A FORWARD FROM THE AUTHOR.

The science fiction writers enjoyed their big starships and long voyages at "warp speed" to the stars. It was their sacred cow to write about matter and anti matter as they sped through space to the stars in their big, lovely starships. More often than not, their whole story was the 'never ending trip.' Someone give me a couple Excedrin, I have a warp headache.

The stories of UF-2 were not written for monetary gain, but to explain polarity travel. I am positive that the die hard, 'can't travel faster than light' believers, will be in an uproar. I have seen polarity travel in my dreams. I'm not smart enough to explain why it will, or will not, work so please don't ask me.

The Pash were star travelers. They figured out the polarity drive a long time before humans came up with the idea. The way polarity drive was explained to me, we are surrounded by a balance of energy. Stand outside on a still day. The air is all around us. It’s not pushing us one way or another. Walk outside on a windy day. The air is all around us, but it has more force on one side than the other and it pushes against us. Sit in a cockpit with a propeller behind it. The cockpit is pushed into the wind if enough thrust is vectored by the propeller. Sitting in the cockpit, we do not feel the wind, but we move through it. The wind (energy) is moved from the front to the back of the cockpit and we are thrust forward.

Polarity drive takes all the energy we don’t see, nor feel, from the front of the starship and moves it to the back of the starship. Time, matter, energy are interlocked, as there can not be one without the other. Because the starship is no longer a part of the equation since it sits in a void of matter and energy, time neither collapses nor expands, as Einstein postulated. The starship does not become a mass of condensed matter as it approaches the speed of light, per Einstein’s theory, for the same reason as the first. Rules and theorems are made as guidelines until we learn more.

“Matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed.” (Einstein)

Gas in your car is not destroyed when you drive. It is changed into energy as it moves your car. The fuel in a lighter is not destroyed as it changes into heat and light when it burns. Light changes to heat and matter as plants grow and the summers warm.

Space travel will not be like the science fiction writers envision. We will not travel to the stars at “warp speed.” By moving the energy from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle we will travel to any star instantly. Remembering matter and energy are the same thing, when we travel in a “Polarity Ship” we will move through planets and other solid forms of energy as easily as we do through non solid forms of energy (space). Tonight, pick a star. It is within reason to believe you could travel there in your lifetime and, in a polarity ship, that trip will only take… no measurable time.

All through humanity’s history, some man, or men, have tried to exert their control over others. The Vikings, the Celts, Pharaohs, Romans, Hitler, Cesar... The names of individuals and countries changed, but it was, and still is, the same through the history of mankind and even those not of man. If I remember my history correctly America issued every American a social security number when they started gainful employment. Then they issued social security numbers at birth saying it was for tracking population. I think it was after a war, or maybe I’m mistaken, I don’t recall, but American leaders said the nation needed a national identity card for each individual. They said it would stop terrorism.

Are we starting to figure out the problem yet? All bad ideas start out with someone calling them good ideas and then, with time, the masses buy into the hypocrisy. The national identity card was accepted and then came the microchip implants. Everyone would be able to have instant information about their health, was the guise that idea was sold under. I guess it worked because most everyone bought into it. Some said the microchip implant was the ‘Mark of the Beast’ and no one saw it coming because everyone had expected the numbers 666 to be imprinted on them somehow. The individuals who refused the implants were ostracized by the business world and the government. They weren’t driven into caves like the Bible said, unless one takes the meaning as to say they were denied public facilities and transportation.

Man’s adventure to the stars was what saved him from domination by a select few. If one was a Bible reader, then I guess that could have been the ‘Second Coming’. In space, free individuals no longer submitted to a microchip implant. Children were born who were freemen. Eventually the numbers in space outnumbered those on Earth. Money, or the lack of it, has put men in bondage or freed them depending on the use and the need for it. Those on Earth realized if they wanted an exchange of the wealth flowing among the traders in space; they would have to give up the law requiring that everyone had to have a chip implant before doing business with Earth.

With no limits, except the physical limits to travel where they wanted, and do what they wanted, mankind was free once more in the never ending cycle of bondage and freedom... or were they? Even those not of man had the same ideas of control or destruction.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>And now:

UF-2
By BarbieLee
Edited by Catherine Linda Michel

CHAPTER ONE

David cleared his throat. “Did you hear the question?”

“Uh, yeah, you wanted to know if I had noticed anything unusual going on. Want to clue me in as to what? I seem to be missing something you think is important.”

I looked out across the mass of stars in the distance. I never stopped admiring space in its infinity. From our outpost at UF-2 we were as far from the planet Earth as humans had reasonably explored. There were those who had gone farther, but they were individuals or pirates. Usually they never returned, for which mankind was grateful, as we didn’t know what they had run into in the way of life forms, or what physical abnormality had done them up.

Walking across the room, David reached up and put his right hand on my shoulder as he stared out into space with me.

“I think we may have picked up a virus, or bug, or God only knows what. Haven’t you noticed some of the men on this station seem to be losing body mass?”

David was looking at me as I turned my head to look in his eyes. “They know they have to keep up the exercises or they will lose muscle. Names?”

He shook his head. “Almost all the men. Me for one. I thought engineering had increased the gravity by ten percent when I was helping Sonya check cargo inventory in bay six yesterday. When I asked Jim in engineering if he was screwing around with the gravitational field, he said we were still running one g. He asked if he could turn it down to point ninety percent 'G' as he had been having trouble picking up tools lately.”

“And what did you tell him?” I turned my attention back to the stars.

“No, of course. If we have been infected with something, then I sure don’t want to start hiding the symptoms by turning down the gravity on the station.” David stepped in front of me and cupped his hands behind his back as he stared at the stars.

“Checking into medical couple days back. I had them run a full scan on me. I questioned medical about the others who have been complaining. They have been getting a lot of complaints lately. The men are saying they are not able to lift or pick up things as easily as they should.”

“And?” I walked over to my desk and punched in the code for the medical reports for the station. Nothing unusual in the reports besides that they were way up in men checking in with no apparent illnesses. That raised a red flag in my mind. “Why hasn’t medical alerted me?”

“They were going to. I came straight from there. I told Laura I would tell you. Her medical team didn’t find anything wrong with any of the men. I asked them to do a DNA match on me, comparing it with my DNA file. I have an anomaly in several places. My DNA code has changed from what I originally was designed with.”

It had escaped my mind. David was a genetically engineered human. He was a product of a rogue lab attempt to make the perfect human. That kind of experimentation had been outlawed when humans were playing God with our own DNA. Most of those test tube babies were freaks, not intended by Mother Nature. Hideously grotesque creatures, designed in a lab intended for harvesting body parts, they were neither human, nor a product of God. Laws were passed to stop the practice and it worked to a limited extent. There were some off world labs still doing it for money, in spite of the death penalty if they were caught.

I turned to look at David. He was one of the miracles of those unnatural experiments. He looked ordinarily human. The other miracle about David was, the lab where he was designed was raided by government agents. Those who designed David didn’t plan on keeping him. They were only interested in harvesting pieces until nothing was left to sell on the black market.

David was lucky he was a fully developed human baby when the raid happened. He was the only one left alive when the agents finished sanitizing the lab. When the body scans and blood tests came up, David registered as human. They sent him off to a government institution to be cared for.

There were a lot of things about David that nature probably intended to wait a few more millennium before she disclosed the information to humans. David’s IQ had never been measured for one. He had a photographic memory, he was psychic and could read mind thought at will, he was never sick and he could heal his cuts or wounds in a week or less, usually less.

Some of the aliens we had on our post would heal rather quickly, but besides the one Pash on board, none could read minds. Or, it was general consensus that a Pash could read minds. Either that, or it was their instincts that guided them. No one knew where the Pash came from and very few humans had seen one. Their numbers? It was anyone’s guess.

I don’t know if all Pash looked like the one that stopped at our outpost because I had never seen a Pash before Toni came aboard. We called her Toni because none of us could pronounce her real name. I was guessing Toni was a she, but no one knew that for sure either.

“David, can medical reformat your original DNA code from storage?” All of us had our DNA code in a medical locker in case a space anomaly scrambled us internally. One of the good things that came from all that experimenting with humans was that we could be rebuilt from our own DNA if the need arose. Luckily, my DNA had never been broken or messed up in all my years in space.

I heard a deep sigh as David inhaled and then slowly exhaled. “Tried it already. Whatever it is that screwed up my DNA, isn’t letting the original code re-establish itself. Medical injected me with the Corruption AIM 221 DNA code correction. That injection died before it got started, as if it had been injected in a foreign body and not its own, me. Medical then grew a six-cc batch in incubation and set it up with Corruption AIM 90X. It too was killed after injection.”

David turned and walked across the room to the exit. The wall silently slid open for his passage. He stopped and turned in the door. Shaking his head, he stared at me.

“Bill, we have seen a lot of things come and go while we have been together at this post. Everything we have come up against we have been able to handle.”

“Remember Gordy Falin? He was the explorer who dropped in on us two years, seven months, two days, and one hour back. He had a rider inside his ship that could osmose through the walls and hated other life forms. It took us weeks to track that thing down. We couldn’t trap it in any force field we had. We couldn’t kill it with any weapon we had. I thought we were going to die before you decided to set charges and blow off a section of the station with that thing inside.”

“I remember. If it wasn’t for the Pash we would all have died. We were fortunate Toni could sense that creature and lured it to a pod we could detonate. I guess all of us have a reason or purpose in life.” We were lucky to have Toni on our station at that particular time. The thing seemed to be a solitary creature and few in number.

Toni had been with us, off and on, for almost three years. She frequently came and went, much to the consternation of our traffic controllers. While our interplanetary ships looked somewhat like stacked rings or soup cans, her ship looked like something straight out of the old Buck Rogers movie archives.

Toni and her ship had smooth sweeping curves. Because we were a forward outpost, all space traffic to our post was considered enemy until otherwise recognized. Toni always set off the alarms when she dropped in from wherever she had been. It was suspected she traveled inner space, or some such, and couldn’t announce her coming.

I, for one, enjoyed her company tremendously. She was extremely attractive and I felt comfortable around her. Probably had a lot to do with the idea there were no secrets if she could read mind thought, like most of us suspected. It wasn’t always like that though.

I remember her first visit quite well. She dropped in right smack dab in front of the Control Center. The controllers on duty, Lan and Bree, almost had heart attacks when an alien ship appeared out of nowhere right in front of their noses. In all honesty, the whole damn station almost had a collective heart attack. Alarms were going off, shields were dropping as each part of the station was sectioned off, and for a few minutes, none of us knew what was going on. So much for being ready for alien attack. I couldn’t blame the rest of the crew though. I was trying to get on top of the situation and having no luck.

We were all running around like a bunch of brainless idiots when Toni called in for permission to dock with a crew of one. I beat it post haste to Control when Bree notified me a Star Cruiser with a crew of one had requested permission to dock with us. None of us believed a Star Cruiser could be flown by one person. There were other problems too.

No one had ever seen a star cruiser that looked like Toni’s ship. Those that looked like Toni’s ship were inner planetary ships, good for flying around a world or two, not for crossing galaxies or a universe. But... and that’s a mighty big but, we could track those kind of ships the moment they warmed up, much less started moving. Where we were sitting in space, we should have seen them coming for months. Toni’s ship didn’t match any of the known physics we worked with.

“Bill, is this stuff boring you?”

“Wha... I’m sorry, David, I was thinking about Toni. I’d like to have her in on this if possible. Is she on the station or is she off on one of her forays?” I turned my attention to David.

David was real still for a few seconds. “I talked to her fourteen hours ago. I’ll check and see if she’s still here. Bill, whatever this thing is infecting us is worse than that creature Gordy Falin brought on board. We have no enemy we can see and we don’t know where it came from. I suggest we quarantine the station. I checked outbound flights. No one has left the station since medical started getting complaints. Whatever it is, let’s find it and kill it here. We want to make sure we don’t contaminate the rest of the human population.”

“Quarantine? You think we have some unknown on board? You know if we go to a Death-Com Level and don’t find anything to report, we will become so much space debris ourselves. Command will send out a Star Destroyer and wipe us from existence if we don’t find something.”

Deep inside my soul I knew David didn’t want to go to Quarantine any more than I did. I also knew that, if he thought we were infected or had an unknown on board, then we had a visitor or visitors, even though we didn’t know who or what.

David looked as serious as I had ever seen him. “Quarantine, Bill. There’s no rational answer for what I am infected with. It is an unknown whatever it is. I told Medical to re-scan and test all the others who have been complaining about not feeling normal. I think though, that the answer is going to be the same as what they gave me on my test. Unknown DNA code breakdown. Unknown body change in progress. Unknown sequencing of DNA coding and not repairable.”

I cleared my throat as David waited in the door for an answer. I could be signing the death certificate of every life on this post. Hesitantly and reluctantly, I touched the keypad on my desk. “Control, re-transmit message to Command Central. This is not a drill. Outpost UF-2 is on Death-Com Level One for unknown contamination. This is not a drill. Security authorization, William, E for emergency, Six Twelve Six Three Alpha Omega Krang Himmel.”

I didn’t have to repeat my orders. No matter what anyone tried from that moment on, no one would be allowed on or off Outpost UF-2. We were either going to find and eradicate our enemy or we were all going to die together. All two thousand one hundred and six of us! Plus one, if Toni was on the station.

“Find me an answer, David.”

Before David could answer, the Pash walked in. An extremely attractive, lithe female, she was probably seven feet tall. She looked like a mix between humans and cats. She was well put together, even if she didn’t have the classic female hour glass figure. I wondered if the Pash were an experiment of mankind that escaped from a lab? But then, that starship of hers didn’t escape from any lab.

She had gold eyes with vertical pupils she could open or close at will. Her hair was more the quality of soft fur than hair. Tawny colored with streaks of black, she wore it shoulder length. She had beautiful hands with long sharp nails. Those nails served a bigger purpose than looks. I had seen the leftovers after a guy had unexpectedly attacked her, three months back. Twice her weight, he pulled a pistol on her. I wasn’t there, but they said she screamed and all forty six people in that room thought they were going to die.

Fights are taken seriously on an outpost. Whether it was from space psychosis, a brain virus, or plain old human nature to want to fight, we had to know the answer. Normally I would have both parties locked up until it was decided who had instigated the fight. There were two reasons I didn’t lock up Toni. Number one reason was, over a year before she had saved all our lives. Number two, I really didn’t think I could lock up a Pash.

I guess, deep down in my soul, there were a couple other reasons. I really liked Toni. She carried a blaster on her hip that was unlike anything any of us had ever seen. It was a fascinating piece of hardware. It wasn’t illegal to carry a weapon. In fact it was encouraged. On an outpost one might not have time to run to the arms locker if we were attacked. All our pistols were small, palm sized. Compared to that cannon Toni carried, we were wearing peashooters.

The height of stupidity would be to go up against an opponent when you didn’t know the rules of engagement. Deep down in my gut I had a feeling I could send the whole station to arrest Toni, and if she didn’t want to be arrested, she could kill us all.

During the inquiry I talked to several people who were there. They said her scream was unlike anything they had ever heard. To a person, they also said they never wanted to hear it again. It was something straight from the primal forces of life. The guy with the phaser ended up more like shredded meat than human when the one second fight ended. Medical was still putting him back together a week later.

David nodded his head in recognition at Toni. “I’m guessing you’re here for the same reason I am? We have a problem and it seems to have infected all of us.”

“I know.” She turned her attention toward me. “I heard the Death-Com Alert. I’ll help research for a cause if you wish.”

“Thank you, Toni. That’s very kind of you. Would you like to look on your own, or could I talk you into working with David?” If anyone was David’s equal in intelligence, it was Toni. She could possibly be past David in intelligence. I had never asked her a question that could stump her. If she answered me, she always seemed to be right. Sometimes she never answered. Sometimes the answer was so far above my ability to comprehend, my poor brain was left struggling to figure it out.

“I will work with David if he doesn’t mind.” Her voice was soft, almost a purr.

Hearing her voice, it was hard to imagine she could make any kind of sound that could curdle the blood, such as the witnesses described. “Thanks, Toni. I appreciate all the help I can get.”

David nodded in agreement. “Bill, if it’s humanly possible, we won’t die because of some unknown. Toni and I will find whatever it is. Even if we have to invent new ways to do it.” David stepped into the hall and the wall closed behind him.

In fascination I watched as Toni walked across the room to look out at the stars. If I hadn’t been looking I would have never known she had crossed the room. She glided more than walked. She made no sound when she moved. In all the time she had been with us, I had yet to figure out how she could walk so gracefully and silently.

“Toni? Do you have any ideas about what it is we're up against?” I turned and stepped up beside her to look at the stars. I was wondering if she saw things the same way humans did, or if her unique eyes were able to see things beyond human vision?

I felt her looking at me. Turning to look over my left shoulder, I was looking straight at those beautiful golden eyes. I always felt she was looking into my soul when she did that. As she stared at me, I saw something in her eyes I had never felt before. Chills ran up and down my spine. She knew what was happening to us. Deep down in my heart, I knew she knew.

I was left wondering as she turned and silently padded out of the room. I hated it when she had an answer and wouldn’t tell me what it was. Thinking about it, I realized she hadn’t stopped to offer her help in finding what was attacking us because she already knew. Did David know too? Was he softening me up for the realization that we were all going to die from some unknown virus or God only knew what?

I hated working with a genius. Sometimes they treated the rest of us like little kids who needed to be patted on the head and told, ‘everything will be alright’. My gut feeling was, we were all going to die.

David was waiting in the hall when Toni joined him. “Walk with me to medical?”

“If you wish.” She stepped up beside him as he headed toward the lift.

“Any ideas? I’m guessing you already read my mind and know as much as I know.” David stopped in front of the lift and looked over his left shoulder at Toni.

The doors to the lift silently slid open and Toni stepped on. She waited until David was standing beside her. “Medical. I have a lot of ideas, but then, so do you. I believe we are looking for cause not effect. The effect is already known. I can sense it in Bill, you, and all the others who have been infected.”

The lift stopped and the doors silently slid open. David stepped out. When Toni didn’t step out beside him he turned to look back at her. “Coming?”

She shook her head. “I can’t help you here. You’re looking for two things. You are looking for the cause and a cure. The cause didn’t happen in Medical. I’m going to cover the Post and see how wide spread it is. There has to be a beginning. Infection will be heaviest there and less the further one is removed from that area. Provided the whole Post isn’t contaminated, then I can possibly find the initial outbreak.”

David nodded in agreement. “Good idea. You need to take a medical scanner with you? All the crew members have their DNA coded. It can tell you which ones are infected.”

“No need. Those infected are sensed easily enough. Engineering.” The doors slid closed between them as Toni headed to Engineering.

It was less than twelve hours later when David and Toni asked me to meet them in control center. I was already there in my office, monitoring the space chatter. UF-2 was the topic of the day after we went to Death-Com. The rest of humanity in this quadrant of space heard our alert and was trying to guess why we had called for quarantine. I was still asking myself the same question. David and Toni walked in together. I was looking at my scanner and reading the latest reports from medical. I was trying to make sense of the reports.

“David, have you figured out what it’s doing to you? I know medical said unknown, but I’m betting you know.” I wanted an answer.

“Yes, I know.” David walked over to my couch and sat down.

Toni walked over to the window before she turned her attention back to me and waited for David to begin.

“Would you mind sharing that knowledge with me?” David was not only the smartest person in the universe; he was also a good friend. He held the position of consultant on our outpost and we were lucky to have him. He wasn’t in the military like most of the rest of us on the post. He could go anywhere he wanted. It so happened he liked being with UF-2. Only he and God knew why. He was basically in command, even if I held that position by title. Usually the crew would go to David instead of me with their problems. In all the years he had worked with me, he seemed content with his job.

He asked men or women to do a task and they did it, as if he was the commander. No one ever questioned his right to make suggestions without going through me first. Yes, I asked if he was sure about going to Death-Com. That was for my own lack of belief in myself, not in my lack of trust in David. I knew the lives of everyone on this space station were slowly ticking away if we didn’t find the contamination infecting us.

“Everyone not already infected needs to carry and engage their personal body shield. All personnel on this station need to do that immediately. Send everyone to medical and have a DNA scan and match it with their records. If they are infected they can turn off the body shields, as it is already too late for them. Those that aren’t infected must leave their body shields on until we sweep all rooms and compartments. Shields will be set up as we clean rooms. No one may carry anything in or out of any area besides themselves.” David waited to see how I was going to take implementing new regulations.

I hated personal body shields. “That thing Gordy brought in with him could pass through any shield as easily as it passed through walls. You think this thing can be locked out? You know the complaints are going to start pouring in as people are restricted in their movement. Personal body shields are a pain in the royal ass. They are hot…!”

“Bill, I know all that. The alternatives aren’t… I started to say not pretty, but that would be untrue.”

David hesitated as he looked at Toni and winked. “Although I’m sure what is happening to us humans could not improve on your looks.”

Toni smiled showing a mouth full of beautiful perfect teeth and long sharp canines guaranteed to scare the piss out of anyone who had never seen a Pash. She was looking at David. “Thank you for the compliment, David.”

Toni walked over to the window and purred. “Earth.” The screen changed to a hologram of Earth. It was completely covered with cities.

Toni pointed at the hologram. “You humans say it is a beautiful planet. That is not beauty to me.”

“Ancient Earth.” The hologram changed into a picture of a planet with continents and vast oceans of blue.

Toni turned and focused on me. “Some things change from a thing of beauty to something that looks dead. I studied the human history data. I realize your species is driven to explore and build. In my opinion your species killed a beautiful world by covering it with human designed structures. Most of your kind would disagree with me. They think they have to change or build on a world before it’s beautiful.”

“Although I don’t like what humans and their allies do to the planets they inhabit, not every change is for the worse. I suggest you keep that in mind.”

I had no idea what Toni was talking about. What I did get out of that conversation was that she didn’t like what humanity had done to Earth, and a lot of other planets along the way. I waited for Toni or David to give me what was most certainly going to be bad news.

She studied me before she continued. “David and I split the research. He was looking at the human factor and I was looking at the non-human factors. I’m not affected the way humans are. The Trogg seem to be immune also, as are any of the other non human life forms on this station. It looks like it was specifically designed for humans.”

“Designed for humans? What do you mean, 'IT'? What’s pretty about something that is changing your DNA code and is irreversible? What do you know about this Toni?” My curiosity was killing me. Somehow Toni and David knew what ‘it’ was doing to David.

David stood up and looked at his hands. “I wonder what my name would have been if I were designed as female?”

“Huh? We may all die and you wonder what name you would have been if you had been a woman? Has that thing infected your brain already?” I couldn’t believe it. We were under attack by an unknown and David wasn’t making any sense. I was beginning to doubt the wisdom of calling for Death-Com. If David had lost his mind I may have doomed us all.

“I like Sherry. It’s a nice name for a girl don’t you think?” David gave me a wink as he flipped his wrist in a feminine fashion.

I almost peed in my pants right there. On the advice of a mad man I had signed the death warrant of everyone on the station by following the suggestions of someone who had slipped a cog. Furiously I was thinking of what we could capture and kill so Command would believe we had eradicated our menace? Maybe I could shoot David and scramble his body so they couldn’t ever figure out it had been human? Could we pass the remains off as the perceived threat? Would Command buy the deception?

David laughed. He knew what I was thinking. “You might as well get used to calling me Sherry. I am going to be totally female in a month.”

“YOU WHAT?” Now I knew David was over the edge. His intelligence finally gave up on him. They say the line between a genius and an idiot is non existent, as they are the one and the same. David had slipped over to the idiot side of genius.

“I’m not crazy, Bill. What ever it is that infected us is changing the humans on this station to the female persuasion of life. If I am correct, I’ll be more female than anything you have ever met before in your whole life. Whatever is doing this to us is going to make us into the perfect female of the human species. You thought I was the perfect male of the human species. I wasn’t. I had a lot of defects. Whatever is changing us figured out all the coding in the DNA structure where we had design mistakes not yet removed by evolution or experimentation.”

“YOU’RE KIDDING! You have accepted this transition already? What are you thinking!” I couldn’t believe David could tell me a story like that and do it so calmly. It never entered into my male schizoid makeup, David had never screamed or shouted in anger or fear like the rest of us humans.

Then it dropped on me like a barge. David said, ‘changing us’. My legs turned to rubber as the implications hit home. I managed to find my chair and plopped into it before I fell down. Glancing over at Toni, my heart stopped. She was looking at me like I was prime rib or something. I faltered and then looked again. She was still staring. In desperation I turned my attention to David. At least he wasn’t devouring me with his eyes.

David acted like he never noticed as he continued. “Why not? Even if we find what is doing this and we figure out how to reverse the process, I don’t want to take the cure. Think about it for a minute. I never asked to be born. They made me up in a test tube and incubated me in a glass tank. If I am changed into a female why should it matter to me? One body design is as good as another. In this case, better. If my instincts are right, I will be a perfect species without any defects.”

Quickly he looked up at Toni. “Sorry, I meant human species.”

“I know.” Toni looked amused.

Glancing in my direction, David looked about as sad as I had ever seen him. “Bill, I am a genetic experiment of humans. I’m not even sure I have a soul. You and a couple billion other humans are positive you have souls. You were born in a woman’s womb conceived by a father, loved by a mother. My mother and my father were tubes of nutrient, fed through ports in my glass incubator. Male, female, or anything in-between, why should I care? What you see is design engineered in a lab. Something is going to redesign me into female form. For the past couple of days, I have felt my body changing. I think whoever, or whatever did this has a knowledge of DNA we may figure out in a few hundred years.”

“I don’t know if we are infected accidentally or if we are under a planned attack. You’ll know as soon as I figure it out.” David gave me a wink before he turned to leave.

