UF-2 BOOK 2 CHAPTER 3
BY BARBIE LEE
EDITED BY CATHERINE LINDA MICHEL

Vin turned her attention back to the sword the blonde was holding and was carefully watching to see what the female did with it.

Sherry slipped her sword back in its scabbard before she sat down and pulled her chair up to the table. I had a problem with my sword, I really didn’t want everyone in the bar see it disappear. Sitting down, I was extra careful to make sure I didn’t touch anything. Last thing I needed was to touch the table and have it wink out of existence. I figured most of those in the bar were too slow to see the chair disappear. Without the added distraction of a fight, and because of the large size of the table, it would be very conspicuous if it suddenly wasn’t there. After I sat down I slid the sword under the table and turned loose of it, knowing it was once again behind my back.

Vin was watching as the sword the blond was holding disappeared. “The old tales were right. She does handle the Sword of the Queen.”

She studied Toni’s cat eyes. “If she is your mate that would mean you are the leader of the Pash wouldn’t it? Go talk to Dora. She can point you toward what you seek. Tell her Vin sent you. It wouldn’t hurt to mention you and your mate are... King and Queen?”

‘Wrong bar, we need to go to the café at the other end of the post. I don’t feel any telepaths in here. I do sense a couple individuals who are sensitive enough to feel mental thought.’ Meliss sent Sherry and me a mind thought.

Vin slid out of the booth and then leaned back over the table to look Toni in the eyes. “If you hurt Dora you might as well kill me, because I’ll do my best to kill you, even if you are a King.”

If anyone is with Dora when you find her, wait until they leave. Most of those she deals with are pirates, slavers, spacers, or those like them. Most of them are also merchants of information. Dora collects information. She passes it on to those operating on the fringes of the Earth Alliance. She has saved most of them from getting caught and going to a penal colony at some time or another. A lot of clones owe her their lives. They would look unfavorably on anyone who might hurt her.” She straightened up, turned, and walked over to a table to take an order before going up to the bar.

As Toni and Meliss slid out of the booth they were putting their blasters back in their holsters. Toni dropped a couple coins on the table to pay for the drinks. They never acknowledged Sherry and me as they walked across the room and left.

The lady who had been with Toni and Meliss walked up to our table. “Hi, I’m Vin. May I get you ladies something?”

“A frozen d...”

“Klip.” Vin completed the sentence for me as her eyes looked over toward the booth where Meliss and Toni had been sitting. Still on the table were two frozen drey. The robot was headed toward the table to clean it.

I understood the message. Two groups of strangers walk into a bar and order the same non alcoholic brew. It wouldn’t take a mental giant to add two and two. “Klip would be fine for us.”

Vin was back almost before she left. She leaned down over my shoulder to set the flask in front of me and whispered in my ear. “Two men will be over to pick you ladies up and escort you out of the bar. It will look like you found dates, rather than following the Pash.”

I passed the message to Sherry as I reached into my purse and retrieved eight coins. “Thanks.”

When I dropped them into Vin’s hand she closed her fist and shoved them into the pocket in her skirt. “Be real careful while you are here. You’ll have slavers or their friends following you. Either one of you would fetch a million credits or more on the slave block. The slavers will be dying to get their hands on you two.”

A frown crossed Sherry’s face before she responded. “I guess we will have to make sure to send any slavers we run into, back to the recycle plant won’t we.”

Vin acted like she was wiping the table and didn’t look at either one of us. “The law is bought and paid for, like everything else on this post. They get you in jail and you will be sent to the slavers. Trust no one.”

“Even the two you are sending over?” Sherry said it before I managed.

“Two million credits will test anyone’s loyalty. You two are walking retirement packages to anyone who can kidnap you.” Vin straightened up, turned, and walked back to the bar.

‘This is worse than I thought. I hadn’t counted on you being a prize package. I only figured on you dodging the Earth Alliance. Staying out of the hands of slavers, pirates, or anyone who thinks you are the golden goddess wasn’t in my mind.’ I sent Sherry a mind thought as I checked the room for possible trouble.

