. “There’s more. I did persuade twoRepteam members to followuponmyevidence. Then they disappeared! Theyfound the registered search pattern of the ship and followed it —” Polly stopped when she noticed a puzzled look on the group’sfaces. “Oh, right, I for- got, you’re newhere, and you don’tknowabout the Repteam. They’re the elite mainte- nance and damage control teams around here. Theyare actually competent, unlikethe police. People respect and trust the Repteam.” “Yeah, I kinda noticed that the police are, well, not exactly top quality,” Martinez agreed. Polly continued, “They’re officially under the authority of the police chief, but have wide latitude. And that’sgood because the chief is not anygood. This is widely known.” “Not good as in incompetent, or corrupt?” asked Turgowicz. “More incompetent than corrupt, I think, though he may be corrupt too. Anyway,if you can help me, I can give you my entire life savings.” “There’snoneed for that,”Duranguil said. Martinez put on his best charming air and purred, “Oh, for someone likeyou we’re happytodowhateverwecan.” Polly looked up at Martinez and blushed when she sensed he was trying to charm her. Duranguil just shook his head at his friend’spredictable behavior. Polly stood up. “Well it was nice talking to you folks. Ineed to get back to waiting tables now, ormyboss will have myhide.” Martinez asked, “May we have your contact information, so we can be in touch if we have any more questions, or discoveranything about your case?” “Sure.”Polly wrote her contact number down and handed it to Martinez. “Thanks ev ersomuch for offering to help a girl in distress.”She beamed a smile at Martinez. “See you,”she said, then turned and walked away. Cute girl, Martinez thought. Toobad about her family. “I hope we can help her,” hesaid out loud. “I wonder if her problem is related to ours.”

3. The Blue Flame; Factovolm Duranguil stood up. “Guys, you’ll have toexcuse me, I need to get back to the ship. There’ssomething I need to check.”Heleft. Martinez thought, What, is the ship going to blow up? He’sreally compulsive about those sensors. Ashort while later,the lights in the bar came up, and the dancing stopped. One of the dancers walked overtothe officers’ table. She was a very attractive Andorian female, well-proportioned with a slender figure and a long face. She wasdressed in a silver The Blue Flame; Factovolm 20 bikini top and a silver miniskirt with tassels. “Hi, my name is Veelka,”she said. “Are you twonew around here?” “Sure, we’re just passing thorough,”Turgowicz responded. “Care to buy a girl a drink?” she continued demurely. Martinez responded, “Sure, what’ll you have?” “I’m particularly fond of Edoan wine,”Veelka answered. “Waitress, an Edoan wine for the young lady!” exclaimed Turgowicz. Polly came back and brought the wine. “So, where are you from?” asked Veelka, sipping her wine. “Oh, I’m from Prokylon II,”Martinez answered. “I’m not familiar with that planet. Is it nice?” “Not really.” “So you couldn’twait to get out, huh?” “Got out of there as fast as I could.” “What do you do now, big boy?” Veelka asked. “Oh, cargo hauling. Where are you from, pretty lady?” responded Martinez. “Oh, here and there,”Veelka said. “I grewuponaneighboring system. It wasn’t much either.” She turned to Turgowicz. “Howabout you, are you a cargo hauler too?” “Yes, that’smytrade,”Turgowicz said. “I’m from around here, near Orion space.” Veelka turned to Martinez and said, “Your friend here seems to be a serious one.” “Anyway, I’v e got to run,”she continued, “but if you everwant to come visit me, here’smyaddress.”She gav e Martinez a card with an address on it. “You could come visit me tonight, in fact.”She gav e asuggestive look and left. Martinez winked at Illya. Then he looked down at the card and noticed that the address was in Factovolm, the depressed and dangerous area on the asteroid. He sensed danger.“Well, Illya, she’sbeautiful, but I think she’shiding something.” Ashort while after that, a man came overtotheir table. He’swas middle aged, and a bit portly. “Hello,”said Martinez. “Hi,”the man responded. “My name is Helson Lamar.I’m an engineer on a trading vessel making port here. Mind if I sit and talk with you a bit?” “No problem,”said Martinez. “Sure,”Illya agreed. “What are you twodoing here in Outsysvolm?” Lamar asked. “Catching a bit of leave,” Martinez answered. “We’re freight haulers resting up a bit,”Turgowicz added. The Blue Flame; Factovolm 21

At that, Lamar gav e the officers a strange look. “What planet is your hauling based out of?” he asked. “We’ll haul anything that needs hauling, anywhere,”Martinez responded. “No base in particular.” “Well, I’m with a trading companybased out of Thranstor.Selkadroon certainly is an interesting place. Icome here a lot, but I’ve nev erseen you twobefore.” “This is our first time here,”Martinez explained. “Found anyinteresting characters around here?” Turgowicz asked. “Any cute women?” Martinez added, always on the lookout. “Sure, there are manyinteresting characters,”Lamar answered. “I sawyou talking to Veelka — she’sone of them.” “Cute or interesting?” Martinez asked. “Interesting, and beautiful. Both.” “What’sher story?” Turgowicz inquired. “Well I’ll tell you that in a bit.”Lamar leaned forward and lowered his voice. “But first, I’m not sure if I believe you are freight haulers — you look too clean-cut for that. If Ihad to bet, I’dsay you’re Star Fleet. But don’tworry.” Helaughed. “I won’tblowyour cover. Wecould use some more lawand order around here.” “Well, a poorly dressed man has a harder time of it, as it were,”Martinez observed sagely. “Anyway, don’ttell me whether you are or not. About Veelka —” He smiled and said, “Did she invite one of you to her room?” “Yes,”Martinez said. “I’m wondering if I’ll wakeupmissing a kidneyifIgo.” “She does that with newpeople,”Lamar explained. “It’sascam. She gets gullible men to followher home, where her boyfriend is waiting to rob them. The police don’t crack down because they’re corrupt and in on the scam; theyreceive a kickback.” “Well, a man who doesn’teverrisk the trap nevergets to takethe bait,”Martinez said, again playing the part of sage observer. “Say,ifyou are Star Fleet,”Lamar mused, “you could pretend to go there and clobber the guy good. But then you’dbetter leave,because you’dhav e the police after you.” “Howabout the waitress?” asked Martinez, pointing at Polly. “She’sonthe up-and-up, as far as I know. Poor girl, lost her family.She keeps trying to find someone to help her.” “Has anyone volunteered?” asked Turgowicz. “Not as far as I know. I’d liketohelp her,but what can I do? I’m just a trader engi- neer,not a rescuer.” “Some people have said that ships tend to disappear in the antipodal part of the sys- tem,”Martinez observed. The Blue Flame; Factovolm 22

“Yes,”Lamar answered, “there are rumors of ships disappearing, especially prospect- ing ships looking for newdilithium in the system.” “Well, our captain seems to want to head out that direction,”Martinez said. “Why?” asked Lamar,looking surprised. “Don’task me,”Martinez answered. “Our captain must be crazy in the head.” Lamar turned to Turgowicz and said, “You were asking about interesting characters before. I have heard some stories about trading vessels captured by Orions that would makeyour skin crawl. I don’thav e anydirect experience with this, but I’ve heard stories of people who have escaped from Orion slavery.It’snot pretty.Theyliketocapture highly-trained technical personnel such as starship engineering staff, because it frees up more of their own men for raiding parties.” “Hmmm . . . doesn’tsurprise me,”mused Turgowicz, thinking of his father.“Do you think that might be what happened to Polly’sfamily?” “It’spossible,”Lamar said thoughtfully.“But it’shard to say,since no one has been able to explain the disappearances.” Turgowicz responded, “I’dtakeany chance I could to nail one of them! Are there any vigilante groups looking for these people?” “I don’tthink so, not that I knowofanyway. There is the Repteam.” This caused Martinez to perk up. “The who?” “The Repteam. They’re the elite damage control and maintenance crews around here. Sometimes theylook for missing people, but then sometimes theygomissing too! Nomi- nally theyoperate under the chief of police, but in reality theyact independently.” “Are theycorrupt?” asked Turgowicz. “They’re much less corrupt and incompetent than the regular police,”Lamar answered. Turgowicz changed the subject. “What is there to see in this volm?” “What have you seen so far?” “Mostly bars and fist fights.” Lamar chuckled. “That’salot of what there is here. There are some interesting shops, where you can buy novelties from different systems. There are supply stores and parts warehouses for ships. There are lots of bars, and the main promenade area, which you’ve seen already.There are some inns, if you’re looking for a place to stay over. That’sabout it.” “Well, thanks for saving me a bump on the skull and my wallet,”Martinez said. “Don’tmention it,”the other man answered. “Nice talking to you two. Maybe I’ll see you around the merchant lanes some time.”Heleft. “Well, Illya, perhaps we should offer to escort Polly home. She seems likethe most obvious lead on what’sgoing on.” “All right.” The Blue Flame; Factovolm 23

The twoofthem went overtoPolly,still busy waiting on tables, and asked if they could escort her home when her shift ended. “Sure,”she said, “my shift ends at midnight.”

***

Around midnight there was still a lot of activity in the bar,but it had died down some- what. Martinez and Turgowicz went overtoPolly,who was just coming offshift. “Just let me get my stufftogether,” she said. She disappeared into a room behind the bar and emerged a fewminutes later. “I live inResivolm; we can takethe subway there,”Polly said. The three of them went to the subway terminal. The officers noticed security cameras installed at the subway platform. While theywaited, Martinez asked, “Do you feel safe living here?” “Yes,”Polly answered, “as long as I stay awayfrom the dangerous places.” “That seems likeitwould involvestaying awayfrom the whole system.” “It’sreally not that bad. Anyway,thanks for escorting me home.” After a while, the subway arrived. The group boarded, and an automated voice said: “Resivolm train, Resivolm. Watch the doors, the doors are closing.”The train chimed BING-BONG, and the doors closed. There were a fewothers on the train with them, including a family with a chattering young child. The train hummed, and the group heard the whoosh of air as it movedalong in zero gravity.Theypassed Storvolm, Powervolm, Agrivolm, and Adminvolm; after a fewminutes, theyarrivedatResivolm. The train stopped, and the group stepped out. Theypassed into the Resivolm area, back at half gravity.Theywalked along a corridor and noticed what appeared to be aban- doned homes on either side. The homes were large, though, indicating that whoeverhad livedthere at one time was well off. Security cameras were positioned at regular inter- vals. Not manypeople were around this late at night. The group passed a fewpeople on the way.After about a ten minute walk, theyarrivedatPolly’shouse. She thanked Mar- tinez and Turgowicz for escorting her home. Martinez kissed Polly’shand. She smiled, said good night, and went inside. Martinez turned to Turgowicz. “Well, Illya, we’dbest be getting back to the ship, unless you want to spring Veelka’strap.” “No, let’spass on that. Back to the ship.” Soon theywere back aboard the Albert,where theyfound Duranguil, still tinkering with his sensors.

*** The Blue Flame; Factovolm 24

In the morning, the captain called the crewtoameeting and asked for a report on the previous day’sevents. Turgowicz reported on the encounters with Polly and Veelka. The captain asked for his recommendation. “Well a two-bit thug likeVeelka, or whoeverisworking with her,isnot likely to give us useful information,”Turgowicz responded. “And helping Polly might require blowing cover.” “I agree, the two-bit thug is probably not going to help our mission, and we’re not here to save Selkadroon from itself,”Harrelson said. “I think we can help Polly without blowing cover, though I wish you people hadn’tpromised you’dhelp her.Weshouldn’t become too involved here.” Duranguil said, “Captain, if I may ask, did you find anything interesting yesterday?” “Yes, the other crewmembers and I spent yesterday searching the Adminvolm com- puter records. We learned some interesting information. Several independent scouts have left on search patterns to the most distant regions of the belt, but those scouts never returned. Also, not long ago a firm considered opening a station to increase the explo- ration of the antipodal sections of the asteroid belt. The idea was squelched by a number of firms that wanted to keep Selkadroon at the center of the Selkan economic picture. One of the firms leading this movement is called Ore Haulers, Ltd. Ithink we should investigate that firm further.Ithas an office in Outsysvolm.” Duranguil said, “Interesting. Did the scouts report anything unusual before theydis- appeared?” “No, it seems theyjust vanished.” “I wonder if there’saconnection with the missing Repteam members,”Turgowicz said. “Asamatter of fact, we also examined the Repteam roster,” Harrelson answered. “Wefound that twoRepteam members are listed as on ‘indefinite leave ofabsence,’ which we thought was strange. No one in Adminvolm that we asked knewanything about it, or where these people were.” Martinez observed, “Well, when people ask what we do, the standard answer is ‘haul freight.’Should we ‘look’ for a hauling contract? Perhaps we should go to Factovolm.” Harrelson turned to him and asked, “WhyFactovolm?” “If we’re looking for a cargo to smuggle, that’sthe place to try.And it seems that crime is at the root of this system’stroubles — perhaps smuggling or other criminal activ- ity is at the root of the ship disappearances.” Harrelson responded, “All right. Martinez, Duranguil, and Turgowicz, takeBar- David, Singh, and Nakamura, and investigate Factovolm and anyother volumes that you think might yield useful information. If you think the smuggling coverwill help, you have discretion to use it. Just be discreet, and use combat as a last resort. Set phasers on stun. The other crewmembers and I will check out Ore Haulers. “Any questions? No? Then good luck with your investigation.”

*** The Blue Flame; Factovolm 25

Around mid-morning, the team led by Duranguil, Martinez, and Turgowicz were rid- ing the subway towards Factovolm. The train was noticeably more run-down than the Resivolm train theyhad used last night. Some of the people on the train looked shabby and dirty. The train arrivedatthe Factovolm station. As the group was leaving the station, an old man, worn and sickly-looking, shook his fist at them. “What’sinto you, old man?” Martinez asked. The man glowered at the group, saying nothing. The officers passed though an area that was shabby and depressed. Up ahead they sawavery old Andorian man sitting to the side of the road. He looked up in the air,asif he could not see. As the group passed, he said, “Wha? Who’sthere?” “What’sthe problem sir?” asked Turgowicz. He said, “Who’swalking there?” He was sitting on a stoop in front of a home. The home looked dingy and shabby; other homes nearby were obviously abandoned. “Don’tworry about us,”said Turgowicz, passing the man by. “All right, well I don’tget manyvisitors here, and I was wondering if you wanted to sit and talk a while. But you can be on your way.Young people, always in a hurry.” Moving on, the group emerged into a large open area with manyfactories in it. There wasalot of noise, and the bustle of people. Manyofthe factories were closed. There were lines of people outside the open ones. Manyofthem seemed upset and impatient. Astrong-looking fellowapproached the group and begged for work, anywork. “I’m strong and I can work hard, please, I need to feed my family!” he exclaimed. Martinez said, “Sorry,wedon’tneed anymore workers. But we could use some information.” “What kind of information? Please, I must find work. Does this information pay?” “We’re looking for a cargo to haul, and were wondering where we could find some.” “What kind of cargo? Most of the cargo around here is dilithium from the mines.” Duranguil joined in. “What kind of work did you say you could do?” “I’ve worked as a stevedore. I’m very strong. Do you want to haul cargo in system, or out of the system? Theyneed some ships to takesupplies from the main spaceport here to the mining camps. Please, may I have a few coins?” Duranguil said, “Howmuch does that pay,around here? And did you have a regular job? Working for whom?” “I worked for one of the companies in Outsysvolm that provides longshoremen for the incoming ships,”the man answered. “I was laid offwhen the business on the asteroid dried up.” Duranguil gav e the man what he estimated would be half a day’ssalary in coins. The Blue Flame; Factovolm 26

“Thank you, thank you very much, sir,” the man said. “NowIcan feed my family tonight.” Duranguil smiled. “Well, we have a few questions in exchange for the money,”he said. Duranguil looked up and sawthat a fewother people had noticed him give moneyto the man. Some of them were pointing in the direction of the group. Afew moments later,two police officers approached the group, wearing body armor and carrying phaser IIs. One of them said, “Excuse me, but I need to ask you people to leave this area before you cause a riot. I’m very sorry about this, but tensions are high in Factovolm right now.” “Howwould we cause a riot?” Martinez asked incredulously.“We’rejust looking to hire a fewlaborers, and find some cargo to haul.” The officer responded, “We’ve had several riots this month, and the slightest thing could set them off.” “Likeafew officers telling their only hope of work to leave,” Martinez said, sarcasti- cally. The officer answered, “Believe me, if you wander in here and announce that you might be hiring one or twoofthe hundreds of people that need work here, that could cause a riot.” “Well, where can we find some workers and a cargo?” Martinez asked. “I’m not sure Factovolm is the best place to look for workers or a cargo. If you want my advice, though, do it discretely.” “And where would be a good place?” “In a bar,oraless crowded place, just not here where there are so manydesperate people, and you can’tpossibly hire them all.” “Well then, where’sadecent watering hole?” “There’sthe Black Goose around the corner there, it’sOK. Nowifyou leave this area Ithink it would be good.” “Thank you, officer.” Meanwhile, the other officer had gone overtothe approaching crowd. “There’snoth- ing here for you, people,”hesaid. “Move along.” During this activity,Duranguil had been talking to the man who had originally asked for help. He gav e his name as Rick Zanther.Heliv edhere in Factovolm, and he gav e Duranguil his address. “Look me up if you everneed a strong hand,”hesaid. Duranguil asked Zanther about the mining camps in the system. Zanther mentioned that the camps included Camp One, the site of the original dilithium strikehere about seventy years ago; Lozanz Strike; and Human Luck Lode. In that order,the camps were more distant from Selkadroon and newer.Duranguil asked about the antipodal part of the system, and the man said there were no known camps there. Duranguil thanked Zanther for his time. The Blue Flame; Factovolm 27

As the police dispersed the gathering crowd, the officers passed down the street, through a door into the next compartment. An old man walked down the street the oppo- site way,tottering and obviously drunk. People passed him by without paying anyatten- tion. “Theywalk among us and you are too blind to see!” the old man screamed. “They will takeyou all to work in Hell! Theywant nothing but power! Theywill stop at noth- ing to gain their ends! Don’tyou see?” The man stumbled past the group and into the compartment that theyhad just left. Theysaw the sign for the Black Goose up ahead. “Bar-David, you go in first,”Martinez instructed. “Get a seat where you can cover the room.” “Yes, sir,” said Bar-David, looking a little scared. He entered the bar. Moments later,Martinez, Duranguil, and Turgowicz entered a small, dimly lit area. The air was stale. Afew burly-looking men sat at a bar.The tables in the room were empty,except for Bar-David sitting at one of them, facing the room. Duranguil and Tur- gowicz walked overand sat down next to him. Afew minutes later,the other crewmen entered. Theylooked indecisively around the room, then sat down at another table. Turgowicz walked up to the bar and ordered twobeers. The men at the bar give him a dirty look as he stood there waiting for the drinks. One of them movedhis coat aside, revealing the glint of a short knife or dagger. Moments later,Martinez walked up to the bar,sat down, and ordered a beer.He asked one of the men sitting next to him howthings were going. The man just looked at Martinez and grunted. Friendly fellow, Martinez thought. Out loud he said, “I’ve been looking for a cargo to haul around here, but this place seems dead.” The man responded, “What sort of cargo?” “A little something ‘extra,’besides our normal haul.”Martinez winked at the man, who did not acknowledge the gesture. Back at the table, Bar-David was still surveying the room nervously. “Actually,” Martinez continued, “we’dbegood hauling anything — need the work and the money.” “Everyone around here needs work and money—get in line,”the man said. The three other men looked at each other.Then all four of them got up to leave. “I’ll tell you what,”the first man said as he stood up. “I may knowsomeone who needs some cargo hauling. If you followme, I’ll bring you to him.” “What sort of cargo?” Martinez asked. “Dilithium. Are you coming?” Martinez stood and followed the man out the door.Ashepassed the others, he said quietly,“Followme, but watch out for a fight. Nakamura, Bar-David, and Singh, you hang back.” The Blue Flame; Factovolm 28

Martinez left the bar and went into the compartment outside. He sawthe man he was talking to move rapidly to one end of the passage. The other three were already in place, blocking offthe passage from either end. Mar- tinez walked casually closer,fingering his concealed phaser. As Martinez approached, twoofthe men drewshort knives. “Heynow!What’swith the knives?” Martinez demanded, drawing and aiming his phaser.“Now, I’m not looking for trouble! Just cargo!” Meanwhile, Turgowicz and Duranguil emerged from the bar in time to see their friend in danger and drawing his phaser. Suddenly,the knife-wielding men rushed the officers. Duranguil and Turgowicz each took out one with their phasers, but one managed to slash at Duranguil and another at Martinez as theyfired. Martinez’sattacker missed, but Duranguil’sdrewblood. Mar- tinez then got offashot, squarely hitting his attacker,who crumpled to the ground. The remaining attacker,seeing that this was quickly becoming an unfair fight, turned and ran. Duranguil shot him, and he fell. Hearing the commotion, the other crewmen emerged from the bar,but by that time the fight was over. “Wha — what happened out here?” asked Bar-David. “The police will probably be along soon, and we don’twant to be detained for ques- tioning,”Singh observed. “Weshould probably get out of here.” The group paused long enough to bind Duranguil’swound and to check their attack- ers’ passes, learning that theyliv edinFactovolm, but nothing else of interest. Then they slipped through the door and into the next compartment.