In shock I watched as David walked out. Without a sound, Toni was right behind him. Alone in the office, I was left thinking of the possibilities. Maybe a rogue lab had found the DNA sequence that infected our station? But why turn it lose on us and how did they plant it on the station? If it was an alien race and they planned on wiping out the human race in a war where a shot was never fired, they either miscalculated how far mankind had spread among the stars, or we were a test case to see if it worked. Why us?

My mind was screaming in disbelief. Change to a female and David thought it was a good idea? I was positive he had lost his mind already, but then I wasn’t sure any of us had what could be called our right minds. Maybe David was the sane one and all the rest of us were control subjects? A person could go crazy trying to figure that one out if they knew humanity’s past.

Twenty thousand years back it was decided to clone humans and send them out to explore space. There were a couple of ideas supporting that concept. One, clones weren’t actually human, so if they were killed it didn’t matter. They weren’t thought of as being ‘real’ humans. Two, in spite of the best efforts of man to invent cognitive machines, clones could make judgements no machine could ever conceive of in tests. Thus, clones were grown and sent out to space.

Even with good ideas there can always be bad results. There was a small problem that mankind should have seen. If clones could think and reason, what made mankind not realize the clones would eventually not want to be used as throw-away explorers? I guess the brain chip we implanted in their minds was supposed to keep them under control. It was so laughable when I researched history and could see mistake piling up on mistake until it all came back to haunt us.

The brain chip worked in the lab, but not in space. With all the unknown energy forces and space radiation, something was bound to short it out. It all started with one clone who managed somehow get free of mind control. She figured out what humans had grown her for and what they did to her. Can we say “hate” with a vengeance? Humanity did it to themselves since they had designed clones to have high IQ’s so they could figure out unknown situations in space exploration.

That one came back to bite them right in their collective asses. The woman was designated m-four oh one. She became known as Emma. With her superior intelligence, she figured out what it took to short out the brain control chip in other clones. Tracking down hundreds of other clones and freeing them from mind control took her a few years, but it was like a snowball on a downhill run after that. One freed two, those two freed four, those four freed eight, and pretty soon hundreds of thousands, some say millions, had been freed from mind control.

Humanity was almost wiped from existence in the clone wars. The clones hated genetic humans and we hated clones. Both sides almost lost before a truce was called. Emma was the one who had started it and she was the one who stopped it. I guess she really was intellectually superior. She talked both sides into a compromise where clones would be accepted as equal humans. That had to be an oxymoron to anyone who studied history.

Clones were superior in intelligence and design and they wanted to be equal as humans? I bet Emma chuckled over that agreement until the day she died. She had to know genetic humans would never be able to match the intelligence of clones. David was an excellent example of that planning.

It was time to get the bad news from medical. I headed for the door and almost collided with it when it didn’t automatically open. “Passage.”

“Not permitted.” The soft feminine voice replied.

“Explain.” Why wasn’t I allowed to leave my station?

“Your personal body shield is not activated. Please engage shield before leaving room.” Came back softly to me.

“Damn!” David had already set in place the orders controlling movement on the post and I had forgotten. I walked back over to my desk and retrieved my personal shield from the pop up box. Sticking it to my left hip I activated the shield. I hated these things.

The old time science fiction writers had gotten a lot of things wrong. Shields didn’t let anything in or out. That included the air we breathed. The re-generators inside the devices re-oxgenated our air, dispersed our body heat, and stopped anything and everything from moving in or out of the shield area. That also meant sound and light. We isolated ourselves from the world inside these things.

What I now saw was a computer generated world. My shield would sample the environment around my body and update the graphics inside as I moved or walked. It might seem to the eyes that I was looking at the real world, but my mind knew better.

It only took a few minutes to walk to medical. They were busy as they scanned men and women pouring in for their DNA match to see if they had been infected or not. I was surprised to see women were also infected as the results came back. It didn’t look good as less than one in fifty results turned out negative as personnel were screened. Those infected turned off their body shields and left. Most of them looked at me in despair. I couldn’t blame them.

I was in command and supposed to have a plan for something like this. Even a cure. I couldn’t offer them anything at the moment. It was one of the few times I was glad I was wearing a body shield. Like all the others who had their shields on, I looked like a soft human shaped blur to those outside looking at me. The only way the population knew it was their commander was the color of the blur. Officers cast a soft blue while everyone else was colorless. As Commander, my shield cast a soft red-ish blue.

David stepped up in front of me and motioned me toward the testing chamber. Reluctantly I stepped into the chamber. Like hundreds of others, I wanted to know, but was scared to death of what it might tell me. The test chamber glowed as its shield was activated and the chamber was cleansed of any foreign unknowns. Reaching down with my right hand I pushed the deactivation on my body shield. My heart jumped when the test chamber shield collapsed.

‘NO! God NO!’ My mind screamed in sheer terror at the thought I was already changing into the opposite sex from what I had been born as. There was no use keeping my body shielded. I was infected with whatever it was David had.

David could see the terror in my eyes. He stepped up beside me. “Bill, take a deep breath. Remember, you are the commander of this post. What you do and how you accept this will be a sign to others who also are infected.”

“David, find a cure. Take whatever men, equipment, resources you need, but find a cure!” I whispered in his ear so no one else could hear me.

David looked at me with pity. “I will do the best I can.”

That angered me. I didn’t want his pity. I wanted his brain to find a cure. I wanted… I realized that what I was wanting was to not become a product of genetic engineering like David. Taking a deep breath to calm my anger I nodded in agreement. “Thanks David. All I ask from you is your best.”

UF-2 went into virtual shutdown mode. Crew movement was limited to the area they were assigned to. We scanned and physically searched for whatever it was that had invaded us.

Days are a product of measuring time by Earth measurements. On a station stuck on the fringes of known space, days were a number like any other number. I honestly don’t think anyone on our station understood the Earth measurement of 'day.' Very few had ever seen Earth, except in holograms. Earth was a name in history. That was all, just a name.

It had been ten days since we had gone into Death-Com. All personnel were assigned duty rotation, with constant poking and prodding into every nook and cranny in the station. We weren’t having any results. I was beginning to feel like we would never find what was infecting our post. With that feeling along came a second feeling of dread.

We had exactly ninety more days to report back to Command Central as to why we had gone to Death-Com Level for unknown contamination and or intruder alert. If we couldn’t come up with a valid explanation we were going to be looking down the barrels of a Star Destroyer. Star Fleet Command took a ‘better safe than sorry’ attitude when edge of space outposts became infected with an unknown. My mind was beginning to accept the idea of a genetic change as preferable to being blasted into so much cosmic dust by 'friendly fire.'

I had wandered down to the galley after reading the reports coming in from medical and control. All our efforts were turning up negative. Our search teams had yet to find the cause. Medical had yet to find a cure. I felt tired, physically and mentally. My mind was shut down from fatigue when David and Toni walked in. I was totally exhausted, as none of us had much sleep the past ten days.

“Want to see your infection carrier?”

“YOU FOUND IT!” I turned around so fast I almost fell out of my chair.

From the Editor: Chapter two will be posted Wednesday. Stay tuned.

“Want to see your infection carrier?”

“YOU FOUND IT!” I turned around so fast I almost fell out of my chair.

“Them.” David held his hand over my table and hundreds of little black balls or BB’s bounced and scattered everywhere.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” I recoiled from the table as some of them landed in my lap. Furiously I brushed them away.

Toni had walked in along with David. She looked at me strangely as if she was studying me. She had been looking at me differently since this mess started. I chalked it up to nerves and lack of sleep.

“Bill, you're already infected so it doesn’t matter, but the truth is, they won’t react to you. These are a marvel of genetic bio-mechanical engineering. Way past what we could design.” David flicked one with his finger and sent it rolling across the desk.

“If we move out of the room they will start rolling in hide and search mode. They can sense bio-bodies and can tell if that body is infected with the DNA female coding or not. Not just males, because they also attack females who aren’t infected. It has to be their DNA coding or they will attack.” David smiled as he rolled a few more around on my desk.

“Attack? How, and with what?” I leaned over to get a closer look at one of the small black beads. It looked like a small ball bearing.

“It’s so simple, it’s ingenious. They propel themselves by forming a bump in their surface opposite to the direction they want to travel. As they roll, that bump forms continuously against the surface they are pushing against.”

David looked exasperated at my blank stare. “Take a round balloon. Then if you could put your finger inside push out gently. That forms a bulge. If the balloon is resting on a surface, and you slide your finger downward until you are pushing against the surface, the balloon will roll forward away from where you are pushing with your finger.”

Cautiously I pushed on one with my finger. It felt like a steel bearing. “But they are so hard.”

David smiled. “Yeah, but even steel expands with heat. They don’t use heat to form the bulge though, but some other means. I think it is part of the bio part of the thing that does that.”

“Then what? I don’t see something like that jumping on and digging into anyone. Surely we would have noticed them before now? Is there a micro organism on the outside and all we have to do is touch it or have it touch us?” My concept of weapons was not a BB unless it was propelled by a gun of some kind.

Shaking his head, David picked one up. “Not even close. When they sense an uninfected bio-organism they shoot the organism with a micro bio-mechanical organism. That organism in turn burrows into a host cell and starts to work. It clips the host DNA coding and inserts the re-programmed DNA.”

“Keep in mind that it doesn’t replace all our DNA strand, only parts of it. After that cell has replicated the new DNA strand, then the coding is sent into adjoining cells. And then more adjoining cells, until our whole body is built on the new DNA code.”

My hope of staying as me had returned, now that David knew how it infected us. I was positive David or Toni would figure out the cure now. “How soon before you can come up with an inoculation against this thing?”

“Probably not soon enough for what you want. Remember, it kills any DNA that is not a match for itself. I don’t know how they did it but they locked in the snippets where they spliced the code. I, and a dozen other crew members, gave a liter of blood each for DNA testing. Even the women want us to solve this problem. They don’t to be re-programmed any more than you or I. We have been trying to pull the strands apart in the lab. Everything we know about DNA is not working on this code.”

I looked down at my hands. In the short time I had been infected they looked softer, smoother and yes, even smaller than before. I was positive David had guessed right that first day. I hated him for being so smart. “I’ll send out a Death-Com Level Standby.”

It would tell Command Central we had found the intruder but not killed or isolated the problem. It would give us a reprieve from a Star Destroyer for up to a year. No one could come or go from the station, but at least we would be alive… If changing sex meant staying alive. Now that the problem of dying from a Star Destroyer had been pushed back, I was again hating the idea I was changing, instead of wishing I could live. “I’ll fill out the report and send Command Central a sample of the intruder. Can you neutralize those things or should I send them intact?”

“Send them a dozen intact. So what if someone gets careless and gets zapped? It'd give them someone to study and research on their end if it happens.” David pulled a packet out of his pocket as he reached down on top my table and pushed a bunch of the BBs up into it.

He held it out to me. ”Here, send these.”

“David! Drop them in a contamination container and make sure it’s sealed. I’ll fill out the report to go with it in an hour or two. I’m not sure I could make out an intelligent report at the moment, I’m so tired. What about all those others you dumped on my table? They are scattered everywhere.” I really didn’t want to stay in the same room with, even if they weren’t going to attack me because I had already been infected.

“Housecleaning has been programmed to find them. When you go back to your room, turn it on before you lie down. You wouldn’t believe the number of those things we are collecting in refuse. We will discuss this after you had your sleep and sent in your report.” David turned and left the galley as my sleep deprived mind was trying to understand what he had told me.

Toni waited and walked with me back to my room. “I will check with engineering and make sure housecleaning bots are set to scan continuously for the infection carriers. They could hide almost anywhere as small as they are.”

“Thanks, Toni. I’ll have to keep the uninfected personnel in quarantine until we are positive we have all those things cleaned from the station.”

She stopped as the door to my room opened. “Some changes are ordained.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I watched as she turned and walked off without answering. Damn. I hated it when she did that. If she meant I should accept the change those damn little monsters had programmed into my body then she was mistaken. David might not have any qualms about being a man or a woman, but I sure as hell did. I had heard there were men who changed to women and women who changed to men through the off world clinics. When a species gets dispersed as far and wide as ours; along with the scientific and medical knowledge to do just about anything, there were always those who would want to do almost anything. I definitely wasn’t one of those.

“Housecleaning on, now. Bed, now.” Part of the wall folded down with my bed, as another part of the wall opened up and a floating bucket slid out. The bucket was a robotic cleaning tool. It would gather up any dust and, I hoped, all those foreign BBs David had shown me. David’s little speech about those things not attacking someone already infected did little to quell my dislike of those things. I made it to the bed and died.

I dreamed of things foreign, but not in the normal sense. These things were foreign to a male. I dreamed of long hair that cascaded down my back and across my shoulders. Long sexy legs, and small delicate hands with long fingers. I dreamed of….!

“Eeeeee!” That scream came from me as I woke in shock. What I had dreamed was frightening and disgusting. I couldn’t believe I had screamed. I was still panting and close to hyperventilating as I tried to calm my heart, which was racing. Fighting the fear of finding what I was going to see, but with the need to see if my dreams were a premonition of things to come, I held up my hands to look at them. Were they really smaller, or was it my fear driving my mind? My boots had been flopping on my feet for several days now. I had been denying that my feet were getting smaller.

Reluctantly, I slid out of bed and tried on one of my boots. I didn’t have to reach down to pull it on. My foot fell into it like an abyss. There was no denying it any longer. Damn David’s intuition! Why me? God why me? Two hundred and seven crew members had escaped infection. Why couldn’t I have been one of them?

I laid back down on the bed and cried hysterically in my pillow until it came to me what I was doing. I never cried! Damn! What the hell was wrong with me? Slowly I rolled out of bed and padded softly across the room to the bathroom. I was going to have to drop into supply and pick up another uniform. The one I was wearing was too big for me, the same way my boots were too big.

As I walked up to the potty and tried to find my water pistol I decided it was too much trouble. “Damn and double damn!” I dropped my pants and sat down. I realized I probably wouldn’t be able to aim it anyway. Probably end up peeing all over my pants and down my leg if I had persisted in doing it the ‘good old boys’ way.

David was waiting when I stepped out of the bathroom. He also had noticeably softened in looks. When he nodded and smiled knowingly at me I felt like throwing myself at him and strangling his neck.

“What the hell do you want?” It didn’t come out like the growl I intended. My voice cracked instead.

“Commander, you better get a grip and realize what you are feeling is only the beginning. There are one thousand, eight hundred and ninety nine others who are going to be looking to you for how to cope with this. If you are going to fall apart, then let me know now so we can replace you.”

David didn’t mean it as a joke. He was dead serious. When I sent us to Death-Com Level we stopped being a totalitarian leadership with Command Central designating who was in command. By law, we became a democratic isolation. The crew could vote in, or out, anyone as commander at any moment.

I wiped my eyes as I shook my head. “I can handle it. Give me some time.”

“Time is the one thing you don’t have the luxury of. The crew needs someone who will show them how to cope with this thing that they are all going through. Bill, when there is no other option but to go ahead, then there is no reason to try to back up. Are you ready to face that option, or should I call for a meeting?” He studied me as he waited for an answer.

Shaking my head I knew David was right. There was a small problem with that though. So many things were going on inside my body, I felt like screaming instead of giving orders. “Let’s get down to business. I have yet to fill out that report to Command Central. Give me an hour and I’ll get back to you. How are you coming on tracking down where we picked up those bio-mechanical organisms?”

David nodded before he turned to leave. “That’s our Bill, back on track. We will talk about it after you fill out the report and send it in. I’ll send up some clothes in a few minutes. You don’t look like a leader right now. Quite the opposite, you look like some adolescent trying to play grownup.”

“Out! I have a report to send in.” I found it not funny and I wanted to pick up something and throw it at him.

It was closer to two hours, rather than one, when I finished up that report and sent it off, along with the bio-mechanical samples to F.E.A.R. (Federal Experiments and Research). That was a research outpost set up by the government to check incoming contaminated or hazardous packages like the one I sent.

There were literally hundreds of thousands of those posts, like the spokes on a wheel. The package I sent would be trapped and locked up at the first F.E.A.R station. There they would examine it for any potential threat to humanity in two stages, contained and uncontained. If the package was deemed confinable, then they would ship it to the second F.E.A.R. station in the chain of command.

I had no idea how many F.E.A.R. spokes and hubs that package would have to pass through to get back to Command Central, but it was hundreds if not thousands. I guess misery loves company because, at that moment, I didn’t care if someone screwed up back at Command Central and got zapped by one of those damn BB’s.

David was back within minutes after the report and samples had been shipped. Toni was by his side. I didn’t know if it was because they had been monitoring the security channels, or if they knew I was finished because one or both of them had read my mind? Either way it didn’t make much difference. There were no secrets on UF-2 between David and me. And obviously no secrets between Toni and the rest of us.

Toni held up the uniform she had brought. I choked as I stared at it and then at David. Was this his idea of a joke? “You’re outta your ever loving mind! You can’t be serious?”

“As serious as a heart attack.” David looked serious himself. “You might as well, and the sooner the better. It will make it easier on all of us who have the same problem.”

“But...”

“No buts, Bill. You aren’t going to be able to sneak up on this because it’s going to happen whether you like it or not.”

“Your uniform, Commander.” Toni held the uniform out toward me.

I was taking quick glances between the uniform, Toni, and David. I would rather have died than what they were suggesting. “Can’t we wait a few weeks or...”

“Some are changing faster than others. It has a lot to do with their DNA. You are one of those who aren’t going to be able to wait.” David stepped up closer as he put his hand on the uniform for emphasis.

At that moment in time I really did prefer dying to what David was telling me. “How soon can I expect to start looking... uh... that is... I... expect…?”

“Expect to look female? Bill, look in the hologram reflector. You already do.” David glanced down at my feet.

Looking down I didn’t see my feet. My pant legs were drooping so badly my feet were hidden under folds of material. “Shit!”

“If your uniform wasn’t so big you would have already noticed you have the beginning of very nice breasts. I’ll make a wager with you. I bet you had to sit on the potty this morning.”

I never made a wager with David and expected to win. Oh, I made many bets with him, but I knew I was going to lose when I was doing it. Up until now, it was all in fun. “It’s that obvious already?”

“Yes.”

With a heavy heart and a reluctant hand, I reached out and took the uniform from Toni. “No cure?”

David shook his head. “We haven’t found one yet. Don’t feel you are all alone in this, Bill. All the rest of us are in the same fix. You will see that some of the crew are as advanced as you and some don’t even look like they have been infected yet. It doesn’t make any difference. We will all end up swinging our hips when we walk.” David turned and walked out of the room.

I stared in shock as I watched him leave. Was he rolling his hips as a last joke, or was it affecting him in that way already?

As I watched David leave, Toni smiled as if she was reading my mind. “Some things are ordained.” She turned and walked out of the room.

I watched her silently walk across the floor as she left. She didn’t roll her hips. I had never thought about that aspect of her walk before now. If I was going to be female I didn’t have to roll my hips either. I would walk like Toni did. Fuck this female life! I hated it already.

After dropping my clothes and slipping into the uniform and boots, I walked over to the wall. “Reflection.” Instantly a hologram mirrored image of me appeared. Damn David’s soul, he was right. I was looking at the image of a woman. Oh, there was still a lot of Bill left in there, but not enough so as to leave any doubt as to if I was female.

Men’s and women’s officer uniforms were different in the extreme. The men’s uniform had long sleeves, a turtleneck collar with their rank bars imprinted in gold on the collar. Best of all, we wore pants.

The female officer’s uniform was a sleeveless, sweetheart neckline, the rank bars were imprinted in gold over the left breast, and the skirt was a tight skirt. Their boots had a two inch heel for general duty. They wore four inch heels for dress regulation codes. It also didn’t escape my attention that the women wore tan colored pantyhose that bonded to their skin. That was the standard uniform, unless we went into space on field work. Then men and women alike wore full body jumpsuits and boots.

UF-2 was not a field research post in the aggressive sense, so we never changed from standard issue uniforms. UF-2 was more of a watch post to make sure no alien life forms slipped by us into the thick of humanity.

I felt UF-2 had done it’s job as I looked at the hologram reflection. Whatever it was, we had trapped, it was a real strong dose and some of us paid a hellacious price. No soldier wanted to fight an enemy that wouldn’t show itself. I was wishing we had been a research post. I would have accepted a jumpsuit to what I was wearing.

“Rotate.” I watched in fascinated shock as the hologram slowly turned, showing all sides of me. My God! From the back view I was showing curves and the side view was showing a small bust line. I stared at the face as it rotated back in view. There was very little doubt that the eyes and mouth were feminine. Not fully developed yet, but I could see where I was headed.

“Shit and double shit!” I had seen more than I wanted as I spun on my heel and headed for the door. When I found who was doing this to us I was slowly going to carve off very small pieces of him with a laser scalpel. Maybe take months or a year or more before I let him die. Or... maybe I wouldn’t let him die? Maybe I might just give him a dose of his own medicine and see how he liked it!

Toni, David, and a couple dozen crewmen were waiting outside my door when I stepped out. He gave me an approving glance. “We held an emergency meeting in council. Bill Wickman was relieved of duty as Commander of UF-2 as of zero ten hundred hours.”

“Whaa…” I didn’t think anything else could shock me after what I had seen in the hologram, but I was wrong.

David held up his hand to stop me. “As I was saying, we took a vote. Seeing as how Bill Wickman was indisposed and unable to carry out his duties as Commander in Chief of station UF-2. By legal vote and duly registered in the station’s log, Brandy Winters has replaced Bill Wickman as Commander in Chief.”

Furiously I was searching through my mind as to who Brandy Winters was. No one I could think of came to mind. “I’m relieved of duty then?” I really didn’t blame them. I had let all of them down when this infection invaded our station.

David shook his head. “No, you are replacing Bill Wickman, Commander.”

“I can’t replace me. I am...” Slowly it dawned on me. David and the crew gave me a new name and retired Bill Wickman.

“Brandy? Don’t you think you might have given me the opportunity to pick my own name?”

“Did Bill get a chance to pick his name? No, we are starting a new beginning here and the crew wanted a voice in who was going to be their Commander in Chief. Brandy received the most votes and was selected as our new commander.” David smiled, knowing he had backed me into either accepting the name, or rejecting my command. The bottom line was, I was either Brandy or out of a job.

Leaning over toward David I whispered. “I don’t get mad, I get even, Sherry.”

David winked so only I could see it. “Touché, Brandy.”

He turned to face the crew as he snapped to attention. “Attention.”

The crew snapped to attention at David’s command. “Guards remain, the rest are dismissed.”

Everyone dispersed except David and four women who were carrying military issue pistols on their hips and rifles slung over their shoulders. David turned to look at me. “Your guard, Commander. Ready to tour the station, ma’am?”

“I’m guessing this is to give the crew a look at their new commander, Dav... Sherry?” I was going to have a real hard time adjusting to the new faces and the new names.

Pointing down the hallway, David... Sherry, nodded. “Shall we inspect engineering first, ma’am?”

“Damn your soul, David. You’re enjoying this entirely too much. You call me ma’am one more time and I’ll have you court martialed.” I glared at David, hoping he was intimidated, if only just a little. I should have known better.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you ma’am, but I’m not one of your soldiers. You can’t court martial me. Bill should have left you more explicit instructions as to who was or wasn’t under your command.” He grinned back at me like a Cheshire Cat.

“Maybe not legally, but I’d bend the rules to do it if you don’t stop calling me ma’am. I believe I would be entirely justified in having you shot, if for no other reason than you are enjoying yourself too much.” I headed off down the hallway as I was arguing with Da... Sherry.

Toni had stepped up to my right as she walked along with me. It didn’t escape my attention that she had dropped her right hand down on that cannon she carried on her hip. If I didn’t know better I would have sworn she was my protector. She certainly had all the looks and signals that indicated she was protecting me, and she looked serious. My male ego was silently screaming that this couldn’t be happening.

With two guards in front of us and two guards behind, there was no doubt it was an official inspection of the station after a changing of the command. I knew there were going to be a lot of eyebrows raised as we gave the station an inspection. Hell, I would have raised my eyebrows if the tables had been reversed. I was wearing a female officer’s uniform and looking more and more female by the hour now instead of taking days.

As the days rolled past, the obvious changes took place on most of the personnel on the station. Sherry was unbearably cheerful. Toni was also hanging closer to me than I liked. Before this started she seemed friendly but distant, but I really liked her. Now she seemed more than friendly and, at times, I almost thought she was going to put her arm around me. If there had been any files on Pash I would have looked one over to see what was going on. Alas, there were darn few files and they didn’t tell me anything. Obviously, they didn’t hang around humanity very much. So why was Toni hanging around with UF-2?

I was in pain in more ways than one. My mental anguish was probably the worst pain I suffered. I hated going to sleep because I hated getting up and looking at the replication in the hologram. My physical pain was an added distraction I would have bypassed if given the option. Every woman understands the pain of going from adolescence to adulthood. Emotions run off the scale, from the top of the charts to the bottom of the charts, as hormones surge through their bodies. If that wasn’t enough, their bodies are stretching and expanding to accommodate engorged breasts, widening of the hips, and padding of the buttocks as their waists shrink. Achieving soft, shapely curves is the thrill of every adolescent female.

I was a lot of things, but thrilled wasn’t in my vocabulary. Suicide was in my thoughts an awful lot. I wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines either. Every day, Sherry was locking up three to four personnel in sickbay and having them sedated to prevent them from killing themselves.

Thank God for Sherry’s, and possibly Toni’s ability to read minds, or we would have been jettisoning those bodies into deep space, or worse. One of them had decided to demolish the whole station. She would have made it too, if Toni hadn’t intervened.