Because she was facing me she was able to keep an eye on the part of the room I had my back to. ‘Where I’m going after I make contact will be safe. Clones know what it’s like to be treated as merchandise. Slavers are hated by most clones. They kill them when the opportunity arises.’

I didn’t like the idea I would have to leave Sherry behind when I returned home but her mind was made up. Reaching across my waist with my right hand I inched my dagger up out of its sheath and up into my hand. I turned it upside down and laid the blade up under my wrist. Toni’s mom, Lass, had taught me a lot of things besides how to act like a queen. Pash didn’t start fights, but they most certainly ended most of them.

Sherry nodded, knowing what I had done. “Company, two men coming up behind you.”

Sherry and I rose out of our chairs. I turned to look at the men approaching. Escorts or trouble?

One of them held out his hand. “We’ve been looking for you. I guess we should have been more definite where we were going to meet. Come on, we’re late.”

“Sorry, our misunderstanding. We’re ready if you are.” I checked for hidden weapons before I turned and put the guy on my left, as I wanted my right hand free and his in a bind if these weren’t the men Vin lined up for us.

Sherry did the same thing to the other guy as she stepped up beside him. He reached over and put his arm around her waist. They walked out ahead of us.

We were outside the bar before Sherry’s escort dropped his arm and put a little space between her and him. Sherry’s right hand dropped down on her blaster. The movement wasn’t lost on the man. He held up his right hand with an open palm. “Easy does it. Vin said your mates were looking for clones. If you think I’m stupid enough to try and kidnap a Pash’s mate, then you’re wrong. Although I’ve never met a Pash I’ve heard enough stories to know I don’t want to be on the wrong side if I do.”

Sherry had her hand resting on her blaster. “Words are cheap and worthless. Thanks for walking us out. We can make it from here.”

The one who was with me slowly moved to put a little distance between us. “If I did anything foolish would you kill me with the knife you have in your right hand, or would you shoot me?”

Turning to face him I slid the dagger back into its sheath. “Distance is the deciding factor.”

He nodded. “I figured as much. Your mates went to talk to Dora.” He pointed toward the other man. “He’s Dan, I’m Sandy, we will walk with you to the café where they are meeting.”

Looking over at Sherry she agreed. “Okay, but you stay on my left and you don’t get behind me.”

A smile spread across Sandy’s face. “That’s a plan I can live with.”

“I feel them too.” Sherry glanced in my direction, as we passed one of the darker buildings.

Raising my left arm to keep Sandy at a distance, I took a quick look behind us. “We have company. I don’t know you, so keep your hand off your phaser. Sherry and I will take care of the problem.”

Sherry had her blaster in her right hand in less than the blink of an eye. “Six? In the third door to the building ahead.”

“Eight... nine, three behind us came out of the bar. They must have been on their communicators the minute we walked into the bar. Glad we didn’t stay longer or there might be a couple dozen slavers by now.” I pushed Sandy over beside Dan to the left of Sherry as I compacted our little group.

Sherry had stopped and waited. “How you want to handle it? I take the six in front and you the three behind us?”

I pointed my finger at Dan and Sandy. “You two even think of drawing your phasers and you’re dead. The slavers are getting nervous since we stopped.”

I took a quick look at Sherry. “Why don’t I hose down the doorway and see if I drive them back into the hole they crawled out of, or see if they flush?”

Sherry backed up a couple steps to keep Sandy and Dan in her view ahead of her. “Go for it.”

The Pash war scream I let out as I ran toward the doorway where the slavers were waiting in ambush, wasn’t the cry Toni tried to teach me. I was positive it still curdled the blood of normal humans who had never heard it. I could feel the slavers hesitate in confusion, wondering why their prize packages hadn’t stepped in front of them by now and what was that awful noise?

One of them stepped out to check for the two women they wanted to kidnap. It was a fatal error, as Sherry nailed him with her deadly aim. I had shot at the pirates at the same time, but running and shooting wasn’t my thing. What I never counted on, was my war cry bringing up those from behind. A phaser blast heated the air and part of the building front to my right. Someone had their weapon on stun and I was the intended target.