4. Zim; The Missing Repteam Just then Martinez’scommunicator beeped. Martinez answered: it was the captain. “Martinez, this computer work is more difficult than I had anticipated,”she said. “I need you to come here and assist.” “Aye, aye, ma’am,”Martinez responded. Turning to the others, he said, “Guys, the captain has called me to Adminvolm, to help with the computer search.”Heleft. With Martinez gone, Duranguil was the group’ssenior officer.“Well, where should we head now?” he asked. “What about Insysvolm?” “Sure,”Turgowicz responded. “Perhaps someone there will knowsomething about the disappearances.” “OK,”said Duranguil. “Nakamura, you followIllya and me on the subway.You two” — indicating Singh and Bar-David — “trail slightly behind. Don’tmakeitobvious we’re all together.” “Aye, aye, sir,” the crewmen responded. The group walked back to the subway; as instructed, Bar-David and Singh followed. Theyboarded the Insysvolm train. The subway first took them under Powervolm and Storvolm. After afew minutes, the subway stopped at Insysvolm, and the group disem- barked. Theyentered a wide compartment similar to the main compartment in Zim; The Missing Repteam 29

Outsysvolm, but smaller.UnlikeOutsysvolm, which was at 0.5G, this volm was in zero gravity.Surveying the place, theysaw some bars, some barracks, and some stores. Sev- eral of the stores were closed and barred. Various people milled around. Theywere a mix of races, mostly Andorians and humans. Theylooked less impoverished than the res- idents of Factovolm. “Well, bars are always a good place to start,”Turgowicz suggested, “though maybe it’stoo early for that.” Duranguil said, “OK, howabout we break into twogroups and wander around. Some of the crews here may have information about the far side of the belt. Singh, you take Nakamura and Bar-David. I’ll go with Turgowicz. Let’smeet back here in a couple of hours. Use the communicator in an emergency.” “Yes, sir.See you then.”Nakamura, Singh, and Bar-David wandered off. Then Turgowicz said, “Say,Commander,how about we look for a lunch place? I’m getting hungry.” “Good idea.” The pair walked along the main compartment until theyfound an appealing-looking restaurant. Theywent inside and sawsev eral humans and Andorians eating. One group of humans that had apparently just arrivedwas in a jovial mood, talking and laughing. Seeing Duranguil and Turgowicz enter,theyinvited the twotocome overand join them. One of the group, a broad-shouldered and healthylooking man with dark hair and sparkling eyes, said loudly,“Waiter! Please get a table for our group.” “Certainly,this way sir,” the waiter responded. The group sat down; there were eight in all. Duranguil and Turgowicz introduced themselves, sticking to their cover. The man with the sparkling eyes said, “My name is Zim. We’reall miners from Human Luck Lode, and we’re looking for a good time here in Selkadroon. Howabout you two?” “What’sagood time likehere on Selkadroon?” Turgowicz asked. “Oh, bars, partying, some decent live performances. Of course there’sprostitution here, but we don’tgoinfor that sort of thing.” Duranguil asked, “Was your last trip out there successful?” “Yes, it was,”Zim responded. Some of the dilithium mines have been petering out, butours has been doing well. We mainly mine gold, silver,and rare earths. Ours is the most recent mine in the system, and the strongest right now. Sowe’re all in a good mood.” “That’sexcellent!” Duranguil responded. “Congratulations, my friend.” Zim slapped him on the back and said, “Thanks!” Turgowicz turned to the miner sitting next to him and asked, “Have you heard about the disappearances at the antipodes?” Zim; The Missing Repteam 30

Duranguil winced at his friend’sbluntness. The miner responded, “Sure, I’ve heard that story.Wehav en’texperienced anyproblems likethat ourselves, though.” Then one of the other miners started regaling Duranguil with mining stories. Duran- guil smiled and tried to look interested. The miner conversing with Turgowicz continued, “Have you been out to the antipodes yourselves?” Turgowicz responded, “No, not yet; that’swhy I’m asking.” The other man said, “Well, between you and me and this chair here, I wouldn’tgo there.” Meanwhile the other miner,sensing that Duranguil was an engineer,started explain- ing the technical details of asteroidal mining: howtheydid the drilling, and the ore sepa- ration. Duranguil listened intently. “If you’re interested, you should come visit the mine some time,”the miner said. “I’ll give you a tour myself.” “Sure, that would be fascinating.” Meanwhile the other miner asked Turgowicz what he knewabout the antipodes. “I’ve just heard a fewstories from people around here, Turgowicz responded. “Sounds likeyou heard them too.” “Yeah, I don’tknowwhat to makeofthem. It seems mostly the prospectors having the trouble, as they’re the only ones that go out there. The prospectors are always looking for a newstrike, you know?” During this discussion, the waiter came and took the group’sorder.Then Duranguil asked about the ownership structure of the mines. The miner explained that theywere all employees of a companycalled Human Luck, Inc. —the companythat had opened the mine. One of the miners asked if Duranguil or Turgowicz had experienced anytrouble with the police. “Not really,” Duranguil said. “Wewent into Factovolm, and theyasked us to leave.” “Ah, Factovolm! Nasty place. Why’dyou go there?” “Oh, just to look around. The police said that the presence of outsiders could lead to rioting by the unemployed workers there. So we left fairly quickly.” “Hmm, yes, I’ve heard riots in Factovolm are a common problem.” One of the other miners gestured at Turgowicz and said, “Looks likeyour friend here wasinafight or something. Did that happen in Factovolm?” “Wewere just breaking up a fight,”Turgowicz responded. “Some people can’tbe reasoned with!” “That’strue!” the miner agreed. “Was it Andorians? Those guys are always fighting about something.”The other miners murmured assent. “It was,”Turgowicz said. “But theybecame more reasonable after their tempers cooled — and we bought them some alcohol.” Zim; The Missing Repteam 31

At that point the waiter brought the food, and the group beganeating. Duranguil said, “This place is pretty good. Do you come here often when you’re in Selkadroon?” “Yes, we likeitalot. It’sour favorite lunch place here.” The group continued eating and talking. As the lunch wound down, Zim said, “Well, Ihope to see you guys at the mine sometime! Just ask for me.” Duranguil responded, “If we evercome out that way,I’lltakeyou up on that offer.” Zim said, “Sounds good! Nice to meet you guys.” “You too.” “Good luck!” Turgowicz added. “Thanks!”

***

Having heard about the Repteam several times, Duranguil and Turgowicz decided to seek them out. Asking around, theywere directed to a nearby Repteam base. When they arrived, theysaw anoffice that didn’tadvertise itself; it said “Repteam” in small letters on the outside. Inside was a woman behind a reception desk who said, “May I help you?” when the twowalked in. Duranguil said, “Good afternoon, ma’am. We are cargo haulers and may need to head to the antipodal region of the Selkadroon system. However, wehav e heard some disturbing news.” “What news is that?” the woman responded. Trying to be as charming as he could — and suddenly wishing Martinez were there —Duranguil said, “We’ve heard there may be trouble in that region, that ships have been damaged or gone missing. We’renot sure what to makeofthese rumors. We were won- dering if the Repteam might be able to give usany accurate information.” The woman responded, “Well, we can share the information we have onthat region. I can give you access to our public computer files.” At that point Turgowicz chimed in: “Weare concerned that the public files may not give usenough information.” The woman said, “I’m sorry,the public files are all you can have access to without clearance.” “You must get a lot of questions about this,”Turgowicz said sympathetically. Hmm, now he’slaying on the charm, thought Duranguil. The woman agreed, “Yes, there has been some concern about the antipodal region. But it’smostly prospectors who are concerned, and theytend to go anyway.” Turgowicz said, “All right. Well may we at least see the public records?” “This way,please,”the woman responded. She led the officers to a room offthe cor- ridor behind, containing several computer terminals. “You can use these terminals to search for whateverinformation you want.” Zim; The Missing Repteam 32

“Thank you, we appreciate this very much,”Turgowicz said. “You are welcome,”the woman responded. She left. The twodecided to check out Polly’sstory.Punching queries into the computer data- base, theyconfirmed that Polly had made a complaint to the Repteam, and twoRepteam members had investigated. According to the files, shortly after that, those members went on “indefinite leave ofabsence.”Duranguil and Turgowicz thought that was odd. Even more strangely,there was no more information in the file about the twoRepteam mem- bers. With some more digging, theyfound the flight plan for Polly’sfamily ship; it had indeed been headed towards the antipodes when it was last heard from. Theyalso pulled up files on the missing Repteam members. Their names were Hidalgo R. Lopez and Patrick H. Chen. Lopez was a retired Star Fleet officer.Theyremembered that Captain Harrelson had said something about Repteam members on indefinite leave and wondered if these were the same ones. Finally,theysaw that several other ships heading towards the antipodes were unaccounted for. Finished with their investigation, Duranguil and Turgowicz left. On their way out, the woman behind the desk said, “Good day,” and smiled at the officers. “I hope you found what you were looking for.” “Wedid, ma’am, thank you,”Duranguil responded. “You were very helpful,”Turgowicz agreed.

***

Turgowicz and Duranguil returned to the main compartment of Insysvolm, where they found Nakamura, Bar-David, and Singh waiting for them. Finding a discreet place to sit down and talk, the twogroups compared notes. During their own investigation, Bar- David and Singh had interviewed several persons about a Repteam that had gone on a mercymission a while back. One of them was master computer programmer,and the other one was very cool under fire. Some Repteam personnel reported that theywere sorely missed. “That must be Polly’sRepteam,”Duranguil said. He congratulated the officers on their investigative work. Then the group checked in by communicator with Martinez and Harrelson, who had been in the Selkadroon computer center all day,studying the computer records on Ore Haulers. St. Simon and Martinez had discovered some sort of alarm system attached to the Ore Haulers records. Theyhad also discovered the following facts: •Some ships registered in the system had irregular serial numbers — and all of those were registered to Ore Haulers. •Ore Haulers was buying enough food to feed about 500 people a month, yet the com- panywas listed as having about 90 employees. Zim; The Missing Repteam 33

•Ore Haulers was selling a lot of organic material to the fertilizer units in Agrivolm. Harrelson said, “I think we should pay a visit to the Ore Haulers offices in Out- sysvolm. But we’dbetter do it quickly,because Martinez thinks we may have triggered that computer alarm! What have you and Ensign Turgowicz found?” When Turgowicz reported what he and the others had learned, Harrelson said, “Inter- esting. Weshould look up the ex-Star Fleet Repteam member in our own files. Illya and Nidi-Loo, please do that.” “Yes ma’am,”Turgowicz responded. “Also, see if you can find anyinformation on the street,”Harrelson continued. “We’ll rendezvous at the ship at 0800 tomorrowmorning. Contact me by communicator if there’sanything important before then. I’dliketohead out of Selkadroon tomorrow, and begin visiting the other settlements in the Selka system. Anyquestions?” “Yes, could you please give usalist of the companies Ore Haulers does business with?” Duranguil asked. Harrelson responded, “I don’thav e that data in front of me, but I can upload it to the Albert.You can retrieve itthere.” “Aye, aye, captain,”Duranguil said. “Duranguil out.” Duranguil turned to Singh: “You and Bar-David ask around to find out what people are saying about Ore Haulers. In particular,hav e theyheard anything about food pur- chases?” Singh responded, “Yes, sir.Where should we concentrate our queries?” “Agrivolm might be a good place to start. Food warehouses, in particular.” “Yes sir,we’ll head there at once.” Duranguil and Turgowicz headed back to the Albert.Theywalked along the main compartment and through a narrower area where the bars and shops gav e waytoresi- dences. In this area theysaw manyolder people. Finally theyreached the main bulkhead wall for Insysvolm. In the wall was a door; through the door was a tunnel, also in zero gravity.Atthe end of the tunnel was another door leading to Outsysvolm, at 0.5 G. The change in gravity was momentarily disorienting. The pair walked for a bit and reached the main promenade area. The phaser performer was there, shooting himself again. They walked past all that and reached the Albert.Then theyboarded the ship and finally returned to full gravity. Once aboard the Albert,Turgowicz looked up Lopez’sfiles in the ship’scomputer. According to the records, Lopez had started as an engineer in Military Operations and risen to chief engineer of a destroyer.Now 42years old, he had retired from Star Fleet a fewyears ago; his final Star Fleet rank was commander.According to his medical file, his right eye was bionic. He had lost the eye in a repair operation aboard the Federation destroyer where he had served as chief engineer.Itwas the USS Stafford,aBaker class destroyer. At that point the computer beeped, indicating that Captain Harrelson’sgroup had uploaded the information about Ore Haulers. Examining the information, Duranguil and Turgowicz sawthat most of the company’sbusiness consisted of buying food and selling organic waste. Theythought that was very odd for an ore-hauling company. Finally,the Zim; The Missing Repteam 34

records showed that Ore Haulers had done business with Human Luck, Inc. — Zim’s company. Duranguil called Singh on his communicator. “Singh here.” Duranguil said, “The captain has sent us the list of companies that do business with Ore Haulers. I’ll transmit the list to you now. Concentrate on these, if you can.” Singh responded, “Yes, sir.”

***

Duranguil’slegssuddenly felt very heavy from spending all morning in zero G and 0.5G. However, what he said was, “I think we should call Polly and followupwith her nowthat we have all this newinformation.” “Good idea,”Turgowicz said. “I’ll do it.”Hecalled Polly on his communicator. Polly answered the communicator call; her voice said, “Hello.” “Hello, Polly,this is Illya Turgowicz. Wemet at the Blue Flame last night.” “Yes, I remember.Doyou have any newsabout my father and brothers?” “We’ve been thinking about what happened to your relatives,”Turgowicz responded, “and we have a few questions.” “Sure, anything to help,”Polly said. “Did you have any contact with the Repteam members that were investigating?” “Yes, I asked them to help.” “Who were they?” Polly responded, “One of them had met my father before, so I thought theywould be interested in helping. His name was Lopez, I think. The other guy’sname was Chen.” Right, thought Turgowicz, that matches what we saw in the computers. He asked, “Howdid he knowyour father?” “I hadn’theard of him before, but Lopez said he was top notch. Ithink theyjust got to talking in a bar one time. Theytalked about the dangers of prospecting around here.” “Howoften did your father and brother go on these trips?” Turgowicz asked. “This was the first one in the Selka system. We had just arrivedhere recently.” “Did your father and brother knowabout the dangers?” “Well, theyhad heard rumors of prospectors disappearing, but theydidn’tbelieve any of it. Theythought it was just other prospectors trying to scare them off—competition, you know.” “Were your family prospectors?” “Yes, my whole family has been prospecting as long as I can remember.I’m not a bad pilot myself.” Zim; The Missing Repteam 35

“Howlong would these trips usually last?” Turgowicz asked. “Well,”Polly answered, “a prospecting trip is usually a fairly short trip to look for ore. It can last a fewdays to a fewmonths, depending on howthe search goes. Then if there’safind, a camp is built, and miners are brought in.” “And howlong was it before you knewtheywere missing?” “I knewtheywere missing when I didn’thear anything from them for overaweek. I tried contacting them, and theydidn’trespond. Theydecided to try the far part of the system, because no one had movedinthere yet. Theyfigured there must be ore there.” “Howlarge was their crew?” “It was a small crew: a pilot, a fewengineers, and a fewprospectors.” “Had theybeen working together long?” Duranguil asked. Polly responded, “I’m not sure about everyone on the crew, but I think some of them came in with my family.One or twoofthem may have been local hires.” “But most of them are people your family had worked with on several trips before?” “Yes.” “In which case,”Duranguil reasoned, “it’sunlikely that anyof them were involved.” “Yes, I trust them,”Polly said. “But the newhires might have been . . .” “Possibly.” “All right,”Duranguil said. Turning to Turgowicz, he said, “Well we should be able to get the crewmanifest from the flight plan.”Turning back to the communicator,he said, “I think that’severything, Polly.Wehope to have more information for you when we return to Selkadroon.” “All right,”Polly responded. “Thanks so much for helping.”

5. A Suspicious Warehouse Just then Martinez returned from investigating the Ore Haulers office in Outsysvolm. “Hi guys,”Martinez said. “Hi,”Duranguil and Turgowicz responded. “What did you learn at the Ore Haulers office?” Turgowicz asked. “Not much,”Martinez answered. “The office was empty and looked as though it had been abandoned in a hurry.Iguess that alarm we triggered must have alerted them, and theytook offbefore we got there.” “Too bad,”Duranguil said. Then he and Turgowicz filled Martinez in on the day’s ev ents. “Well what now?” Martinez asked. “Should we check out Agrivolm? Or Storvolm?” “Wesent Singh and the others to investigate Agrivolm,”Duranguil said. “I think we should check out Storvolm,”Turgowicz said. “Maybe we can see what Ore Haulers is storing there.” ASuspicious Warehouse 36

“Good idea,”Martinez said. Turning to Duranguil, he added, “Nidi-Loo, can you use your sensors expertise to makeussome improvedtricorders? That might help us find any suspicious materials.” Of course Duranguil liked that idea. “Sure, I could try,” hesaid. “That would be an interesting challenge. What are we looking for?” “Stolen equipment, weapons, explosives. Basically anycontraband, rather than ore.” “OK, that makes sense,”Duranguil agreed. “Also maybe foodstuffs, organic things.” Picking up that thread, Martinez said, “Perhaps poisons, herbicides, defoliants as well.” “Makes sense,”Duranguil agreed. “Let me see what I can do,”hesaid, and left to go tinker with tricorders.

***

Afew minutes later,Duranguil sat at a workbench with tools and several tricorders laid out in front of him. He knewthat Star Fleet tricorders came in twotypes: science and medical. Science tricorders were designed to detect energy sources, physical compo- sition, and general information about life forms; whereas medical tricorders detected chemical composition and more precise information about life forms. Duranguil decided to start by modifying a science tricorder to give itheightened sen- sitivity to detecting poisons. He was able to do this with relative ease. Well this is going well, Duranguil thought. Next he decided to modify another science tricorder for heightened sensitivity to her- bicides and defoliants. He found this task to be much more difficult. After working for more than an hour,hesucceeded in doing nothing but utterly ruining the tricorder he was working on. He decided to put that problem aside and tackle a different one. At least the Albert has lots of sparetricorders, Duranguil thought. Picking up another science tricorder,Duranguil decided to try to give itenhanced capabilities to detect energy weapons. This time he didn’tdamage the tricorder; but nei- ther was he able to accomplish the task he had set for himself. Finally he decided to try to enhance the tricorder’sability to detect explosives. That didn’twork too well either. This is harder than I thought it was going to be, Duranguil thought. He felt a bit dis- couraged that his skill with ship’ssensors wasn’ttranslating to tricorders as well as he would like. Well at least I have a poison-detecting tricorder,and only one is melted, he thought. He went to join the others.