Toni was in Engineering when Clark-Dana decided to set the self destruct and wipe all of us out of our misery. They said Toni walked in a few seconds before Dana came charging into the room with a phaser in her hand. Dana was screaming she was going to save us all. Toni backhanded her and Dana dropped like she had been axed. If being alive meant anything, then Dana was lucky Toni didn’t use those claws of hers.

Morning and night were not in the life cycle of UF-2 as we had no day cycles. Personnel slept when they felt the need and worked or did other things as needed. I was leaving my office after a sleep. It had been almost three weeks since we had first been infected. Medical was no closer to figuring out how to reverse the infection. The reports we were getting back from Command were no help. They weren’t able to break the coding down and reverse it either. One would think, with all their labs, all their resources, all their skill at manipulating DNA structure, they would have had the answer by now.

I was slowly adjusting to the fact UF-2 was a post of females. Of the two hundred and seven crew members who had escaped infection, one hundred and eight were male. I also had accepted the fact I was female. The thing that made it possible to accept looking at Brandy in the hologram everyday was, I considered it a training exercise like Boot Camp. Soon the training would be over and Bill Wickman would be back.

Sherry met me as I was leaving my office. “I checked quarantine a few minutes ago. The crew is getting cabin fever.”

“House cleaning find any new intruders the past ninety six hours?” I motioned for her to follow me as I headed toward medical.

“One in cargo hold nine.” She picked up the pace beside me.

“Tell quarantine to hold them for another forty eight hours. If we don’t have any new collections then they may leave quarantine at their own risk.” It was funny in a warped way. We were the ones infected and the crew members who hadn’t been altered were the ones in quarantine.

Sherry had come up with the idea of drawing any of those critters out by having decoys roam the station. I wanted to know if it had been put into play yet? “Has medical and engineering come up with the traps replicating human DNA?”

“Launched the first two a couple hours earlier. They are going through the crews quarters first. We received a supply ship from M-4 a few minutes ago. It’s in isolation now. You want to go with me to check it over before it’s opened?” Sherry pointed toward the lift leading to the docking bays.

“Sure. My trip to medical was to see how they were doing on reversing the code we were infected with. I imagine you know already.” I stopped at the lift and the doors slid open. We both stepped inside.

“Docking” I commanded before turning to study Sherry as the lift sped off toward the docking bay.

It was unbelievable how feminine she had become. Long shapely legs, beautiful hands with long fingers, and long sharp fingernails. Her reddish hair framed an angelic face. Her eyes changed color from hazel to gold, or bluish gold, depending on God only knew what. She had full sweetheart lips that begged to be kissed and doe shaped eyes with ultra long, thick, lush lashes. As if that wasn’t enough, she had high cheekbones and a voluptuous body that looked as if it had been designed by a sex crazed, genetic scientist.

I didn’t have a bit of lesbian tendencies in my soul, but it wouldn’t have taken more than a hint of an invite and I would have been lying in her bed. I imagine the whole damn station felt the same way. Sherry had been right that first day when she told me about the virus. As David changed into Sherry, she became undoubtedly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

The doors slid open as the lift stopped at docking. Sherry pointed toward a containment chamber over to our right. “We have it shielded on the possibility it’s carrying something besides our standard shipment.”

I nodded as we walked over to inspect the shipment. Usually we never quarantined shipments between known stations. We really didn’t believe there was anything out there that could catch, or keep up with, our supply ships. However, since something had managed to get on our station without us figuring out how. We were no longer taking any chances. All incoming would be quarantined until cleared.

“Visual” We had stopped outside the shielded area. I wanted to look over the cargo ship.

A hologram of the ship appeared in front of us as if the shield was no longer there. I didn’t see any abnormalities. “Rotate horizontally”

The hologram rotated in front of us, as if the ship was on a big turntable. I let it go twice. “Rotate, laterally”

Sherry and I were looking at a ship as if it had been skewered from nose to tail and rotated on a stick.

“Standard” The hologram placed the ship back on the deck in normal position.

“I didn’t see anything on the outside. Scanners pick up any abnormalities?” I backed up and turned toward the crew who were watching the monitors.

“Seal to the hatch was broken and then repaired, Commander.” One of the women pointed toward the enlarged hologram of the hatch that had appeared in front of me.

“Sherry, did you request a seal on this shipment?” I was studying the hologram to see if I could see the repaired seal on the hatch.

She walked up and put her finger on the hologram. “Yes, it was possible our shipment had been intercepted in space, loaded up with the bio-mechanical balls, and sent on. I requested a seal on this shipment before they sent it.”

“Look at this seal. It’s been broken and then repaired, I suspect by the same intelligence that sent the bio-mechanical balls. There is molecular separation and repair on this seal. If we hadn’t been looking for it we never would have noticed. It’s almost perfect.” She touched the hologram with the long nail on her right index finger and ran it down the seal.

I had focused on Sherry’s hand and finger where she was pointing. Instead of worrying about contamination of the station, I was thinking I needed a lobotomy or a brain wash. I was jealous of how beautiful she was. “No one is to go inside the quarantine area. Take that thing apart with the bots and don’t leave any pieces together where one of those damn bio-mech balls can hide.”

It was going to take a few days to disassemble that ship. I turned on my heel to go. “Sherry, keep me posted if you turn up anything.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

That stopped me as I turned to reprimand her. She was smiling, knowing what she had done. I caught myself before my mouth opened. Sherry was in a Catch 22 situation as far as me being able to give her orders. She was a civilian and not under my direct command. I could reprimand her or fire her, but not order her to do what I requested. Yet, by default she commanded everyone under me. As much as I liked her and owed her my life several times over, she could rub me all wrong at times.

“You may be enjoying what you are, but I sure as hell am not! Would you mind trying real hard not take so much pleasure in what you have become? And while you’re at it, try real hard to stay out of my reach since I would like nothing better than to slit your cheerful throat.” I spun on my heel. I did my best to not put a swing in my walk as I left Sherry behind. I found I only made things worse. Women swing when they walk or they look clunky and awkward as they lurch clumsily forward with each step.

After I stepped on the lift, I looked back at Sherry. She shook her head and mouthed, ‘This is how you do it’. Smoothly and gracefully, she glided over to where the technicians where watching the monitors. With each step her hips rolled like a ballerina in motion, her full skirt accenting her grace.

I hated her! She didn’t lurch, she glided with each step. ‘Up yours!’ I mouthed back as she looked over her shoulder at me.

The door on the lift closed and I was thankful. What Sherry didn’t know, or maybe she did, I was consciously studying the way all the women walked as I headed back to my office. It was obvious which ones had been men and which ones had always been women.

Those who had been men lurched as they walked like men, instead of letting their hips swing with each step. It was obvious when Sherry pointedly made me think about it. Men walk differently than women. Even though we were female in form, the mind still functioned like a male. Etiquette classes were going to start in twenty four hours!

Toni met me in the hall as I headed toward my office. “Commander, I request your permission to leave.”

I shook my head as I motioned for her to walk with me. “Toni, I can’t give that permission. We are under quarantine. No one is allowed to leave. We received a supply ship less than an hour ago and it's contaminated with those damned bio-balls. Until we can reverse the process those things carry then I’m sorry, but no one is allowed to leave.”

Toni reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder stopping me. She turned me to look at her. “Brandy, I know your laws and rules pertaining to this station and to your species. Your laws say when any space traveler sets foot on your post they accept the laws for that post.”

As I watched in fascination, her pupils closed to vertical slits to drive home the point that we weren’t the same.

“Rrrrrrr” She let out a soft purr before she continued. “I’m not human and my species has no pact with your species. Neither I, nor any of my kind, are regulated under your laws. Our laws are simple, but explicit. Some that might interest you are; We do not take a life unless it is necessary. We do not take any property any life deems as theirs. We do not take another’s mate. We do not enforce our will upon another.”

“That all?” I held up my hand as she started to speak. “It was a joke. Toni, we make laws for the common good of all. I can not allow you to leave. There is no debate here. If you are carrying the virus or one of those bio-balls and carried it to another post, or even a settled world, we would have to quarantine more people than I want to contemplate.”

“Brandy, what part of ‘I am leaving’ did you not understand? I will be back in less than forty eight of your hours.” She dropped her hand off my shoulder as she turned and headed for the docking bay.

It didn’t escape my attention, she had addressed me as Brandy rather than Captain or Commander. I was caught up in emotions as I watched her step into the airlock leading to her ship. As Commander of the station, I wanted to stop her. As her friend I wanted to let her go. I com linked to Control. “Linda. The Pash is leaving. Don’t try to stop her.”

“Understand Captain. Under what orders?” My com link replied.

“Emergency relief. Contact Command Central and notify them that a Pash left our station, our quarantine has not been lifted.”

“I’ll notify Command Central.”

Except for the part about telling Command Central, I didn’t think there was one darn thing any of us could have done to stop Toni. If that cannon she carried on her hip was any indication, she probably carried more firepower on her ship than we had on the whole station. I certainly didn’t want to get in a fire fight with her and find out I was right.

I looked up as Sherry had stepped into my office and was patiently waiting in front of my desk. “What did you find?” I was working on the daily report I had to keep up with Command Central after declaring Death-Com Level.

“You will notice it in the information report from docking, but I wanted to tell you myself. We found the same bio-mechanical balls on the cargo ship as the ones that infected our station earlier.”

The first thing that sprang into my mind was impossible, but remembering the seal, I halfway expected as much. “How much or I guess I should ask, how many?”

“Several thousand count. They were scattered all over the cargo craft and even up in the electronics. I understand why we were infected without realizing it. They are inert, except for shooting that DNA cutter into anyone not already infected. It’s impossible to see or feel what they are doing with the naked eye. The action is too small and too quick to see.” Sherry walked over to the window where she could look at the stars. She was wearing a blue dress that hugged her body like paint. The tight mini skirt emphasized her tiny waist and abundant hips, the same way the deep, plunging top clung to her huge breasts.

“You have a plan for finding out how they are getting their bio-mechs on our ships? Also, do you have a plan for catching them once we figure out the first question?” I stood up and walked over to the window. I was looking at the infinite number of stars, while thinking about the infinite life forms they had spawned or could be spawning. It was sheer hypocrisy to believe humans were the only intelligent life. Mankind was bad at measuring other life forms by our standards. When we first started exploring we had met other space travelers, but they didn’t have the ability to push out in space past their own universe, so we didn’t classify them as intelligent. That kind of thinking made me realize how dumb our own species was.

“Commander, as hard as it is to believe. I think they are stopping our cargo ships and loading the bio-mechs on them.”

Sherry let that sink in before she turned to look at me. “Remember, nothing is impossible, only improbable. What we think in our minds is limited to what we believe is possible. Remember Einstein’s theory was, nothing could travel faster than light. We believed that until Remmy designed and tested a warp drive ship.”

“I remember my history. As usual, the science fiction writers had it all wrong. They designed space ships that looked streamlined and propelled them with fuel or matter and anti matter. We propel our ships like the writers envisioned, but they look like building blocks so each pod can be self sustaining in case of catastrophic disaster.” I wondered where Sherry was going with this conversation?

She closed her eyes as she nodded. “Our warp drive ships look like tin cans, or boxes, or a combination. Smooth sleek lines are not in any of our interstellar ship designs. The flat or bulky designs of the ships are necessary for warp travel. Those ships travel faster than anything known as the anti matter drive reacts with the matter drive.”

Sherry sighed. “There is a theory of something even faster than warp drive. Although only a theory, what if someone figured it out already?

“Do you have an idea how and why we are receiving those bio-mechs? Or, are you rambling to see if I am paying attention?” I knew Sherry never rambled. If she didn’t have something intelligent to say, she didn’t speak. I also knew she was priming me for something I wasn’t going to believe.

“We are under attack. I mean the human race is under attack.”

That one choked me. “How? When? Why didn’t I receive an alert from Command Central?”

“Because they don’t know it yet. You are the only one I have told this to. So far it’s only my gut feeling. I can’t prove it yet. Some ‘thing’ is trying to wipe out humanity.” Sherry looked back out into space as if she was searching for what this 'thing' could be.

“Okay, give me what you have.” I walked back over to my chair. Lately I couldn’t stand on my feet for more than a few minutes at a time or my arches started killing me. They were hurting now.

Sherry waited until I sat down. “Your feet hurt?”

I had kicked my flats off and was rubbing my feet. “Stick to the problem at hand. Tell me why you think humanity is under attack from an unknown?”

“I’m trying to tell you, if you will listen. Your feet hurt don’t they? It’s because your heels aren’t high enough….”

“You’re out of...”

“Don’t interrupt me.” She took a deep breath. “They are good, and I mean really good, at understanding DNA and how it works. Think about it, Brandy. With our hundreds of thousand of years we can do what with DNA? We can make babies any sex we want. We cut out damaged pairs from the DNA that causes hereditary defects such as blindness, Parkinson’s, and thousands of other defects. We grow spare body parts upon request. We can design almost anything a human wants, such as smaller or bigger breasts on a woman, or blue or brown eyes. Yet for all our knowledge of DNA, we can not change skeleton or bone structure after the person has matured.”

She turned to look at me. “Along with your body shape, your bone structure changed. You have the bone structure of a woman, not a man. It wasn’t done with a laser scalpel, but with DNA coding. Humans don’t have that kind of knowledge. Your feet hurt because you are not wearing a high enough heel to support your instep. Humans haven’t figured out how to do that with DNA.”

Way down inside my stomach I got a sick feeling. My body had been redesigned and reprogrammed by God only knew what. I had no idea where it would stop. “You’re working on the code aren’t you? I know our lab technicians are giving it their all.”

Sherry held out her hand and studied it before she answered me. “Have you noticed every infected person on this ship looks at the few males like they were prime meat? I bet you have been thinking about inviting one to bed yourself.”

That made me blush from my head to my feet. “No I haven’t... been thinking... I guess I have.”

“I know you have. It is your body chemistry. It comes as part of the package. I promise, if you have sex before you take your birth control shot, you will have a baby. You and every other infected female on this station are as fertile as a rabbit. It’s part of the battle plans our enemy has drawn up.”

“Oh God…!” The idea I could have a baby had never entered into my psyche. The idea I was a woman was tolerable as a short term concept. We were the most advanced intelligent race ever, at least that we knew about. I was positive medical could find a cure. Now, Sherry was telling me I could possibly not only have a baby, I was designed as a baby factory! Damn those who did this!

FROM THE EDITOR: As a certain "Leaper" used to say... "Oooboy!" Chapter 3 will be posted on Friday. Stay tuned and thank you for commenting, kudoing and reading this great story.

UF-2 by Barbie Lee Edited by Catherine Linda Michel

Sherry walked over to my couch, turned sideways and gracefully sat as she put her hand behind her legs to hold her skirt. “If we have babies they will only be girls, no matter what we do or try. We can not change their sex to boys. Those girls will carry the DNA we are carrying and they will have only girls and on and on.”

My mind was screaming in horror. My stomach was rolling as Sherry explained to me what the DNA changes had been. Obviously a whole lot more than I wanted to admit.

“Remember in your history where male tsetse flies were irradiated and made sterile? Then they were released by the millions into the wild. After they bred with the female, both adults died after the female laid sterile eggs. It didn’t take long before the tsetse fly was extinct, except in the lab.”

What was Sherry getting at? “You aren’t suggesting we are sterile? You said we could have babies?”

She held up her left hand and studied her long nails. “Only girl babies. It wouldn’t have done any good to sterilize the human males on the station. We don’t mate like tsetse flies. Even if the males were sterile the females could go on breeding and having boy and girl babies. The human race wouldn’t be in any danger of being eradicated.”

“Think about it. If we can only have girl babies, and those babies grow up to have only girls, and on and on until all that is left are girls. The war is fought and won without us ever seeing our enemy or them firing a single shot. Even if it takes a few hundred years to wipe us out as we spread the code of only girls being born, it’s a beautiful plan.”

Sherry shook her head. “I don’t think they know how wide spread the human population has become or how many of us there are. It would take time eternal for humanity to be wiped out like that if they think we are a couple space stations more or less, and our home planet is not too distant, then the plan would have worked.”

“Obviously they had a human or humans to take DNA samples from and formulate to their design. Probably space travelers who had run into them on their home planet or in space. If you plan on breeding a species out of existence, then you need what that species considers attractive females as bait. Thus we have been designed as every male’s fantasy girl. We will end up with beautiful facial features, big breasts, incredibly tiny waists, and baby bearing hips.

My com link spoke to me. “Captain, the Pash is back. She docked without requesting permission. Should we send guards down to…”

“Let her do what she wants. She’s immune and we are already... Let her come aboard.” I tapped my com link off.

Turning my attention back to Sherry I blinked in disbelief as I digested what Sherry had told me. “You’re not serious?”

It was a reflex reaction as I stared. I couldn’t help myself as I took a good measure of Sherry. After a month she was already a good portion of what she had been describing. Unconsciously I felt my waist and caught myself before my hands made it up to my breasts. I already didn’t like what I had become. Sherry was telling me I was going to look like those female freaks on the rest and recreation stations that pirates and space travelers frequented. Those women were hideous freaks with breasts so big the women...

“NO! Not me.” I had been to medical the day before. I was thinking of having my breasts reduced from what they described as a thirty eight D, back to a thirty two A. I chickened out at the last minute. The idea of someone fondling my breasts even if I really wasn’t a woman made me want to cry. How did women put up with it? I hated being a woman. I certainly wasn’t going to carry the extra package Sherry was describing.

“Won’t work.” Sherry put her petite little hands under her own full breasts. “The design is fluid. I imagine it was some pirate they received their information from. I also imagine he had returned from some bordello where that kind of woman was fresh in his mind. If that kind of woman was the ultimate turn on for mankind, then they would design the bait to look like her.”

“What do you mean won’t work? If you are telling me my breasts will grow to... Anyway, I can make surgery as often as needed. I’ll be damned if I’m going to look like the poster babe for some Trader’s Post.” Sherry was wrong on this one. I could put the brakes on the changes surging through my body.

“Brandy, you are fooling yourself if you think you can stop what is happening. This isn’t a little DNA manipulation like humans have been doing for thousands of years. This is definite coding for a specific body form. Who ever did this knew how to realign the genomes, telomeres, and nucleotides of the DNA.”

Sherry rose from the couch and walked over to the door. “If the life forms doing this figure out how wide spread the human race is and sends out those bio-mech balls to any of the busy traffic hubs, it wouldn’t take more than a few years to contaminate our species. In a way, we were lucky they sent their DNA weapon to an outpost like us. We were contaminated and found the cause before it spread.”

As I watched Sherry leave, I glanced down at my hands. We were lucky? Something had changed me into a damn woman without my consent and we were lucky? Funny, I didn’t feel so lucky! “Security, place all the men in quarantine in the lounge. They are off limits to all the women on this station. Medical, all women are to receive birth control shots immediately.”

Would it be enough to keep anyone from becoming pregnant? Up until now only the natural women had been inoculated against pregnancy. Military and company rules were, no babies and no children on an outpost station. Now most of the whole damn station was almost nothing but women. From my own feelings, I knew those women either wanted men, or soon would. Sherry was right, it was an ingenious war. And I hated it.

My door slid open as I was trying to get my emotions under control. I glanced up to see who it was. I was looking at Toni. Suddenly I hated her. God, did I hate her. She was immune to what we humans were suffering. I hated her for her slim lithe body, because she didn’t have breasts to speak of, nor wide hips, nor... I hated her for all she didn’t have. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!”

She looked at me with pity. “I am not your problem, Brandy. I am only trying to help. If you...”

“DAMN YOU TONI! I don’t want your sympathy nor your pity. I certainly don’t need your damn help. We are screwed! Every damn one of us on this damn Out Post who were infected are royally screwed!”

My emotions boiled over as I walked up in front of Toni, screaming at her. “THAT DAMN DAVID DOESN’T MIND THAT HE’S A BITCH! I HATE THAT BASTARD! IT’S NOT FAIR! I DON’T WANT TO BE A... a... a...”

“Woman?” Toni said the word I couldn’t.

“DAMN YOU!” I was running on pure emotional hatred of what I had become as I brought up my right hand to slug Toni.

She easily caught my right wrist before I connected. I responded by bringing up my left hand to do the job. She easily caught my left wrist with her right hand. That made me even more furious as emotional tears of frustration streamed down my cheeks. “TURN ME LOOSE YOU FREAK!”

Toni easily pulled me to her chest. I was helpless as a kitten against her unbelievable animal strength. Screaming expletives and crying at the same time, I struggled in vain to be free. Never in my whole life had I ever been held captive against my will. My rage boiled into a fury of unGodly proportions as I struggled. A lifetime later, emotionally and physically spent, I stopped struggling as I cried.

Toni bent over to her right and swept my legs out from under me as she picked me up like a child. If I hadn’t been so emotional, I could have admired the animal strength she possessed.

She carried me over to the couch, gently laid me down and sat down by my waist. With her right hand she brushed my hair out of my eyes and wiped my tears. “Everything has a reason. There are some things ordained by an intelligence greater than you suspect.”

As she rose to her feet, I felt embarrassed by my emotional outburst and ashamed because I had directed my hate for what had happened at Toni and David. I was not a leader by any definition. I had let my emotions run wild. Leaders do not think with emotions, they think with logic.

“I’m sor... sorry. It’s not your fault. Please... forgive me. I always thought you were a beautiful woman. I can’t take back what I said and undo...”

Toni smiled as she winked at me. “Captain, I can feel your emotions. You don’t need to apologize. I understand the emotional flood humans experience. Pash feel emotions too though in a different way. Let’s keep this misunderstanding between the two of us. This station needs a Captain. There isn’t anyone any better qualified to do the job.”

“Tha... thanks.” I sniffled as I wiped my eyes. I was so ashamed for what I had done. Toni was treating it as if it was nothing. If I had displayed my little emotional temper tantrum in front of anyone else I would be locked up in medical right now.

“When you feel up to it, I found the source of your bio carriers. Sherry should ride along also. Meet me at my ship in two hours.” She walked out the door without waiting for an answer.

Source? “WAIT!” But the door had closed behind her already. Two hours? I was ready now. Surely we could reverse engineer the code if we had the original code. I didn’t know if I could wait two more hours. Her ship? I had no idea if any human had ever been inside a Pash starship? There was no mention of it in any of the scant information we had in archives.

After I pulled myself together, I touched my com link. “Locate Sherry and have her meet me at Toni’s ship in two hours. Tell her to pack for any contingency.”

“Affirmative, Captain.” It spoke back to me.

I made good use of the two hours. I changed into a jumpsuit and boots as I tossed Brandy’s dress and flats into the trash. When I returned, I was going to be Bill or die trying. After Toni pointed out who had done this to me I was going to accept nothing less.

After making sure my sidearm was operational and charged, I picked up a spacesuit from supply and added an emergency pack to my load. I was gasping and wheezing as I stepped off the lift where Toni’s ship was docked. Damn! I had never noticed everything being so heavy before. Next time... I caught myself. There wouldn’t be a next time like this. Bill wasn’t a wimp. Before this was over I would be Bill, not some weepy, teary eyed, weak little woman named Brandy.

Sherry had beat me to the bay. She was a beautiful woman, there was no doubt. Extreme in the plus measurements like the women who frequent the Traders Posts. Which, I had become acutely aware, I was one myself. I glanced down at my huge breasts. Soon to be rectified I was sure.

A door appeared and a landing ramp materialized beside Toni’s ship. “Molecular flow.” I was standing beside Sherry as I studied the ramp.

“Has to be. We might as well go have a talk with the enemy and see if we can come to an agreement for ceasing hostilities.” Sherry took a short glance in my direction before she picked up her bags and headed up the ramp.

I was following her up the ramp as I struggled with my bags. “Has Toni told you what this is about?”

“Brandy, Sherry, welcome aboard. This is a personal ship, not a passenger ship, so it’s going to be a little cramped. Drop your gear by the hatch and please sit in the chairs in the aisle.” Came from my right as I boarded Toni’s ship.

Gladly, I did as Toni suggested with my bags as they were heavy. Toni was reclining behind a console at what I thought was the rear of the ship. She pointed toward my left. “Brandy, if you will step to your left and stop, a seat will be waiting for you.”

Sherry had already stopped a few steps up the aisle to my left. I watched as a recliner materialized under her. She sat down and then laid back.

“Some ship.” She remarked.

“Yeah.” I stepped up behind her and looked before I sat down in a recliner that wasn’t there a millisecond ago.

“Relax while I move away from UF-2.”

I was waiting for the sound of energy being thrust so we could start moving, but I didn’t hear a thing. I wondered when we were going to start moving? “Take long to warm up this ship?”

“Not long.” Came from behind me.

“Please stand up.” Toni put her hand down on my shoulder.

“Change of plans?” I was wondering why we weren’t moving. I stood up as Sherry rose in front of me.

“No, we are at my home. Please, won’t you follow me. Leave your equipment on the ship, if you don’t mind. There is no threat to you here.” Toni was stepping off the craft as she was talking.

Did Toni call our cargo bay her home, or did I misunderstand? The aisle was narrow and Sherry couldn’t get by me until I moved. Our recliners had formed back into the ship, or wherever they materialized from. “We must have engine problems or something?” I looked back at Sherry before I turned to leave the ship.

“Something.” She had a laugh in her voice.

“My God! Are we inside a hologram?” Standing in the door I was looking out across an expanse of a lush green world.

Toni was standing at the bottom of the ramp. She waved her hand around her. “Brandy, please, welcome to my home.”

I didn’t understand? Toni called a hologram her home? I was positive we had never left the docking bay. I was also positive we never jumped to hyperspace. We had the most advanced starships in the intelligent world. It took a lot of computer power and maneuvering to get ready to jump into hyper drive, going from star to star. Much less the braking on the other end of the trip.