I dropped and rolled right, knowing he would be adjusting his aim to his left. The air where I had been standing rippled and warmed from a second phaser blast. I took a snap shot back down the street behind Sherry, knowing my chances of hitting anything were slim to none. I wanted to make them think about hunting cover, rather than plastering my space with blasts from phasers.

Sherry’s blaster barked twice as she concentrated her attention on the five men I had my back to. I took a deep breath and waited for the men behind Sherry to regroup. It didn’t take long as one of them leaned out from behind a building and was randomly firing, hoping to hit me or keep me off balance. Years of training under Lass paid off as I focused on my target and squeezed the trigger. The second and third slavers were already exposing themselves before the first one died. They figured three weapons pointed in my direction would keep me hunkered down and unable to respond. They had taken that fatal step out as their friend died. His death distracted them as they never took careful aim. They tried to spray my position with phaser blasts. I was focused. The second one and then the third one died a quick death as two more shots from Sherry’s blaster blistered the air.

Blasters barking further down the street behind me, got my attention as I shifted position to see if we had more slavers joining the group. It was Toni and Meliss. Those big cannons they normally carried on their hips were chewing hunks out of the building where the remaining slavers were. As quickly as it began it was over.

Dan was motioning for us to hurry out of there. “The law will be here in a minute. If they catch us here, then it’s jail for all of us. You might have escaped this batch but you won’t escape again if Crus gets his slimy hands on you.”

It was a warning Sherry and I didn’t need repeated. We sprinted down the street, yelling to Toni and Meliss to run.

We kept Sandy and Dan with us when we walked into the Star’s End Café. We found a table and sat down, hoping we looked like travelers. Meliss and Toni sat facing the door. Sherry and I sat facing the other side of the room. We didn’t pull our blasters as that would have been too conspicuous. We each had a hand in our laps.

Dan leaned over in my direction. “Dora is the lady in the booth by the kitchen door.”

I relayed the information to Sherry, as she took a casual look around the room. Dora had someone with her. When the serving bot rolled over we ordered lunch while we waited.

Sandy was watching the door when he stiffened. “Crus... and I’m betting he is looking for the two women who escaped the slavers. He has four men with him.”

Sherry and I were facing away from the door, but we could feel the men Sandy mentioned. We pulled our blasters and brought them up under the table to keep them hidden. I felt Toni and Meliss do the same thing. Even Sandy and Dan had pulled their weapons.

Crus stepped into the café and scanned the room. His attention focused in at the back of the café. Two women sitting at a table on the far side of the room. Even from the back side they looked like money. It had to be them. He motioned to his men who had their weapons drawn. “That’s them.”

The café grew deathly quiet as all the patrons turned to look at the armed men in the doorway... everyone except the two women over on the far side of the room. They didn’t turn to look. Crus knew it had to be the two he wanted. They were his retirement plan. The slavers had already posted a bounty of one million credits for the women.

Crus was headed across the room where he could get a good look at the women from the front. With four armed men, weapons drawn, and two more men who had moved in from the back door, Crus never imagined anyone would be stupid enough to challenge him.

Toni and Meliss pushed Dan and Sandy back out of the line of fire as they stood up. At that same instant in time, Sherry and myself rolled out of our chairs to the right and left as we spun to face the armed men. I could see disbelief on the face of the big man up front. I guess shock would be an apt description on the faces of the men beside him.

“NOW!” Was in my mind and my ears as I squeezed the trigger. Less than one hundredth a second and it was over. Seven men were dead. The five in front of us and the two by the door leading into the kitchen.

I can’t say everyone in that café was in shock. Most of them had either been in, or seen, fire fights before. Living on the fringes of space wasn’t the place for the timid, or the bible thumpers. Those kind of people would come later and demand everyone be disarmed. For now, this part of the world belonged to the bold, the adventurous, the con artists, the pirates and the slavers.

Crus and his kind were a product of the kind of life they dealt with everyday. He may have been an honest man when he took his job as justice of the peace. I can’t say if it was the illegal money that flowed through his world that corrupted him and he wanted part of it. He had become worse than the pirates and slavers he was dealing with. Bad law was worse than no law.