***

While Duranguil was working on the tricorders, Martinez decided to check in with Lt. JG Singh and inquire about his progress in Agrivolm. He called Singh on the ship’scom- municator.Singh responded, “Singh here.” ASuspicious Warehouse 37

“Singh, this is Martinez. Howisyour investigation going so far? Have you found anything suspicious? Or of note?” Singh responded, “Well we spent some time talking to some farmers. Theywere arguing about what to plant, and somehowwegot in the middle of it. That took some time. But we did also get some useful information.” “Which was?” “Weoverheard some women talking about the loss of the yacht Fun Guys twoyears ago. I think we should investigate that. It could be connected to the other disappear- ances.” “Interesting,”Martinez responded. “Who was on board? And where was it lost?” “Wedon’tknow, sir.Weasked the women about it, but theydidn’tknowmuch. They seemed more concerned with the economic effects of the disappearing ships. No one wants to commission or pilot yachts around here much anymore.” “I agree we should investigate that further,” Martinez said. “What about the crops in Agrivolm? Howwere theydoing?” Singh responded, “From what we could see theyseem to be doing well.” “OK, so if someone is intending to mess with the crops, theyhav en’tdone it yet.” “It would appear so, sir,” Singh said. “By the way,sir,this place is pretty neat. They have huge farming areas lit with artificial light, all inside an asteroid. I’ve nev erseen anything likeit.” “All right,”Martinez responded. “That’sall I have for now. Report back to the ship by tomorrowmorning; we’re leaving Selkadroon.” “Yes, sir.Singh out.” At this point Duranguil entered, and he and Martinez sought out Turgowicz. They found him in the galleyeating. Duranguil wassuddenly very hungry: it was around 6:30 p.m., and during all the work with the tricorders he had forgotten to eat. When Martinez reported on what he had learned from Singh, Turgowicz said, “Some- one should investigate the Fun Guys disappearance further.Maybe we can ask the cap- tain’steam to do it, if theyare still in Adminvolm.” “Good idea, Illya,”Martinez said. He called the captain on the ship’scommunicator. Harrelson’svoice said, “Harrelson here.” Martinez reported Singh’sfindings to the captain. “Good work,”the captain responded. Duranguil asked, “Captain, can you access information about Fun Guys from the Adminvolm computer? Forexample, maybe theyfiled a flight plan, so we can figure out where theywere headed?” “Well we’re done with Adminvolm for the day.” Harrelson said. “I’m at dinner right now. Unfortunately I think all the computers are closed at this time of night. Iwant to get out of Selkadroon, but we can investigate the Fun Guys lead first thing in the morn- ing.” ASuspicious Warehouse 38

“Aye aye, captain,”Martinez responded. “What else do you plan to do before we leave tomorrow?” the captain asked. “Wewere also going to snoop around Storvolm. Duranguil tried modifying some tri- corders to detect contraband. Ore Haulers can’t really be storing just ore and grain.” “That’sagood idea,”Harrelson agreed. “There’ssomething very suspicious about Ore Haulers, and I think it’sconnected to our investigation somehow. That’sjust my hunch.” Martinez added, “I must also report that not all the tricorder modifications were suc- cessful. Welost several tricorders in the process.” “I only destroyed one,”Duranguil objected. “All right, use your judgment and don’tdestroytoo manytricorders,”Harrelson responded. “Carry on, use discretion, Harrelson out.” As Martinez and Duranguil were hungry,and Turgowicz had already eaten, the group decided that Turgowicz and Bar-David would go first and scout out Storvolm. The others would followuplater,after theyhad eaten. “Bar-David, come with me: we’ve been ordered to scout out Storvolm,”Turgowicz said. “Sounds good, let’sgo!” Bar-David responded.

***

Searching the information theyhad receivedfrom the captain’sgroup, Turgowicz and Bar-David located a block of warehouses in Storvolm rented by Ore Haulers. “Bingo,”said Turgowicz. “Come on, Roger,that’swhere we’re headed!” After informing Martinez where theywere going, theystarted out towards Storvolm. On the way to the subway theypassed through Outsysvolm again. There wasafair amount of activity; the Blue Flame bar was throbbing as usual. Theyboarded the sub- way. Arriving at Storvolm, theyemerged from the subway exit and entered an open area with tunnels leading offinsev eral directions. In contrast to Outsysvolm, this place appeared deserted. Looking down the tunnels, the officers sawrowsand rows of doors. The tunnels bore identifying marks, similar to street names, except that theywere all numbers. Turgowicz and Bar-David walked along the passagewaytow ards the area theyhad located on the computer.After a fewtwists and turns, theyheard a hissing noise, and the lights in the passagewayblinked red. Bar-David said, “I think the passage is losing pressure! We should move through here quickly.” Bar-David and Turgowicz beganrunning. Theysaw the door at the end of the pas- sage start to close. Theyclambered through the door just as it closed behind them. ASuspicious Warehouse 39

“We’ll have tofind another way back,”Bar-David said. The pair continued on their way.After a fewmore twists and turns, theyheard a noise coming from the compartment ahead. It sounded likesomeone running towards them. As there was no coverinsight, theydropped to prone and drewtheir phasers. The running approached nearer. Suddenly twomen came into viewatthe turn of the passage in front of them. The men were carrying large sacks and were armed with clubs. Theyturned and ran towards Turgowicz and Bar-David, still lying prone in hallwaywith their phasers drawn. If the men sawthe phasers, theydidn’tshowit. At adistance of about ten meters, Turgowicz and Bar-David fired stun shots, one at each of the men. The shots hit the men squarely; both dropped what theywere carrying and fell in a heap. All was quiet in the hallwayagain. Turgowicz and Bar-David looked at each other nervously.Then theygot up, walked overtothe inert men, kicked their clubs away, and searched them. Theynoticed the men’sdress was dirty and scruffy.Inthe sacks were some sort of rations, possibly military.The men’sidentification said theyliv edinFacto- volm. Bar-David asked, “Should we stay and interrogate these two? Or just leave?They’re probably just stealing food.” Turgowicz responded, “I think we should wait till theywakeup, and see if theyknow anything useful.” “OK,”Bar-David responded. He checked his phaser setting and trained it on the man he had dropped. Turgowicz did the same. Bar-David’sopponent wokeupfirst. “Oh, my head,”hesaid. “What hit me?” Then he looked up angrily at Bar-David’sphaser,still pointed at him, and started to get up. “Watch it, pal,”said Bar-David, brandishing the phaser.The ruffian sat back down, scowling. Afew minutes later,Turgowicz’sopponent wokeup. He didn’tsay anything, but just lay on the ground, looking up at the officers. “OK,”Turgowicz said to the one he had shot, “who are you, and whyare you running around here with weapons?” Before he could respond, the other man said, “We’re looking for food. What are you twodoing with phasers in Storvolm? You’re not police. That’sillegal.” The first man said, less aggressively,“Do you have any food?” Turning to the second man, Turgowicz said, “You shouldn’tbeworrying about what’s illegal.”The man glared back at him, saying nothing. “Where did you get this food?” Turgowicz asked. “None of your business,”the man responded. “Find your own food. And give it back!” “All right,”Turgowicz responded. “Takeyour food, but we’ll keep the weapons.” ASuspicious Warehouse 40

“Fine.” Getting up, the other man said, “Come on, Joe, let’sget out of here.” Looking at Turgowicz, the first man said, “No fair,phasers against clubs. We’d take you in a fair fight.” “Come on, Joe, shut up and let’sleave,” the other man said. The twomen approached Turgowicz and Bar-David, still covering them with the phasers. Theypicked up the bags of food, watching the officers warily,and beganwalk- ing away. As theywere leaving, Turgowicz had a thought. “Hey, doyou men operate alone, or as part of a group?” The ruffians stopped. The one called Joe turned and said, “That’snone of your busi- ness.”Then he, too had a thought. “Or do you want to join us?” “Join?” Turgowicz asked. “Sure, we could use some phasers in our group,”Joe said. “Aren’tyou guys hungry?” The other man said calmly,“Come on, Joe, theylook well dressed. They’re probably spies.” “Well, carry on but we won’tbesogenerous next time,”Turgowicz said. At that Joe looked squarely at Turgowicz and said, “If you are spies, I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you!” The ruffians left.

***

Turgowicz and Bar-David decided to check in with Martinez and Duranguil back at the ship. Theyagreed to meet at the Ore Haulers warehouse, along with Yung and Orgullo. A half hour later,theywere all there. “OK, everyone, tricorders out,”Martinez said. “Wewant a thorough search. We’re looking for anything that isn’tfood or ore.” Everyone took their tricorders out and started scanning, Turgowicz using the one that Duranguil had modified. After several minutes of scanning, Duranguil noticed some unusual readings. He called out to the others. “I’m picking up something on my tricorder.There’ssomething in that warehouse. Several things, actually.Theyappear to be mechanical in nature. Definitely not food or ore.” “Should we blast open the door?” Turgowicz asked. “Weshould be careful — it might be alarmed,”Martinez said, thinking of his earlier experience at the Ore Haulers office. “I want everyone to start scanning for alarms.” After several more minutes of scanning, Orgullo said, “Sir,I’m picking up something on my tricorder.It’scoming from this small box on the side of the door.Looks likeit could be an alarm.” ASuspicious Warehouse 41

After inspecting the box, Martinez said, “I agree, this looks suspicious. If we want to get in there, we’ll need to disable it first. Orgullo, I’dlikeyou to shoot that alarm. Just be careful you don’tset it off.” “Yes, sir,” Orgullo responded. She set her phaser to disintegrate and stepped up to the alarm box. Taking a deep breath, she put her phaser next to the box and pulled the trig- ger.The box glowed brightly,then disappeared. Everyone exhaled. With the alarm disabled, the group easily destroyed the lock and opened the door. Inside the compartment was dark; theyturned on a light. Theysaw manyboxes and cabi- nets. Scanning with their tricorders, theydetermined the contents of the boxes were mostly metallic. The cabinets were made of metal and contained both metal and plastic. Duranguil ordered Yung to open one of the cabinets. “Yes, sir,” Yung responded. He opened a cabinet. Inside were manyphasers. Yung let out a lowwhistle. “These are phaser IIs, the military issue kind,”hesaid. “That is some serious firepower.” Duranguil ordered Orgullo to catalog everything theyhad found. “Yes sir,” Orgullo said. She busied herself with her tricorder,mumbling something about howthe woman was always the secretary. Martinez opened a box that appeared to contain spaceship parts. He called Bar-David over. “Ensign, what do you think of this?” he asked. After inspecting the parts for several minutes, Bar David said, “Sir,this looks likepart of a warp core.” Searching the compartment thoroughly,the group determined that all the boxes con- tained parts and the cabinets contained weapons. The weapons had had their serial num- bers illegally removed. Theyalso found some crude body armor,effective against primi- tive weapons but not phasers. Finally theyfound space suits. Martinez called the captain to report what the group had found. “Harrelson here,”the captain answered. “Captain, we brokeinto Ore Haulers’ storage,”Martinez said. “And?” “Theyhav e lots of weapons, with their serial numbers removed. Also, lots of ship parts, body armor,and space suits.” “That is very suspicious,”the captain said. “Clearly theyare up to something. Ijust wish I knewwhat it was!” “Well good work, all of you,”Harrelson continued. “I’ll report this to the police chief in the morning. Ithink we’re done here in Selkadroon. Unless there’sanything else, go back to the ship and get some rest for tomorrow. Wehav e along day tomorrowpatrolling the system.” “Yes, ma’am. Over and out.” Duranguil said, “Weneed to secure this warehouse. With all the unrest in the area, the last thing we need is for Joe and his friends to be armed with phaser mark IIs.” ASuspicious Warehouse 42

“Good point,”Martinez said. “Let’sclose this back up and use our phasers to fuse the door shut.” After securing the door,the group headed back to the Albert without incident, where theycalled it a night.

***

The next morning, Captain Harrelson contacted the Selkadroon police and reported the warehouse containing the illegalweapons and other equipment. Chief Staso was livid when he learned that Martinez and the others had broken into the Ore Haulers locker without a warrant. In Harrelson’sopinion, though, it was the right thing to do, both to support their investigation and to foster public safety. Then several crewmembers headed to Adminvolm to search for more information on the disappearance of the yacht Fun Guys.Reviewing contemporary news accounts, they learned that Fun Guys had disappeared with all hands twoSelkan years ago. One of the passengers was an executive ofthe largest corporation in Selkadroon. This executive wanted to encourage prospecting ventures and possibly evenfund some out of his own fortune. The ship was heading out of the system. It was unknown where the ship was lost; it simply left port and neverreached its destination. “Sounds likesomebody wants to keep the area depressed,”Martinez observed. The group wrapped up at Adminvolm and headed back to the ship to begin their patrol of the Selka system.

6. On Patrol The Albert left Selkadroon and headed for Camp One, the first of the three mining camps in the Selka system. The crewfollowed a standard patrol route, proceeding slowly and sweeping with the Albert’s powerful sensors, looking for anything unusual. The projected traveltime to Camp One was one day.About a half day out, Martinez wasincommand and Turgowicz was at the helm. Turgowicz’sconsole blinked, indicat- ing an incoming message. “Sir,we’re receiving a distress call,”Turgowicz reported. “It’salow-power transmis- sion.” “On screen,”Martinez said. Turgowicz put the message on the screen. It showed a human man, apparently a civil- ian ship captain. Because of the lowpower,the transmission quality was poor. “Please help us!” the captain said. “We’re under attack by pirates! We can’thold them offmuch longer!” Martinez addressed Turgowicz: “Howfar awayare they, ensign?” “Medium range, we can be there in a fewminutes,”Turgowicz responded. “All right,”Martinez said. “Keep sensors locked on those ships, and switch the screen to tactical.” On Patrol 43

Turgowicz complied. The captain’simage disappeared, and the screen showed two ships facing off. Both were small prospecting vessels. No weapons were being fired at the moment, but one of the ships — the one whose captain had sent the transmission — had sustained fire, and her shields were weakened. Suddenly the other ship fired. The first ship’sshields weakened further. Martinez said, “Put that captain back on the screen.”When the captain appeared, he said, “This is Jaime Martinez of the USS Albert.Hold tight, we are coming in for assis- tance. We’ll also relay your message to Selkadroon.” “Please hurry!” the captain said. His desperation was evident. The Albert’s bridge crewsaw him shakeabout as his ship continued to takefire. “Wecan’tlast much longer!” “Shields up!” Martinez said. “Red alert! Captain to the bridge!” The ship went to red alert, and the klaxon sounded. Turning to Bar-David, Martinez said, “Ensign, send a report to Selkadroon of a civil- ian ship under attack by pirates.”Turning to Turgowicz, he said, “Set a course towards the aggressor ship and engage immediately at maximum impulse.” Turgowicz laid in the course, and the Albert approached the attacking ship. “Hail that ship,”Martinez said. The ship’scaptain appeared on the screen. Martinez addressed the captain: “Pirate vessel! Stand down!” The captain responded, “Clear out of here! This is none of your business! Wedon’t want to have todisable your vessel too.” “And we don’twant to disable yours!” Martinez responded. “Illya, lock weapons on that ship.” At that moment, Harrelson arrivedonthe bridge and said, “Martinez, report.” Martinez reported their status. Harrelson responded, “All right. Allocate power to forward shields and beam weapons. Let’stry to disable that hostile ship.” Turgowicz did as he was instructed and said, “Weapons locked on target, ma’am.” “Fire!” Harrelson commanded. Turgowicz fired. “Both weapons hit!” he reported. On the screen, the bridge crewsaw the aggressor ship shakefrom the impact. The Albert’s weapons were not particularly powerful for Star Fleet weaponry,but to a small prospecting ship theywere devastating. The enemy captain appeared on the screen again. “All right, stop firing,”hesaid. “Wegiv e up. Who are you people, anyway?” Harrelson said, “This is Captain Ellie M. Harrelson of the USS Albert.You are in violation of UFP law. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”She commanded Turgow- icz to keep his weapons locked on the hostile ship. The ship lowered her shields. Harrelson said, “Martinez, come with me. And bring phaser IIs.” On Patrol 44

“Wait, do we want to board?” Turgowicz asked. “Remember what happened to the Monson?Didn’ther crewboard a ship that self-destructed?” “That’strue,”Martinez said. “Wedon’twant to end up likeBiff’sfriends.” “Who’sBiff?” Harrelson asked. “Oh, just someone I met in port,”Martinez said. “All right,”Harrelson said. “Ensign Turgowicz makes an excellent point. We should be extra careful out here. Turgowicz, please scan for self-destruct mechanisms.” Turgowicz scanned with the sensors and reported that no self-destruct mechanism was active. “All right, then let’sgo,”Harrelson said. “Martinez, come with me.” Martinez responded, “Yes ma’am!” He and Harrelson went to the transporter room, where theymet Singh and Nakamura. The group transported to the hostile ship, where theyconfronted a sheepish-looking pirate captain. Harrelson barked at him, demanding to knowwhat he was doing. “We’re only prospectors down on our luck,”the captain said. “Wejust needed some extra food and fuel. Please don’thurt us.” Harrelson said, “We’re not going to hurt anyone. We’re Federation officers. You picked the wrong part of space to be pirates in today,buddy.” “Wedidn’twant to be pirates. We just wanted to continue our prospecting,”the cap- tain said. “We’ve been out here for months and haven’tfound anything. We’re running out of food and fuel, in danger of starving.” “All right, leave usalone for a minute,”Harrelson said. She took Martinez to an adjoining room. Addressing him, she said, “Jaime, what do you think we should do? This is interfering with our mission.” Martinez thought a moment and said, “Well, we could hire them — use them as bait.” “What do you have inmind?” “Theygotothe antipodes, and we tail them,”Martinez responded. “Then, when the real pirates attack, it will be twoonone, and the pirates won’tevenexpect us. All we have todoisfile a flight plan, and the pirates will be on whoevergoes out there likestink on cheese.” “That’saninteresting idea,”Harrelson responded. “Except I don’tthink these guys have anything to do with the problems in the antipodes. Theyseem likerandom thugs — incompetent ones at that. And I’m uncomfortable with the idea of using civilians as bait, ev enwould-be pirates. I’m inclined to escort them to Camp One and turn them overto the authorities there.” Martinez didn’tlikethat idea too much. “I’m not sure we can trust the authorities in this system,”hesaid. “Theyall seem corrupt.” “I don’tthink they’re all corrupt,”Harrelson responded. “I don’tlikethat Staso guy back on Selkadroon, but some of the other police are all right.” On Patrol 45

“Plus, theyknowthat we’re Star Fleet,”Martinez continued. “But if you think we can trust the local authorities to keep this quiet, then I agree.” “I think we can,”Harrelson said. The twoofthem returned to confront the would-be pirate captain. “All right, captain, look here,”Harrelson said. “You’re coming with us to Camp One. We’llturn you overto the authorities there. Anytricks, and we’ll blowyou out of space!” The captain did not argue.

***

Back on the Albert,Harrelson and Martinez communicated with the captain whose ship had been attacked. Grateful for Albert’s assistance, he believedhis ship could reach Camp One under her own power,crippled though it was. The Albert agreed to serveas escort, and all three ships continued to Camp One without further incident. Arriving at Camp One, the Albert’s crewsaw sev eral ore carriers docked in the space port. Harrelson instructed Martinez to radio ahead and inform the police that theywere escorting prisoners. Martinez did as he was instructed. Ahalf hour later police ships arrivedtotakethe prisoners away. The captain of the damaged ship bid the Albert farewell and went to find a repair bay. Ashort while later,the Albert docked at Camp One. The port officer requested per- mission to board and inspect the ship. Harrelson let him on board, and he made a per- functory inspection. After about an hour,the Albert’s crewwas givenleave todisembark. Harrelson instructed the crewthat their task was the same as before: theywere to mingle with the locals and obtain information if possible, maintaining cover. Howev er, camp regulations prohibited all weapons — evenconcealed phasers — so this time the crewwas unarmed. The crewsplit into twogroups. The first group, consisting of Martinez, Turgowicz, Orgullo, and Bar-David, left the ship and entered a spaceport in zero-G, wearing gravity boots. Duranguil wasinthe other group, along with the captain; that group went to the camp’sadministrative area, to investigate its records. The spaceport here was less fancythan Outsysvolm on Selkadroon, but still it showed alot of activity.There was a wide promenade area with shops, taverns, and entertainment centers around the perimeter.People were milling back and forth. Most were Andorian, and manyseemed older than on Selkadroon. “So, shall we go shopping?” Martinez asked. “Or drinking? Or entertainment center- ing?” “Let’slook around and see what this camp has to offer,” Turgowicz answered. The twoofthem strolled around the promenade, accompanied by Orgullo and Bar- David. Theysaw a holodeck and a small theater advertising a live performance that ev ening. Theyalso sawagym. Turgowicz said, “The entertainment areas look interesting. But I feel likeheading to the gym — maybe theyhav e ahandball court.” On Patrol 46

“OK, I’ll head to the gym as well,”Martinez responded. “HeyTina, would you care to join me?” He flashed Orgullo his best charming smile and held out his arm. “Sure,”said Orgullo. She smiled back at Martinez and slid her arm through his. When theyarrivedatthe gym, theysaw a well-appointed facility.ToTurgowicz’ssat- isfaction, there was a zero-G handball court. There were several other games too, and weights. There wasalso a swimming pool with a small localized gravity generator. Bar-David said, “I think I’ll go lift weights, guys.”Heleft. Then Turgowicz and the others split off: Turgowicz to go play handball, Martinez and Orgullo to swim.