I turned to look back at Sherry. “Holograms look so real don’t they? Pretty good to generate one inside a docking bay.”

Sherry laughed as shook her head and pushed me with her hand to get me moving down the ramp. “Brandy, you’re fooling yourself if you don’t believe you are a couple billion light years from UF-2. If you don’t mind, I would like to see Toni’s home. We are the only humans to ever visit.”

“Billion?”

Sherry managed to push me to the bottom of the ramp and walked around me. “Plus, some dimensional side travel tossed in for good measure. We couldn’t phone home if we wanted to. We aren’t in our dimension any longer. Earth and all the worlds mankind has populated don’t exist any longer.”

“WHAT! YOU’RE KIDDING!” I was thinking about a hologram and some weird joke between Toni and Sherry.

“Brandy, don’t get me wrong. Humanity still exists, but not in this dimension. Toni’s species travel not only from star to star but through dimensions as well.” She motioned me to follow. “Let’s go see Toni’s home. It’s a rare invite. We are the only humans to be invited to a Pash home.”

“O… kay.” I followed Toni and Sherry into what I would call an Ivy covered entry.

Where are they? Who are they? What in space is going on here? All will become clear in the next exciting installment, entitled "Secrets? We don't need no esteenking secrets" or "Holy crap! _I_'m the alien?"

Please be so kind as to comment and kudo the story. Barbie and I greatly appreciate your interest the story and thank you for reading.

Toni was waiting as I walked in. “Thank you for coming. Refreshments? Food if you like? We will eat in the dining room in four hours. If...”

“Wait a minute. I thought we were going to engage the life forms that had done this to me… us… Sherry and me. I’m tired of looking like a damn female poster babe for some Trader Outpost. I plan on getting that damn DNA coding and returning to my old self. Me… Bill.” I wanted Toni to know why I had agreed to come along on this ride. It wasn’t for dinner on some damn planet, in some damn galaxy, a billion light years from my outpost.

Toni nodded. “Understood Brandy. I will take you to the life form who designed the DNA infection.”

She held up her hand when I started to ask when. “Please, time is meaningless, a few more hours won’t make any difference. After dinner, I promise, after dinner we will go see the life form you seek.”

She swept her hand toward a hall. “Please, you have a room down the hall. If you do not desire refreshments at the moment, then make yourself comfortable. If you need for anything, ask. My home is your home. I have been away and must take care of business. I will be back in less than an hour.”

Dumbfounded, I watched as she walked out of the house. I looked at Sherry who seemed to be studying me.

“Fuck this!” I didn’t want a room, refreshments, or to wait to get back to being Bill.

Walking over to the door I looked and looked a second time. Toni and her ship were gone. “Well hell!”

I tapped my com link and... nothing. I tapped it again. Bad com link? “Sherry is your com link working?”

“Yes and so is yours, but not here. Brandy, why don’t you relax. Toni has left. There is nothing you can do about it. I’m going to my room and check out the creature comforts. I would strongly suggest you do the same.” Sherry left me standing there in the doorway as she walked off down the hallway.

Emotionally, I exploded as I spun on my heel and watched Sherry step into one of the rooms off the hallway. I wanted to go see the little weasel that turned me into a woman and I wanted it NOW not an hour later. Fuming, I headed off down the hallway knowing there was nothing I could do until Toni decided it was time. I should have stayed on UF-2 until she decided it was time.

As I walked past a door, it slid open silently. Stopping, I hesitated. Was I invited in? Tentatively I entered the room. My nerves started settling down. There was soft music playing. I didn’t recognize the tune, but it was eerily beautiful. I had been too focused on getting my hands on the thing that had made me into a woman, to pay any attention when I walked into Toni’s home. Now I noticed the walls were light pink rock or a damn good imitation thereof. The floors were a light gray rock. The furniture was quaint. It looked like wood. Humans had figured out how to make imitation wood several millenniums ago. Real wood was expensive to grow. Probably less than one person in every hundred million had ever touched or seen real wood.

There was a long, sweeping, blue cloth couch that curved around a corner of the room and a matching chair by the door. A vanity, dresser, and a really soft looking bed, big enough to take up most of my room back on UF-2.

“Your bath is drawn, Mistress.”

I jumped out of my skin before I focused in on where the voice had come from. There was a droid standing in one of the doorways leading off the bedroom. It was an odd looking droid as it looked more like two poles side by side, with two horizontal poles for what passed for arms. It didn’t have feet or rollers as it hovered.

“I don’t need a bath.” I had a chem clean before I left UF-2. I was positive I didn’t need another one yet.

“Please Mistress, Master would be most happy if you would.” It waited in the door for me to accept.

“I told you, I don’t want a bath. Go sweep some dust or trim some plants or whatever it is you do.” I was getting exasperated with this dumb bot.

“My functions do not include trimming plants, Mistress. Am I addressing you incorrectly? Is there another formality you would like me to address you as?” It waited patiently.

“Yeah, call me Bill or Captain.” I was getting steamed over at that thing calling me 'Mistress.' I was only barely tolerating being Brandy until this was over.

“Protocol for humanoids indicates that it is not correct to address you as Bill, Mistress. Unless you wish to command Master’s home then Captain is also incorrect. I have information you are to be addressed as Mistress, or Mistress Brandy.”

“Mistress Brandy?” I choked on that one. “God no, I couldn’t stomach that one. Let’s go back to square one.”

“Square one? I am sorry Mistress I have not had a lot of input of humanoid expressions. Please explain.” It was still patiently waiting as only a droid could.

“Forget it. And forget that bath bit too.” I was getting tired of this dialog with a droid. Personally, conversations with bots were a waste of time.

“I apologize if I annoy you, Mistress. Your bath is waiting.”

Damn, I had forgotten how single purpose minded a bot could be. I was going to go have to take a look at that bath to get this thing to stop annoying me. “Sure, why not? Lead on, broomstick.”

It moved back into the room it had come from. As I walked into the room I saw a huge tub filled with water. I had died, I was sure. No one, but the rich, could afford to take a water bath. Us lesser people took a chem bath which was a combination of ultra sound, and aerosol spray. Water was recirculated on a post. No one wanted to drink someone else's bath water no matter how much it had been evaporated, condensed, and filtered.

I couldn’t resist as I stuck my finger into the tub. That was either the best hologram in captivity, or that was real water. It was tepid, begging for a body to climb in. That body had to be me. I dropped my gear and clothes in record time. Sticking my foot in I almost fainted it felt so good. The rest of me followed that foot. No need of letting the foot enjoy the whole bath.

It took me awhile to start playing like a duck as I slid under the water and held my breath. I was in heaven. No telling how long I played. Eventually it was time to leave my little trip to paradise. I should have taken my clothes in with me. When I climbed out they were nowhere to be seen.

“BROOMSTICK, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY CLOTHES?” I was dripping water all over the floor as a bot approached with a huge towel. I knew it was a towel because I had seen pictures of them. We had no use for them on UF-2. We didn’t take wet baths.

“Your clothes have been retired, Mistress. You will find appropriate body coverings laid out on your bed.” The droid held out the towel.

“Retired?” I got a sick feeling down in the pit of my stomach that told me that my jumpsuit and boots were not going to be the clothes I would be wearing to Toni’s dinner.

It didn’t answer as it left the room.

Padding barefoot into the bedroom my stomach did a flip flop as I looked at what was laid out on the bed. “Screw that!”

Staring at the outfit I decided I had two choices. I could wear the towel the rest of the evening, or I could wear what was on the bed. “I’m going to kill Toni when I get my hands on her.”

The bots were marvels of engineering. They may have looked like sticks, but they could obviously manipulate molecular flow in the same way Toni’s ship could create a door where one didn’t exist. I had one of them help me dress and get ready for dinner.

As I finished dressing and walked out of the room, the droid hovered behind me. “Mistress Sherry is in the garden to your right. Would you care to go there?”

“Why not?” I wanted to see if they had done to her what they had managed on me. Of course, Sherry would probably enjoy the five-inch stiletto pumps. I hated them.

Sherry was bent over, smelling a huge red velvet flower of some kind. “You look beautiful, Brandy.”

“How...” She was psychic, she didn’t have to be looking with her eyes to see.

Sherry was wearing a metallic blue dress. The bodice looked painted on, the full skirt shimmered and flowed a liquid blue. She was wearing matching heels with a stiletto heel. The dress had full gossamer, billowed sleeves. On her wrists I counted four of the most beautiful blue stone and silver bracelets I had ever seen in my life. Her long, dangle earrings were a perfect match. I had seen some of those women who frequent the Trader Posts and they were over endowed. If that’s what turned men on, Sherry could put all of them to shame.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Sherry. A little too much for my taste, but still the prettiest woman I have ever seen. I take it you have found what you were seeking?” I walked up beside her as I reveled in the scents of Toni’s garden. Every thing looked real.

Sherry turned to look me in the eyes. “Am I attractive to you? Do you want to make love to me?”

“Gasp!” Escaped from my mind and my lips. “Uh... yes, I mean no... I mean...”

I took a step back to put some space between us. “When I get back to me, I mean when Bill...”

“Confused aren’t you?” Sherry stepped up close and put her hands on my shoulders as she studied me. “Let me unconfuse you.”

If I had seen it coming... Hell, I don’t know what I would have done. Sherry pulled me in and planted a big, passionate kiss right on my mouth.

It was the biggest shock I had ever received in my whole life. It took me a few seconds to react as I pushed her back and wiped my mouth with the back of my right hand. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

Stepping back to put even more space between us so she couldn’t surprise me a second time, I glared hatred at her. “What the hell was that all about? Have you lost your mind?”

I went ballistic when she smiled and winked at me. She held out her hand and looked at her long sharp nails. They were blue to match her dress, and jewelry. “Not confused any more, are you? I’m not what you want to take to bed. That was the last of Bill, thinking I was what you were wanting to make love to. We just put that idea out in deep space. Brandy, no matter what, there is very little of Bill left.”

Her bracelets tinkled as she rolled her wrist, curled her fingers and rested the points of those long sharp nails against her palm. “You felt revulsion when I kissed you. Would Bill have felt like that? In spite of you denying it, you are a woman. A very beautiful one too, I might add. You would have noticed if you hadn’t been so focused on admiring my looks and hating your situation.”

“I’m not…”

“A woman?” She cut me off. “I think if you look in the hologram replicator you will see a beautiful woman, and that woman is you.”

Sherry put her petite hand under her breasts. “You think my breasts are big? You haven’t been noticing your own.”

She dropped her hands down and rested the heel of her hands on top of those abundant hips of hers, while cupping her impossibly small waist. “Admit it, this body was a turn on for Bill. When you finally notice your own you are going to be even more shocked.”

Unconsciously I dropped my hands down to my waist. It took all the conscious effort I could muster to not look at what my hands had found.

Sherry smiled as she nodded in acknowledgement. “Too busy thinking about getting Bill back. You never noticed did you?”

“Bill...”

“Is never coming back.” She completed the sentence I didn’t want to hear.

“Fuck you! I will get back. I am not going to be a damn woman the rest of my life.” I wanted to jump on Sherry and strangle her for what she was saying.

“First off, you can’t. We are both women. Second, yes you are, whether you admit it or not. You can deny it every day for the rest of your life, but hat is going to be one long, miserable life if you do.”

“Toni is back. Let’s go meet her company.” Sherry walked back into the house, leaving me standing there.

Damn! I hated that woman! She was probably right. When she kissed me I felt violated. Bill would have jumped all over Sherry after a kiss like that. I wanted nothing more than to put space between us. I looked down at my huge breasts. Double damn! Those bimbos at the Traders Posts were also-rans compared to Sherry and myself. My long gown was of a semi sheer, layered, chiffon, gossamer, type material. Softer than anything I had ever felt, it was a bustier design, with beads or stones in intricate patterns. There were no stays or ribs. It hugged every curve like paint. At my hips it flared out into a full, billowed skirt and the hem swept the floor, followed by a full, ten foot train.

It took me awhile to calm down as I ran through my mind what Sherry had so pointedly taught me about myself. Sighing in resignation, I took a deep breath before following Sherry back into Toni’s rock house.

Straight into the middle of a couple dozen Pash. “Oh...”

Sherry was standing between a couple of them, holding a glass, and carrying on a conversation.

Toni held out her hand toward me. “Brandy, please let me introduce you. Everyone already knows you, but I feel you should be introduced.”

Hesitantly, reluctantly, I walked, with my skirts quietly rustling, over to where Toni was and put my left hand in her right.

There were two Pash standing in front of us. “Brandy, I want you to meet, Misalachula, and Breveanolesa.”

The one to my left held out her hand. “Please, call me Missy. It is hard to roll my name in your language.”

I took her hand. “Missy, good to meet you.”

The one on my right held out her hand. “Call me Brev. Tonlosania was right. You are a beautiful woman.”

I blushed as I took her hand. “That’s very kind of you to say.”

As Toni introduced me to the others I couldn’t but help notice that Sherry was watching me like a hawk. I was wondering if it was because of what she had done to me earlier in the garden or what?

After the introductions, Toni put her arm around me. I was feeling too much closeness and affection from Toni after that event with Sherry. I tried to put some space between us. Toni wasn’t having any part of it. Her strength was something I would never be able to best.

One of Toni’s stick bots floated into the room and stopped in front of me. “Mistress, the table is ready.”

Toni swept her right hand out indicating a hall leading into another room. “Please, shall we?”

“As you wish.” What I wished was that Toni would stop holding me so close.

Toni and I led the others into a large dining room with a long, dark, wood table. I was thinking how beautiful that room and furnishings were, even if they were artificial.

Toni walked me up to an ornate chair at the end of the table and pulled it back from the table. “Please be seated, Brandy.”

I struggled with the dress and the train before I found my seat. “Thank you.”

The other Pash and Sherry had lined up on both sides of the table and waited. Toni walked to the other end and took her seat before the guests seated themselves.

Toni held up a tall skinny, long stemmed glass filled with a red liquid. “A toast.”

Everyone held up a similar glass as I did the same. I was feeling awfully strange and foolish as I held my glass up.

“It’s my birthday. I am of age to take a wife. I ask for a long and happy marriage.”

“Long and happy marriage” Rang from all those around the table.

“Lareu eh samp los vesapen.” Missy nodded toward me.

Toni looked sharply at her. “Please! Brandy does not speak Pash nor read mind thought. Speak her language when she is present.”

“My apologies, Mistress. I was in error. Please forgive me.” Missy was looking at me.

“My apologies for not understanding your language. It had never occurred to me I would be talking to more Pash. You are rare among my people.” I smiled, hoping to smooth over the error Toni thought Missy had made.

“Thank you, you are too kind.” Missy held up her glass to me.

The rest of the Pash held up their glasses to me and I felt embarrassed by it all. I took a sip of my... boy was that smooth stuff, whatever it was.

The dinner was delicious. Or I was thinking it was. That red stuff must have had a screwdriver in it, because somewhere about the second glass, my mind became unscrewed. If it had been alcoholic I would have sworn I was plastered to the gills.

Somewhere in all that conversation I heard it was Toni’s birthday again. I was wishing I had brought her a birthday present. My mind was definitely not engaged as I heard someone say that Toni had found his mate for life. “His?” Humm, fancy that... giggle. Boy was she going to be surprised. Could I have some more of that red stuff? God it sure tasted good. What was that stuff anyway? My hearing is going, along with my eyesight. Did someone say I was Toni’s fiancée? Nah, never work... I like Toni a lot. Bill even wanted to get her in his bed, but as anyone could tell, I’m not Bill. Giggle... Look, I have big boobs and... oops, no that’s gone. Yeppers, gone, gone, gone. Gimme some more of that red stuff. Boy is that stuff good. Did Toni say she wanted to be my mate? Hell, sure why not…? I love that girl. She’s such a fox. What say we get married? Is any of that red stuff left? Gimme a shot wud yuh?

I opened my eyes thinking I'd had a bad dream. It wasn’t all a dream, since I was looking at one of those stick bots. I started to rise up and my world swirled. “Ooooooohhhhhhhh.”

I held my head as my eyes tried to refocus. “I’m in serious pain.”

“Would Mistress require a medication for pain?” The stick had moved up beside my bed.

“No, it’s not physical pain, it’s a 'can’t get the world to stop moving' pain. What in the hell was that stuff I was drinking?” My world was slowing down enough for me to focus on the stick droid.

“Mistress drank a lot of things. Could you be more specific, or would you like me to name them all?” It patiently waited.

“Never mind. I probably wouldn’t understand anyway.” I tossed the cover back. I was dressed in a pink, sheer, filmy nightgown. It hid nothing as my breasts pushed pointedly at the material. Great! I had no idea who undressed me or who dressed me in this nothing number.

I rolled my legs off the side of the bed and stopped as my world wobbled. “I have to get the market on that damn red stuff. I can sell it at the Traders Posts and make a fortune. It will sneak up on you and grab you before you know what hit you.”

“Mistress is ready for her bath?” The stick had moved away from the bed as I sat up.

“Bath? Uh... sure, why not?” Standing up, I unsteadily headed for the bathtub in the other room.

Standing beside the tub I couldn’t find the closures on the nightgown. “Bot, I need some help getting out of this rig.”

The bot floated up in front of me, held out one of its stick arms and the gown fell to the floor.

“I was going to do that.” I had a strong suspicion it was molecular flow or whatever. The bot was the key to the zipper, or buttons, or binding.

I could get used to those baths real easily. They were a touch of heaven. I took my time, until I happened to remember we had a date with a DNA virus programmer.

When I toweled off and walked back into the bedroom, I almost screamed. “No way! Where’s my old clothes?”

Bot was waiting beside the bed. “Those you wore the day you arrived have been recycled.”

“RECYCLED! RECYCLED MY ASS! GET ME A JUMPSUIT OR I’LL WRING YOUR SCRAWNY LITTLE NECK!” There was no way I was going to wear what was on the bed.

Minutes later I was furious as I stepped out into the hall. Yes, I was wearing a gown, and heels, and... If they thought I was ready to kill when we left UF-2 they were wrong. NOW, I was ready to kill as soon as I got my petite little hands on a phaser. I was hot as I searched the house for Toni, Sherry, or anyone. It was a huge house and it took me a long time of searching. I didn’t find anyone to take my anger out on.

Looking outside didn’t help. There weren’t any neighbors, or streets, or transportation tubes. There was a hundred foot clearing around the house and then a forest of some kind. Not any trees or vegetation I recognized, but then what would I know? I had never seen a real forest of any kind.

Finally I ended up in the garden by the pool and fountain. I found a place on the rock bench and fumed. Over time, my fury settled as I watched the water trickle from the fountain into the pool, and the aquatic life flash to the top before they disappeared in the depths again.

I heard the click of heels on the rock floor behind me before I turned to look at Sherry. “They took my clothes.”

A smile spread across her beautiful face. “Funny, but you seem to be wearing some.”

Standing up I swept my hand down in front of the silken, light green, breaded gown. It was strapless and I was wearing a matching scarf around the neck, draped over my left breast and down my back. “You aren’t funny. I was referring to my jumpsuit. This isn’t a jumpsuit, in case you forgot what one looks like.”

I lifted up my hem, and stuck out my right foot. The shoe matched the dress. It had a four inch heel and I felt like I was walking on my toes. “Running is not an option.”

I tried to push my heel off with no success. “Have you noticed we... I and my outfit seem to be attached to one another. I can’t get dressed or undressed without one of those damn stick bots helping me. I strongly suspect molecular bonding.”

Walking over to where she was standing in front of me Sherry started to raise her hand to my face. I slapped it away.

“None of that funny business. You aren’t going to kiss me again.” I backed up a step.

A smile spread across her face. “No, I think you have the idea now. You like women, but we aren’t what you want to take to bed. That’s natural feelings as a woman.”

“Fuck you. I’m not a woman.”

She sighed. “Okay, some things you still have to learn.”

“Toni has returned and we need to go see those life forms who sent us our virus.” She turned and headed toward the other room.

“Now wait one damn second. If you think I’m going like this then you are outta your ever loving, screwed up, psychotic mind.” Unconsciously I dropped my hands down on my hips.

She waved with her right hand as she stepped into the other room. “Suit yourself. You want to stay here then that’s up to you.”

Staying behind was not part of my options. I tried to run to catch up, but four inch heels are not track shoes. Anything other than a walk, with fluid motions of the hips, was not possible. I don’t think my breasts would have let me run even if I were wearing track shoes. Women who looked like Sherry or me were not runners by the laws of physics.

As I entered the room I caught sight of Sherry going out the front door. “Would you wait up?”

She stopped and turned. “I thought you weren’t coming. Change your mind?”

“You bet your life I’m going. I want to wring some answers out of some low life forms that did this to me.” I stopped beside her as I looked at the ship parked in front of us.

“Geeze... that’s a ship!” It was twenty times bigger than Toni’s ship. It also had flowing lines that made it look like it was moving a million light years a second when it was just sitting there.

“Let’s go meet a virus designer.” Sherry stepped out ahead of me.

I followed her to where we were under the ship. No windows, no doors, nothing except smooth flowing lines from front to back to side. A light flashed and we were inside.

“Please take your seats.” Toni was standing beside us pointing toward a couple empty seats. We weren’t the only passengers on that ship. I recognized the other Pash that had been with us at the dinner party.

Sherry and I found our seats and, no sooner had I sat down, then the seat reclined. Glancing over at Sherry she winked at me. “We are there.”

Our seats rose back up into the upright position. I was having a hard time believing we had traveled anyplace. After thinking about that last ride with Toni, it could be possible.

All the Pash stood up as Sherry and I rose out of our seats. Toni motioned for me to walk up beside her. “Brandy, please?”

I did as she requested as Sherry stepped up behind me. Two Pash stepped in front of us and the others dropped into formation behind us. There was a flash and we were inside a huge room. There were several spacecraft around. Some of them I recognized as those that space pirates or explorers jump space in. Others I didn’t recognize. They were oddly designed craft. None of them looked like starships. These craft would be for traveling between planets in a solar system.

A door opened on the far wall and a delegation was headed toward us. I thought I had seen most life forms, but these were beyond being odd creatures. They had four extensions for legs, which were padded on the ends. I was guessing the four extensions at the sides were arms, or what served as arms, and four eyes on stalks on top. Reminded me of a walking mushroom with about the same color and texture.

The delegation stopped approximately ten feet away. Two of them in the middle stepped forward.

“Please, walk forward with me.” Toni put her hand around my waist as she urged me to step forward.

It didn’t make any difference, I wanted a closer look at these creatures. If they were the virus inventors then I wanted my... Well, no, I really didn’t think I should be touching them. No telling what I might pick up.

We stepped up and stopped. They took a couple steps toward us. We took another couple steps toward them and so forth until we were only a foot apart. I almost gagged. Up close they looked more like a frothy mass of boils, or pus pockets.

Toni nodded her head. “Speak in this language. My mate is not wearing a neural thought transmitter. She will not understand unless you speak in this language.”

One eye on each mushroom turned to look at the companion before focusing on me again. The one in front of Toni touched something inside that mass of puke it called a body. I almost lost my cookies.

A small hole appeared in the middle of one on the left and I heard it talk. “We did not know. It was a mistake.”

“A mistake nevertheless. You did not consult us. You know we would not have agreed. Terminating life forms is not allowable. What will you do to stop the design?” Toni was as serious as I had ever seen her.

“The design is not reversible.” The one in front of me answered.

“I see. Payment must be made to those damaged.” Toni waited.

“What is the price?” The one in front of Toni responded.

“Neutralize the process. Give those infected, trade rights with the Trag and their allies.” Toni never wavered.

“Price is too high. We do not agree.” They were focusing on me. I was wishing I had brought a phaser.

Toni put her arm over my shoulder. “Price is cheap. The alternative will not be so cheap.”

Why did I get the feeling I was the bargaining chip in this conversation?

“It was a mistake.” The first one reiterated.

“Mistakes have to be paid for. One can not make a mistake on life forms and say it shouldn’t happen. Pash do not make mistakes.” Toni ran her fingers through my hair as she was talking.

“We didn’t know.” The second one canted.

“I heard you the first time. Excuses are not accepted. Meet the first price or regret the second price.” Toni dropped her hand down on my butt. I almost jumped out of my skin.

“We have to council.” They were walking away from us without turning around.

Toni put her hand in the small of my back, urging me to rejoin the others. “Don’t step away from the group. If they could kill you the situation would change.”

“Kill me? Give me a phaser so I can defend myself.” I couldn’t believe Toni would take us to a meeting unarmed.

“You couldn’t defend yourself against the Trag if you had a star destroyer in your pocket.”

There was a flash and we were back on Toni’s ship. “Please take your seats and let’s go home. It will take them a few days to decide in council.

“That’s it? That’s the meeting? What about the coding to the DNA virus? Make them give us the codes.” I couldn’t believe our meeting with the life forms who had sent us a virus was over after a few words.

“Brandy, please take your seat. I’m sure you could ride standing up, but for safety's sake, please sit down.” Toni was motioning me to go find a seat.

“But...”

“Please?” Toni turned and walked to her chair where she pulled a console out in front of her.

“Shit, I should have brought a phaser and...” I found my seat and it reclined.

The seat rose back up almost immediately. “You can’t tell me we are back already?”

“We are at the center of Pash civilization. Please join the others and me in our Capital.” Toni offered her hand to help me up.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” I rose out of the seat. There was that now familiar flash of light again.

Toni had her arm around my waist as we were standing on an observation tower in virtual space. There was nothing around us except the platform we were standing on.

I wobbled. “Jeeze, I was thinking we would be on the ground with buildings all around us. You did say, the Pash capital, did you not?”