I’d never be able to tell Crus he had made a mistake in going up against a telepathic Pash. Toni might not have been able to read everything Crus had in his thoughts, but it was enough.

Dora stood up and looked at the lifeless form of Crus. “That’s been needed for a long time.”

The man who had been sitting with her at the table slowly rose as he stared at the two dead bodies beside him, before he headed for the door. “I’ll be going. I wasn’t here, I didn’t see a thing.”

It must have been the same idea in everyone’s mind, as they all scrambled for the exit. Everyone except Dora and our little group fled the café. She walked over to where our little group was, as Sandy and Dan found their feet. She nodded at Meliss. “I saw you at Ferris One, about twenty four years back. I know you star travel. You and your friends might want to put some distance behind you. Crus was on the payroll of the slavers. They aren’t going to be too pleased to learn you took him off that payroll.”

She turned her attention to Toni. “I’ve never seen two Pash at the same time. Important business, or passing through?”

“Actually my business.” Sherry slid her blaster back into her holster.

Dora turned her attention to Sherry. “Oh? Traveling in the company of two Pash? I hope your business takes you on, because this place is going to become your nemesis if you hang around. Even with two Pash bodyguards.”

Dora looked me over before turning back to Sherry. “I’m betting you ladies are what this is all about. The slavers saw you arrive and they wanted you. Not often we get women who look like you two out here. Most of the women are smart enough to keep their distance from places like this. Again, I strongly suggest you keep moving. Enough money will be placed on the table to purchase a small army with one purpose. Capture you two.”

“Money has already been placed on the table, as you put it. Crus and the others were looking for Sherry and Brandy because they had killed a couple slavers a few minutes earlier.” Toni walked around the table beside me as he was talking.

Sandy had found his feet. “Dora, Vin sent them down here. The one talking is the mate of the woman. Vin said she carries the Sword of the Queen.”

“Mate? Strange? She looks human. I didn’t know Pash took mates outside their species.” Dora was giving me a closer scrutiny.

“Long story, let’s get back to why we are here. Sherry is determined to find the clone nucleus.” I pointed toward Sherry with my left hand.

Sherry picked up her cue. “Humans are trespassing in the Trag galaxy. The treaty with the Earth Alliance strictly forbids humans or any animal forms of life in that galaxy. It seems the Earth Alliance is determined to not only let the trespassers get away with it, they are covertly encouraging it, and backing it up with threats of war if the Trag harm any humans.”

“I’ve heard the rumors. Supposedly one can get rich just by dropping in and picking up a handful of gems with little or no mining. Those kind of rumors would convince any pirate worth his salt to take the risk of prospecting in the Trag galaxy. I haven’t met anyone who has struck it rich yet, but rumors like that do tend to pull in everyone.” Dora put her hands on her slender hips as she studied Sherry. “Why the clones and why would you care about the Trag? Aren’t they a bunch of plants?”

Before Sherry had a chance to answer, Toni interrupted. “If I’m going to go see some slavers who put a bounty on my mate, where would I start?”

“You’re going after the slavers?” Dan coughed it out.

“Better than letting them come after Sherry and Brandy. Our mates aren’t the only ones the slavers have abducted, or tried to. If we take care of this now Sherry will have a little less to worry about. You know where they would most likely be?” Toni dropped his hand down on that huge blaster he carried on his hip.

Dan was shaking his head no, as Sandy answered. “They took over the Control Center by pad six. Most of the time that’s where you will find the majority of them. They can keep an eye on the spacers coming and going and what everyone is shipping. Kind of like a help yourself buffet. You like what’s moving in front of you, then you take it. If it’s not worth the trouble or it belongs to another slaver let it pass.”

“How many?” Meliss waited for an answer.

“I’m not sure. Forty or so from what I’ve heard.” Sandy figured the conversation was over. Two men going up against forty were not good odds.

FROM THE EDITOR: Barbie and I thank all of you for your interest, comments and kudos. We really do treasure whatever you might want to say about the story, good OR bad. Please remember to comment and/or kudo the story? Thank you.