***

Turgowicz arrivedatthe handball court and sawsev eral people playing. To his eye one of them looked pretty good, the others not so much. I’ll try the good one, he thought. Approaching the player at a break in the game, he said, “Say,could I get a game with you?” “Sure, whynot,”Turgowicz responded. Both men headed to the court. “Best of five?” the man asked. “Game on!” Turgowicz responded. “You look pretty good, but I’m not bad myself.” The twomen started playing 0-G handball. Turgowicz’sopponent narrowly won the first point, but then Turgowicz easily won the next two. “Good game,”the man said. “Wow,you are pretty good.” “Been practicing!” Turgowicz responded. “Another game?” the man asked. “Sure, if you can handle it!” Turgowicz answered. “Sure!” In the second game, Turgowicz easily won the first twopoints. His opponent won the next, making the score 2-1. But then Turgowicz crushed a winner,winning the second game 3-1. “Good game,”the man said admiringly.“Wo w,you’re too much for me.” “One more go?” Turgowicz asked. “I’ve had enough.”The man shook Turgowicz’shand and left.

***

Martinez and Orgullo arrivedatthe pool area. Forasmall amount of money, theyhad areplicator makesingle-use, disposable swim wear for them. Then theychanged into the swim wear and dove into the pool. Theyswamfor a while, enjoying the exercise and each other’scompany. After swimming a while, Martinez and Orgullo emerged from the pool and toweled off. Theysaw manypeople in and around the pool; most were Andorian, with a handful of humans. On Patrol 47

Martinez decided to chat with one of the Andorians. “Nice to get in a swim while in port,”hesaid. “Must be nice always having access to such rec facilities.” “Yes, it is,”the Andorian responded. “I’m a miner in the camp here. Howabout you? Just passing through?” “I work on a cargo-hauling ship,”Martinez said. “Although lately things have been a bit tough. Howhas the mining been?” “Whyhav e things been tough for you?” the Andorian asked. “It’sgetting downright dangerous in some areas,”Martinez answered. “Plus, it seems to me that there’sjust not as much ore being produced. Whydon’tyou miners prospect in more areas?” The Andorian responded, “Well, that’smostly for the younger miners and prospec- tors. Old-timers likemeare content to stay here in Camp One and work on whateverore is left — which isn’tthat much, but it’saliving for someone likeme.” “So this is a fairly established camp, then,”Martinez observed. “Well, where is the action at?” The Andorian responded, “Alot of the younger miners makeahome here and then go to other parts of the system to prospect. The newest and most ‘happening’ camp is Human Luck Lode — but there are hardly anyAndorians there.” “Any reason?” “Well, that camp was founded by a group of humans. But it’sarelatively recent camp. Camp One here is the original mining camp in the Selka system.”Hesaid this with obvious pride. “Some of the operations have shut down as mines have petered out. The ‘scientific’ studies say the whole thing will be mined out in about twoyears, but I don’ttrust them.” “Hmm, well, what will you do when the ore does run out?” Martinez asked. “I mean, it will someday.” “Oh, I’ll probably just retire,”the Andorian answered. “That’swhy there are so many older miners here — we don’tneed much more ore to finish out our careers.” “This place seems a lot more stable than Selkadroon,”Martinez observed. The Andorian agreed: “Yes, I don’tgotoSelkadroon too often, but this place is qui- eter,Ithink. Also much safer than parts of Selkadroon, anyway.” “Well, nice talking with you. Goodbye.” “Likewise. Good luck to you.” “Come on, Tina,”Martinez said. “I think we should be heading back.”Heand Orgullo headed back to the Albert,flirting and giggling the whole way.

***

After washing up, Turgowicz went to mingle with the people in the gym. He talked with several Andorians; theygav e him much the same story that Martinez was hearing in the pool: the mine was almost depleted, but that was all right for the miners nearing retirement. Turgowicz also heard stories of mine workers killed or injured in horrible On Patrol 48

accidents. Some of the people Turgowicz talked to seemed almost proud to have survived such things. Theylead a tough life here, Turgowicz thought. After spending several hours in the rec area, Turgowicz receivedacall to come back to the Albert. “All crew, please report to the ship,”Captain Harrelson said. “I have some records that we need to review.”

***

Back at the ship, the captain reported that her group had met with the administrators and gained access to the camp’srecords. She asked the crewtoreviewthem. Reviewing the records, Martinez found a communications log from about ten years ago. It showed that some odd, unrecognizable signals had emanated from the most dis- tant reaches of the system at that time. Turgowicz followed up and learned that the sig- nals had occurred only once, and no investigation had been attempted. Also, the signals were neverrecorded. Then Martinez remembered something from Albert’s previous mission in Orion space —the one that had been canceled so theycould begin this one. According the intelli- gence theyhad gathered, the last six to ten years had seen noticeable shifts in Orion ship movement patterns. In addition, Martinez remembered, in the very recent past there had been a significant increase in the number of Orion ships. The Albert’s crewhad strongly suspected that most of these vessels belonged to the Regulans. Martinez wondered if there was a connection between those ship movements and the mysterious signals. Harrelson asked for a report. When Martinez and Turgowicz reported their interac- tions with Andorians at the camp, the captain said that her group had receivedsimilar information. In her opinion, most of the miners in Camp One were local and didn’tknow much about whateverwas happening at the antipodes. Then Martinez observed that there might be a connection between their current mis- sion and their previous one. Harrelson agreed: “Yes, there may well be a connection there. Good work, Martinez. All signs point to something happening in the antipodes. I think whateveritis, we’ll find it when we investigate there. But I promised that fool Staso that I’dpatrol the whole system first.” “Anyway, let’snot waste anymore time here,”Harrelson continued. “Weleave at 0800 tomorrow.”

***

The next morning, the Albert left her moorings and proceeded back into the Selka system. She headed for the next camp, called Lozanz Strike. The second-oldest of the three mining camps in the asteroid belt, Lozanz Strikewas named for the Andorian who had discovered it thirteen years previously.Itproduced radioactive materials and sold them both to Selkadroon’sPowervolm and to buyers outside the system. It had both human and Andorian workers. On Patrol 49

The Albert’s projected traveltime to Lozanz Strikewas twodays. On the way she passed through an asteroid field: little bits of debris constantly hit the ship, but the shields that Turgowicz had set up protected her from harm. On the first day out of Camp One, a routine sensors sweep picked up an unusual read- ing coming from one of the larger asteroids. Narrowing in on that area, Martinez made out a life sign, very faint but there. Martinez also detected a pressure bubble — a struc- ture designed to support life inside. Martinez reported his findings to the captain, who said, “Let’stakeacloser look. Helm, bring us in closer to that asteroid.” As the Albert approached the asteroid, her viewscreen showed that indeed there was asmall life-support bubble on it. Harrelson said, “Ensign Turgowicz, please hail them.” “All hailing frequencies are open,”Turgowicz responded. “This is the cargo hauler Albert,” Harrelson said. “Do you need assistance?” There was no response. Martinez, still at the sensors, said, “There is someone down there. I’m detecting one life form. It’shuman.”Helooked up and asked, “Shall I prepare an awayteam?” Harrelson said, “Yes, Martinez, assemble an awayteam. This is odd. It’sprobably nothing, but I think we should investigate.” Martinez stood up and said, “Turgowicz and Bar-David, come with me. Bring phaser IIs and medical tricorders.” Bar-David and Turgowicz both responded, “Yes sir!” The three of them went to the Albert’s transporter room, and the transporter techni- cian locked on to the center of the bubble. “Energize,”Martinez said. He and the others shimmered briefly then disappeared. Arriving in the bubble, the group sawavery surprised-looking old man. Surrounding him was a sort of camp. It was very unkempt; there was clothing and empty food con- tainers and mess everywhere that theycould see. Overcoming his surprise, the man looked up indignantly and reached for something. Turgowicz drewhis phaser.Martinez asked, “Sir! Are you OK?” The man pulled out a device — it looked likeanantiquated weapon — and started waving it at the Star Fleet officers. “Who are you?” he asked. “Whyhav e you come here? Go aw ay!” “You didn’trespond to hails, sir!” Martinez answered. “Calm down!” The man brandished the weapon — Martinez could nowclearly see that it was a laser rifle — and looked frantic. “Please!” he said. “Go away! Leave mealone!” He started muttering something to himself, but the officers could not makeout the words. “Sir,please, just calm down!” Martinez said. “Nobody is going to hurt you.” Nowtheycould hear what the man was muttering: “I knewtheywould get to me ev entually . . . . They’re going to kill me.” On Patrol 50

“Wejust thought that you were in trouble, out here all alone,”Martinez continued. “If somebody is out to kill you, we can help. Just calm down.” At this point the man noticed Turgowicz’sphaser II, still drawn and pointed at him. He looked at it, then down at his own punyweapon. He dropped his weapon, sat down, put his face in his hands, and started crying uncontrollably.“They’re going to kill me,” the man said. “Kill, kill, kill.” Turgowicz put his phaser away. “Boohoohoohoo!” the old man cried. “Who, who is going to kill you?” Turgowicz asked. “Sir,are you OK?” Martinez asked. “Who is going to kill you?” The old man said nothing, but just cried louder.“BOOHOOHOOHOOHOO!” Martinez turned to Bar-David. “Bar-David, scan him. Is he healthy?” Bar-David took out his medical tricorder and made the requested scan. “Asfar as I can tell, there’snothing physically wrong with him,”Bar-David said. Turning back to the crying man, Martinez said, “Sir,calm down. Hey, come on back to our ship, and have a nice mug of soup.” When he heard the word “soup,”the man stopped crying and looked up hungrily. Martinez nownoticed that he looked very thin and famished. “And a sandwich,”Martinez added. At the word “sandwich” the man’seyes lit up. “Would you likethat?” Martinez asked. “Yes.” “OK then.”Martinez took out his communicator. The man said, “But bring the food here . . . no transporting . . . Transporter,kill, kill ...” Martinez looked up from his communicator.“No transporting? Are you sure? It’s perfectly safe.” The man looked likehewas about to start crying again. “OK, OK, we’ll bring it here,”Martinez said. Then into the communicator: “Albert, can you beam oversome soup and sandwiches? We’v e found an old man, and he could really use a good meal.” The Albert sent the requested food, and the man greedily wolfed it down. Then he looked at the officers a little less crazily and said, “Thank you for the food. Nowwould you please leave?” Martinez responded, “Well, we were wondering if you could tell us what’sgoing on. We’renew tothe neighborhood, and don’tknowwhat’sdangerous.” The man said, “Danger is everywhere . . . that’swhy I stay in this bubble . . . I don’t knowhow you found me.” On Patrol 51

At that moment Harrelson asked for a report. Martinez turned to Turgowicz: “Illya, could you talk with the nice man while I fill in our captain?” As Martinez spokewith the captain, the old man continued, “Did theytell you to find me here?” “Who, sir,who are ‘they’?” Turgowicz asked. “The people who bring me food,”the man answered. “They’re the only ones who knowI’m here. But theyswore not to tell — did you torture them?” “No, no of course not,”Turgowicz responded. “Then howdid you get them to tell?” the old man asked. “Wewere just passing by and want to help,”Turgowicz responded. “Wedon’tknow who these people are.” The man looked at Turgowicz doubtfully.“I’m just an old hermit,”hesaid. “I came here to be alone. Idon’tneed your help.” “Yes, that’swhat I thought,”Turgowicz said. Martinez finished briefing the captain and closed his communicator. “Whyare you in this system?” the man asked. “We’re cargo haulers.”Turgowicz answered. “Really?” the man asked. “So you’re not assassins?” Martinez laughed. “I could have sworn you were assassins,”the man continued. “Of course we’re not assassins,”Martinez said. “No of course not, we just want to help,”Turgowicz added. “Most assassins don’tclaim to be cargo haulers — do they?” the man asked. He looked at the officers as if he wanted confirmation of what he was saying. “No, assassins claim to be ninjas. Or lawyers,”Martinez responded with utmost seri- ousness. “Theynev erclaim to be cargo haulers.” “But it is a dangerous place out here,”Turgowicz said. “That’swhy we’re con- cerned.” The old man turned to Turgowicz and said, “Thank you for your concern, but it’snot necessary.” Then he mused, “Cargo haulers, eh? Iused to be a miner once . . . a long time ago.” “Say,when was the last time you got a food delivery?” Martinez asked. “You looked pretty hungry there.” “The food deliveries usually come once per month,”the man responded. The food in his belly seemed to have made him much more lucid. “But this last one is late arriving. I hope the assassins didn’tget to them. If you’re not careful, they’ll get you too. That’s whyIcame out here, to get awayfrom them.” “Well, can you tell us about them?” Martinez asked. “It’dbeterrible if we got killed by assassins.” On Patrol 52

“I don’tknowanything about them,”the man responded, “except that theywant to kill me.” Martinez and Turgowicz were nowconvinced that no one wanted to kill this lonely old man: it was all in his head. “But sir,who brings you food?” Turgowicz pressed. “Who knows you’re here?” The man mumbled something vague on this point; as near as the officers could make out, it was some kind of charity organization out of Selkadroon. The man asked the officers if theycould beam down anymore food. Martinez asked the captain to send a fewweeks of rations, and some anti-psychotics. Harrelson autho- rized the request and had the items sent. Then she said, “I think we’ve done all we can for this guy.Let’scontinue our mission.” Martinez said, “Aye, captain.”Then to the old man: “Well, sir,we’ll leave you to your hermitage. Good luck.” “Thank you, sir,” the man said. “Don’tlet the assassins get you.” Turgowicz called up to the Albert:“Three to beam up.”Then theytransported back to the ship and continued on their way to Lozanz Strike.

***

The Albert traveled without incident until the next day,when it passed a prospecting vessel headed in the opposite direction at extreme sensor range. The vessel hailed the Albert:“Ahoythere! This is prospecting vessel Mars!” Answering the hail, Turgowicz said, “Greetings, this is the freighter Albert!” “Where are you headed?” the Mars asked. “We’re headed to Selkadroon.” “We’re on our way to Lozanz Strike,”Turgowicz responded. “Oh, that’safun place! Have you been to Selkadroon recently? Anynewsfrom there?” “Yes, we came from there several days ago,”Turgowicz said. “There was nothing much out of the ordinary.” Martinez motioned for Turgowicz to mute the transmission. When he did, Martinez said, “It might be useful to spread a rumor about the police finding a weapons cache. Maybe if we give these people some ‘information,’they’ll give ussome in return.” Turgowicz nodded. He restarted the transmission and said, “The police found a weapons cache.” The voice at the other end became more excited. “Oh? That is interesting. Tell us about that.” “Yeah, a bunch of phasers being hoarded,”Turgowicz continued. He was unsure how much he should let on about the Ore Haulers situation. “Do theyknowwho the phasers belonged to?” the voice from the Mars asked. Another voice chimed in: “Are theyplanning a riot?” On Patrol 53

Again Martinez motioned for the transmission to be cut. “Let’ssay we don’tknow much; all we knowissome guy looking to steal food found them. Sound good?” “OK,”Turgowicz said. Then back to the Mars:“So as far as we know, some burglars found them looking for food.” “Wedon’tknowmuch else,”Martinez added. “OK,”the Mars responded. “Somebody was planning a riot, you say?” Martinez asked. The Mars responded, “No we were just wondering whytheywere hoarding phasers. Anyother choice tidbits?” “Nope, not really,” Martinez said. “Anything from Lozanz?” “Well a fewriots did break out there recently,” the Mars answered. “That’sthe scut- tlebutt.” “What caused the riots?” Martinez asked. “Well, you probably knowthat conditions are difficult for the workers there — long shifts, dangerous work. So tensions are often high. In this case, a miner was issued an environmental suit that failed in an emergency. Itcaused all the workers to go on strike, and when the police tried to get them to go back to work, theyrioted. That’sabout all we know.” “Hmm, so there may not be that much business for us then,”Martinez observed, feigning disappointment. He sighed. “Not that much business?” the Mars asked. “No ore, no need for supplies or cargo haulers,”Martinez said. “Ah, well they’re back to work now. There’sstill plenty of ore there, don’tworry.” He chuckled. “Anyway, good luck, guys. Happyhauling. Mars out.” Later,Martinez reported the encounter to the captain. “I think the Mars is a bunch of pirates,”hesaid. “Or attached to Ore Haulers.” “Whydoyou think that?” Harrelson asked. “Theyseemed unusually interested in the weapons, evenfor a bunch of gossipy prospectors,”Martinez answered. “Perhaps,”Harrelson said. “What do you think we should do?” “If the Mars ev er‘asks for help,’look out!” “Noted,”Harrelson said. “Wecan also look into their records at Lozanz, and see if there’sanything suspicious about their activities. Wecan’tdomuch more than that with- out blowing cover.”

***

The rest of the trip to Lozanz Strikewas uneventful. When the Albert arrived, a pilot boat came out to meet her.Aport agent aboard the boat requested permission to board the Albert and inspect her docking papers. Harrelson granted permission, and he boarded. In contrast to the procedure at the other ports, the agent personally oversaw On Patrol 54

Turgowicz as he brought the ship in. On the way in, the agent reminded the crewthat there were no gravity generators on Lozanz Strike. Also, he instructed, there was less metal than in Selkadroon and Camp One, so the crewcould not always rely on their magnetic boots. “Are you people used to operating in zero G?” the agent asked. “I sure am,”Turgowicz responded, thinking of all the hours of practice he had put into zero-G handball. Martinez added, “Sometimes for maintenance we have todowithout gravity.Don’t likeit, but it’sdoable.” “OK, well just be careful,”the agent said. “Wedon’twant anyaccidents or injuries.” The Albert landed, and the crewreceivedpermission to disembark. Theyleft the ship and entered a spaceport area similar to what theyhad seen on Camp One, except there were more humans here, and everyone looked much younger.Theynoticed hand- and footholds in various places around the camp, which people were using to get around. This looked odd because there was definitely an “up” direction built into the surround- ings; and yet theysaw people crawling along the walls and ceiling. Some were even floating free in space, wearing little personal jets that theyused to maneuver. Moving around, the crewsaw less in the way of entertainment here than on Camp One. The camp was more utilitarian, with numerous parts shops, repair bays, and so forth. What kind of fun place is this? Martinez thought, remembering what the Mars had said. Out loud he said: “HeyIllya, I bet you could get some stiffcompetition here.” “Sure, I might try my luck at a handball match,”Turgowicz agreed. Asking around, he found a handball court and headed there. Martinez, Orgullo, and Bar-David came along to watch. Arriving at the handball court, Turgowicz sawaplayer who looked pretty good — better than the last guy. He might be a matchfor me, Turgowicz thought. He challenged the man to a best-of- three match, and the man agreed. Turgowicz’sopponent easily won the first twopoints, but then Turgowicz came back to bring the score to 2-2. Turgowicz lost the next point, though, and the first game. “Good game,”Turgowicz said. In the second game, Turgowicz crushed the first point for a winner,then lost the sec- ond point. Again the players traded points, and the score was 2-2. Turgowicz felt he was finally facing some competition. Theyplayed the final point, and Turgowicz barely lost the point, game, and match. “Wow,you are good!” Turgowicz said admiringly.“Where’dyou learn to play like that?” “Oh here and there,”the man responded. “There’snot a whole lot else to do for recreation here.” On Patrol 55

Turgowicz introduced himself: “My name is Illya.” “Nice to meet you. My name is Greg,”the other man said. “What do you do around here when you’re not on the handball court?” Turgowicz asked. “I’m a miner.Handball is my hobby.You’re pretty good at handball too.” “Thanks, I takeitpretty seriously too.” “I haven’tseen you around here before,”Gregsaid. “Are you new? Or just passing through?” “Just passing through,”Turgowicz answered. “What do you do?” “I work on a freighter.We’re looking for cargo. How’sbusiness here?” “Pretty good,”Gregresponded. “We’ve been mining a lot of radioactivesthat need hauling. Some to Selkadroon, some outsystem. Though there’sbeen unrest here recently because of the working conditions.” “I heard,”Turgowicz said, thinking of the gossipyprospectors. At this point Martinez and the others walked overand introduced themselves. A few other people had been watching too; when the game ended, theyhad wandered off. “Wewere just admiring your zero-G handball skills,”Martinez said. “Thank you,”Gregsaid. Then he continued, “The work here is dangerous. We min- ers work in vacuum and mine radioactives. So we need environment suits to protect us. If the suits fail, it’scurtains. “If you’re interested in mining, you should talk to some of the guys in the repair bays,”Gregcontinued. “They’re the ones that makesure the suits and equipment work. The miners depend on them for their lives.” “Where are they?” Turgowicz asked. Gregpointed out the location; it was near the spaceport where the Albert had landed. “Have there been a lot of problems lately?” Martinez asked. “I heard a rumor about a riot.” “Yes, there was a riot when an environment suit failed,”Greganswered. “People thought it was for lack of maintenance. So the companybeefed up the maintenance pro- tocols. They’re constructing some more repair bays and adding workers.” “They‘thought’?” Martinez asked. “Did it turn out to be something else?” “When a suit fails, it’shard to prove exactly what caused it,”Gregsaid, “and of course the companydenies everything. But manyfeel that the maintenance schedules were inadequate before — that’swhy they’ve beefed them up. To avoid more rioting.” “Well, hope there aren’tany more failures,”Martinez said. “It’snogood for any- body.” “That’sfor sure,”Gregagreed. “Well I’m on shift soon, so I’ve got to get going. Nice to meet you people.” On Patrol 56

“Stay safe,”Turgowicz said. “Dig a lot of ore!” Martinez added. “Thanks, I’ll try.”

7. Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight Walking overtothe repair bay that Greghad pointed out, the group sawsev eral repairmen working on protective suits and other equipment. One of the workers, a mid- dle-aged man wearing synthetic coveralls, came overtothe group and asked, “Can I help you with something?” Turgowicz introduced himself: “Hi, I’m Illya Turgowicz, and this is Nidi-loo Duran- guil. We’re here looking for cargo to haul. Howare you?” The man responded, “Hi, my name is Grainger Faraday.I’m the supervisor of the repair bay here. I’m fine, thanks. Is there something you need help with?” At that moment, Duranguil’scommunicator beeped. Duranguil discreetly stepped back from the conversation and answered, “Duranguil here.” It was the captain. “Yes, Captain?” Duranguil said. Captain Harrelson responded, “Nidi-loo, I need everyone to come back to the ship right away. Wehav e anew crewmember aboard, and I want to introduce him to the group. His name is Vor,and he’saVulcan security officer.I’lltell you more when you get back here. Harrelson out.” Closing his communicator,Duranguil waited for a pause in Turgowicz’sconversation with Faraday.Then he said, “Illya, that was the captain. She wants us to report back to the ship.” “All right,”Turgowicz responded. “I was just telling Mr.Faraday that we are very concerned about the recent riot. Iwas asking if he had anyinformation about it.”Turn- ing back to Faraday he said, “I’m sorry to interrupt our conversation, but it looks likewe need to leave right now. The captain has called us back to the ship. Will you be here later?” “Sure. Whydon’tyou come by at the end of my shift, around 5:00?” Faraday responded. “Thanks,”Turgowicz said. “Sorry to run.”

***

The three officers headed back to the ship. When theyarrived, Captain Harrelson called the crewinto a meeting. Next to her stood a Vulcan security officer.Hewas young for a Vulcan, in his mid-thirties. He stood around six feet tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. Captain Harrelson addressed the crew. “Crew, it’smypleasure to introduce Lt. Com- mander Vor.He’scoming to us on temporary reassignment from the Galaxy Exploration Command. When Ireported to Star Fleet on developments here, theydecided something wasdefinitely afoot, and we could use the extra manpower.His ship was nearby,and Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 57 theysent him in by shuttle. He’sjoining us as our newsecurity chief. He’ll be serving with us for the rest of our mission.” Vorsaid, “Greetings.” Duranguil said, “I’m Duranguil, chief engineer.Glad to have you along.” “Nice to meet you, Vor,” Turgowicz said. “I’m Illya Turgowicz, the helmsman.” Martinez said, “Jaime Martinez, first officer and executive officer.Welcome.” Vorsaid, “Star Fleet noted the dangerous nature of your mission and decided the logi- cal course was to send someone else with combat experience.” “Glad to have the help,”Turgowicz said. “What is your expertise?” Vorresponded, “I am an expert in unarmed personal combat and the use of phasers and disruptors.” “Ah, you’re a fighter!” Turgowicz exclaimed. “I am also a competent shuttle pilot,”Vor added. “Excellent,”Duranguil said. “Wecould definitely have used you on Selkadroon.” Vorresponded, “Sometimes it requires a large hammer for Star Fleet to notice need.”

***

Around 5:00, Turgowicz, Duranguil, and Vor headed to Faraday’srepair bay.They arrivedjust as the shift was changing. Seeing the group approach, Faraday walked over to them. “Hello again,”hesaid. “So what’syour interest in mining and mining repair?” Turgowicz responded, “Well, we’re here to haul freight, and we’re interested to find out about the mining operations, especially what kinds of supplies are needed.” Faraday said “All right, I’m happytotell you about that. Who’sthis newgentle- man?” he asked, gesturing towards Vor. “This is Vor.He’sone of our crew,”Turgowicz answered. Turning to Vor,hesaid, “Vor,this is Grainger Faraday,arepairman.” “I see,”said Faraday,extending his hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you, Vor.We don’tsee manyVulcans around here.” “Greetings,”Vor said, returning the gesture. Then Faraday turned to the group. “Can I interest you in a brief tour of the camp? I can answer your questions on the way.” “Sure that sounds helpful,”Turgowicz said. “All right, followme, please.” Faraday led the group around the promenade area, pointing out the various shops, restaurants, and entertainments. “Weheard there was quite a riot here,”Turgowicz said. “Yes, that was about a month ago,”Faraday answered. He told the group what he knew. His description was similar to Greg’s: the miners depended on suits to shield them from the radiation and lack of atmospheric pressure, and one of them had failed. There wasariot, so the companyincharge of the camp had increased the repair regimen and Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 58

added manpower.Faraday was one of the senior repair managers on the camp, responsi- ble for a group of repair crew. “What caused the failure?” Duranguil asked. “I’m not sure what the cause was,”Faraday answered. “I personally would neverput asuit out there that wasn’tintop working order.But maybe some of the other managers were cutting corners, I don’tknow. Anyway, there are so manyregulations today; in my day it wasn’tlikethat.” Faraday explained that he used to work the mines before retiring to suit repair.Then he told stories about how, inhis day,the regulations weren’tsostrict; there was more reliance on individual responsibility to ensure safety. The group reached the entrance of the mining area. “Here’sthe mine entrance,”Faraday said. “Unfortunately you don’thav e the clear- ance or the protective gear to go in. But at least you can see it from the outside. “Well, that’sall I have toshowyou,”Faraday continued. “It’sthe end of a long day for me. Would you liketosit down somewhere and have a drink? Wecould continue the conversation. It’snot that often I get to talk to folks from offsystem.” “Sure, we’ll be glad to,”Duranguil said. “Drinks are on us.” “OK, I knowaplace. This way,”Faraday said. The group went back to the main promenade area. On the way,Faraday explained that, in his opinion, too manyregulations could lull workers into a false sense of security. “Mining will always be a dangerous business,”hesaid. “No amount of regulation can change that. Individual skill and presence of mind are what savesliv es, not regulations.” Vorobserved, “It is only logical for miners to check their suits personally.” Faraday said, “I agree.” “Prospecting seems to be a dangerous business around here,”Turgowicz observed. “Yes, it’sdangerous,”Faraday agreed, “but with skill and presence of mind you sur- vive.Itcan also be satisfying work.”Turgowicz sensed that Faraday was proud of his ability to survive and prosper in this difficult environment. “The cargo haulers don’tseem to be doing that well, either,” Duranguil observed. “And that shouldn’tbesodangerous.” Faraday turned towards Duranguil. “What do you mean by that?” he asked. “Well, we hear that manyships have been lost recently,” Duranguil explained. Turgowicz added, “Naturally we’re concerned about the recent ship losses and what theymean for cargo haulers in the region.” “That’strue,”said Faraday,nodding. “If you want my opinion, the ship losses can be attributed to prospectors getting lazy,relying on technology likeship safety features rather than good old fashioned skill and common sense. “I thought most of the losses were prospectors heading for the far side of the system,” he added, “But I could be wrong about that. Idon’tfollowthese things too closely now that I’m no longer hopping around the system much.” Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 59

By that point the group had reached the bar in the main promenade area where Fara- day wanted to have drinks. Theysat down at a table, and a waitress took their order. “Water is fine,”Vor said. “I find alcohol to be . . . illogical.” “AsIwas saying,”Faraday continued, “I think the problems occur because the newer prospectors are getting lazy,trusting equipment too much when theyshould be using their ownskills.”Heleaned forward and said, “I just don’ttrust machines. Always leave yourself a manual way out, I say.” “So you think it’sship malfunction?” Turgowicz asked. Faraday answered, “Maybe not so much malfunction as misplaced reliance on equip- ment to do what requires human judgment. Perhaps malfunction too. Or maybe lack of training in howtocope with malfunction.” “Some amount of piracyisonly logical, do you not agree?” asked Vor. Faraday looked puzzled. He turned to Vor and said, “No, I don’tunderstand. Howis piracylogical?” “Piracyappears where there are undefended cargo ships in abundance,”Vor responded. “And cargo haulers are easy targets.” “I see,”Faraday said. “Well I suppose it is logical that piracyexists. But Idon’tsee howyou can call piracyitself a ‘logical’ act. But then again I neverdid understand Vul- can logic.” “I did not mean to imply that piracyislogical,”Vor explained, “only that it would exist in this area.” By this time the waitress had brought the drinks. Theywere in zero-gravity decanters. “I see,”Faraday said. “Well that makes sense. Cheers!” He raised his decanter.Duranguil clinked his decanter against Faraday’s. “Tohuman ingenuity,” Duranguil said. Then he savored the unfamiliar experience of drinking beer through a straw. Noticing Duranguil’sawkwardness with the decanter,Faraday asked “Have you guys had much experience with zero-G conditions?” “Some,”Vor responded. “Oh sure, lots,”Turgowicz said. Duranguil said, “Alittle bit. Illya here plays a pretty mean game of zero-G handball.” Faraday turned to Turgowicz with interest. “What’syour background in zero-G?” he asked. “I find the weightlessness invigorating,”Turgowicz responded. “Interesting,”Faraday said. “I likeittoo. But I’ve liv edinzero-G much of my life. Youhav e to keep up a rigorous regimen of exercise and food supplements to avoid bone loss, you know. Some people that live inzero-G nevermakeitback to gravity.” Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 60

The group talked for a while longer; Faraday told several more stories about his days as a prospector,including a harrowing tale about saving a friend’slife by plugging a hole in his pressure suit. After a couple of rounds, Faraday said, “Well I’dbest be running along. It’sawork night, you know! Thanks for the pleasant conversation.” “Good luck,”Turgowicz said. “Thanks! And thanks for the drinks.” Faraday left.

***

The rest of the time on Lozanz Strikepassed uneventfully.At0900 the next morning, the Albert departed for Human Luck Lode. The first three days passed without incident. On the fourth day,the officer of the watch, Lt. JG Singh, noticed an unusual reading on the sensors. He called the senior officers to the bridge. Once the officers had taken their places, Turgowicz focused the viewscreen on the coordinates givenbythe sensors. It showed a figure frozen in space. Harrelson said, “Magnify!” The figure became larger.The Albert’s crewcould see that it was a human wearing a space suit and encased in ice. There were no life signs. Harrelson said “This could be a clue. Iwant that body checked for contamination, then brought on board for investigation.” The crewcarried out the command. Once the figure was on board, theycould see it wasamale human, obviously dead for some time. He had an identification badge. They cross-checked the ID badge with the Albert’s computer records, uploaded from Selka- droon. It wasaprospector who had gone missing about sixteen years previously. Digging further,the crewsaw that the prospector had disappeared along with along with a group of other prospectors, and their entire craft. There was no record of exactly when, where, or howthe ship had disappeared. Harrelson said, “All right, this is useful information. There’snothing else we can do for the poor guy.Prepare the body for UFP burial rites, then put him back out into space.” “Wecould notify his family,” Vor pointed out. Harrelson thought for a moment, then said, “All right, makeitso. Vor,punch a mes- sage through to Selkadroon police on a secure channel. See if theycan locate the family.” Vorcomplied. Selkadroon responded, “Thank you for this notification. We’llinv esti- gate and get back to you. Selkadroon out.” Harrelson commended Vor for the good idea. Duranguil rigged up some refrigeration equipment to store the body pending the investigation.

*** Later that day,the Albert arrivedatHuman Luck Lode. This was the most distant camp Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 61 from Selkadroon, and the most recently founded. Founded by a small group of humans who incorporated as Human Luck, Inc., it had recently become one of the council of companies that administered the Selka system. Most of the miners were human, and they mined gold, silver,and traces of rare earths. The mine had been successful and had helped support the economy of the entire system, which was lagging in other areas. Wealth from Human Luck Lode helped fuel prospecting in other parts of the system. As the Albert approached the asteroid, Turgowicz requested permission to dock. The control officer said, “Sure, no problem.”The Albert finished her approach and docked. No one came out to meet them, and there was no inspection. “This seems likeagood place for pirates to hide,”Vor observed. Harrelson responded, “I agree, we should be on guard here. However, I’m aware of no reports of piracyhere; I think it’sfairly safe.” “It is logical for the pirates not to attack here, if this is their haven,”Vor said. “It places suspicion elsewhere.” Duranguil asked, “Captain, howlong do you want to spend here?” “Not long,”Harrelson responded. “I suggest that you find this Zim contact and see if you can get anymore information out of him. I’dliketocontinue our patrol tomorrow morning.” Meanwhile, Selkadroon police reported that theyhad located the dead prospector’s family.Theyrequested the Albert’s crewtoleave the body with the local police here, to be picked up later. Duranguil, Turgowicz, and Vor prepared to go find Zim. As theyleft the Albert,they sawthat, if anything, this place was evenmore primitive than Lozanz Strike. It wasalso in zero gravity. Vorasked the captain, “Is security here so lax that we could bring phasers?” “I think concealed phasers would be appropriate here, yes,”Harrelson responded. “But use them only as a last resort — we don’twant to call attention to ourselves. Most cargo haulers don’tgoaround carrying phasers.” Duranguil called Zim, who answered, “Hello, this is Zim.” “Hello there,”Duranguil said. “This is Duranguil; we met on Selkadroon. Our ship waspassing through Human Luck Lode, so we thought we’dlook you up.” “Yes, hi, I remember you guys,”Zim responded. “How’sitgoing?” “Fine, thanks,”Duranguil said. “Any chance you’re free for a meal or a drink?” “Sure, howlong are you guys in camp?” “Not too long. Only tonight, really.” “Just passing through, eh?” Zim asked. “Well, it happens that I do have the evening free. Howabout we meet for dinner?” “That sounds great. What time do you get offshift?” “Around 7:00 would be good.” Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 62

“OK, see you then.” Zim mentioned a restaurant that he thought would be good. “Let’smeet there. Zim out.”

***

Duranguil, Turgowicz, and Vor went to the restaurant at the agreed-upon time. It was asmall diner.Zim was already there, smiling and ebullient as ever. Duranguil said, “It’sgood to see you again.” Zim greeted the group warmly and asked who the Vulcan was. Duranguil said, “You remember Turgowicz; this is Vor,another of our ship’sofficers.” Vorsaid, “Greetings.” “Welcome,”Zim said. “Let’sget a table.”The group was seated. “It’sashame you’re not here longer,” Zim continued, “because I could have giv enyou atour of the mine tomorrow.” “That’sapity,” Duranguil agreed. “Are you sure you can’tstay a bit longer?” Zim asked. “Wecould do the tour first thing in the morning.” “We’ll ask the captain,”Duranguil responded. “Wewill let you knowlater tonight.” “You did seem very interested in asteroidal mining techniques,”Zim added. “A tour would be most . . . elucidating,”Vor said. The group ordered food and drinks; in a short time a waiter brought them. The drinks came in zero-G decanters, and the food was in little bags. The group begantoeat and drink. “This is pretty good, for something that comes out of a bag,”Duranguil remarked. Zim asked what the group had been up to since their meeting on Selkadroon. “Well, we’ve been around the system a little,”Duranguil responded. “Hauling lots of cargo?” Zim asked. “That’swhy we’re here. This is where all the action seems to be.” “Yes, this is a good place to be right now. Life is good!” Zim exclaimed. He raised his decanter,and Duranguil clinked his against it. “Mining been good lately?” Duranguil asked. “Yes, it has,”Zim responded. “We’ve been doing quite well.” At that moment Turgowicz noticed an an angry-looking human man approach, accompanied by three other men who followed slightly behind. He nudged Duranguil. The angry-looking man strode up to Zim and exclaimed, “Zim, you rat bastard!” Zim looked concerned. He said, “NowJordan, just hold on.” “What seems to be the trouble here?” Duranguil asked. Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 63

“That rat bastard lied and caused me to lose my job!” the man answered. He looked likehewas itching for a fight. Zim turned to the rest of the group and explained that this man was Jordan, a worker that Zim had supervised at the mine. Zim had givenJordan a negative performance review, and Jordan believedhewas fired for it. Arching one eyebrow, Vor observed, “Perhaps you deserved to lose your job.” Jordan turned angrily to Vor and raised his fist. Vormovedhis hands to his side inconspicuously,preparing for a fight. “Calm down, friend,”Duranguil said. Ignoring Duranguil, Jordan turned to Zim and asked, “Who are these people? Your bodyguards?” Zim said “No, these people are my friends, and you are interrupting our dinner.” Jordan responded angrily,“I’ll interrupt a lot more than that! Stand up!” “Nowhold on a minute . . .”Zim said, sensing that he was losing control of the situa- tion. The antagonists were nowsurrounding the officers’ table. Vorstood up. In his peripheral vision, Duranguil sawthe barkeep move tomakeacall on his communicator. One of Jordan’smen noticed it too; he movedquickly overtothe barkeep and grabbed his arm, preventing him from making the call. Zim, still sitting, continued to observethe situation worriedly. Turgowicz stood up at the same time that Jordan attempted to grab Zim bodily out of his seat. The attempt was a failure: Jordan missed Zim cleanly,and his momentum car- ried him around so that he started spinning in the zero-G environment. Zim tried to return the attack and failed also; he was spinning as well. Jordan recovered first. He hit Zim, who said, “Oof!” Recovering, Zim landed a return punch on Jordan. Then the twoofthem lost the control theyhad briefly gained. Theyspun and flailed at each other in midair. Meanwhile Vor tried to punch the man in front of him and missed. Vor, though highly skilled in personal combat, was much less well-trained in zero-G operations. Vor’santag- onist tried to attack Vor and missed as well; both were spinning out of control. Vorand his antagonist both tried to stabilize themselves. Vor’sattacker succeeded first. He stopped spinning and threwapunch at Vor.The punch landed solidly on the side of Vor’shead. Then the man punched Vor in the face as Vor,still out of control, struggled to regain his balance. Finally Vor brought his body under control. He movedaround behind his opponent and attempted to place a Vulcan nervepinch on the man’sneck. The attempt failed. The opponent turned around and landed another punch on Vor’smidsection, but Vor was still in control. He reached out again towards his opponent’sneck. This time the nervepinch succeeded: the man went limp. Next Vor launched himself toward Jordan, who was still spinning out of control and relatively defenseless. Voradministered the nervepinch with ease, rendering Jordan inert. Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 64