“Below us is the capital. Built in space. We did not destroy any worlds in building our culture. God makes worlds, we build cities.” She pointed below us.

I looked. In space there is no up or down so toward the feet is down, toward the head is up. I was looking at an area of habitation structures below us. Not nearly large enough for what I would consider a central Capital for an intelligent species such as the Pash. “That’s it? That’s the whole Capital?”

“We don’t have any need for central control like humans do. We made our laws many millennium back. They were simple. They worked then. They work now.”

She pointed out to the stars all around us. “We scattered to the stars, each one making sure they followed the Pash rules.”

I had no idea how we were breathing in space? Either I was in some hologram and this was an illusion, or they were able to compress a magnetic field around us and hold in oxygen without using walls or glass.

There was yet another flash and we were inside a great, round room. All her friends from the dinner were sitting in a panel before us. Toni bowed her head in acknowledgement.

I was envious of her transporter as much as I was of her ship. Those things were great for moving from point A to point B. I noticed Sherry was off to our left by a huge arched entry. I was wondering if she had received a tour like I was getting?

The Pash named Missy stood up. “You are of age Tonlosania. Have you considered your choice?”

“I have. At first I thought there had been a mistake.” Toni glanced in my direction.

Way down inside my soul I got a queasy feeling. Something was about to happen and I felt a part of whatever it was.

“You were guided to this one who is named Brandy Winters?”

“It has been ordained.”

“Tonlosania, there may be no mistake. A mate is taken for life.” Missy was studying me.

“As it is written.” Toni was also staring at me.

“Whaa….” That sick feeling was growing by leaps and bounds.

“Then it has been ordained.” Missy’s cat eyes were boring into my soul.

Toni turned her attention to me as she took both my hands in hers. “I have given my soul to you. I only ask that in time you learn to love me. If that is too hard to accept, then I ask you to accept me.”

“Lo…lo…ve... Toni, I don’t love you. I can’t love you. Bill loved you but not as Brandy. I can’t possibly until I change back to Bill.” I was trying my best to explain Bill loved her, not me, not Brandy.

“Maybe in time? If you can’t find it in your heart, then I will return you to your people.” She waited for an answer.

“When I am Bill then...”

“The virus is not reversible. You will never return to Bill. Please…”

“NO, YOU’RE WRONG! YOU HAVE TO BE WRONG!” I pulled my hand free and was crying as I fled from the room past Sherry.

I was stopped at the end of a hall that seemed to go nowhere. “She’s wrong, she’s wrong, she’s wrong.”

I collapsed on the floor as I curled up in a ball and cried.

“She’s not wrong. You are. You’re wrong... about almost everything.” Sherry sat down on the floor beside me. She pulled my head over into her lap and put her hand on my shoulder.

“She’s wrong. She has to be wrong!” I sobbed as I wiped my eyes.

“Where do we start? I guess one place is as good as any. She is not a she.” Sherry leaned back against the wall.

“Whaaat? You’re outta your ever loving mind! What do you mean she’s not she? We are talking about Toni, aren’t we?” The tears had stopped like a spigot turned off.

Sherry was looking at me with a smirk on her face. “Toni is a male as are all the other natural born Pash. Pash have never had a female baby. They have male babies just as you and I were programmed to have female babies.”

“But... but…?”

“If they are all males how do they have babies?” Sherry was smiling from ear to ear.

I was wiping my cheeks as I sat up in awe of what Sherry was telling me. I was studying Sherry’s eyes, trying to make sense of what she was telling me. “They clone?”

“Not hardly. They pick mates outside their race. That was what threw Toni off for awhile. They really do feel a draw toward a certain mate. Toni was drawn to you. Believe me, he was as confused as any Pash could ever get.”

“Do you remember the first time you met Toni? He showed up on UF-2, walked straight up to your office, took one look and left the station. Because Pash are slender built cat creatures you thought he was a she. You wanted to get closer to Toni and he was trying to avoid you while figuring out what went wrong. Neither one of you realizing everything has a purpose, or as Toni put it, ‘ordained’. When the virus was turned loose on the ship, Toni was caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place. He knew you were the mate he had been sent to spend the rest of his life with. Yet, he was guided as a Pash to help find a solution. One of those 'damned if we do and damned if we don’t' situations we humans find ourselves in a lot of times.”

I wiped my eyes. “There isn’t a cure is there? I’m going to be Brandy for the rest of my life.”

Sherry laid her hand on top of my arm. “There is a reason for everything. You and I can only have girl babies. Pash can only have boy babies. You and Toni are destined to be the beginning of a new Pash civilization. You will be the proud parents of the first two girl Pash in their history. Your girls will grow up to be beautiful, intelligent, wise and legendary among the Pash. When they have babies they will be boys or girls. You and Toni will be remembered until the end of time as the Mother and Father of the new generation of Pash.”

“You can see all this?” Even though I had known David for years, I never knew he was a seer.

“I can’t see all the future, but where it changes history as much as what your involvement does, then it’s easy enough to see.”

She stood up. “Let’s get back to the others, shall we?”

FROM THE EDITOR: Chapter 5 will be up on Wednesday. Barbie and I want to thank everyone for the wonderful comments and kudos and we encourage you to continue reading and commenting. Thank you all very much.

Toni was still standing where I had left him in the middle of the room. The other Pash were still quietly waiting too.

Hesitantly I walked up to him, afraid he would spurn me for running off like I did. Afraid he wouldn’t forgive me for pointing all my hate at him for what had happened to me. “I’m sorry, so terribly sorry.”

Looking down at the floor so he wouldn’t see the tears that were leaking out of the corners of my eyes, I begged forgiveness. “I know you must hate me. I was wrong. I won’t blame you if you hate me.”

Toni put his hand under my chin and lifted so I had to look at him. “I was as bad. Please forgive me. I could not contemplate a cure, for I was in love with Brandy. If you had found a cure then I would have to spend my life without a mate. That was too painful for me to bear. Is it too late to ask for you to be my mate, or do you hate me too much?”

Crying, I threw my arms around him. I pulled him in and cried with my face buried against his chest. “I love you Toni. I have always loved you. I didn’t understand, but you have always held my heart in your hands.”

He stroked my hair as he rested his chin on my head. Then he stated out loud, “I take this female as my mate. I will provide for her and protect her with my life. From this time forward until the end of time, she is to be known as my mate.”

“So be it.” Echoed from the Pash gathered up in their group.

“Let’s go home, darling.” Toni swept me up in his arms like a baby.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head against his chest. I admired his strength as he carried me across the room like it was nothing.

There was a flash of light and we were outside Toni’s ship. He carried me in and sat me down in a chair that formed from the floor. “I will teach you all our ways. I will teach you how to fly our ships and how to understand and speak our language.”

He walked back and sat down, pulling a console out in front of him. “We’re home.”

The wall formed a door and ramp. He picked me up out of the chair and carried me down the ramp, standing me inside the door of his home. “This is your home and my home.”

“When is the wedding?” I was wondering if I could invite any friends?

“We had our wedding. The council gave their approval. Brandy, if you want out you may do so anytime you like. I will take you back to your station.” He stepped in front of me, turned and was watching my eyes.

“We are married?” I coughed out.

“Yes. Do you wish a human wedding?” He waited.

“I had kind of, well, I don’t guess...” I was kind of hoping for a little more ceremony or something. Sheesh, I had turned into a woman and yes, I really wanted a wedding with all the trimmings.

“I see. I’ll arrange it. Would a wedding on UF-2 be okay or would you prefer someplace else?” His eyes had closed to narrow slits.

“It’s not important. Forget it. I was being a jerk again. Please forgive me. We are married. If that’s good enough for you then it’s certainly good enough for me.” I giggled as I said it. What difference did it make? Who would know? Obviously I was going to spend the rest of my life with the Pash. If they considered us married, then that was fine by me.

“It is important.” He swept me up in his arms and carried me to the bedroom. Gently laying me down on the bed. He leaned over and kissed me.

I thought I would have a hard time warming up to kissing Toni, but he was still the same person I fell in love with back on UF-2. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in as I planted a firm heavy kiss on his lips. Then I let my fingers do the walking down to his... ‘Oh my lordy!’

There was no way I was going to get out of that dress without one of those stick bots using their molecular magic on it, but I didn’t care. I was a woman in heat. My afterburners were hot and in hyper drive. I ravished Toni and was ravished by him again and again, each time thinking I had given it my all, but that was my mind thinking, not my body.

I can only figure Sherry had been right when she said we had been reprogrammed as female sex machines, designed for fun and pleasure. It was a good thing I married a man with the stamina and strength of a cat. I was a babe in heat and on the prowl.

“Morning Mistress.”

Licking my lips to get some moisture on them, I rolled my head over to look at the stick bot. “Morning, Stick. Where is Toni?”

“Master is gone for the morning, Mistress. I have your bath ready.”

“Thanks.” I rolled out of bed, stood up, and turned my back to the bot. “Undo me please.”

The dress fell to the floor. I pushed down my nylons and stepped out of my heels as I headed toward the other room and the bathtub. “Thanks. You are a gentleman.”

After the bath I stepped back into the bedroom and smiled as I shook my head. “Obviously the Pash like.. or Toni does.”

I headed out to the garden after I finished dressing. Toni’s place was so beautiful. I was beginning to suspect it was real and not artificial manufactured stone and wood and probably real plants.

Stick followed me out. “You wish to eat in the garden, Mistress?”

“No, what I need is a sense of belonging. What are my duties?”

“Your duties will be explained to you, Mistress. When would you like to begin lessons?”

“Lessons?” I had no idea what lessons I needed.

“You are to learn Pash, are you not, Mistress? The transport is parked in front. You are to learn how to control a Pash starship are you not, Mistress? You will learn the Pash dimension, Mistress. When you are four thousand of your Earth years old, you will have learned the most valuable lesson of all, Mistress.”

“Oh? I have to wait until I’m four thousand years old to learn the most valuable lesson do I, my little friend? And pray tell, what lesson is that?” I was amused that it was going to take me so long because, even at our best at replacing human parts, most of us didn’t make it past six hundred. I was positive I was going to be a disappointment to the little guy when I kicked the bucket before I learned my most valuable lesson.

“You will learn you can never learn everything, Mistress.”

Laughing, I reached over and tapped the stick on what should be his shoulder. “Hey, I am ahead of the game. I already know that lesson.”

Sherry walked in. She looked great in a flowing yellow gown belted at her tiny little waist. She was wearing matching five inch heels, long dangle earrings, and a long scarf, kerchief style off her shoulder. “I thought I would drop by. You are absolutely glowing. How was your wedding night?”

I sighed in bliss. “Impossible to put in words.”

Sherry nodded. “I know.”

That caught my attention. “You didn’t?”

She nodded. “But I did.”

“Anyone I know?” I was curious if Sherry was playing the field.

“Meliss. You met him at the party.” Sherry grinned.

Silently I moaned. “Don’t mention party. There was a whole lot about that party I don’t remember. I do remember to not drink the red stuff. That drink will sneak up on you and grab you when you ain’t looking.”

“Yeah, I kind of noticed you got the blind staggers along about the second glass. Rule of the road. DO NOT drink more than one glass.” Laugh lines formed around her eyes as she looked at me.

I put the back of my right hand up against my forehead. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

She got serious. “I dropped by to give you a couple more rules of the road.”

“Okay, do I need to sit down, or can I take this standing up?” I was wondering how serious it could be?

“You’re pregnant.”

I stumbled for the bench as I felt a rush of blood to my head. “I should have sat down. So soon?”

“Yes.” She walked over and sat down beside me.

Sherry put her hand on my shoulder. “He implanted two eggs in you. One of those eggs will absorb one of your eggs. That will be your first baby girl. The second egg will hibernate until the first baby is born. Then it will absorb one of your eggs and that will be your second baby girl.”

“Two…?” I felt faint.

“Pash carry only two eggs. They can have two babies, no more. They seed their mate at the first sexual mating. You and Toni will have two beautiful girls.” She was looking at my eyes.

I felt relief at the fact that there could only be two, but at the same time, I felt disappointment that I wouldn’t have more, I felt cheated. I had no idea what I felt. “Only two?”

“Toni would not have made you marry him. He would have let you go back if you had asked. He also wouldn’t have shared his seed with you if he didn’t love you with all his heart. The Pash only get one chance at propagation. It’s a total commitment for them. They mate for life. If their mate dies through an accident, they don’t remarry.”

Tears involuntarily trickled out of my eyes. “I love him with all my heart and soul, Sherry. I don’t know if it’s that crazy DNA mess I’ve been screwed with or if it’s something else, but I really do love him. He’s the kindest, most caring man I’ve ever met. He brings out feelings in me I never would have known with any other man. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s as if a part of me is him and he is a part of me.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I know. I married a Pash too, remember?”

“Is it them, or is it that screwed up DNA that makes us feel that way?” If anyone knew the answer, Sherry would.

“A little bit of both.” She took a deep breath.

“There’s more?” I knew Sherry and there had to be something else.

“You are the key player in the Pash and Trag negotiations. The Trag don’t mess with the Pash. The rules to the game are, no fighting between the Pash and Trag.”

“You plan on getting to the meat of this conversation before I have my baby?” Sometimes Sherry was exasperating in how slowly she could explain something.

“You are a Pash.”

Sherry held up her hand to stop me when I started to protest. “By marriage, you are a Pash. The Trag are caught in a quandary. You are Pash, but also human. That means they can’t send out their DNA virus to wipe out the human race because that would qualify as declaring war with the Pash because of one marriage.”

“But you married one too. You said you did.” Why was I the key player in this? Sherry was... “I’m sorry. I... You know you have been as human as... Shit... that isn’t what I meant. You are…”

Sherry nodded. “I know what I am. I’m test tube. Geneticly engineered and you’re natural born. Probably the reason that DNA virus didn’t work on me the same as it did you. I’m pregnant too, and I will have two girls, just like you.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, Sherry. You’re probably more human than any of the rest of us. God knows we have been carved from the original DNA as mankind tried to eliminate all the defects.” I put my hand on her shoulder. David or Sherry. She was and still is my best friend.

It was time to change the subject. “Stick offered me some breakfast. I don’t know what they call food around here, but I’m betting we can eat it. Would you eat a bite with me?”

“Sure. I thought you would never ask.” Sherry rose gracefully and walked with me to the dining room.

Stick had already set two places. It looked like steam was coming out from under the plate covers on the table. “I guess he overheard me. Unless he did this when you came in, that little guy is really quick.”

Sherry laughed as she sat down by my right. That left me a plate at the end of the table. “I feel like the Captain at a formal dinner. I sat here the other night also.”

Sherry shook her head as she picked up her fork. “You really are dense for a Captain. Don’t you talk to your droid? I’m betting he is calling you, Mistress. Brandy, you are Mistress of your domain. You are going to be sitting at that specific place until you die. Didn’t you notice Toni sitting at the head of the table the other night? He is Master, but he will defer to your desires. I have a suggestion for you. Rule with silk and satin shackles. Make him desire to do what you like, because he will be rewarded greatly for it. Treat him with love and affection and never, ever demand from him. I promise your love for one another will only grow stronger than it already is.”

Laughing at her, I took a sip of my drink after double checking to make sure it wasn’t red. “And pray tell, how did you become so astute in the ways of a woman’s wiles?”

Sherry giggled and pointed a finger to her head.

“Oh... I should have known.” She could read minds. All those years of reading female and male minds taught her more than any woman would ever know about pleasing men. I wonder if Meliss knew how much of a gem he had acquired when he married Sherry?

“He will know soon enough.” Sherry giggled.

Damn, she was reading my mind again…

We had finished our meal. and Sherry and I were strolling through the house exploring. I was finding it hard to believe the house could be built out of natural rock and be so beautiful and warm. It was absolutely gorgeous. The gray stone in the entry was divine. The pink, yellow stone in the bedroom was soft, warm, and pleasing to the senses. The brown stone in the room that Sherry explained was a den, was soft Earth tones.

Sherry had to explain a lot of the rooms to me because I had no idea. I guess being born and growing up in space meant I had missed a lot in my education about what a family home looked like. I was in love with Toni, his friends, his ships, his... our home. OUR HOME! I kept repeating it over and over in my mind as Sherry and I walked through the house.

Sherry led me back to what she called a study. “It’s a beautiful home, Brandy.”

Walking over to an overstuffed brown couch, I sat down, leaned back in the corner next to the arm, and pulled my legs up under me. “I wish Toni was here.”

“He’s busy in council.” Sherry found the other end of the couch and sat down.

“Doing what?”

“I guess it’s time for the rest of the express lessons, Captain. Take a deep breath and don’t interrupt me or this is going to take a really long time.” She folded her legs up under her as she reached down with her right hand and wrapped it around her right ankle.

I was thinking how beautiful Sherry was. She was an absolute living doll. Everything she did was so female. It was hard to remember her as anything but Sherry.

She studied my eyes for a second as I heard her sigh. “The Pash have Clans. Did you ever study Scottish history?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Remember, Pash are of the cat family. Their society is structured on Clans. The eldest clan would be... When you learn Pash you will understand. I will call them Number One Clan for now. The Number Two Clan would be the second in the hierarchy, or importance.”

She rolled her hand over, palm up, curled her fingers and looked at her nails before returning her attention back to me. “Toni came of age yesterday. How old do you think he is?”

That caught me off guard. “Uh, well, ah, I’m not sure. Twenty something I guess.”

“And how old are you?” Her eyes were gleaming.

“Are you going to tell me I robbed the cradle? I’m a hundred and sixty two.” I was wondering if Sherry was going to tell Toni he had married an old woman?

Laughing she shook her head. “Hon, I already had a good idea of your age. You don’t get command of an Out Post before you are a hundred. If you think Toni is twenty, then that’s a start. You might want to add a few zeros to his age. Their years aren’t exactly the same as our years, but he is over two thousand years old.”

I choked and coughed. “You’re joking!”

She made the motions of drawing an X over her heart. “Nope, God’s own truth. He turned of age yesterday. That meant two things for him. He was allowed to marry without his parents permission, and he ascends to command of his clan. His dad, your father in law, has stepped down as leader of the clan.”

“Honey, you married into the Number One Clan. Toni is head or leader of all Pash as of yesterday.”

FROM THE EDITOR: Barbie and I want to thank everyone for all your wonderful comments and kudos. Don't forget that UF-2 Book 2 will follow after Book 1 concludes, without any breaks. Book 2 is already fully completed and in editing as I type this.

UF-2 Book 1 Chapter 6 By Barbie Lee, Edited by Catherine Linda Michel

“Toni…” I know my mouth fell open because my brain stopped working.

Sherry giggled. “That’s right, Toni.”

She got serious. “He really would have let you go back to the station if you wanted. It had to be of your own free will to marry him. If you decided to leave, he would have never married and that would have been the end of his lineage.”

“But you said there are always two. What about his brother? Is he married?” I didn’t understand.

“That’s what has put you smack dab into the middle of the equation with the Trag. Toni’s brother was killed by the Trag. Like humans, the Pash are explorers. Toni’s brother happen to be the first to run into the Trag. I understand the Trag are more vegetable than animal. They like to dissect things. Their favorite things they like to dissect are animal forms. Then they do what they have become good at, designing DNA cutters to eliminate that animal life form.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth in horror. “Oh my God!”

Sherry sighed as she shook her head. Her earrings tinkling with the slightest movement. “Pash don’t kill unless provoked. They certainly don’t take lightly to one of their own being dissected. Remember, the Trag are vegetable life, not animal. A death or two means nothing to them. Losing a few hundred would be a 'ho hum, who cares' event. A few thousand deaths might get some attention, but not much.”

“The Pash went after them with a vengeance the Trag had never felt before. The Trag understood death better than they had ever understood it in their whole history before the Pash stopped the slaughter. It was understood if the Trag tried any of their DNA virus tricks on the Pash then the Trag would be wiped from existence.”

“How did you learn all this?” I found it hard to believe anyone, even of Sherry’s intelligence, could pick up all this information in the few days we had been living with the Pash.

A smile crossed her face. “The Pash are telepathic, I am...”

“Telepathic. Duhh. I don’t guess you have to verbalize the knowledge to share it.” Would I never learn?

She laughed. “Don’t get too smug doll, your time is coming.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I searched her eyes for answers.

“That little girl you are carrying is changing you as we speak. After Pash mate, their wives change to look like Pash as their child develops. It’s sharing of life forces between mother and child. You won’t see any alien wives among the Pash because they morphed to look like Pash with motherhood.” She winked at me.

In shock I stuck my hand out to see if I was growing nails like Toni’s.

Sherry giggled when she saw the shock on my face. “Don’t worry dear, you’re different in more ways then to be the first to give birth to girls. Your physical looks won’t change. It’s part of the DNA virus. You are going to be the first mate of a Pash to not morph.”

“Then what? You said my time was coming. What did you mean by that?” I took a real close look at my hand to make sure I wasn’t changing.

Sherry pointed a long slender finger at my head. “Becoming telepathic is not a physical change.”

“You gotta be joking!” I wasn’t sure I wanted that kind of change any more than morphing to look like a Pash. Although I was warming up to the idea that looking like a Pash would be much better than the Trader Post Bimbo figure I was endowed with. Courtesy of the Trag,

“Toni’s home and I need to be going.” Sherry rose up off the couch.

“When will you be back?” I enjoyed Sherry’s conversation immensely. I was wishing she would stay.

“We go back to have a meeting with the Trag tomorrow. I’ll be there with you. Listen to Toni and act like the Queen you now are. Don’t do anything rash. You were Captain of a Space Post, remember to carry yourself with authority.”

She was walking out of the room as Toni walked in. “Hello, Toni. Bye Toni.”

He nodded his head in acknowledgment. “Bye Sherry.”

Toni motioned for me to stay put when I started to get up. “Please, you are so beautiful. I want to stand here and drown in my love for you.”

Tears involuntarily came to my eyes as I rose off the couch. Walking over to him, I wrapped my arms around his neck as I stared into those beautiful, intelligent cat eyes of his. “I love you so much it hurts. You are so beautiful... handsome. I have been doubly blessed. My heart aches to be close to you when you are out of sight. I am the luckiest person in any universe.”

Toni leaned over and kissed me. I was lost in him as my emotions flooded my soul. With love he swept me off my feet and carried me to the couch where he laid me down. My emotions were off the scale as he fondled my breasts and...

Did he ravish me, or did I ravish him? Talk about animal love! Bless those Trag and what they did to me, for I was an animal myself when it came to making love. I could never get enough.

It was much later, and I was lying beside Toni, his left arm under my head. I was tickling his lips with the ends of my long hair. He could stand it for only so long before it got to him and he would have to rub his mouth to get rid of the tickle. Then we would do it all over again.

“I need another one of those baths.” I was tickling his nose with my hair as his lips were getting immune to my teasing.

“Okay.” Toni shoved me off the couch, stood up, picked me up and carried me through the bedroom to the bathroom.

I could see it coming. “NO. I’m still dressed. NO TONI! DON’T YOU DARE!”

I was still screaming as he tossed me in, heels, dress, and all.

I came up spitting water and coughing. “You beast!”

He leaned over the tub. “You said...”

I wrapped both hands behind his head as I put my feet against the edge of the tub and pulled with all my strength. Toni came in on top of me and water went everywhere.

He came up spluttering. “That was uncalled for.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck I dragged him back under as I planted a kiss on his lips and we made love like a couple of fish as we balanced our need for air with our passion for love.

A lifetime later I had my back to the edge of the tub, and Toni was wrapped up in my arms. I was gently raking my nails across his chest. “I’m so in love.”

He rolled over in the water where he was facing me. He cupped my face in his hands. “Thank you for loving me.”

That brought the tears. I couldn’t speak as I looked into his eyes and cried. I could not imagine life without him. I now knew what they meant by soul mate. He was mine and more importantly, I was his.

I could have spent my life like that, but Toni soon escaped, asking me if I would mind getting dressed.

When I stepped out of the tub, I couldn’t believe how heavy that dress could get when it was wet. Stick was there to get me out of my wet clothes. I was thinking I had to introduce these people to velcro, and zippers, and other closures. The idea I was in my clothes until Stick did his molecular whatever was ridiculous. I was positive I couldn’t cut the material. It may look like fine material, but it was armor plate tough.

An iridescent blue gown covered in embedded blue stones was laid out on the bed as I entered the bedroom. I sighed as I studied the gown. “A little over the top for a day at home isn’t it?”

With Stick’s help, I finished dressing when Toni walked back into the bedroom. He was undoubtedly the most handsome devil I had ever laid eyes on. I was so in love it hurt. I also knew formal dress when I was looking at it. Toni was dressed formally. A bolero style jacket over a white ruffled shirt, black skin tight pants with a dark blue stripe down the outside of each leg. He was wearing a weapon on his right hip and a sword on his left.

“My soldier, would you care to take a girl to dinner?” I would have rather taken him to bed.

He walked up in front of me, took my left hand, raised it as he bent over and kissed it. “You are so beautiful. There is a banquet this evening in your honor. Be yourself, nothing more, and absolutely nothing less.”

That took me back. “Toni, I don’t know your customs. What if I make a fool of myself? I would be so ashamed if I embarrassed you.”

He put his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. “You could never do anything to embarrass me.”

“You say that now. Wait until later when you want to hide in shame.” His shirt was tickling my nose.

It was a different ship waiting outside the house than the one Toni usually flew. It was still a slick little ship. I figured it was for going over to the neighbors, not for star jumping. I also wasn’t going to walk up the ramp in those four inch heels Toni liked to see me wearing. At the bottom of the ramp he gathered me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head down on his shoulder. He gathered me, my gown, and my train, and carried me in his arms into the little runabout.

It took me a little bit to get situated in my seat. My gown was a bustier top and barely, by the barest minimums, covered things that needed covering. My tiny waist was cinched in so tightly I could hardly breathe. The skirt flared out to about six feet around me and was held out in shape by some gossamer material almost as light as air, but resilient.

I was wearing a multi strand necklace of blue stones. My earrings were spirals of blue stones and, like Sherry’s earrings, they tinkled with the slightest movement. Stick had done something to my long brown hair. It sparkled and glistened like strands of shimmering light, every strand perfectly in place as it cascaded down to my hips. My eyes were so over done that those girls at the Traders Posts would have looked like also-rans. I guess my blue eyes went along with my blue nails, which were two inches long and sharp enough to be called weapons.

Toni had settled into his seat beside me when I finally decided I was going to have to drown in that dress as it billowed out around me. He patiently waited until I gave up. I started laughing.

“What’s funny?” He looked puzzled.

“You should have hung me up. This dress was definitely not designed for sitting.” I giggled.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time.” He pulled the console into his lap and placed his right hand on the screen, as he ran his fingers on his left hand over the left hand screen.

“We are there.” He pushed the console back, stood up, and held out his right hand.

I took his right hand in my left and stood up. I didn’t have to straighten up my skirt or my hair as they magically went back in place. Between the iridescent blue material that looked like flowing liquid, and those blue stones that radiated light like small stars, I was glowing in more ways than one as I turned and took Toni’s arm. “I love you with all my heart.”

Toni beamed as he smiled. “You are a credit to your kind and mine. I could have never loved another.”

He escorted me to the door. Either the ship was sitting down in a recess, or there was a platform raised up even with the door. I wasn’t going to have to depend on Toni to carry me down the ramp. I have no idea if I would have had the courage to step off the ship if I had been looking up instead of down at my feet when Toni and I stepped off the ship.

When I looked up my heart jumped up in my throat. There were thousands of Pash lined up on each side of a walk. About six hundred feet to the other end of the walk were two Pash sitting on blue stone chairs. It had to be a man and woman. The man was attired similarly to Toni, and the woman was wearing a blue gown.

Toni caught my right hand in his left. “Please, walk with me.”

I stepped forward with Toni, my knees knocking so badly I thought I was going to fall down. It was deathly quiet and the rustling of my skirt and the tinkling of my earrings were magnified a thousand-fold as I walked with Toni, who made absolutely no sound at all. With each step, my heels clicked on the stone tile. I swear the sound carried to the end of that huge room and back again. I could hear my twelve foot train 'shish' as it slid over the stone trailing behind me.

All the Pash lining the walk were focused on me. I could see them turn their heads as we passed them one by one, but not a sound did they make. It was eerie. as if all sound had been removed from the world except for the sounds I made. My throat was cotton dry by the time we had walked the longest six hundred feet I had ever walked in my whole life.

We stopped six feet in front of the man and woman. Turning loose of my hand, Toni kneeled on his right knee and bowed his head. “I present to you my mate.”

As the man studied me I felt like he could hear my heart knocking. “Did you take Tonlosania as your mate of your own free will?”

I glanced over at Toni who had yet to rise. I held my skirt as I curtsied and bowed my head. “I did, and I have.”

“Rise.” The man stepped up in front of Toni. He took a jewel encrusted sword and scabbard off his hip and held it out horizontally in front of Toni.

“By rite of passage, I pass on to you the leadership of the Escubanesa Clan.”

Toni stood up, removed the sword he was wearing and slipped the jeweled sword in its place. “I pledge my service to our people. If I am half the leader you were then I will have served our people well.”

The woman stepped up in front of me. “Rise.”

I raised my head and I was looking into the eyes of a female Pash, a beautiful woman by any standards. She was a contrast in study. I could see intelligence in her eyes beyond human understanding. She looked old in intelligence, but young in looks. These had to be Toni’s parents that Sherry was telling me about.

I saw a sparkle in her eyes as laugh lines formed in the corners, but she didn’t laugh. “You are everything I have heard and more. Already intelligent beyond your years. You bring the change promised to us through the millennia.”

She removed a blue jewel encrusted dagger from her left side and held it out to me. “By accepting, you pledge your unwavering support to your mate, your King, until the end of life.”

I reached out and put my hand on top the dagger but didn’t pick it up. “I pledge Toni my support and more. I pledge him my life and my undying love until the end of time.”

She nodded and I put the dagger on my left side. She lifted a blue jeweled crown off her head and placed it on my head. “By rite of passage, I pass on the title of Queen to the one named Brandy. She shall bring us a new millennium.”

Tears were trickling down my cheeks as I tried to act... God, I had no idea how to act. I held my hand out to Toni’s mother. “Does protocol allow me to give you a hug?”

She smiled as she held out her hand. “You are a Queen, protocol allows you to do whatever you want.”

I closed in and hugged her neck as I whispered in her ear. “We need to have some really long discussions. I beg for your advice to be a good leader.”

“You already are. You are a natural born leader. It has been ordained.” She squeezed me before stepping back.

“Please your highness, how should I address you?” I was scared I would make a gaffe' and embarrass Toni.

“I am Lass. My mate is Dre. We do not use formal titles except in rare instances. Tomorrow, when you meet the Trag, will be one of those instances where formal titles will be used.” She took my hand. “Please, everyone wants to meet you and touch you. They have already heard so much about you.”

“Toni?” I hesitated.

He gave me a quick kiss and a wink. “Mother is right. It is you they want to meet. They already know me. I’m old stuff to them. Most of them have never seen a human before. Go and enjoy yourself. I will be close by.”

“But...” I was in the middle of a dozen Pash. I had never seen so many beautiful people in my whole life. They were also the best mannered and most courteous people I had ever met. No one grabbed me, no one stepped on the hem of my dress, no one stepped on my train as I followed Lass and moved among them. It had to be the cat qualities in their bloodlines. I could only wish to be half as graceful as they.

It was hours later that I met Sherry and her mate, Meliss. I wrapped my hand around her neck and gave her a heartfelt hug. “I’m so glad you stayed and married a Pash. I pray you and I can work together, for I value your intelligence and your advice more than you will ever know.”

“You may get tired of me before we kick the bucket. That little girl you are carrying is going to make sure you live a really long time as she infuses her genes with yours.”

Sherry turned her attention to Lass as she held her skirt, bowed her head, and curtsied. “Your Highness. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Lass was beaming as Sherry rose. “So formal are you. You are not to be underestimated. Your intelligence speaks volumes. I have been hearing rumors about you. It seems that the Pash have been doubly blessed that Melissandevoledo chose you as a mate.”

Sherry bowed her head before answering. “I am the one who has been honored and blessed. I pray I am a credit to the Pash as Melissandevoledo’s mate.”

Lass smiled as she placed her hand on Sherry’s stomach. “They tell me you are a seer? Why do you not see your own?”

For the first time in my life I saw doubt in Sherry’s eyes. “I have seen.”

“Tell me, Seer, what have you seen in your own future?” Lass stepped back and waited.

“You ask about our child. I will give Meliss two healthy boys.” For the first time Sherry wasn’t sure of herself.

“Are you certain, Seer? And what about Brandy? What did you see?” Lass gave a quick nod in my direction for emphasis.

“Again you ask about children. I see two healthy girls.” Sherry was back on solid ground.

Lass placed her hand on my stomach and nodded. “She will bear two girls as it has been ordained.”

Lass turned her attention back to Sherry. “I see confusion and delusion where you read your own future. You do not feel worthy of such an event. You keep calling yourself a test tube experiment. I know of this type of life reproduction. It is not the fault of the life that is created, as you had nothing to do with it. It would be the same as one of us saying we were to blame if we were born to the Pash, or Wern, or any other species.” Then she turned back to me.

“Do not be surprised when you give birth to your girls. They will grow up to be leaders of a new generation of Pash.”

I was looking at Sherry who had a look of shock and doubt all over her face. Turning to look at Lass I saw nothing but seriousness. Obviously, my mother in law was a seer herself. If she wasn’t, she was a darn good con artist because I believed everything she said.

The news about me being pregnant with girls, spread like wildfire, although I was no longer the sole object of attention in that hall. All the Pash wanted to touch Sherry also.

I lost Lass in the crowd and that was where Toni found me. “You look beautiful.”

I slid my arms around his waist as I laid my head up against his chest. “And you look handsome, my Lord. I’m in love with your people, they are all so courteous and kind, and handsome, and beautiful.”

I snuggled in close to his chest. “Your mother is such a sweetheart. I hope she teaches me how to be like her.”

Toni pushed me back and kissed my forehead. “My mother is fascinated with you, my Queen. As is my father and everyone else. I most of all.”

I looked into his beautiful, yellow cat eyes. “I need to pay my respects to your father.”

“He’s looking forward to talking to you some more. Personally, I think he wants to admire your figure some more.”

“Me? But all your women are so slim and fit. Even your mother is such a fox. I wish I had her figure. She looks like she could run ten miles and never break out in a sweat.” I ran my hand down his arm as I was talking. Toni was pure muscle. Every time he picked me up, he made it seem like child’s play.

Toni put his hand in the small of my back and steered me toward the other side of the hall. “There are benefits to being slim. There are also benefits to having your figure. Never forget that, what makes you one of us, also elevates you above the rest of us. Your blue eyes are a wonder to everyone. None of us have ever seen blue eyes before. Someone asked me if the only color you see is blue?”

That tickled me and I laughed. “I guess all of us jump to conclusions at times. Blue eyes, blue color? Sure... makes sense to me.”

Toni’s dad was staring at me as we walked up to him. I curtsied and bowed my head. “Your Highness, it is such a pleasure to meet you again.”

He reached out and put his hand under my chin, raising my head to look into my eyes. “I should have never doubted. When Tonlosania returned after the first time he saw you, he said there had been a mistake. I agreed with him and told him to forget you. His mother disagreed. She said the only mistake was to not go back. Tonlosania heeded his mother’s advice and returned to the place where he was ordained to meet his mate. Again he came back and said it could not be. Again I agreed and again his mother sent him back, admonishing him to wait, for it was ordained.”

I blushed in embarrassment because I knew what Toni was looking at when he first visited that station. The funny thing was, I fell in love with him thinking he was she. In an odd way, things worked out. I was head over heels in love. “I’m glad Toni listened to Lass, your Majesty and took your advice under consideration.”

Toni’s dad closed his eyes as he laughed. “She is a diplomat too. You are a credit to your race. We are proud to accept you as a Pash, and one of us.”

I curtsied again. “You are most kind, your Highness. I pray I do not disappoint you too many times. I beg your favor as I seek your council if I am ever asked to make a decision.”

Again that chuckle of his. “Make a decision? You are Queen of the Pash. Of course you will make decisions. However I am afraid you seek advice from the one least qualified to give advice. Lass is the seer in our family. Seek her council when you feel the need.”

I glanced over at Toni and he nodded his head. “Mother is the one for advice. In time she will come to you for advice. Our daughters may not change you into a Pash, but they will change you.”

I blinked as I stared at him. Unconsciously I put my hand on my tummy. I was in way over my head and scared to death.

Toni took my arm. “I think we have been called to dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.” My nerves had killed my appetite.

“Sit at the Royal Table anyway. It’s tradition.” He guided me into another room.

Toni’s dad was right behind us. Before we waked halfway across the room, his mother stepped up beside him.

Toni guided me up to a huge banquet table with two large chairs at the head. I was left of Toni, and Lass was left of me, in front of a smaller chair. Toni’s dad was to the right of Toni.

The rest of the Pash and Sherry filed in and found places in front of the tables. Toni leaned over in my direction. “Be seated and they can sit.”

“Lass said I could do anything I wanted and it would be okay. Is that right?” I hesitated.

“Yes, within reason.”

I backed up behind the chair and bowed toward Lass. “Your Highness, I never had the honor to serve a Queen before. Would you please grant me this wish and sit here?”

Toni looked amused, Lass’ eyes were dancing as she moved to the Royal Chair and sat down. Toni nodded in agreement as he moved out and let his father sit in his Royal Chair. I moved to the left of Lass and waited for an indication it would be okay to be seated. Lass looked at me and smiled. “Please be seated.”

I managed with that full skirt and the train to sit down, even if I was sitting on the edge of my chair to do it. When I did, a roar swelled up from the banquet room, as the Pash cheered.

Toni’s dad leaned over toward Toni. “You are going to have your hands full. When she gets to be too much for you, then drop her off at our house.”

Toni laughed as he looked at me and mouthed, ‘I love you’. “Dad, you are wishful thinking if you believe I will ever let her out of my sight.”

I kept an eye on Lass and made sure to mimic her while eating. I did not want to make a gaffe' in a room full of Pash.

It was late, late, late when Toni took me home. I was so tired. Most of it was from nervous excitement, but part of it was physical from being on my feet most of the evening. I wrapped my arms around Toni’s neck as he carried me down the ramp off the ship.

“I can walk from here.”

“I know, but it feels good to hold you in my arms. You feel so soft and warm.” He walked into the house carrying me.

“Did I ever tell you, I love you?” I whispered in his ear.

“No, but you can start now.” He tried to bite me on the neck and received a mouthful of hair for his efforts.

“I love you, Toni. I love you so much I can not begin to tell you how much because words don’t explain.”

He laid me down on the bed, bent over, brushed the hair away from my face, and kissed me. “I know the feeling.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Then make love to me.”

He kissed me and then pulled back out of my arms. “We need to get some rest. We have work to do tomorrow.”

Glancing around the room he removed his sword and pistol. “First things first.”

He lay down on top of me as he smothered me with kisses and then playfully put those fangs of his in my neck.

“Oh Master, I am yours to do as you wish. You are a man and I, a mere woman.” I giggled as I said it in mock of his strength.

Toni grabbed my wrists and held my hands up above my head as he stared into my eyes. I didn’t think I could have escaped if I had the help of ten men. But feeling mischievous I brought my knees up under him as I leveraged my heels against the bed. It tossed him over my head upside down up against the head rail on the bed.

I don’t know who was more shocked, Toni or me? “I’m sorry, Toni, I didn’...”

He rolled back down where he was beside me as he studied my eyes. “Bring that ‘mere woman’ by me again because I was believing that one.”

I reached out and dragged him in as I planted a big kiss on his lips. “Enough chatter. I’m your Queen. I demand you make love to me.”

Toni reached up and removed my crown and then down to my side and removed my dagger. He set them off to the side. “You are my Queen and I can not refuse your command.”

How Toni found me under that full skirt and gossamer petticoat was a wonder, but he did.

The next morning, I rolled over and was looking at Stick. “Where’s Toni?”

“Assembling the attack force, Mistress.”

That brought me awake, along with my heart up in my throat. “We are under attack? By whom? Why didn’t he wake me? Take me to him.”

“You are not properly dressed, Mistress. We are not under attack. No life forms have ever attacked the Pash. The attack force is for the meeting with the Trag. Now, if Mistress will take her bath, I will prepare her meal. It is going to be a busy day.”

I rolled out of bed and turned my back to Stick. “Undo me please. I really need to teach you about zippers.”

My dress fell to the floor and I stepped out of my heels. It felt sooooo good to be out of that thing. I rubbed my waist. I couldn’t believe I had managed to sleep like that. I must really have been wiped out.

After the bath I stopped in the doorway and stared at my clothes lying on the bed. “We must have a talk about my attire.”

I was finishing breakfast when Toni and several Pash walked in. I studied them. Warriors for sure and armed to the teeth. Toni had his cannon on his right hip, a sword on his left, and I guessed some kind of shield generator on his belt, right in front of his sword. The four Pash behind him were dressed in similar fashion. They also carried rifles of some kind.

Toni took me in from head to toe. “You did well. It is time to go.”

I rose out of the chair and walked beside him out of the house. Everyone’s mood had changed. These Pash were not going to a banquet, nor were they going to a social meeting. They were going to negotiate a bargain, or let blood.

The ship outside our house was huge, dark, and formidable. It scared me and I was only looking at it. I was guessing it was one of the Pash Star Destroyers. Our group stopped under the ship, there was that familiar flash of light, and we were in the bowels of the beast. If I thought it looked like business from the outside I was wrong. It looked like death personified from the inside. There were a dozen Pash at consoles and those were fire control consoles they were sitting at.

Toni put his hand in the small of my back. “Forward, my Queen.”

I glanced over at him. “Formal titles?”

“Yes, please. This is not a pleasure trip.”

He motioned me to a chair with a console in front of it. I sat down and it formed to my body.

He sat down in the chair beside me and pulled a console up in his lap. “As Queen, you are the Commander. Place your right hand on the right side of the screen.”

I did as he directed and felt a tingling in my hand.

“It has read you and accepted you as in control of the fleet. Place your fingers on the left side of the screen.”

Again I followed directions. Something I had never seen before blipped up in front of my face. A star chart unlike any chart I had ever seen before.

Toni ran his left hand over his console and one of the stars on my chart glowed red. “That is the Trag galaxy. You are going to fly us there. There are several ways to guide the ship to that destination. The easiest one would be for you to reach up and touch the red star.”

I did and my star chart disappeared, replaced by a universe chart.

Toni touched his screen and one of the planets turned red. “The Trag inhabit all the planets in this universe. The planet in red is where the meeting is to take place. Please touch it.”

My touch made the universe chart disappear and a planet hologram was in front of me.

There were thousands upon thousands of bright dots around us.

“Full view.” Toni, touched his screen.

I was looking out across space at thousands and thousands of ships. By their very design, easily identifiable as Pash ships. “My God!”

“Our meeting is here.” Tony touched his screen and a red dot appeared on the planet hologram.

I touched it and a view of buildings appeared in front of us.

“This one here is the meeting hall.” One of the buildings turned red.

I touched it and we were in front of that building. I now realized Toni did all that so fluidly and quickly I had never noticed he had taken us from point A to point B.

“Full battle ready.” Toni stood up and held out his hand.

I took his hand and stood beside him. We walked back to the lift. Two Pash disappeared ahead of us and then we were in the flash. I was standing beside Toni in the same hall we had been in two days earlier. There were a couple dozen Trag on the other side. I was guessing those things they were holding in their arms were weapons.

Four more Pash, and Sherry, dropped in behind us. I took a quick glance in Sherry’s direction. She was wearing black hip boots, with a four inch stiletto heel. Her micro mini skirt was tight. Her huge breasts couldn’t be considered covered by that flimsy chain mail brassiere she was wearing. Her long earrings were too much, like mine were. Her long, golden hair cascaded over her shoulders down to her hips. Like everyone else, other than me, she carried a sword on her left hip and a blaster on her right. Sherry was a fox, no matter how she was dressed, or not dressed.

Four Trag walked toward us on those funny legs of theirs, their eyes moving in agitation from us to the other Pash. Toni put his hand in the small of my back. We stepped forward to meet them halfway across the room. Sherry stepped up behind me to my left.

The Trag on my right waved an arm in my direction. “There is no need for this show of hostility. We Trag have no quarrel with the Pash.”

“My Queen informs me you have broken the treaty with Pash.” Toni looked more serious than any time I had ever seen him.

The Trag on my left motioned toward me. “You are Queen of Pash? You do not look Pash. This is trick.”

Toni shook his head. “It is not a trick. You met her two days ago. I informed you she was my mate. You said you had to take our terms to council for consideration. What is your answer?”

The Trag directly in front of me stepped forward and reached an arm out to...

Toni was holding his sword in his left hand. A green goo was dripping off the blade. The Trag that had reached out was missing half his arm. Green goo was dripping out of the stump. Toni had his blaster in his right and he had a fighters stance, legs apart ready to move in any direction.

“Dare to touch our Queen and you will forfeit your life. Next time it will be more than an arm.” He shifted his attention from one to all four Trag.

“I meant no harm. I only wanted to take a DNA sample to test if you speak the truth. She does not look Pash. Her eyes are not Pash. Her skin is not Pash. Where are the Pash teeth? Her fur is not Pash. You are lying to us. This life is not Pash.” The Trag who had lost an arm countered.

“I tire of your rebuke. She is my mate, our Queen, and most certainly Pash. I can offer a solution, a test, but if you touch her, you will die, along with all Trag.” Toni waited for an answer.

“I have to touch her for test sample.” He countered.

“Put your arm out, but don’t touch her or I will carry through my threat.” Toni tensed waiting for the Trag to try something.

The Trag extended his arm out, careful to not touch me.

Toni glanced in my direction. “Spit on it.”

I almost gagged. The smell was of something rotten. I managed to get some saliva in my mouth and spat on the Trag’s arm.

The Trag pulled back and left the room. All, except the three Trag in front of us, followed the first one from the room.

“Can you use a sword?” Toni was looking nervously about the room.

“I have used one in practice a long time ago. I’m better with a phaser.” I was looking to see what was making Toni so nervous.

“Pull your sword.”

I reached up over my back, not really expecting to wrap my right hand around a handle. The handle was there and I felt a hum between my shoulder blades. I could also feel it in my hand when I gripped the handle. I lifted a sword that was not there a second ago. As I brought it up and over I took a fighter’s stance. The blade cast off light beams in random directions. There was no doubt that a faint hum was coming from the sword.

The Trag backed up several steps as their eyes waved excitedly on their stalks. One of them turned and scurried from the room.

“What’s going on? They going to jump us?” I was trying to keep an eye on the whole room, while waiting for an attack.

“They were planning on it.” Toni looked like he had relaxed a little.

“I don’t think I would make a lot of difference. I’m not as quick as you are.”

“Quick has nothing to do with it. That’s the Queen’s sword. Only the Queen can pull it. It’s not there until you reach for it. Anyone else could search for eternity and never get their hands on it.”

“It’s a damn good thing Stick told me I had a sword between my shoulder blades then, isn’t it? I thought he was joking. It’s always there?” I took a close look at that sword. What was so special about it, besides it could disappear?

Toni never took his eyes off the Trag. “It goes with the Queen’s Crown and Dagger. When you accepted the position you accepted the Sword.”

Taking quick glances at the sword that seemed so special, I could not fathom why. “Maybe you should have told me more before we were married, my love. Anything else I should know that slipped your mind before our wedding?”

“You might try and be extra careful what you cut with that sword. It collapses molecular structure.”

“Oh shit! And I’m holding it!” I was considering handing it to Toni.

“Don’t even think it. Your molecular structure bonded with the sword when you accepted the title. If anyone tries to touch it they will be history. You can swing the blade through your body and nothing would happen. You can’t hurt yourself with it.”

Toni looked over and smiled a crooked smile. “Could we discuss history lessons at a later time?”

I wanted to take a deep breath, but that little nothing outfit Stick had bonded me into was ridiculously tight. My blue boots were thigh high with a four inch stiletto heel, my skin tight, blue skirt was so short it was more of an idea rather than practical. I felt like toothpaste my waist was so small. I was sure Toni could touch his fingers if he wrapped his hands around my waist. I hope he was enjoying my figure now because I was sure I would look like a barge ship when our little girl started growing. I had no idea how that little bit of bustier material could support those huge breasts of mine. I was positive the material was stronger than boilerplate. I would never claim I was dressed.

My conversation with Toni was cut short by the return of two Trag. One of them walked up in front of me making sure to not get close to me. I was positive it was the sword he was respecting and not the woman. I was also positive Lass had been involved in the revenge the Pash had taken against the Trag for her son’s death. Otherwise, the Trag would not have known about the Queen’s Sword. I could only hope to be half the woman she was, is.

The Trag studied me for a long, long time. “The test is mixed. We do not agree she is Pash.”

For the first time I saw a hint of a smile on Toni’s face. “Would you like a little proof at the point of her sword?”

The Trag was waving his arms as he backed. “NO! No need for hostilities.”

I was thinking how strange that they would fear a sword, yet the blaster Toni held in his hand was not that much of a threat. I was missing something.

The Trag grouped up in conversation, but those eyes of theirs kept looking in my direction.

What I never expected was for two of them to leap at me from the group. It was pure reflex reaction rather than skill, as I brought the sword up to block the weapon thrust at my eyes from the one on my right. No conscious thought was involved as the Trag’s weapon disappeared. I jumped to my right, straight into Toni as I tried to sidestep their charge. Toni was knocked off balance and stumbled to his right as I body slammed into him. He had involuntarily checked my movement. I two fisted the handle as I flat bladed a sweeping arc into the Trag nearest me. I had overpowered my swing, expecting resistance where blade met Trag, but there was none. The Trag just disappeared.

Because of my mistake I was pulled off balance and clumsily stumbled forward. The second Trag thrust his weapon at where I would have been standing had I not been so clumsy and fallen out of his target area. I planted my right foot and swung underhanded, bringing my sword up, hoping to cut his weapon in half. When sword and Trag weapon touched, the Trag weapon disappeared.

I was too close to the Trag. It snaked out an arm as a phaser came up in one of its other arms. I shortened the arc of my up swing and brought it down hoping to catch the Trag’s arm before it could wrap me up. What I saw was beyond my powers of comprehension. When the blade touched the Trag’s arm snaking toward my throat, the whole Trag disappeared.

“BEHIND YOU!” Blasters were barking as Toni shouted.

I spun on my left heel leaning into whatever? I only knew Toni had yelled and nothing else.

The other two Trag had decided to attack. I was lucky beyond belief that I had advanced rather than retreated when Toni yelled. They must have figured I was running when I started to spin, for their attack carried them into the sweep of my sword. I had it in a two fisted swing, waist high, and putting everything I had into it as I stepped forward. The sword met no resistance as it cut through the Trag and like the first two, they disappeared. I stumbled forward after meeting no resistance and only by the slimmest margin managed to keep my balance. I was standing where the Trag had been only seconds before.

I was scared out of my ever loving mind. I fully expected a couple thousand of them to come pouring into the room to finish the job the first four had started. “Toni?”