While Vor was fighting, Duranguil stood up and threwapunch at the man confronting him. The punch missed, but Duranguil kept his balance by stabilizing himself against his chair.Duranguil’sattacker was not so lucky: his attack missed and he spun out of con- trol. Duranguil missed another punch and this time could not stabilize himself; he spun out of control as well. Meanwhile Turgowicz and his antagonist each threwpunches, and each missed. Both were spinning in zero gravity.Turgowicz stabilized himself first. He re-launched himself towards his attacker and landed a solid punch. The attacker grunted and movedback- wards, still spinning out of control. Turgowicz then threwanother punch, again scoring a solid hit. His attacker continued to spin in zero gravity,now with the wind knocked out of him. Recovering, the attacker threwa punch at Turgowicz and missed; he beganspin- ning again. Then Turgowicz also missed and spun out of control. Once again Turgowicz recovered. He landed another punch, and his attacker stopped fighting. Apparently he was tired of being used as a punching bag while spinning in zero gravity. Looking around, Turgowicz sawDuranguil and his opponent both still spinning help- lessly.Turgowicz launched himself at Duranguil’sattacker.Hethrewapunch but missed. At that point Zim floated overtoTurgowicz’sopponent, nowthe only one of the assailants still conscious and fighting. “Get the hell out of here!” Zim said. “I never want to see your ugly mugs again, or I’ll have you sent to prison!” Seeing that he was outnumbered, the man stopped fighting. He and the man Turgow- icz had used as a punching bag collected the inert forms of their companions and headed out the door. Turgowicz, Vor,and Zim sat back down. The table where the group had been sitting wasdamaged from the altercation, so theymovedtoanother table nearby.Duranguil finally stopped spinning and sat back down as well. “Is anyone hurt?” Zim asked. “I have been better,” Vor responded. “But I shall heal, in time.” “None of them landed a blowonme,”Duranguil said. He omitted the fact that he had spent most of the fight spinning, rather than landing anyblows himself. Zim noticed that Vor was looking somewhat battered and bruised. He looked con- cerned and said, “My friend, do you need first aid? Youare bleeding green.” “It would be appreciated,”Vor responded. “Come with me, there’saclinic nearby,” Zim said. He led Vor to the clinic, with the others following behind. The clinic personnel quickly treated Vor’sinjuries. After all that, the group went back to the restaurant to finish their meal. “My friends, thanks for your help,”Zim said to the officers. “If those ruffians had cornered me alone, I don’tknowwhat would have happened!” “I’m glad we could be of help,”Duranguil said. “Or at least, some of us could help,” he added ruefully. Zim turned to Duranguil and observed, “It seems you could use some more experi- ence in zero-G. If you stayed here longer,you’dget it soon enough.” Enter Vor; Zim Again; a Bar Fight 65

“Indeed I could,”Duranguil responded. “Well, with luck we can persuade the captain to let us stay a little longer.” “So whydid that guy lose his job?” Duranguil asked. “Yes, I am most curious,”Vor added. “Perhaps it was related to his temper?” “He was a poor employee,”Zim responded. “I gav e him a bad performance review because he deserved it. He was just lazy and ornery.” “He certainly was ornery,” Duranguil said with conviction. “Business is good here, so theyneed to hire a lot of people,”Zim continued. “Some- times theydon’tscreen them well enough.” “And is unemployment common around here?” Duranguil asked. “No, unemployment isn’tanissue — they’re hiring fast,”Zim answered. Vorarched one eyebrow. “Well, he’ll probably get another job somewhere, then,”Duranguil observed. “Most likely,” Zim responded. “But perhaps not with Human Luck, Inc.” “I should hope not,”Duranguil said. “Well, I can showyou around the spaceport area tonight,”Zim said. “Tomorrowwe can do a tour of the mine, if your captain allows it.” “That would be interesting,”Duranguil responded. Zim showed the group around the asteroid. Theysaw manybars and dance clubs. The population seemed younger here than at the previous twocamps theyhad visited. Theynoticed much loud music and celebration. “I simply do not understand the human desire to destroyone’sown hearing,”Vor observed. The others said nothing but silently agreed, remembering the Blue Flame Bar on Selkadroon.

8. The Antipodes Bidding farewell to Zim, the officers returned to the Albert.Itwas around 8:00 p.m. The ship was quiet; most of the crewwere in their quarters. Duranguil asked the duty officer,Singh, whether the captain was still awake. “I don’tknowwhether she’sawake,sir,” Singh responded. “She retired to her quar- ters about a half hour ago.” Duranguil called the captain on the intercom. She answered, “Harrelson here.” “Captain, we made contact with some of the supervisors here at Human Luck Lode,” Duranguil said. “Very good,”Harrelson answered. “Did you learn anything interesting?” “There appears to be some local unrest. In fact, one miner who had recently been fired attacked the supervisor.Also, the people we met with offered us a tour of the mine, if we could stay tomorrow.” The Antipodes 66

“I suppose we could stay a fewmore hours,”the captain said. “Perhaps we’ll learn something on this tour.” “Thank you, Captain.” “Keep an eye out. Report for duty after the tour is over. Harrelson out.” Duranguil turned awayfrom the console and back towards Martinez and the others. “Well, I’ve had enough for today.I’m turning in.” “Oh come on guys, don’tyou want to hit the bars?” Martinez pleaded. “Oh well, maybe I’ll just go out and have a drink by myself.” “You could takeOrgullo,”Duranguil suggested. He winked. Martinez brightened visibly.“That’safine idea,”hesaid. Orgullo agreed, and they went out drinking. The rest of the crewwent to bed.

***

The next morning, after breakfast in the ship’sgalley, the officers reported to the place where Zim had told them to go. Martinez looked a little hung over. After a fewminutes, Zim arrivedand greeted the group. “Good morning, friends,”he said. “Are you ready for the tour?” “Certainly,myfriend,”Duranguil responded. “We’re a little pressed for time, though. We may need to abbreviate the tour a bit.” “All right. Well I’ll makethis quick. Followme, please.” Zim showed the officers first the administrative area and then the work area of the mine. As the officers walked down a long corridor with windows, theycould see the machinery working the mine inside. Zim was obviously proud of the machinery.He claimed it was state of the art. In fact, the work area contained no actual workers — it wascompletely automated. Duranguil was impressed. He asked, “Have you no people at work in this area at all?” “Only to monitor operations, and to repair the machinery,when it breaks,”Zim answered. “Mining used to be very dangerous, you know, with people using dangerous chemicals to strip awaythe rocks. But nowit’sreally safe.” “What do your employees likeJordan do?” Duranguil asked. “He was a repair technician,”Zim answered. “He wasn’tvery good, though.” Illya asked, “Howlong have you been completely automated?” Zim beamed. “Ever since we opened, my friend.” By this time the group had arrivedatthe ore processing area. It too was almost entirely automated, with human workers observing to makesure everything was working correctly.Giant extraction machines were sifting the ore out of the rock. Zim asked, “Is there anything else you’dliketoknowabout our operation? Iknow you’re in a hurry.” The Antipodes 67

“Howmanyemployees do you have intotal?” Duranguil asked. “Not counting administration.” “Wehav e repair and transport personnel, managers, and overseers,”Zim responded. “A few hundred employees, altogether.” Turgowicz asked, “Has the automation caused worker layoffs?” Following up, Duranguil asked, “And have you noticed anyunrest as a result?” “There haven’tbeen anylayoffs here, because our mine has always been automated,” Zim responded. “Certainly,though, some miners have a tough time finding work in these newer mines.” “Do you get miners from other mines that are not doing so well applying to work here?” Duranguil asked. “Yes, a fewhav e applied to work here,”Zim answered. “Wehad to turn some away.” During this conversation the officers had walked back to the administrative area. Theywere nowsitting down. Duranguil said, “Do the miners have a union?” “Yes, the miners are unionized,”Zim answered. “Howare the union representatives? Are theyreasonable in their demands? Some- times theytend to be trouble-makers.” “That’strue,”Zim responded. “Wedon’thav e too much of a problem with the unions. There’sthe occasional strikeorprotest. It’snot likethe riots I heard about at Lozanz Strike. I heard the conditions there are deplorable for some of the miners.” “Nor likethose at Selkadroon, I takeit,”Duranguil added. “That’sright,”Zim answered. “Some parts of Selkadroon are very depressed. It’s not likethat here.” “Have you had anytrouble with cargo-haulers being attacked?” Duranguil asked. “We’ve heard rumors of ships neverarriving where theywere supposed to. Some think that pirates may be attacking the ships.” “No, we haven’thad anyproblems likethat,”Zim answered. “Though I have heard some rumors about problems on the opposite side of the system from Selkadroon.” “Thank you, that’sgood to know,”Duranguil said. “Ascargo haulers ourselves, we’re alittle concerned.” “Right,”Zim answered. “Wegenerally avoid the antipodes. So we haven’thad any problems there. But it does mean that that area hasn’tbeen explored. There may be unmined deposits there.” Eventually the conversation ended, and Zim bade the officers farewell. “Come back and visit us soon!” he said. The officers returned to the ship, where Harrelson asked for a report. Turgowicz said, “The most useful thing we learned is that the newmines are com- pletely automated.” “That’ssomewhat surprising,”Harrelson observed. “That’svery newtechnology.” The Antipodes 68

“There doesn’tseem to be anyunrest here,”Turgowicz continued. “Interesting,”Harrelson said. “Well, I don’tthink the problems we are investigating are coming from here. Nice as this place is, I think we should be on our way.Gentle- men, lay in a course to continue patrolling the system.” The helm obeyed, and the Albert wassoon under way again.

***

The Albert continued her patrol. The first day was uneventful. The following day the Albert came around to the antipodal side of the system from Selkadroon. Yung, manning the sensors, was puzzled by the readings he was getting. After consulting with Captain Harrelson, he called Duranguil, the resident sensor expert, to the bridge. “Sir,I’m getting some strange readings at the extreme limit of sensor range. I’dlikeyou to takealook at them.” When Duranguil arrivedonthe bridge, Yung showed him the readings. “Sir,what do you makeofthis?” he asked. “Tomeitlooks likepower fluxes, possibly coming from dust strikes on a ship’sdeflector shield. There may also be life form readings in there. However, the signal is so weak that I can’ttell for sure.” Duranguil examined the readings and said, “I agree with your analysis, ensign. How- ev er, look at this other reading. It suggests someone or something else communicating with the area of the readings you identified. And it looks likethe source of the communi- cation is much closer to us.” Turgowicz, manning the helm, asked, “Could it be another ship?” “Very possibly,Illya,”Duranguil responded. Harrelson said, “If there is another ship out there, I want to knowabout it. Lock on to the source of those readings!” Duranguil adjusted the sensors. In a fewminutes he reported, “Captain, sensors con- firm at least one vessel shadowing the Albert.Trying for sensor lock now.” Adjusting the sensors further,Duranguil achievedsensor lock on the shadowing ship. “Makethat twoships,”hesaid, “one on each side of the Albert.Both are Klondike Class II prospecting ships. Theyseem to be following our course. Theydon’thav e sensors locked on us. Ican’ttell if theyare aware of us. If theyhav e ordinary sensors for that ship class, it is possible that we are out of their sensor range.” “All right,”Harrelson responded. “Those ships have not taken anyhostile action, so let’snot confront them just yet. However, I want you to keep a careful eye on them. If theykeep following us, we’ll hail them. In the mean time, let’scontinue towards the sen- sor disturbance that Yung detected.” “Should we raise shields, captain?” Turgowicz asked. “Not yet, Turgowicz,”Harrelson responded. “I don’twant to let those ships knowwe are aware of them.” The Albert continued towards the source of the sensor disturbance that Yung had detected. As the distance to the disturbance got shorter,the readings became clearer. Duranguil, still manning the sensors, said, “There is definitely something there. I’m The Antipodes 69

picking up power readings and life signs.” “What about the prospecting ships?” Harrelson asked. “Are theystill following us?” “Yes,”Duranguil responded. Then he looked up from the sensor display.“Captain, the ship offour starboard side has locked its sensors on us.” “Open a hailing frequencytothat ship,”Harrelson commanded. Turgowicz responded, “Hailing frequencies open, ma’am.” Harrelson spokeinto the console. “This is Captain Harrelson of the Albert.Who are you and whyare you following us?” An Andorian male appeared on the Albert’s viewscreen. He said, “This is the SS Tipul.Weare a prospecting ship. We hav e no business with you.” Harrelson motioned for the communication to be cut. “I’m disinclined to believe what they’re saying, and yet I don’twant to start a fight,”Harrelson said. “Options?” “Wecould raise shields and continue on course to the disturbance,”Turgowicz sug- gested. “If we raise shields, that would be considered a hostile action.”Harrelson responded. Duranguil observed, “If they’re only prospectors, we can handle them if it comes to that.” “I agree, commander,” Harrelson responded. “However, theycould be more than prospectors. Weneed to be very careful out here. What’stheir weapon status?” Duranguil, consulting his locked sensors, reported that each ship had one OD-4 type beam weapon. Theydid not appear to have warp capability. Vorobserved, “Captain, it is highly unusual for this type of prospecting ship to be armed with a laser weapon. However, such armament is logical in a dangerous area such as this one.” Harrelson thought for a moment and then said, “All right, let’sdoasIllya said. We’ll raise shields and continue.” Duranguil reported, “Captain, the flanking ships have raised their shields as well. And theyare communicating again with the area of the original disturbance.” All was quiet until a fewminutes later: without warning the Albert wasshaken by a laser blast! “The starboard ship has fired on us,”Duranguil reported. Vor, manning the damage control console, said “Our shields repelled the blow. No damage.” “All right, let’stakethese bastards out,”Harrelson barked. “Turgowicz, concentrate your fire on the starboard ship. But makesure both sides of the Albert are protected by shields.” Turgowicz did as he was commanded. His aim was true, and the starboard prospect- ing ship suffered a crippling phaser hit. The Antipodes 70

“Good shot, Illya!” Duranguil said. “That ship appears to be dead in space.” “Good work!” Harrelson said. “Nowbring us about so we face the other ship. I want it neutralized as well.” Again Turgowicz, the able helmsman, did as he was commanded. While the Albert wasmaneuvering, the remaining prospecting ship fired twoshots. The first one missed by a wide margin, but the second one hit. The Albert shook with the impact. Vorreported, “The shields absorbed most of the impact, but we have sustained dam- age. Our forward shield generator is down.” “Damage control, repair that shield!” Harrelson commanded. “Turgowicz, keep our unshielded side awayfrom the enemy,and keep firing.” Turgowicz fired on the enemy ship and scored another direct hit. “Their beam weapon is down!” Duranguil reported. Both ships held station as theyattempted to repair their damage. The Albert’s crew quickly repaired the damage to the forward shield, and it came on line. Duranguil, still at the sensor console, said, “The enemy ship has repaired its beam weapon.”Then he looked up from the console. “Captain, we may have more trouble on our hands. Sensors detect another ship approaching!”

9. Captured! Anew ship appeared on the tactical viewscreen. Once again, the Albert wasfacing twoenemy ships. “Maintain power to forward and port shields,”Harrelson commanded. “And keep both ships to our shielded side.” Turgowicz maneuvered the Albert as instructed. As he did so, the incoming ship fired. The beam hit the Albert’s shields, which absorbed the blast. The Albert unsuccess- fully returned fire. Harrelson asked, “Mr.Duranguil, can you give uswarp power?” “Not in this asteroid field, ma’am,”Duranguil responded. “It’stoo dangerous. We’d need to clear the belt first.” “All right,”Harrelson said. “Mr.Vor,please takeoverthe sensors from Mr.Duran- guil. Nidi-Loo, Ineed you in engineering.”Duranguil left the bridge. The first enemy ship, the prospector,fired at the Albert.Asitdid, Turgowicz skill- fully maneuvered the Albert behind a nearby asteroid. With the asteroid as cover, the Albert wasachallenging target, and the enemy beam missed by a wide margin. The Albert fired again at the newarrival. This time it hit, but the shields held fast and absorbed the blow. Then the enemy ship returned fire and hit the Albert squarely.The Albert’s shields absorbed only some of the blast; its port warp engine suffered damage. Harrelson asked, “What is the status of the shields on the prospecting ship?” Vor, who had taken overthe sensors, responded, “Their front and starboard shields are powered.” The prospecting ship fired and hit the Albert,which shook from the impact. Vor reported, “Slight damage to impulse power.” Captured! 71

Harrelson called Duranguil in the engineering section and asked for a report. “We have suffered some damage to our power systems,”Duranguil reported. “Repairs are underway.Weshould be back to full power soon.” “Very good,”Harrelson said. Then, turning awayfrom the intercom, she addressed the bridge crew. “OK, let’sneutralize the prospecting ship and then deal with the new one. Watch out in case that newship tries to flank us. Lock phasers and fire!” Carrying out the command, Turgowicz trained the Albert’s phasers on the prospecting ship and fired. Twin beams of bright blue lanced out from the Albert and struck the target with devastating effect. “A direct hit,”Vor reported. “That ship is nowdisabled.” “Good shooting, Mr.Turgowicz!” Harrelson said. Meanwhile, the newly arrivedship fired again at the Albert.More skillful maneuver- ing by Turgowicz caused the beam to miss its target. Harrelson said, “Bring us about. Keep our port side facing them. Keep that side heavily shielded and blast them as theyapproach!” Vor, still at the sensors, said, “Captain, there are more ships approaching.” “Howmany?” Harrelson asked. “I cannot be certain. Several more. Theyappear hostile.” Harrelson said, “All right. This is turning into more of a fight than I think we can handle without backup. Mr.Vor,punch a tight beam message through to Selkadroon. Notify them that we are under attack by superior forces and need assistance.” Vorsaid, “Aye, ma’am,”and carried out the command. Afew seconds later he said, “Captain, I cannot get the message through. It appears that our communications are being jammed.” “Can you counter it?” Harrelson asked. Vorsaid, “I will try.” A fewminutes later,asthe Albert and the enemy ship were still trading fire, Vor reported, “I may have sent the message, but I cannot be certain. The jamming is intense.” By then several more ships had appeared on the viewscreen. Harrelson said, “Mr. Vor, report on these newarrivals.” Consulting his sensors, Vor said, “I count ten ships in total: Three prospecting vessels, twoore freighters, four warp shuttles, and a blockade runner.” Then Yung said, “Captain, the blockade runner is hailing us.” Harrelson responded, “On screen!” Amale humanoid appeared on the viewscreen. He wasnot an Andorian. In fact, he wasobviously an Orion. He said, “I am Tryella Regulan, commanding the Bolt.Who are you and whyhav e you invaded our space?” Harrelson said, “This is Ellie Harrelson, commanding the Albert.This is not ‘your’ space. This is free space, and we are freight haulers passing through. Whyhav e you attacked us?” Captured! 72

The Orion captain ignored Harrelson’squestion. “You seem quite well armed for a freight hauler,” heobserved. “In anyevent, you are outnumbered. Youwill stand down and surrender or we will blast you out of space. Youhav e ten minutes to comply.” The screen went dark. Harrelson called Duranguil back to the bridge to join an emergencymeeting. “Well crew,”she said, “we’re in a tight spot here. Idon’tsee a lot of good options. I’m open to suggestions.” Martinez asked, “Howbig of an explosion can we makebyoverloading the warp core? Big enough?” Harrelson said, “Wecould probably takeout several of their ships that way,but how would that help? What we really need to do is find out where their base is, and get its location back to the authorities on Selkadroon or Star Base.” After a fewmore minutes of discussion, Harrelson said, “I don’tthink we have any choice here. We’llhav e to surrender.Onthe bright side, at least we’ll be able to find out who these people are. Theyare probably the ones we’ve been searching for.” Speaking into the ship-wide intercom, Harrelson said, “Crew, initiate the standard procedure for enemy boarding. Release an encrypted log buoyand engage the computer camouflage sequence.”The Albert’s crewdid as instructed. Theyknewthat the camou- flage sequence would wipe the ship’smemory banks and maketheir contents look like those of an ordinary Tavares-class freighter.The true contents of the Albert’s memory banks, including all of its mission logs, would be stored in an encrypted file, hidden for recovery later. Then Duranguil suggested, “Wecould hide someone in the ship’ssecret compart- ments.”Hewas referring to special compartments aboard the Albert for hiding goods or personnel in case of boarding. “The rest could surrender,but at least there would be someone on the outside to assist an escape.” Harrelson said, “Good idea, Mr.Duranguil. It should be someone who hasn’tbeen seen on the bridge, so the Orions won’tknowtheyare missing. Bar-David and Duran- guil, you hide in the compartments.”Duranguil and Bar-David left to taketheir positions. Vorsaid, “Buoylaunched and camouflage sequence complete.” “All right, here we go,”Harrelson said. “Put that Orion bastard back up on the screen.” The Orion appeared on the screen. “Have you made your decision?” he asked. Captain Harrelson took a deep breath. With great reluctance, she forced herself to say the following words: “Weagree to surrender.Howev er, knowthis. Your actions are ille- galand an act of war against the Federation. One way or another,you will pay for this!”