I could see laugh lines forming around his eyes as he and the other Pash stared at me. “Honey, your style is a little unorthodox, but I’m not complaining.”

“Let’s get back to the ship before they regroup. I’m not your mother and...” I couldn’t believe we weren’t already back in the ship headed as far away as we could get.

Toni put his sword and blaster back on left and right hips as he walked over in front of me. “Careful with that sword. It’s as dangerous to me as it was to the Trag.”

“The fight is over?” I couldn’t believe we weren’t about to be swarmed with a couple thousand others.

“It’s over. Put up your sword.”

Hesitantly I slipped it over my back and turned loose of it, expecting to hear a clatter when it hit the floor. There was no clatter. I could only imagine it was one of those dimensional portals it had slipped into.

Toni wrapped his right arm around my waist as his eyes gleamed. “The test is over. The Trag won’t be sending any more bio-balls to destroy the human race.”

“Test…?” I coughed. “They forfeited four lives on a test to see if I would kill them or not? And what were you shooting? I heard your weapons discharge?”

Sherry walked up beside us. “If that was an act with the sword, please don’t ever do it again.”

She leaned over and gave me a hug. “I’ll see you in a couple days. You need to drop back over at UF-2 and tell them the virus attack is over. You need to take them off Death-Com or those poor souls on that station will be stuck there forever. Command Central won’t ever lift a Death-Com alert.”

“Thanks for your support Sherry. I guess I’ll figure out what we did when Toni decides to explain it to me.” I hugged her back before she stepped back and disappeared in a flash of light.

We were back on the Pash Star Destroyer. Toni motioned me to the console. “Please, my Queen, take us home.”

We made it home, but not because I knew how or where. Toni guided me step by step. I also figured out we were traveling dimensionally as well as distance. Would the human race ever figure out how to travel through dimensions? I had no idea, but if they did it would be a long, long time. The other half of traveling through a dimension is figuring out how to get back where you left. Obviously the Pash had it figured out.

The place we stopped wasn’t home. I recognized Toni’s ship when we beamed off the Star Destroyer. The Star Destroyer disappeared. Toni took my right hand in his left and led me into the house. His parents were waiting.

I curtsied and bowed my head in respect to both of them.

“Please, you are the Queen of the Pash. Dre and I no longer deserve formal address.” Lass put her hand on my shoulder urging me to rise.

I stood up and looked into her eyes. “You will always deserve formal address, my Queen. A crown or a title does not make a Queen, nor does it make a King. Working toward the common good of all your race is what made you a Queen and Dre a King. I pray I do not disappoint you or my King as I try to be half the woman you are.”

Her cat eyes opened as she studied me before she answered. “The Pash could not be more fortuitous than having you reign as their Queen.”

She turned her attention to Toni. “I know my son well. He will be a good King.”

Lass put her hand around my arm and urged me toward the living room. “I heard the meeting with the Trag went well. You go back tomorrow to sign the treaty. A word of advice. Don’t let any of them touch you. They carry the nastiest spore on their bodies. It takes a trip through a field portal, the likes of which you don’t even want to think about, to get rid of the spore and lesions on your skin.”

I took a quick look back over my shoulder at Toni who was nodding his head in agreement. That was why he didn’t let the Trag touch me. A wash job through that field portal didn’t sound like something I wanted to experience.

“You’re welcome.” Toni laughed.

Darn him, he was mind reading again. Wait until tonight. I was going to do things to him he hadn’t ever...

Lass looked over at me, her eyes were wide open in shock and then she was laughing.

Jeeze, everyone was reading my mind. I blushed in embarrassment. I hadn’t planned on Toni’s mom knowing how we made love.

FROM THE EDITOR: This is the end of Book One. Book Two will follow as soon as I get it proofed, edited and ready to post. Hopefully by Wednesday at the latest.

Barbie and I are very pleased that you have enjoyed this story and we appreciate all your comments and kudos. Thank you all very much.

UF-2 The Seeds of War
by Barbie Lee
Edited by Catherine Linda Michel
Copyright April 2002

"His breath reeked of gin and spirits. It was probably the only mouthwash he ever used. He smiled, and his yellow teeth looked bright against the dark recess of his yawning gullet. His lips were thin. Probably from seldom being pulled into a smile. He held his knife to my throat. “I’m going to sell you to the slavers.”

Over the shoulder of the first man, I could see another man coming across the room. He was holding up a slave collar. A cruel device, it was guaranteed to make the person it was placed on, submissive. Voice controlled, the master didn’t need a transmitter. All the master had to do was give a command. If the slave didn’t respond the slave collar would give a cruel shock. I had seen slaves drop to the floor writhing in agony when they didn’t respond to a command from the master. Those slave collars were a product of the government for use on prisoners. Pirates and slavers found a new use for the government prisoner collars."

And off we go in Book two of UF-2 The Seeds Of War. Strap yourselves in and suit up for action in deep space. Pirates, slavers, alien races and war loom ahead for Brandy, Sherry and all the universes and dimensions. Can our heroes and heroines stave off war and win out against the worst that space has to offer? Well here we go!

Hate, greed, desire for someone’s property, a lust for wealth, or for power... wars are as old as life. All it takes is one person who can convince others to believe they are destined to own that which can be taken by force or by con.

That one person lets others die, while trying to achieve his or her goal of undeserved power and wealth. Either by desires to follow, or being forced to fight because the masses are in favor of war, there are those who die because one person wanted wealth or power, or they hated the other person. In the beginning, it’s always the poor, the uneducated, the lower classes who follow the evil dream. Soon nations and worlds are at war because one person convinced a few it was their right. In the end many die, both good people and evil ones, and those who were mislead by one evil person.

May God have mercy on us all as we march to war to defend ourselves, or our friends freedom. Why do we have to fight to live without the repression of an over burdening government dictatorship, or to protect that which is ours. Sometimes peace comes at a terrible price. If we did not pay the price for peace and freedom, the price for dictatorship would cost much more.

It seemed like yesterday, yet it was forty two years ago I met Toni and married him, or took him as my mate. I was born human. My mate was Pash. The Pash were of the cat species, not the human species. Their race was also several millennium older than the human species.

After Toni and I married, I bore him two children. Both of them were girls. Lavess was the oldest, Toness the youngest. Both of them were turning into beautiful young ladies.

Lavess was more like her father, even tempered and always a joy to be around. Toness was more like me. She had a temper and was quick to anger. Thankfully, it never lasted very long. Toness was also the one who would act before she thought things through. They both had their father’s cat qualities. They could walk across the room so silently that one had to be watching to know they were moving. They also had their father’s cat strength.

Luckily, I got my bluff in on them when they were toddlers. They never seriously challenged me later on in years. Don’t get me wrong, they did test me in jest or for fun. I was grateful they didn’t inherit my human side and act like brats or juveniles. Oh, they pulled pranks alright, but certainly nothing cruel or mean.

In all my years living with the Pash, I never saw a mean or cruel one. They had disagreements and fights all right. They were capable of killing if provoked. I finally understood that being civilized didn’t mean one didn’t strike back if it was necessary. Sometimes, other life forms needed to lose some blood, since that was the only message those forms understood.

I loved Toni, our daughters and the Pash. Over the forty six years we had been together, Toni had taken me to see a few thousand other species, spread out among the galaxies. I was so lucky to have married Toni. He was my soul mate. I could have never loved another. Sometimes life worked out. Sometimes it didn’t... My own species, humans, were acting... Well, they were acting human and wanted what didn’t belong to them. It was times like this I really did wish our daughters had morphed me into a Pash as they grew inside me.

“You don’t have to go.” Toni was watching as I dressed.

“It’s my duty. We made a treaty with them. We promised that, if they didn’t destroy the human species, their galaxy would not be settled with humans.” I pulled on my boots and picked up the black bustier from the bed. I wrapped it around me and turned my back to the droid. He fastened the bustier. The black microskirt was next and then, the wide, black belt around my waist.

The Pash droids were an engineering marvel. They looked like two vertical sticks with two horizontal sticks, and they hovered instead of walking or rolling on wheels. The droids were able to manipulate molecular flow. My bustier was a seamless one piece, once the droid bonded the material together. For better or worse, I was also bonded into that bustier, along with the rest of my clothes at the same time.

The idea I was dressed until a bot helped me undress bothered me at first. It took some getting used to. Mostly in the mental department, as I was geared more toward zippers and fasteners.

Females of other species who married Pash, morphed to look like Pash as their babies grew inside them. It was the sharing of life forces between mother and child. Because Sherry and I had been contaminated by the Trag DNA virus, we were still human in a lot of ways. We didn’t change physically in outward appearance, like other Pash wives. The Trag had sent their bio- balls to our outpost where I was captain. Most of the men and women on UF-2 had been infected. Much to my dismay, Sherry and I were two of those unfortunate souls. At first I would have gladly wiped out the Trag for what they did to the other humans and me, but time has a way of changing one’s perspective. Eventually, over time, instead of hating the Trag for what they did to me, I was thankful.

The male Pash seeded their mates with two eggs. Those two eggs absorbed the eggs of their female mates, Then their female mates would gave birth to two males. The male Pash carried only two eggs and they mated for life. Again, because of the Trag DNA, both Sherry and I gave birth to two girls, not boys. Toness and Lavess changed me, but it was mentally. I became telepathic. It was hard at first, as my mind picked up the thoughts from Toni and the girls. It was a clutter of noise, more like being in a room full of people talking. Eventually I learned to focus my mind to one or more mind thoughts. It was similar to listening to one person in a room full of chatter. Tune out the background clutter and focus on the person speaking.

The Pash looked a lot like humans, except for a couple of things. They had yellow cat eyes with vertical pupils. They also had cat strength and were slim creatures. I guess I had become used to the extra long canine teeth all of them had. When I first met Toni and he smiled, I was kind of taken aback. Over the years it got to where it seemed normal. At times I kind of wished I had fangs like my husband and our daughters, but it wasn’t in the cards.

“You’re making it an official visit then?” Toni picked up his sword and blaster off the dresser.

“Yes. I want the Trag to know we support them. We gave them our word. The Pash have never broken a treaty. I am not going to be the one to do so now.” The jeweled dagger went on my left, on the belt. I was also armed with another weapon, one only I could use. It was the Queen's Sword. Retrievable only by my hand, it was invisible. Until I laid my hand on the sword, it was in another dimension. There was also something else about the Queen’s Sword that made it different from any other sword, or weapon, I had ever seen or heard of.

The blade of the sword collapsed any molecular matter it touched. Anything it touched changed into a black hole, but since the mass wasn’t big enough to maintain a black hole, it rebounded back out in x-rays, gamma rays, invisible light, etc. The rebound was too quick to see, but the disappearance of the object when the blade touched it, was startling.

The Pash were divided into clans. Whether it was luck or fate, I had married Toni, who was head of the Pash. Walking over to him, I put my arms around his neck and pulled him in as I gave him a kiss. “I do not deserve to be so happy. You are the most handsome male of all. Thank you for loving me, my Lord.”

Toni studied me with his big, yellow cat eyes. “You grow more beautiful by the day. I’m so in love with you, my Queen.”

Our daughters were at Meliss and Sherry’s house the next galaxy over. I guess every galaxy was the ‘next’ galaxy over wasn’t it? The Pash were star travelers. They figured out polarity drive a long time before humans had come up with the idea that there was something faster than light speed. The other thing about the Pash polarity drive was, they had figured out how to put something live inside that ship. Humans weren’t even getting close to something similar to polarity travel for cargo carriers, much less human transportation.. Humans hadn’t figured out how to balance the energy fields around the drives so energy bleed inside the ship didn’t kill the life forms it was transporting. So far humans were creating a black hole event where everything disappeared as their ship launched. I was positive that, if the Pash had figured it out, humans would also. Maybe in a few thousand or possibly a million more years?.

Toni walked with me out to our little starship. It was the same ship Toni used when he first visited outpost UF-2. He had suggested we get a bigger starship, but I had emotional attachments to that little craft. In all honesty, it was a little one-person ship. Two or more could ride in it with someone sitting in the aisle.

As I walked up to the ship, I touched the side, an opening formed in the side of the ship and a ramp appeared. It was accomplished through molecular flow. That was something else the Pash had figured out several millennia back. Turning to look at Toni, I wrapped my right hand around the back of his neck. “I will see you in a few hours.”

He shook his head. “I should be going with you. I don’t like the idea of you going by yourself to check out how widespread the humans have encroached into the Trag galaxy.”

“I’ll be fine. I dealt with these kinds of humans while I was on UF-2 and I know how to handle them. You must convene the Council for a vote on the treaty. I need to do some fact finding to see how bad this situation has become.” I gave him a kiss and then walked up the ramp. Taking my place at the console, I could see concern on Toni’s face as the ramp flowed back up into the side of the ship.

Jumping dimensions and distance was not an easy task, in spite of how fluidly Toni did it when he was piloting the craft. I pulled up the star charts and picked the Earth and Trag’s dimension. Then I pulled up the two billion light years I would have to travel to get there. When I touched the star chart hologram in front of my face, it changed to the Trag galaxy. I had jumped distance and dimensions back to the Trag and Earth dimension. The little Pash starship polarity drive had already taken me there. Like the Pash bots, the starships were marvels of engineering

I had heard there were humans on the Enren planet in the Trag galaxy. I pulled it up on my star chart, touched it and I was looking at the planet in the hologram. There were lights and artificial heat coming up from several spots. Obviously human settlers and their allies. I was sure they had detected my starship by now.

I touched the brightest light in the hologram and was immediately above the outskirts of the illegal settlement. From there on down to the ground I guided the little ship by moving my fingers across the console. The ship could have auto parked a lot quicker and gentler than I could manually fly it in. Sometimes I felt like doing it without the AI (artificial intelligence) computer built into the ship design, but I needed more practice before I could get that good.

Pushing the console out of my lap, I opened the side of the ship and walked out before it closed. The settlement looked about like what I expected. Slavers and pirates lived with no regard for hygiene or order. They had few rules. Take what you can, and the one with the most power at the moment rules all the rest.

I felt them approaching before they spoke. “Don’t shoot her. Keep your eye on that ship. There could be others. Is she armed? I see a dagger on her side. Looks expensive.”

Holding up my right hand, open palm, I was looking at the one who seemed to be leading the other six. “I didn’t come to fight. Why are you trespassing on Trag worlds? Don't you know it’s against the treaty the Earth Alliance signed with the Trag?”

He walked up in front of me and took a measured look as he mentally undressed me. The way I was dressed, that couldn’t take too much brain power. It was probably more than he possessed. Pirates and slavers didn’t ever strike me as being too intelligent.

He glanced from me up at my ship. “What kind of ship is that? I’ve never seen one like that before. Where you from? You alone?”

“I’m alone. You didn’t answer my questions. You’re trespassing on Trag planets. Don’t you know the Trag aren’t going to allow this? Have you ever met a Trag? Did you know they like to dissect humans and their allies?” I was hoping to jump-start his brain about what he was facing. I should have known better.

He laughed as he glanced around at the other men. “We aren’t afraid of a few Trag. This planet is rich in energy crystals. Len is bringing in slaves to mine them for us. We’ll all be rich.”

“You will be dead if you don’t leave immediately. The Trag will not accept humans in their galaxy.” I looked at the other men to see if I was getting through to them. Again, I should have known better. These kinds of men understood brute force, not dialog. It was as if their minds had never evolved up the evolutionary scale.

The leader reached for my hair. I slapped his hand away with my left hand as I sidestepped to my right and pulled my dagger. I was looking at the business end of five phasers. Maybe I should have asked Toni and a few dozen friends to come along? Somewhere in a small part of my brain, I remembered I'd always had a few dozen soldiers along when I happened to meet these kinds of people. Now wasn’t a good time for my memory to be reminding me of the details though. Obviously pirates and slavers weren’t the only feeble minded ones at this meeting.

“Feisty aren’t you? I like that in a bitch. I don’t know where you came from, but you made one hell of a mistake, dropping in here like you did.” He slowly reached out and took the dagger out of my hand, daring me to do anything stupid.

He pointed at two men. “Look the ship over and see where the door is. I want me a looksee inside that thing when we get through with the bitch.”

He walked around behind me and gave a hard push in my back with his hand. “Let’s go see what Len wants to do with you.”

When he pushed me, I stumbled forward before I gained my balance. They marched me into the settlement. We passed a couple dozen buildings before they muscled me into one of the larger geo-dome buildings. One of them shoved me in the back and I stumbled across the room. I was getting damn tired of their constant pushing. Inside, I counted four men and two alien Churters, not counting the three men that had marched me there.

By a table to my left, one of the men stood up and walked over to give me a thorough examination. “Who the hell is this?”

The man that had taken my dagger smiled as he stared at me. “We have a present for you, Len. She dropped in on the outskirts. As far as I can tell, she’s all alone.”

“Lady, you are either the dumbest bitch in the universe, or the bravest.” The man called Len stepped in front of me and grinned.

Right now, I had to agree with him. I was the dumbest. I was going to see if I could pull this situation up out of the pits. “I may be your guardian angel. You’re trespassing on Trag property. If you don’t leave, you’re going to end up dying. I know what the Trag do to their enemies. It’s not pretty. I can’t tell you in strong enough language that you have no options, except to leave this planet and this galaxy.”

I knew the man behind me was going to grab my arms before he touched me, but those other men still had their phasers pointed in my direction. I couldn’t fight all of them when I was unarmed myself. That was when the one they called Len pulled a knife and stepped up in front of me. I figured he was the leader of this band of miscreants.

His breath reeked of gin and spirits. It was probably the only mouthwash he used. His yellow teeth looked bright against the dark recess of his yawning gullet as he smiled. His lips were thin. Probably from seldom being pulled into a smile. As the man behind me held my arms, Len put his knife point up against my throat. “I’m going to sell you to the slavers.”

I could feel the point of the knife pierce my skin, and warm blood trickled down my neck. Len looked pleased as he stared into my eyes. “That’s so everyone knows you’re my slave. I’ll drop some markers in you so you can be found if you try to run away.”

Glancing down at my breasts before looking back into my eyes, his eyes gleamed with lust. “I’m guessing a bitch with your looks is already used merchandise. A little more use won’t bring down the value any.”

Reaching out, he grabbed my left breast in his right hand and squeezed. The pain was so sharp I almost dropped to my knees. Involuntarily, I groaned. I wanted to strike back, but the guy holding my arms wasn’t my only problem. My mind kept reminding me of the phasers still trained on me.

Len stared into my eyes as he squeezed harder on my breast. “You were wanting to hit me. Control, I like that in a slave. Since we are going to be intimate, we should be on first name basis. I’m Len. I prefer you call me Master. I already know your name, Bitch!”

I couldn’t stop the tears of pain that trickled out of the corners of my eyes. Finally he turned loose and that caused more pain from the release of the pressure. I sucked in my breath.

The other man who was behind me, holding my arms, laughed. “I think we should sell her services here, first. With a body like hers she should be sharing. She’s prime stuff.”

Over Len's shoulder, I could see another man coming across the room. He was holding up a slave collar. A cruel device, it was guaranteed to make the person it was placed on, submissive. Voice controlled, the master didn’t need a transmitter. All the master had to do was give a command. If the slave didn’t respond, the slave collar would give a cruel shock.

I had seen slaves drop to the floor, writhing in agony, when they didn’t respond to a command from the master. Those slave collars were a product that the government used for prisoners. Pirates and slavers had found a new use for the prisoner collars.

Len stepped over to the side, as another man stepped up in front of me. His eyes were devouring me like I was a slave on the auction block. He reached up over my shoulder and pulled my hair away from my neck. He was rough and intended to hurt me. He succeeded.

Stepping up beside the man standing in front of me, the third man opened up the collar to slip it around my neck. I brought my right foot up with all the strength I could manage, and it caught the first man right between the legs. A look of shock and then pain flashed in his eyes. He turned loose of my hair. He was dropping to his knees when I jumped back and tossed my head back at the same time. I was hoping to catch the man holding my arms in the face or under the chin with the back of my head.

Unfortunately, he was ready and bobbed his head to the side. I only managed to bump back against his chest. I could see that slave collar coming at my neck and I tried to kick the guy holding it. He dodged my kick, as the collar snapped around my neck.

“Turn her loose. She’s not going anywhere now.” The man behind me backed away.

I lunged for the guy who had placed the collar on me. An electric shock unlike anything I had ever felt stunned my mind and my body. I fell to the floor, crying and writhing in pain. Even though the shock was only the smallest microsecond, the pain lasted for over a minute before I could regain use of my muscles.

The man who had placed the collar on me, stared at me with lust in his eyes. “Get up!”

Slowly, I managed to get to my knees and then to my feet. “YOU BASTARD!”

The men were laughing as they holstered their weapons. They knew that slave collar could control me better than any threat from any phaser. The man shook his finger at me. “Your name is 'Bitch.' From now on you will call me Master. He nodded toward the other two men. You will also call Chad and Len, Master. When I tell you to do anything you will answer, Yes Master, before you do it.”

“Drop dead!” I screamed, and then I fell to the floor crying in pain. The collar reminded me who was Master.

The third man had managed to find his feet by the time I regained control of my body. I could read his mind. He was thinking of the things he was going to do to me for what I had done to him.

“Get up, slave.” He was staring at my breasts.

I started to get up. Again I received that terrible shock and went to the floor. They all smiled at my pain. “You didn’t say, Yes Master. Now get up Bitch.”

“Yes Master.” I slowly made it to my feet expecting the slave collar to knock me to the floor any second. In my years of living with the Pash, I had forgotten what hate was. These humans were giving me a real strong dose of remembering.

The man I had kicked was rubbing between his legs as he stepped up in front of me. “What’s your name?”

I hesitated, wondering if I should tell them my name. “Brandy.” Again that terrible shock and I was writhing on the floor.

He didn’t give me a chance to get up as he leaned over and grinned. “What’s your name?”

I sure wasn’t going to say Brandy again. “Winters.” And again that pain. What was I not doing right? Then it came to my pain wracked brain. “Yes Master, Brandy.” And again the pain.

All of them were enjoying seeing me writhing on the floor. I was positive I wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.

He leaned down and put his hand between my thighs. “Okay Bitch, what’s your name?”

“Yes Master, my name is Bitch.” Involuntarily, I cringed expecting the shock that didn’t happen.

“She figured it out. That’s good Bitch. Most of the bitches don’t get it right until we tell them.” He stood up. “Now get up Bitch, and tell me your name.”

“Yes Master.” I managed to push myself up off the floor and stood. “Yes Master, my name is Bitch.”

Len motioned the others to give a little room. “Bitches need to be properly trained. Over behind the bar you will see slave rings. Go fetch and bring a handful of them back over here.”

“Yes Master.” As I turned to obey his command I wanted nothing more than to kill him. That slave collar they had slipped on my neck was cruel beyond words. When I was Captain of UF-2, I thought they were a great idea for controlling prisoners. I guess one’s concept of good or bad depended on whether one was wearing one or not.

I walked behind the bar and saw a stack of body rings. I knew what they were for. As if the slave collar wasn’t enough, these men were sadistic enough to want their slaves wearing body-piercing rings in all places imaginable and unimaginable. My mind was going full tilt trying to figure a way out of this mess I had dropped into. I picked up a hand full of the rings and walked back to the group of men. Holding up the rings I waited for Len to take them.

Len nodded. “You are going to make an excellent slave. Show me where you want them placed.”

“Yes Master.” I didn’t move because I didn’t want them placed anywhere in my body.

“Now that’s not very co-operative, Bitch. You know all the places they need to be inserted, so show me now.”

“Yes Master.” I had two choices. Either hold a slave ring over every part of my body I thought these guys would think a well dressed slave would be wearing one, or have that slave collar knock me to the floor and then follow their command. I held a ring up to my nose and each breast. From the look in his eyes, I could see Len thought that was a start, but it wasn’t going to satisfy him.

“The gun is beside the rings. Bring it.” Len commanded as he stared at me.

“Yes Master.” I turned to go get the gun laying beside behind the counter with the rings. It was the insertion tool. A ring was placed in the jaws of the gun and it was placed up against the body. When the trigger was pulled it clipped the ring and drove it through the flesh. Then the ring was spun inside the jaws of the gun and welded back together, along with changing the molecular structure of the ring. One of man’s better ideas no doubt? Made of Vadim alloy, the ring was indestructible once it had been inserted. There was no way to remove them except through surgery.

Some of the slave rings were no more than what they seemed to be, simple rings. Others were a product of a sick mind. When inserted into flesh they spawned tentacles, which spread throughout the body. As if that wasn’t enough, if another ring was inserted, the tentacles would spread and interlock, each successive ring spreading and interlocking as it was inserted. It was unbelievable what man could do to man in their search for power over another. One individual looking for control over another, or a world looking to control the galaxy, it was the same. Ultimately it was control or domination they desired.

I was praying the rings these slavers had weren’t the ones with the tentacles. Those were almost impossible to remove unless the slave was butchered like a slab of beef and then stuck back together after the rings and tentacles had been peeled out. If it was a nose ring or an earring then the slave could forget about removal. Tentacles spread throughout the brain assured the slave owner that the slave would die before the rings could be removed.

There was no doubt in my mind why he was doing this to me. Making me go after my own torture device was added pleasure to their cruel minds. I walked behind the bar and picked up the gun. I walked back over to Len and held it up.

“Load it.” He was enjoying his control over me.

“Yes Master.” I dropped the smallest ring I could find into the jaws of the gun.

Len shook his head. “No Bitch, I think you need something a little more you.”

He reached over to my left hand and picked up a ring that was six inches in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick. “These are you. Load it.”