***

The Albert lowered its shields, and a boarding party beamed aboard. Some were obviously Orions. Others looked likeAndorians, but theytoo spokeinthe Orion tongue. Several Orions took the Albert’s crewinto custody and confined them to the galley area. Others remained on the bridge to pilot the ship. After several minutes, the Albert’s crewfelt the mild bump of a landing under zero-G conditions. Captured! 73

There was a short wait. Then the Orion captain who had identified himself as Tryella Regulan entered the cabin. The guards saluted. The Orion captain addressed the Star Fleet officers: “You are nowprisoners of war under Orion law. This status has no privi- leges. Duties will be assigned to you according to individual abilities.”Hesnapped out some more orders in the Orion tongue, and the guards hustled the Albert’s crewout of the ship. Leaving the ship, the Star Fleet officers found themselves in zero G. Theywere in a large docking bay,with pads for several small ships and loading platforms for cargo han- dling. Orion guards appeared, wearing oxygen masks and carrying sidearms. Theysur- rounded the officers and escorted them to a narrowcorridor leading offofthe docking bay.Proceeding down the corridor,the officers passed doors marked “Food Storage” and asealed door marked “Security Center.” Then theyturned offthe main corridor and into asubsidiary passage marked “Mine.” The group passed through an airlock. The officers’ ears popped as theyentered an area of lower pressure. Theyfound themselves breathing faster to compensate for the lack of air.Loud, rushing sounds rebounded up and down the corridor.The sounds increased in volume as the group advanced. The officers passed a side tunnel. Down that tunnel, theysaw sev eral humanoids holding hoses attached to large bladders. Other humanoids were splashing liquid on the rock face, while still others gathered rocks from the face, filling sacks. The group marched deeper into the mine. Eventually theyreached a corridor where theysaw sleeping bags and a zero-G toilet. Several humans and humanoid aliens lay there, sleeping. The guards pointed at several unused bags. The chief guard informed the group, via translator,that theywere to be quartered here. After reviewbythe foreman, theywould be assigned their mining duties. The guards left. One of the humans opened his eyes and said, “Hi, I’m Hidalgo Lopez from Repteam 24. Who are you?” Martinez said, “Repteam 24! Aren’tyou guys the super-team?” “Well, we do takepride in our work,”Lopez answered. He smiled at the compliment. Turgowicz thought the name “Hidalgo Lopez” sounded familiar,but he couldn’tplace it. “Who are you people?” Lopez repeated. Harrelson turned to Martinez and said, “Number One, tell him all about who we are.” “We’re undercoverStar Fleet,”Martinez said. “Wewere investigating the ship disap- pearances in the Selka system. It seems we have now disappeared ourselves.” Lopez said, “Really?” He brightened. “You people could be just the help we need to bust out of here.” He turned to someone sleeping beside him and said, “HeyPatrick, wakeup.” The sleeping man opened his eyes. “Huh?” he said groggily,and rubbed his eyes. Lopez introduced him as Patrick Chen, his Repteam partner. Captured! 74

Suddenly remembering, Martinez asked, “Hey, were you part of the Repteam that was investigating some missing prospector’sship? Polly Taylor told us about you.” Lopez answered, “Yes, we were investigating the disappearance of some prospectors named Taylor.” “NowIhav e it!” Turgowicz exclaimed. “These were the guys who went to look for Polly’sbrothers and father,then went missing. We read about them in the computer records.” “Well we did find Polly’sfamily,” Lopez said. “They’re all here. Do you knowPolly as well?” “Yes,”Martinez answered. “Howdoyou knowher?” Lopez asked. Martinez responded, “Wewere fairly thorough in our investigation. Polly told us about the missing ship, the altered serial number,and your Repteam.” “Right,”Lopez said. “Polly had put together pretty convincing evidence that her father and brothers were still alive.She was right.” Chen added, “If you’ve seen Polly recently,then you should talk to her family. They’ll be wondering howshe’sdoing. Wetracked them out here, where theywere enslavedinthe mine. Then we got captured ourselves, as I imagine you did.” Lopez said, “This whole place is an illegalOrion mine, as you’ve probably already realized.” Martinez asked, “What precisely are theymining that they’re willing to takesomuch risk?” “Dilithium,”Lopez answered. He continued: “They’ll likely put you to work in the mine. It’sbrutal here. Youhav e to work with caustic chemicals in thirteen-hour shifts, and theykeep the pressure lowsoeveryone will be fatigued and won’ttry to escape.” “The first fewdays are the hardest,”Chen added. “After that it gets easier,once your body adjusts.” Harrelson felt a sudden burst of outrage at the audacity of the Orions and their illegal operation. She said, “Tothink they’ve been carrying on likethis, all these years, right under our noses! Those bastards!” “It must have been eversince that migration years ago!” Martinez exclaimed. Changing the subject, Chen said, “Wemay have a way out of here, and we can use your help.” Lopez cut him off. “Let’sdiscuss this later.The guards are coming back!” Lopez and Chen rolled overand pretended to sleep. Then the Orion guards arrived. Theymotioned for the Albert’s crewtofollow.

10. The Slave Mine The Orion guards took the Albert’s crewaside. One of them asked, “Which of you are technicians?” St. Simon, Orgullo, and the other sensor technicians raised their hands. “OK, you’ll work on equipment repair,” the guard said. “The rest of you will work the The Slave Mine 75

mine, starting with the next shift. The shifts are thirteen hours, and you get thirteen hours of rest. If you work hard, you will be treated with respect. If you refuse to work, you will be punished. If you try to escape, you will be killed.” The guards left. Each of the Star Fleet officers claimed an unused sleeping bag. Har- relson suggested that theymakethemselves as comfortable as possible, and try to get some rest until their shift started. Before drifting offtosleep, the officers talked among themselves. Theywere still bewildered by their situation. Afew hours ago theywere intelligence officers aboard a Star Fleet ship, and nowtheywere nameless slavesinamine. Harrelson encouraged her officers not to give up. “Wewill get out of here soon,”she said. “Wejust need to wait for the right opportunity.Until then, it’simportant that we play along. We can’traise any suspicions about who we are, nor should we provoke hostile action from the guards until the time is right.” “You are intelligence officers,”Harrelson continued. “This turn of events is unfortu- nate, but you have been trained for it. Remember your training, and stay strong.”

***

Duranguil and Bar-David waited in one of the ship’shidden compartments while an Orion boarding party commandeered the Albert,landed it, and escorted the rest of the crewoff the ship. Theywaited some more while Orion guards searched the ship. Then theyheard the guards leave.When all had been quiet for several minutes, theyemerged from their hiding place. The ship, shut down and on reservepower,was dimly lit by emergencylights. Duran- guil said softly,“Let’ssweep the ship to makesure there’snoone on board. Then we’ll arm and equip ourselves to go rescue the others.” Duranguil and Bar-David swept the ship. When theywere satisfied that no one else wasaboard, theytook stock of their situation. Looking out of the Albert’s portholes, they could see that theywere in a large hangar.Other ships were docked there, including some of the ships that had attacked the Albert.Arming and equipping themselves with phasers and tricorders, the officers prepared themselves to go outside and assist their cap- tured crewmates.

***

After a fewhours of sleep, Harrelson, Martinez, and the others were abruptly woken by the guards. One of the guards said, “OK, time for work shift!” The officers got up and followed the guards out. One group of guards collected Orgullo and the other engineers and led them away. Another group led the rest of the officers, including Harrelson, Martinez, and Turgowicz, through a winding corridor to a mine face. Several workers there were just coming offshift, and others were setting up to begin work. The officers sawvarious humans, Andorians, and Klingons. Theyalso saw several creatures whose races theydid not recognize. Some were frog-likeand bipedal; others were strange-looking, with inhuman proportions and skin coloration. Finally,there The Slave Mine 76

wasone Vulcan male. He acknowledged Vor in the subtle Vulcan way. The guards gav e the officers protective glovesand set them to work removing dilithium from the rock face. As theydid this, other slave workers sprayed a caustic sol- vent on the rocks. Some of the solvent seeped through the glovesand burned the officers’ hands. It wasmildly painful. As theyworked, the officers sawother slave workers repairing equipment. The Star Fleet officers, especially the junior ones, struggled with feelings of despair at their situation. However, their Star Fleet Intelligence training had prepared them for high-stress situations, including capture, interrogation, and torture. Compared to those situations, this really wasn’tthat bad. So theypersevered.

***

During a break in the work, the Vulcan introduced himself to Vor as T’Pal. “I am a sociologist,”hesaid. “I wascaptured in an Orion raid on the planet I was studying. I have been here twenty years. Howdoyou come to be here? Vorresponded, “Our freighter ship was attacked by Orions. Although the captain did her best, we were simply outnumbered, and we were forced to surrender.” “And howdid you come to be in this part of space?” T’Pal asked. “Wewere investigating reports of ship disappearances in the area,”Vor responded. “Apparently the crews of the disappearing ships have become slaves.” T’Pal said, “Slavery is not economically logical.” “No,”Vor agreed. “Unfortunately,the Orions are not known for their prowess in logic.” “One day I will publish a memoir of my experiences here,”T’Pal continued. “It is valuable to my scientific work to be able to observethe institution of slavery from the inside. It is somewhat irritating to be treated in this way; but resistance in these circum- stances is not logical either.Doyou agree?” “Resisting what is inexorable is always illogical,”Vor agreed. Privately,though, he marveled at the too-eager submissiveness of this Vulcan. He wondered if T’Pal’sinterest were truly scientific, or if his logic had become faulty through long years of enslavement.

***

During another break, one of the strange-looking humanoids accosted Turgowicz. “Are you a demon?” the humanoid asked. “What?” Turgowicz responded, surprised. “I said, are you a demon?” the humanoid repeated. “Weare taught to believe that all creatures other than ourselves are demons that must be obeyed. But Idonot understand whythe Orion-demons enslave other demons likeyou.” “No, I am not a demon,”Turgowicz said. He was exhausted, and it was hard to think. What this strange-looking humanoid was saying to him didn’tseem to makeany sense. The Slave Mine 77

“Then who or what are you?” the humanoid asked. “I’m a prisoner just likeyou,”Turgowicz said, stating the obvious. What’swith this guy? he thought. The humanoid continued, “Most of my people are personal servants of the Orion- gods, but I am not so lucky. Why dotheypunish you by making you find the rock-trea- sure?” “I haven’tasked,”Turgowicz said. “I guess it’sconvenient for them.” This is like talking to a child, he thought. “I do not understand the ways of the Orion-gods,”the humanoid said. “Whyare you a prisoner?” Turgowicz asked. “It is my duty to serve,”the humanoid responded. “I did not servethe gods well, so theyput me here.”

***

While working on the rock face, Martinez slipped. He accidentally struck a Klingon working next to him. The Klingon cursed and shouted, “Out of my way,human, if you do not want to lose an arm!” “My mistake,”Martinez said. “Though I’m surprised to see Klingons here. Inev er thought I’dsee a Klingon taking orders from an Orion. Have you no honor?” “Who are you accusing of lacking honor,kuve?” the Klingon asked angrily.He raised his fist. Hereitcomes,Martinez thought. Inwardly,hebraced for the inevitable blow. Out- wardly he said, “Well, I was wondering whyyou’re taking orders from the Orions, that’s all.” The Klingon responded, “You are right, it is not honorable to takeorders from such as them.”Helowered his fist. In a slightly less angry voice, he said, “But our time will come, and then their blood will flowinared river.” Sensing an opportunity,Martinez said, “Perhaps we could join forces.” The Klingon responded, “I would gladly stab my lev’ek into the Orions’ hearts, if only I had one. What are you suggesting, human?” “Well, we just got here, and we don’tplan on staying long,”Martinez responded. “There are more of us than of them.” “Do you have a plan?” the Klingon asked. “Theyare well armed.” “With a little coordination, and maybe a little help from the outside, I think we can takethem,”Martinez said. “Do you have anoutside contact?” the Klingon asked. Martinez nodded. “Hmm. Wewill talk of this more in the offshift,”the Klingon said. The Slave Mine 78

“Certainly.Good meeting you then.” The Klingon grunted and went back to work.

***

Duranguil and Bar-David emerged from the Albert.With their eyes, theysaw that about twenty meters away, two Orions were supervising a group of weird-looking humanoids loading ore into a freighter.With their tricorders, theydetected several life signs beyond a door in the hangar wall. Otherwise there was no one about. Duranguil said to Bar-David, “OK, Roger,the first order of business is to sabotage these ships. That way,once we escape, the Orions won’tbeable to pursue. Let’sstart with that one.”Hepointed to the blockade runner,moored some distance from the Albert,onthe other side from the ore-loading activity. Duranguil and Bar-David movedtow ards the blockade runner,careful to stay out of sight of the ore-loading group. Theyquickly reached the ship and gained entry to it. Once on board, theyeasily located and disabled the ship’spower systems. Theycontinued in this way,moving to newships and disabling their power systems one by one. The hangar bay was thinly staffed, and so it was not hard to avoid detection. After several hours of this work, theywere hungry and tired. Theysnuck back to the Albert to eat and rest.

***

The first thirteen-hour shift was over, and the Star Fleet officers working the mine were thoroughly exhausted. The Orion guards led them back to the sleeping area. Once the guards had left, Chen and Lopez approached the group. Chen said, “I knowyou guys are tired and probably just want to collapse, but we thought we’dtell you about our escape plan.” Harrelson gathered her senior officers together.“Ithink we need to hear this,”she said. When ev eryone was assembled, she turned to Chen and said, “Go.” “OK,”Chen said. “Our plan depends on three key factors. First, because Hidalgo and I are good with computer systems, the Orions have put us in charge of system admin- istration in the mine. We hav e used our access to develop an attack. When the time is right, we can makethe Orions believe the mine is depressurizing. This will create a diversion. Second, we need you to recruit help from the slavestofight back when the diversion occurs. Third, we need a ship to get out of here. It has to be big enough to carry all the slaves. There’sanore carrier in the bay that can work, but we also need good pilots. That’swhere you guys come in.” “Does this sound likeagood plan?” Lopez asked. “Do you have any questions?” Turgowicz asked, “Where do you expect the Orions to go if theybelieve the place is depressurizing?” Lopez answered, “Webelieve theywill put on their pressure suits and try to escape. We plan to depressurize one of the compartments they’ll have topass through as they head to the docking bay.When theyopen the doors to the bay,they’ll encounter pressure and will be blown backwards. Then we can head to the docking bay and attack en masse. The Slave Mine 79

It depends on the support of our fellowslaves.” Chen added, “We’ve been recruiting some of the slaves, but not enough. We need your help.” Martinez observed, “Well, the Klingons seem gung-ho to attack.” “Yes, I don’tthink we will have any problem convincing the Klingons to turn against their Orion captors,”Chen agreed. Lopez added, “The Andorians also hate the Orions and will attack them with glee. The Andorians regularly cause riots and are killed in response.” “The Orions feed the dead Andorians to the aborigines,”Chen said. He was referring to the strange-looking humanoids that thought of the Orions as “demons.” Vorsaid, “Based on my interactions with the Vulcan T’Pal, he may not be entirely reliable.” Chen turned to Vor and asked, “Whydoyou say that?” Vorresponded, “His logic may be faulty.Heseems to be conditioned not to try to escape.” Chen said, “Perhaps you could use some Vulcan logic of your own to convince him to help us. Forexample, what if he were convinced that the plan can work, and that the safety of all these people depends on it?” Lopez added, “Yes, you could use the ‘good of the many’ argument. I learned about it once in a class on Vulcan logic.” “It could work,”Vor mused. “However, there may be insufficient time to correct his logic. And if we tell him too soon, he may report us to the Orions.” “I doubt he’ddothat,”Chen said. “In my experience, T’Pal is a pacifist with no desire to fight, but he has no allegiance to the Orions,”Lopez added. “But if you feel that strongly about it, we can leave him out of the plan.” “I will think about it,”Vor said. He reflected silently on the strange case of the Vul- can who seemed to enjoyhis captivity.

***

The officers dispersed to recruit help among their fellowcaptives. Martinez approached the Klingon he had conversed with before. The Klingon said, “Bah! Whydoyou interrupt my rest?” Undaunted, Martinez explained the plan that Chen had described. “That is a dishonorable plan!” the Klingon exclaimed. “It relies on deception! It is better to confront the enemy directly directly and to die with honor than to sneak around and shoot him in the back!” “By the time we’re shooting at them, they’ll be facing us,”Martinez said, sagely.“It’s just that right nowtheyhav e an unfair advantage. Weneed access to weapons in order to have a fair fight.” The Slave Mine 80

“That is true,”the Klingon said. Pressing his advantage, Martinez said, “And I don’tsee fit to announce our plans first.” “I suppose deception is warranted sometimes, if the adversary has no honor,” the Klingon said, almost to himself. He seemed to be struggling to resolvetwo contradictory ideas in his mind: remaining a captive toadishonorable foe, and engaging in deception. Finally,his instinct for self-preservation won. He turned to Martinez and said, “Human, I am convinced. I will go along with your plan. Iwill nowrecruit my comrades to the cause.”

***

Turgowicz approached a group of humans preparing for the short amount of sleep that theywere allowed in this hellish environment. After exchanging greetings with them, he asked howtheywould feel about participating an escape attempt. Most said theywanted to escape, but were afraid to try.Theyhad seen what happened to the Andorians who tried it. One member of the group, a human man, asked, “Are you in the group that Chen and Lopez said talked to Polly Taylor a fewdays ago?” “Yes, that’sright,”Turgowicz responded. “I’m Phil Taylor,Polly’sfather,” the man said. “Howisshe doing?” “Nice to meet you,”Turgowicz responded. “Last I talked to Polly,she was doing fine, butshe was very worried about you.” “It would be good to see her again; I’drisk anything for that,”Taylor responded. “But I’ll not takepart in a suicide. Do you think we really have a chance?” “Yes, I do,”Turgowicz said, confidently.“We just need to get the Orions running into the hangar bay where our outside contact is waiting.” “Do you have any way to communicate with this outside contact?” Taylor asked. “Yes, if we can retrieve our communicators. We plan to do that while the Orions are fleeing the ‘depressurization.’” Taylor seemed convinced. “I think I could takeafew ofthem myself,”hesaid. “I used to be quite a good boxer in my day.” “Good, that’sthe spirit,”Turgowicz said. “All right, we’re in,”Taylor said. He looked at his twosons, who nodded in agree- ment. “What about the aborigines?” Taylor asked. “Theyhav e some strange ideas, but they could be helpful in a fight.” “Theyseem devoted to the Orions, but also very submissive,” Turgowicz observed. “Perhaps theycould be convinced to assist our cause. However, I don’tknowifthey would help us, or report us to their masters.” The Slave Mine 81

By this time Martinez had joined the group. Turgowicz introduced him to Polly’s family. “Pleased to meet you,”Martinez said. Continuing the discussion, Phil Taylor said, “It might be easier to convince the abo- rigines if you could assert your superiority somehow.” “Theydoseem to be a superstitious lot,”Martinez observed. “Perhaps a showofstrength would work,”Taylor said. “Or physical coordination.” “It might work,”Turgowicz mused. He started thinking about howtouse his formi- dable skills in zero-G handball to impress the aborigines.

***

Martinez and Turgowicz left the group of humans and looked for aborigines and Klin- gons to recruit. Theystarted by describing the game of zero-G handball and asking if there was anyinterest in seeing it played. The aborigines had no idea what theywere talking about. Klingons recognized it as similar to a game called Kruluk-Rogat, but none of them played it. Iguess we’ll have to try a different tack, Turgowicz thought. The twoofthem gath- ered a group of aborigines. Theyexplained that theyand the other newly arrivedhuman captiveswere special, because theyhad superior skills to their Orion captors. “But the Orions are gods!” one of the aborigines protested. “Are you gods too?” “Yes, that is what we are saying,”Turgowicz said. Another of the aborigines exclaimed, “Showus!” “Well, we’ll let you judge,”Turgowicz said. Drawing on all his skills at zero-G hand- ball, he put on his best display of acrobatic prowess. The aborigines, who had neverseen anything likethis before, were agape. One of them, who appeared to be the leader,said, “Wehav e neverseen anyone do that. You must be gods! We’llfollowyou, the newgods!” Then all the aborigines intoned in unison: “All hail the newgods!” Theybowed down before the Star Fleet officers. The lead aborigine asked, “What would the newgods have usdo?” I’m no god, Turgowicz thought. Outwardly,though, he said, “Followuswhen we give the cue, and stop the Orions from advancing when we tell you.” The lead aborigine said, “Wewill obey.”

***

After about eight hours of sleep aboard the Albert,Duranguil and Bar-David were refreshed and ready to go on the offensive.Theywaited until the off-shift, when the hangar area was completely quiet. Then theyleft the ship and headed towards a door in the hangar wall. The Slave Mine 82

Consulting his tricorder,Bar-David said softly,“Sir,Idetect several life forms about sevenmeters away, beyond this door.The readings are Orion.” “Very good, ensign,”Duranguil said. After thinking for a moment, he continued, “OK, Roger,it’stime to get out of here and find the others. Ithink we should start by neutralizing the Orions you sawonyour tricorder.Set your phaser on wide-angle stun and open that door.” “Yes, sir,” Bar-David responded. He opened the door.Onthe other side was a hall- way. “Let’sgo,”Duranguil said. The twoofthem passed through the door and into the hallway. After several meters, theyturned offthe main hall and went down a passage to the right, following the Orion life form readings. Several meters after that, the passage ended in a door. “The Orions are behind this door,” Bar-David whispered. “Open the door and stun them on my mark,”Duranguil said. Bar-David nodded. “Now!” Duranguil exclaimed. Bursting through the door,the officers sawasmall room with fiveOrions seated at control consoles. The Orions looked up in surprise, but were unable to do anything else. The officers fired their phasers on wide-angle stun. In the confined area, the seated Orions didn’tstand a chance: theyslumped overtheir con- soles, unconscious. Quickly examining the control room, the twoofficers sawsev eral monitors. Some showed views of rock caverns in what appeared to be a mine. Bar-David said, “Sir, look!” and pointed at one of the monitors. Following his gesture, Duranguil sawMar- tinez and Turgowicz, alive and apparently unharmed. Theywere talking to a group of the weird-looking humanoids, who bowed down before them. In the background theycould see Captain Harrelson and other members of the Albert’s crew. Duranguil said, “Bar-David, we need to figure out howtoget to that mine shaft where the Albert’s crewisbeing held.” Bar-David said, “Yes, sir,” and the twowent to work. After consulting the computers for a fewminutes, Bar-David said, “Sir,Ithink I have found the route to the Albert’s crew. Itshould be farther down the main hallwayweleft to get here. It looks likethere is an Orion guard barracks between us and them.” “All right,”Duranguil responded. “Let’shead towards the barracks. We’lltakeitout, and then join up with Captain Harrelson and the others. Sound likeaplan?” “Yes, sir!” Duranguil and Bar-David left the control room and went back to the main corridor. Then theyturned and went down the path leading to the mine — the one down which the Albert’s crewhad originally been taken. After about ten minutes, the twoofficers reached the area just in front of where they expected the guard barracks to be. Peering around a corner,theysaw that most of the Orions were asleep. Tw o of them were awake and on duty. The officers retreated to a safe spot several meters from the corner.Duranguil whis- pered, “I want those twotaken out as silently as possible. Youtakethe one on the left. I’ll takethe other one. Set your phaser on narrow-beam stun.” The Slave Mine 83

Duranguil and Bar-David crept back towards the corner as stealthily as theycould in the zero-G environment. Despite his best efforts, though, Bar-David slipped on a loose rock. Attempting to regain control, he crashed into the rock wall, making a loud nose that resounded in the cavern. As Bar-David collected himself to continue, the twoofficers heard a voice coming from the barracks area. Theycould not makeout the words, which were probably in Orion. Neither of them spokethe language or had anyidea what was being said. The pair kept moving forward. Theyheard the voice again, this time a bit closer.The artificial light in the cavern was very dim. It cast eerie shadows on the walls. The head of an Orion guard peered around the corner.Bar-David and Duranguil, their phasers at the ready,fired simultaneously.Duranguil’sshot bounced offthe rock wall, but Bar-David’shit. The Orion went limp and hung in zero G. At the sound of the phaser fire, there was more shouting, and then still more as Orion guards and then slaveswokeupand joined the fray.Inashort time the cavern was alive with the sounds of chaos and confusion.

11. The Riot Martinez and Turgowicz were sleeping when the riot brokeout. Theyawoke amidst the sounds of yelling and fighting. Sitting up, theysaw Bar-David and Duranguil floating towards them. “Boy, amIglad to see you guys!” Martinez said. “Us, too!” Duranguil said. He and Bar-David tossed phasers to their crewmates. “All right, nowweare armed!” Turgowicz exclaimed. “Things are looking up.” Martinez rose to his knees and pushed himself towards one of the Orion guards. The guard, seeing Martinez floating towards him, drewhis disruptor and begantoaim it. However, Turgowicz sawthis too. Launching himself towards the Orion, Turgowicz grappled him with both arms, preventing him from raising his weapon. Pressing his advantage, Turgowicz tried to strip the disruptor out of his opponent’s hand. However, hefailed: the Orion wriggled free of his grasp. Nowonthe defensive, Turgowicz attempted to dive out of the way.Hefailed and lost control, spinning in zero- G. Meanwhile Martinez launched himself at a newOrion opponent. He missed and sailed clear into the cavern wall. Finally he steadied himself. Bracing himself against the wall, he attacked the Orion with his fists and landed a solid blow. Duranguil fired at an Orion, grazing him. The Orion returned fire and struck Duran- guil with a glancing blowtothe shoulder.Crying out in pain, Duranguil dove for cover as the Orion shot at him again and missed. NowDuranguil shot back. He scored a solid hit, and his opponent went limp, hanging and spinning slowly in midair. Bar-David attempted to grapple an Orion and failed. Simultaneously,his opponent flailed at him and missed. Then Bar-David fired his phaser.Atthat range it was an easy shot: the Orion crumpled. The Riot 84

Duranguil pushed himself forward and aimed his weapon as he hung in midair.An Orion guard took a snap shot at him and missed. Then Duranguil fired and scored a solid hit. The Orion was down. Tw o more Orions appeared on the scene, armed with disruptors. Theyhad shrugged offthe rioting slavesand were firing at the officers. One of the Orions shot at Bar-David, who attempted to avoid the shot but was unable to do so. He was solidly struck. The other Orion fired at Martinez and missed. Martinez returned fire and scored a solid hit. The Orion went limp. Next Duranguil fired at the Orion that had hit Bar-David. The shot hit, and the Orion wasdown. Meanwhile, Vor,Harrelson, the rest of the Albert’s crew, and the slave workers were fighting other Orions. Gradually the Orions succumbed to the superior numbers of the rioters. Vor neutralized a fewofthem with the Vulcan nervepinch. Harrelson and the others slugged a fewwith their fists. Eventually all the Orions were unconscious or had surrendered. On the Star Fleet side, everyone seemed bruised and battered but alive. Only Bar-David was in bad shape after suffering the disruptor hit. Turgowicz, seeing that Bar-David was in trouble, attempted emergencyfirst aid, as Duranguil and Martinez assisted. After a fewtense moments, Turgowicz said, “I think I’ve stabilized him, but he needs medical attention right away.” Harrelson said, “Good work, Turgowicz. There’snot much more we can do for him right now.”Then she turned to the group. “Come on, we’ve got to seize the initiative and attack the rest of the mine! Each of you should takecommand of the slavesthat you recruited to fight. Martinez, you’re in charge of the Klingons. Turgowicz, the aborigines. I’ll takethe Andorians. Duranguil can takethe humans. Vor, you takethe Dacronites.” The officers had since learned that the bipedal frog-likecreatures were called Dacronites. The officers gathered the slavestogether as Harrelson had instructed. Then they headed out to liberate the rest of the mine.

12. The Great Escape The Star Fleet officers traveled down a dimly lit, rockycorridor in zero G. The for- mer slaves, nowfighting desperately for their freedom, followed behind. The group approached a T intersection. Theywere heading for one of the work faces of the mine, to the left after the T. “Perhaps it would be wise for a fewofustoscout ahead,”Duranguil suggested. “If we all go, we are bound to maketoo much noise and alert the Orions.” “That’sagood idea,”Harrelson agreed. “Martinez, Vor,takesome freed slavesand scout ahead.” Martinez and Vor did as instructed: theyand a group of three ex-slavesapproached the intersection. As theydid this, disruptor fire rang out. One of the slaves, a Dacronite, washit. The advance party fell back towards the main group. Theysaw sev eral Orion guards taking up defensive positions near the T.When theysaw that the wounded Dacronite was seriously hurt, the main group of ex-slaves—especially the Dacronites — became The Great Escape 85

enraged and begantorush forward. Fearing a slaughter,Harrelson commanded, “Restrain them!” The Star Fleet officers attempted to carry out the command. Theysucceeded with all groups except the Dacronites, who were uncontrollable as theyrushed madly on. Giving up on restraining the Dacronites, the officers took up defensive positions and provided covering fire. Vorand Turgowicz each fired at Orions, and each hit. One Orion fired at a Dacronite and missed. Another Orion advanced and became entangled in the rushing Dacronites. Seeking to break the tactical stalemate, Martinez advanced along the flank and fired. His shot grazed an Orion, but the Orion fired back. Martinez attempted to evade. The attempt was a failure, and the Orion’sshot grazed him. Martinez cried out in pain and frustration. Harrelson shot at the Orion who had attacked Martinez. She missed. Nowthe Orion advanced, working his way around the mass of rushing Dacronites. He shot at Lopez and missed. Chen and Lopez shot back. Chen missed, but Lopez hit. The Orion crumpled. Duranguil shot at another Orion and missed. Then Vor shot and hit. The target fell. One Orion attacker remained. He shot wildly at the main group and hit the rock wall; then he started to fall back towards the intersection. He movedtoo fast for the zero-G environment, lost his footing, and started to spin around. Turgowicz movedforward and shot him squarely in the torso as he spun. The Orion collapsed and continued to spin in midair,now unconscious. The immediate danger over, Duranguil ran overtothe fallen Martinez to provide first aid. Martinez, putting on a brave face, said, “I’ll be fine.”Orgullo looked concerned. “What on earth possessed you to try something that idiotic?” Duranguil asked. “Well, someone needed to attack those guys in their dug in position,”Martinez explained. “Otherwise we’dnev erget through this hallway.” “Yeah, yeah, save itfor later,” Duranguil said. Turgowicz examined the fallen Dacronite. “It’snogood,”hesaid. The Dacronite passed away. Using an Orion translator,Duranguil told the other Dacronites that theyshould follow instructions next time. Theymurmured in agreement. Harrelson said, “All right folks, let’smove out and free the other slaves. The Orions are cowards and will probably just flee. Idoubt they’ll have much fight left in ’em.” The group turned the corner and continued on. Theywere surprised to encounter a rock wall blocking their way.Duranguil was pretty sure theywere in the right place, givenhis study of the security center.But there was an impassable wall in front of them all the same. Then the group heard barely audible sounds coming from the other side. Theysounded liketapping and cries for help. Nowthe officers noticed that the wall was actually a recent rock fall. Realizing what had happened, Harrelson said, “Those bastards! The Orions cavedin the wall to trap the slaveswhen theyrealized theycouldn’twin! Rather than let the slavesgotheytrapped them in the mine.” The Great Escape 86

Duranguil said, “Weshould makesure theyhav en’tgot anything else planned. They might be trying to arrange other cave-ins.” Harrelson said, “We’ve got to get those people out of there. Options? If we use our weapons, it might bleed out all the charge. On the other hand we can’tdig them out with our bare hands.” “Wecould come back for them after finishing the Orions off,”Duranguil suggested. Illya added, “Wecan get more weapons from the ship.” Harrelson said, “Good suggestions, Illya and Duranguil. All right, let’sload the slaveswehav e onto the ore carrier.Then we’ll get more weapons and come back to dig these guys out.” T’Pal said to Vor,“This Orion behavior is unfortunate. It is not logical to kill loyal workers.” “I agree,”Vor said. T’Pal added, “This will be a most interesting part of my memoir.”

***

The group headed back to the hangar bay.Along the way,the whole rest of the mine appeared to be deserted. When the group entered the hangar bay,some of the ships were gone. Fleeing Orions were furiously boarding other ones. The slavesrushed forward and attacked the Orions. This time, the officers did not restrain them. The Orions had their backs turned and were in a poor defensive position. The superior numbers of the rioting slaveseasily overcame them. The Albert’s crewplaced the injured Bar-David and Martinez aboard the ore carrier Halcyon and made sure theywere resting comfortably.Then, once the Orions had been neutralized, the officers persuaded the former slavestojoin them and board the Halcyon. That done, Harrelson turned to the Albert’s crew—now the Halcyon’s crew—and said, “Weneed to rescue the trapped people quickly and get out of here. There may be Orion reinforcements on the way.” Turgowicz and Duranguil retrievedheavy weapons from the Albert.Theytook Orgullo, Nahwadi, Singh, and Yung back to the rock fall in the mine. With the new weapons, it took only a fewminutes to blast through the wall. The slavesinside were scared but unharmed. The officers led them back to the Halcyon and helped them board. Harrelson said, “Illya, you man the helm. Duranguil, you takecontrol of engineer- ing.” Theywere about to takeoff when Turgowicz said, “Captain, I just realized, there’sno one to open the space door to let us out. Ordinarily that would be done from the com- mand center.” Harrelson turned to Duranguil and asked, “Nidi-Loo, can you rig up a remote control for us?” “Sure, I’ll try,” Duranguil responded. “I’dlikeMr. Chen and Mr.Lopez to come with me. I’ll need their computer expertise.” The Great Escape 87

Duranguil, Lopez, and Chen gathered the necessary equipment and went to the com- mand center.After several minutes, Duranguil called the Halcyon on his communicator. “Captain, I think we have done it. We are returning to the Halcyon.Duranguil out.” The three officers returned to the ship. The remote control worked: Turgowicz opened the door from the helm. He lifted offfrom the asteroid, and theywere under way. Harrelson said, “Illya, set course for Selkadroon.”Then she turned to Vor.“Mr.Vor, please send a transmission to Selkadroon. Relay everything that’shappened and request immediate emergencyassistance.” “Yes, ma’am,”Vor said. This time there was no jamming, and he easily carried out the command. The operator responded, “This is the Selkadroon emergencyoperator.What is your emergency?” Voridentified himself and said, “Wehav e discovered an illegalpiracyand slavery operation run by Orions in the antipodal part of the system. Our ship was captured, but we escaped. We hav e rescued a number of slaves. Theyare aboard our ship.” The operator responded, “That is serious. Please relay your position and we’ll send out a police squadron.”Vor relayed their position. The operator said, “Police ships are on their way.Hold tight and we’ll be there as fast as we can.” Meanwhile, Turgowicz had plotted and laid in a course for Selkadroon. After a few minutes, an Orion blockade runner appeared on the viewscreen. It wasadifferent ship from the one that Duranguil and Bar-David had sabotaged; that one was still grounded. Vor, atthe sensors, said, “Captain, there is an Orion blockade runner dead astern. She is out of weapon range but closing.” “Helm, increase speed,”Harrelson said. “That ship is much faster than ours, but in this asteroid field it shouldn’tmatter.” Vorreported, “Sensors indicate several picket ships stalled in space and breaking off pursuit.” Duranguil, listening in from Engineering, said “Those must be the ones we sabo- taged!” “Great work, Nidi-Loo!” the captain said. “Thank Bar-David too!” Duranguil responded. “He did half the work.” Just then the Halcyon shook with an impact. “What was that?” Harrelson asked. “Asteroid strike,”Vor responded. “Our shields absorbed it, no damage.” “All right,”Harrelson said. “Helm, try to avoid hitting anymore asteroids.” “Yes, ma’am,”Turgowicz responded.

***

The chase continued for several hours. Through his maneuvering skill, Turgowicz used the asteroids to put more distance between the ships. The Great Escape 88

Harrelson said, “I have anidea. Let’schange heading. Instead of Selkadroon — which is days awayatour present speed — let’shead for the edge of the belt. Once there, we can warp away. Now ifwedothat, the blockade runner can pursue. But if we can makeitlook likewe’ve exploded, theywon’tchase us. Duranguil, can you rig an explo- sion that looks likeawarp core breach?” “Wecan try,” Duranguil responded. “We’ll give itour best shot, captain.” Harrelson said, “It would have tobeclose enough to be plausible but far enough not to burn us to a cinder.Atthe same instant, we’ll warp away. Itwill look likewe’ve struck an asteroid and disintegrated. Unless theysearch very carefully for the warp sig- nature, theywon’trealize what we’ve done.” Duranguil went to work on the problem, assisted by Lopez, Orgullo, and Nakamura. First theyisolated some antimatter from the warp engines. This was difficult and danger- ous work, as evenslight mishandling of the antimatter could cause instant annihilation. Next theybuilt a small containment device for the antimatter. Essentially,this is a photon torpedo, Duranguil thought. This would be a lot easier if the Halcyon already had them. But of course it didn’t. When theywere done, theyreported to the captain that theyhad a “bomb” that could be beamed into space and remotely detonated. “Good work,”Harrelson said. “Mr.Turgowicz, change course for the edge of the belt.” Turgowicz complied. The Orion blockade runner also changed course and main- tained the pursuit. In a matter of minutes the Halcyon wasatthe edge of the asteroid belt. Theybeamed the “bomb” into space. “Our timing must be precise,”Duranguil said. “Illya will need to go to warp just as I detonate the bomb.” “Ready,Illya?” Duranguil asked. Turgowicz nodded. “OK, on my mark. Now!” Duranguil triggered the detonation just as Turgowicz went to warp. The crewfelt the ship shakewith the blast. Harrelson said, “Mr Vor,what is our status?” “The ruse appears to have worked, captain,”Vor responded. “The Orion ship is no longer pursuing. It appears that Mr.Turgowicz’stiming was slightly off—the bomb exploded just before we went to warp, and that is whywefelt the impact. However, the shields absorbed the blast. We sustained no damage.” Harrelson said, “Good work, everyone. Illya, lay in a course for Selkadroon, at maxi- mum warp around the edge of the belt.”

***

At maximum warp, the Halcyon reached Selkadroon in a matter of minutes. Turgow- icz put in an emergencylanding request. Ground control immediately granted the request, and the ship landed on Selkadroon, to the great relief of all aboard. The Great Escape 89

Upon landing, police and emergencymedical personnel were waiting to assist. The paramedics rushed the wounded ex-slaves, Bar-David, and Martinez to the hospital in Adminvolm. Their injuries were serious, especially Bar-David’s, but the doctors expected both men to makeafull recovery in time. Chen and Lopez explained that when theyheard the riot breaking out, theyhad rushed to an auxiliary control room and implemented their false-depressurization attack. This had contributed to the swift rout of the Orions. Over the next several days, Harrelson, Duranguil, and Vor met with Chief Staso and other dignitaries on Selkadroon. Armed police vessels raced out to the Orion mine to mop up, with the Albert’s senior officers aboard. When the mop-up crewarrived, they found the former slave mine completely deserted. The Albert wasstill there, and Captain Harrelson claimed her.Turgowicz piloted her back to Selkadroon. Meanwhile Polly Taylor,overjoyed to be reunited with her family,visited Martinez every day in the hospi- tal. On their return to Selkadroon, the crewofthe Albert and Repteam 24 receivedspecial medals for courage and daring from the Selkadroon Council of Corporations. The Albert’s crewreceivedsome much-needed vacation time. While on vacation, the crewheard reports that an Orion blockade runner fleeing in the vicinity of Star Base 27 had escaped interception by a Star Fleet vessel. No connection was everestablished between Ore Haulers, Ltd. and the Orion slave mine. However, soon after the mining operations ended, Ore Haulers quietly stopped doing business in the Selka system. In time Martinez and Bar-David rejoined the crew, and all assumed their normal duties. One day,theywere sitting in the lunch room again, discussing a news report. According to the report, the Federation had sent the Orions a diplomatic inquiry into breaches of the treaty prohibiting the slave trade. In typical Orion fashion, the Orions blamed each other and created a lot of confusion. The discussion had petered out over the next six months, to the disgust of the Federation ambassador.Itlooked likenothing at all was going to happen to the Orions. “Howstupid is this?” Turgowicz complained. “Theyare probably restarting the slave mine as we speak. All that work, for nothing!” “Not quite for nothing, Illya,”Martinez said. “Atthe very least, we did set them back abit. Also, just think — so long as the Orions are in business, it means more work for us.” “That’sone way to think about it,”Turgowicz agreed. Privately he wondered if there might a better way to fight Orions than to remain in Star Fleet.