“Yes Master.” I could hardly believe he thought that ring would go in any part of my body, much less any of the places he was thinking.

“Where do you think the first one should go, Bitch? Show me.” He was waiting along with the other men for me to inflict self mutilation.

My mind was going into overload as I was praying for a way out of this mess. “Yes Master.” How long did I have before that collar hurt me? There was no way out as I held the gun up to my left breast.

“Take off your clothes.” The man standing to Len’s left commanded.

“Yes Master.” I laid the gun and rings down on the table in front of me. With my right hand I reached up behind my back as if I was going to remove my bustier top. I started to wrap my hands around a sword handle no one could see. If my hand touched the Queens Sword, it was summoned from another dimension. Even though it was still invisible, I could feel the hum in my body as my hands got close to the handle.

Toni’s mom, Lass was the prior owner of the Queens Sword. After I accepted Toni as my mate, I inherited the sword, along with the title of Queen, Lass gave me lessons in handling the sword. I hoped the years of practice under her guidance were going to pay off.

The collar knocked me to the floor. It was quicker than my reflexes. I had no idea how it could know I was going to try and destroy it.

The slavers were surprised to see me drop to the floor in pain and then it was funny as they started laughing. Len shook his head. “Get up Bitch.”

“Yes Master.” Slowly I managed to find my feet again.

The man who was holding my dagger touched the point of it with his left index finger and blood trickled out of the prick. “DAMN! That’s sharp!”

Len glanced over at the man, as blood dripped on the floor. “Use it on the Bitch if she doesn’t ditch the clothes.”

Looking back in my direction, Len nodded. “Well?”

“Yes Master, but the slave collar won’t let me put my hands behind my back.”

Len shook his head. “Damn device must be set on extra sensitive. Control, set to minimum. Okay Bitch do it, but I warn you, if you try to move against one of us you will be knocked on your butt again.”

“Yes Master.” I cleared my mind of what I intended to do as I focused on an imaginary zipper running down my back. I reached up over my back for a sword handle that was yet still in another dimension. I was thinking ‘zipper up,’ as I brought the sword up.

As soon as I started to bring the sword up it shifted to this dimension. Now it was most certainly visible to everyone. As I brought it up I sliced through the middle of my neck with it. It was too late for them to react to stop me. Attuned to my molecular makeup, the sword would never hurt me but it collapsed molecular matter on everything else it touched. The sword never really passed through my body. The blade shifted back to another dimension where my body was. To those who were looking at me it seemed as if I had passed the blade through myself. The slave collar disappeared when the sword touched it.

“WHAT THU...” Len was staring at what he couldn’t believe. His slave was armed and no longer wearing a slave collar!

The men on my right were clawing for their phasers when I planted my right foot and two fisted the sword in a horizontal arc, waist high. They disappeared as the edge of the sword touched them. I kept on turning and caught the man behind me who was reaching for me. Like the first two, he disappeared. Len was half way up with his phaser, but I wanted him alive. I did a half step in his direction as I spun to my right and jumped. I planted my boot up against his skull. His shot went wild as his lights went out. He was down and out for the moment.

I still had three men and two Churters who wanted me dead. I stepped to the side as a phaser barked. I sidestepped, tucked, and rolled toward the shooter as two more shots went over the top of me. I was looking up at the man who was desperately trying to get me in front of his weapon. Pushing up off the floor with my left hand, I thrust my sword into his belly. He disappeared. Springing to my feet, I rushed the two men who were stupid enough to still be sitting, while trying to draw their weapons. Though both of them had their weapons out of their holsters, the table held them to a disadvantage. They had to bring their arms back and up to get past it.

The table between us disappeared as my sword touched it. The advantage was mine, as I knew what would happen when the sword touched the table. They were too slow in making good of the opportunity and failed to aim their weapons quickly enough. I swung up at a slant catching the two still seated. They were gone. The Churters had seen enough and decided they wanted reinforcements before they took me on. They were racing for the door and more help. I beat them there. Their momentum carried them within reach. It was over for the moment.

As I walked back over where the leader was lying on the floor I picked up one of those slave collars off the bar. He was coming around. I squatted down and snapped the slave collar on his neck. “I am your Master. Get up.”

“Fuck you.” He wrapped his hand on the collar and, when he couldn’t get it off, he tried to lunge for me. He screamed in pain as the collar shocked him.

“When I tell you something you will answer with yes. You will not talk unless I tell you to. Now get up.”

“Yes.” He got up off the floor, glaring hatred at me.

I picked my dagger up off the floor where it had fallen after the guy who was holding it disappeared. I slipped it back in the sheath on my belt. “We are going to walk out to my ship. You disobey me and that collar will make you wish you hadn’t. If we run into any men along the way, you will tell them it’s okay. At my ship there are two men. You will send them back here. If you don’t act normal and they get jumpy, I’ll take care of them myself. Do you understand all this?”

“Yes.” If looks could have killed, I was a dead woman.

“Good. Let’s walk out to my ship as if we were old friends.” I slipped my sword over my back and it disappeared. Reaching down, I picked up one of those phasers off the floor. If trouble started again I wanted a little more reach than what my sword gave me. I gave myself a mental kick for not being prepared for these kinds of men, for not wearing a phaser when I left home, and for being plain stupid. My years living with the Pash had lulled me into a false sense of complacency. I vowed I would never again underestimate the evil in humanity.

In spite of his problems, Len stared at where the sword should have been. “Wha…”

The collar knocked him to the floor. I shook my head when he finally stopped writhing in pain. “I said you couldn’t talk unless I told you to. Get up.”

“Yes.” Slowly, he got to his feet.

“Collar, don’t let slave touch me. Let’s go to my ship.” I closed in beside him, knowing he couldn’t lay a hand on me. The slave collar would make sure of that.

“Yes.” He walked out the door with me as if we were old friends.

I saw three men headed our way. “And I can get you those parts for the mining bots from the Nebula Brud galaxy. If we can agree on a price and a time that is. You think that would be a fair trade?”

“Yes.” He did good as we passed the three men.

“I thought you might be agreeable. It’s quite a shocking experience isn’t it? It appeals to me more and more after thinking about it.” I almost laughed as we walked out of the settlement.

“Yes.” He and I both knew I was talking about the slave collar he was wearing.

We were within sight of the two men guarding my ship. “Stop and shake hands with me like we had agreed on a contract. Collar let him shake my hand.”

“Yes.” He turned to face me and held out his hand.

“If you try anything, I’ll kill them and tell that slave collar to teach you obedience every three minutes.” I took his hand and shook it as the two guards walked toward us.

I saw the fear in his eyes. He knew I could and would leave him to a cruel teacher as the slave collar repeated the pain every three minutes. “Yes.”

“Good, then we can do business together. Tell your men it’s okay and walk me to my ship.” I turned loose of his hand as the other two men stopped in front of us.

“Yes.” He turned to his men. “It’s okay.” He walked past them as they started to ask what.

The fact their leader was wearing a slave collar never registered in the men’s minds. Obviously, they were used to seeing people wearing a slave collar. The fact their leader was wearing one never clicked inside their brain.

As we walked up to the ship, I touched the side. The side flowed out into a ramp. I turned my attention back to the man. “Listen very close to what I’m going to tell you. You and all these others are trespassing on Trag property. They love dissecting animal life forms. Humans are on their number one list to pull apart piece by piece.

The Earth Alliance is letting you settle here, hoping you will cause a war between the Trag and the Earth Alliance. They don’t care about you any more than the Trag do. Your deaths will solve a few pirate and slaver problems for them. They are in a win-win situation. They get rid of you, and your death means they can take the Trag planets they want after a few million soldiers die.”

“Yes.” He knew he had to answer.

Reading his mind, I knew I wasn’t getting through. He didn’t believe it and didn’t care. I shook my head. “That slave collar you are wearing is a joke compared to what the Trag will do to you. I would choose a slave collar over ending up in the Trag’s laboratory. Your friends were lucky, they had a quick death. Go back over to your settlement. You will not be able to remove the collar. Anytime someone puts his or her hands on it to remove it, you will be taken to task. Collar do not respond to anyone but me.”

“I’m going to give you one last piece of advice. I have no idea how many lives you have destroyed. If I was still working for the Earth Alliance, I’m sure my superiors would be diplomatic and feign shock to a report that humans were in the Trag galaxy. They might also make a token gesture of asking you to move on. I don’t have that much diplomacy left in me. I have no respect for slavers and pirates. You deserve the same fate as those whose lives you have destroyed. If we ever meet again, I’ll kill you. Now go.”

“Yes.” He had hate in his eyes as he turned to walk back to the two men waiting for him.

After the altercation with the slavers I had an idea. The Trag were next on my meeting list. I had to be careful though. The Trag had no love for animal life. With the pirates and slavers trespassing in their galaxy they were especially hostile toward humans. I had a lot of human in me. I pointed the little starship toward the Trag home planet, Oblick

The Trag meeting went better than I expected, mainly because of the telepathic abilities my daughters had infused in me. Trag were good at handling mind thought, fair at handling Pash, and poor at speaking English. Years back, Tony explained how Trag communicated. They were plant life, not animal. The Trag were empathic and telepathic long before they managed verbal communications.

Soon after the Trag meeting, I was star jumping again. I was headed back to the Pash dimension, a couple billion light years from the seeds of war germinating between humans and Trag. The Pash had built their main city, which was not their capital, Avar, in space. Actually Avar was four times the size of earth’s moon in area, but it was flat rather than being round like a planet. The city orbited Ecss like an artificial moon. Ecss was a lot like Saturn.

Pash also lived on Ecss with the aid of gravity stabilizers. Otherwise, the gravity of the huge planet would be too much to bear. After parking at the pad, outside the conference building, I found Toni in council, making plans for what seemed to be an unavoidable war. Stepping into the conference room, I walked up beside him.

Toni gave me a hug before returning his attention to the sixteen Pash sitting at the conference table. “We agree? If it comes to a vote, and it means war, we will honor our treaty with the Trag? The Earth Alliance has millions of ships it can commit to the battle. We will be out numbered better than one hundred to one.”

After he stood up, Meliss looked at those around him. “We can not and will not hide behind our dimensional capabilities. We know it’s a matter of time before humans figure out polarity travel for their life forms. Will they figure out dimensional travel? How long will we be safe after that? A million years? Ten million years? No, we must make the humans understand they can not make and break treaties as it suits them.”

Meliss took a long look at me before he continued. “Sherry, has informed me she believes she can get support from among the humans. Even if it’s only a couple hundred thousand ships, it would be a help.”

It was one of those impossible situations. I didn’t want Sherry trying to organize the clones. It was a moot point. She was the only one who could. “I know what she’s thinking. There are those who have been bred and designed by the humans and are looked on as meaningless life forms, even if they are human themselves. It will be risky trying to contact and organize them. It would mean death to her if she is captured.”

Meliss nodded. “She understands the consequences if she’s caught. I am neither for, nor against her in this decision. However once she starts I will give her my full support and help her in anyway I possibly can.”

A hint of a smile crossed his face for the briefest of moments. “You, better than anyone, should know Sherry doesn’t change her mind after she decides on a plan.”

Unconsciously, I closed my eyes as I remembered a different life on a space station named UF-2. Sherry gave me advice over the years and she was never wrong. Although she was never commissioned in the military, she was my best friend and my confidant while I was stationed on that frontier port.

I never did understand why she spent ten years of her life there with me. She could have gone anywhere she wanted, any time she wanted. Most any place would have been a thousand times better than UF-2, but stay she did. I would be eternally grateful. I would probably never know why she stuck it out with me.

Toni got dead serious. “It’s agreed. We meet at Vell in two days. Call a war council and bring it to a vote.”

Vell was the Pash capital city. I knew why the meeting was going to be there. To make it official. The meeting would be either a declaration of war, or an adoption of hands off and let the Trag handle the humans on their own. I knew the purpose of this meeting at Avar, at this time, was to make an unofficial decision. In some ways the Pash lived a very black and white life. There was right and then there was wrong, with very little gray area in between. After living with them for the past forty two years, I knew what we were headed for. Deep down inside my heart there was no doubt of the outcome when it came to a vote. Unlike humans the Pash didn’t make and break treaties as it pleased them.

The meeting was over. I wanted to talk to Meliss, but he was quickly gone. Wrapping my arms around Toni’s neck I gave him a kiss. “How do you think they will vote if it comes to war?”

He sighed as he studied my eyes. “They will vote for honoring the treaty.”

“Let’s go talk to Sherry and Meliss. I want to know how she’s planing on contacting the clones without getting herself arrested for sedition against the Earth Alliance.” I was pulling on his hand, urging him to walk out to the ship with me.

We arrived at Sherry and Meliss’s home minutes later, even though it was a galaxy away. It no longer surprised me how quick the Pash starships jumped time and distance.

Sherry met us at the door, as Toni and I deboarded the ship. “I felt you coming, and don’t try and make me change my mind. We need all the help we can get, and then some. The Earth Alliance is going to outnumber us better than a hundred to one.”

Toni had spent years teaching me how to bury my mind thoughts so others couldn’t read me, but I usually didn’t bother. It was a mental gymnastics exercise and normally I didn’t care who was hearing what I was thinking. Sherry had picked up my free thoughts and she was right. I intended to try and stop her. Thinking about it, this wasn’t strictly between Trag and humans. This was a moral issue about right and wrong. Humans should be involved against any wrong, even if it was a treaty with plant life forms. Humans liked the idea of a treaty, when it was learned those plants could possibly wipe out the human race. Now, greed had taken the place of honor. Humans wanted to ignore the treaty as they settled in the mineral and energy rich Trag galaxy.

Sherry backed up from the door. “Come on in. Meliss hasn’t returned yet. I imagine he is working to get the word out about the meeting in two days.”

It didn’t escape my attention that Sherry was wearing a floor length, golden yellow, gown. Because she was a product of the Trag genetic engineering, Sherry was well endowed with an ample bust, tiny waist, and abundant hips. Meliss liked his sexy wife to wear clothes that showed off her figure to the max. Like myself, and a couple thousand others on UF-2, Sherry had been contaminated with the Trag virus which carried a specific DNA code. After the change, she could have walked into any Trader Outpost and been their number one show girl.

There was a blessing in that Trag virus, along with the curse. Sherry and I both agreed that the blessings outweighed the curse. She married Meliss and I married Toni because of what the Trag virus did to us. We each gave birth to two girls which was a first for Trag mates. Again it was because of the Trag virus. Up until Sherry and me, Pash mates only gave birth to males. Sometimes there’s a silver lining in that black cloud.

Sherry walked ahead of us into the living room and motioned for Toni and me to find a seat in one of the chairs or on the divan. She sat down in one of the big cushioned chairs and turned her attention toward me. “I plan on leaving when Meliss returns home. Should be in a couple hours. There is an outpost in the O’Ryan universe where many of the clones pass through. I can make initial contact there.”

“You’ve been there?” Sherry’s past wasn’t something I knew anything about. I knew she was a clone herself. She was also the most intelligent person I had ever met.

She shook her head and her golden earrings tinkled. Reaching up with her right hand, she pushed her long red hair back away from her face. “No, it wasn’t a place I ever considered visiting. I didn’t need anything they could provide and I had nothing to offer anyone as helpful information.”

“I’ll go with you.” I could feel her protest before she said it. “You need someone to guard your back. Who is the least likely person to do that without looking like they were guarding you? Me, of course.”

Sherry looked at Toni and then me. “There is no need. I can...”

“No you can’t. I tried that same trick by myself already today. It’s no good wishing you had brought a friend along when you are up to your armpits in pirates or slavers. Wishing doesn’t make them go away.” I was determined I was going with Sherry, even if I couldn’t stay more than a couple days. I would have to return in two days to be at the meeting when the Pash voted whether to go to war or not.

Sherry was quiet for a long time before she spoke. “If you’re determined, I don’t guess I can stop you.”

Toni turned to look me in the eyes as he reached for my right hand. “I’m coming too. It may be for only half a day, but I’m coming.”

I had never seen Toni angry, but when I was Captain of UF-2 I did see what a man looked like after he had pulled a phaser on Toni. It wasn’t a pretty picture. I was glad he made the offer. “Thanks, but let’s not go together. I would rather the locals didn’t connect you with Sherry and me.”

He nodded in agreement. “I’ll go in first then. Ten or fifteen minutes ahead of you and Sherry.”

I was pulling on Toni’s hand as I rose off the couch. “Sherry, give us thirty minutes. Meet me in space far enough from the outpost they won’t be picking us up on the sensors. You have the co-ordinates, or do we fly around the O’Ryan universe looking over outposts?”

Toni’s ship picked up extra looks as it appeared on the pad outside Durus Nine. Polarity drive was instant travel. It was as if the ship wasn’t there and then it was. There were more looks as two Pash walked into Rims Traders Post.

A typical traveler’s watering hole, it was busy with life forms who looked death in the eye each day as they traveled out into the vastness of uncharted space. When they returned alive from exploring, they wanted to let off built up tensions and have a couple years of fun in one or two days before they set off again to cheat death or find it. The law usually looked the other way, or it didn’t exist in these kind of places.

Meliss motioned toward an empty booth. “Let’s take that one.”

As Toni and Meliss were walking toward it, a huge man stepped up in front of it. “This is my booth. You want to sit here, then you have to pay me.”

Toni gave the man a hint of a smile. “Are you the owner of this place?”

The guy nodded yes. “Sure. You ladies want to sit in my booth for free, then I have a couple men who would like to buy your drinks.”

Toni glanced at Meliss and gave a wink. “That would be nice, but I’m afraid someone is confused. We aren’t ladies.”

“You look like women. I have a couple girls who that like that kind of guy. You buy them drinks and the booth is yours.” His mouth curled up into a false smile.

Meliss took a step toward the man. “I believe you have everything wrong. We aren’t ladies, we aren’t butch, dyke, or gay, and this isn’t your booth. Go back to your friends at the table. This conversation is over.”

“The hell you say!” He was dropping his hand to his phaser on his hip.

Meliss’s hand came across the man’s face. Meliss had his claws out. The guy was spun around to his right as he flew into the empty booth.

Up until that moment the bar had been a low roar of voices and sounds. It was as if there was a master switch in the universe and all sound had been shut off. It was instantly deathly quiet. All eyes focused on the three men.

Chair legs were dragging on the floor as his friends at the table were rising to pull weapons. Before they had found their feet, they were looking into the business end of the huge blaster Toni carried on his hip.

Toni shrugged his shoulders as he held his aim. “If your weapon clears the holster you’re dead. One or all three, makes me no difference.”

From across the room a woman’s voice was heard. “Boys, if you ain’t ever seen a Pash, you’ve met one now. They move quicker than greased lightening and have the strength of four men. If you ever heard any of the old tales about them, figure most of it was the truth rather than exaggeration.”

The men looked into Toni’s yellow eyes and vertical pupils. Their own eyes growing wider in response as it registered on their brains. The one closest to Toni was slowly moving his hand away from his weapon. “Oh shit...”

The three men hesitated, knowing the situation was out of their control. Spacers didn’t survive the grim reaper by being stupid. Drawing a weapon when one was already pointed in your direction was stupid. Drawing a weapon on a legend was beyond stupid. They had heard the stories told about Pash, even if they had never met one. One of them slowly motioned with his left hand toward the body in the booth. “Can we have Greg? If he’s not dead then he needs medical.”

“Sure.” Toni slid his blaster back into the holster as he backed up from the booth. Meliss stepped off to the other side.

As the men rose from the table and walked over to pick up their friend, Meliss pointed toward the booth in the corner of the room, where a man was extending his arm across the table. “If you plan on using that needle gun you have up your sleeve, I suggest you take your best shot right now. If I sit down and you are still pointing that thing in my direction, I’ll kill you.”

The arm stopped moving as the guy was swallowing. Looking around, he pulled his arm back across the table.

Meliss nodded in his direction. “Smart move.”

“Holy father!” The men had pulled the big man out and rolled him over to pick him up. Attached to the guy’s face by a strip of skin, his ear was lying on the table. The skin on the left side of his face was peeled back to his nose. A pool of blood was on the table where his face had been. One of the men pushed the man’s skin back as best he could.

Meliss glanced at the guy as they picked him up. “He’s lucky I didn’t want to hurt him.”

As the spacers carried their comrade out of the bar the babble picked back up. There was a difference though, as most everyone, humans and aliens, kept glancing over toward Toni and Meliss. Everyone was trying to tell some of the old stories they had heard about Pash.

A multi armed bot rolled over to the table, cleaned the blood off, and then rolled away to clean another table, as it dutifully carried out its single minded functions.

Meliss and Toni slid into the booth as they pulled their blasters and laid them on their lap. Some of those spacers in that bar were either drunk enough, or ignorant enough, to want to kill a Pash because they were a legend.

A reptilian female walked over to the Pash. “What will it be boys? You here for a little fun and games, or to see how the lower life forms live?

Meliss recognized the voice as the female who had announced to the spacers that they were Pash. He glanced over at Toni and then back to the female. “Two frozen drey will be it, unless you can point us toward a repro lab experiment.”

She gave Meliss a sharp look as she shook her head. “I’ll get the two frozen drey.”

After walking over to the bar and talking to the reptilian bartender, she picked up a tray and placed three flasks on it. She walked back over to the Pash and set the tray down as she slid in beside Tony. “I’m Vin. We don’t advertise clones in here. Is it business or pleasure you are seeking?”

Toni held out his hand over hers. “Strictly business. We are looking for help.”

“Help?” Vin looked dubious as she rolled the palm of her left hand up under Toni’s fist.

He dropped ten gems and two gold coins into her palm. “Humans are trespassing in the Trag Galaxy. It could lead to war.”

The gems and coins disappeared into a pocket on her skirt. “You looking for mercenaries, or what?”

“No, just honest people. The Earth Alliance made a treaty with the Trag and now are ignoring it.” Toni watched the cold spill out of his flask as he pulled it over in front of him.

“And you think the clones will fight for nothing because you ask them to?” Vin looked at Toni and then over at Meliss with suspicion.

Meliss studied the woman sitting beside Toni. She was a Monta, her heritage was of the reptilian family. She had long lashes over red oval eyes. She was either a product of genetic engineering, or serious plastic surgery. Montas didn’t have eyelashes and their faces were longer. Vin had a lot of human looks in her features. Obviously she was designed, or shaped, to please the human traffic that passed through the outpost.

“You’re a clone.” Meliss said it without feeling in his voice. He didn’t want to make their first contact angry.

Vin stared at Meliss for many seconds before she answered. “Yes, I am. Was that a guess, or have you met natural born Monta?”

Toni gave Meliss a slight nod. “We have visited Agus-Sse, your home planet. Your facial features and figure are different from those we visited.”

She reached up with her left hand and touched her face. “Humans have a desire to make everything they meet into an image of themselves. The closer aliens resemble humans, the easier it is to accept us as useful, or at least a step above ignorant beasts. Yes, I’m a genetic product of the human labs. I worked here for several years before I found out Montas don’t have breasts or a small waist. I thought I was normal until then. What’s your point?”

“The point is, you hear a lot about what is going on among the clones. Do they still talk about a rebellion? If they are, how do we contact them?” Toni turned in the booth so he could give Vin his full attention.

She shook her head. “How do I know this isn’t part of an Earth Alliance trick to find and destroy any potential threat against them?”

Meliss gave her a nod of his head. “I think you forget where we are. All you have to do is stand up and yell we are part of the Earth Alliance. Everyone in here would be trying to kill us. There is a second problem, when did you ever hear of Pash teaming up with the Earth Alliance? We tolerate the species. Some of us have taken humans as mates. Not all humans are bad, and not all clones think ill of the Earth Alliance. If you are happy with what the genetic labs did to you, then most likely my friend and I will not walk out of here alive.”

Vin held rolled her hands over and looked at them. “Happy with what I am? I’ve accepted it. I’m a genetic mess, but I’ve accepted my life. I can never get pregnant, lay eggs, nor live like a Monta or human. The traders that stop by tell me how beautiful I am. I know they are starved for any kind of female relationship. I give them what they desire and they leave, promising me they will be back to marry me when they get rich. They won’t ever get rich. I know that.”

Vin’s eyes showed great sadness as she looked at Meliss. “I’m a freak, designed for pleasing men. I’m very good at it. I guess I’m not anything more than a pet. The person you want to talk to is a woman who goes by the name of Dora. She comes in here from time to time. You’ll be more likely to catch her in a little café on the other side of this settlement. If she has anyone with her, give them time to leave. A lot of the ones she deals with sell information to both sides.

It had been a long time since Sherry and I had walked into a trader’s post. Sherry was one step ahead of me. She was wearing a metalic gold bustier, black jacket, black skin tight pants and high heeled black boots. Her long red hair was caught in a ponytail and cascaded down to her diree. She was wearing a pistol on her right hip and a sword on her left. As she walked into the barroom, she received more than her fair share of catcalls and instant offers to visit the backroom or someone’s spaceship.

I was right behind Sherry. My outfit was a white satin blouse with sheer, billowing, gossamer sleeves. My pants were black and I also had on high heeled black boots. I had a big wide black belt around my tiny waist. Fastened to the belt where the big silver belt buckle was, and in the middle of the back of the waist belt, was another belt dropping down on my right hip to a holster slung low on my hip. The bottom of the holster was strapped to my leg, just above the knee so it wouldn’t bounce or move when I walked. The jeweled dagger was on my left side, riding high on my hip in the sheath. The sheath fastened so the dagger handle tilted forward so it could be quickly and easily drawn. I had pulled my hair into a ponytail too. In case Sherry and I got into a fight in the bar, I didn’t want to have my hair in my eyes. My shoulder purse was small. I carried it on a gold chain over my left shoulder. As I was right handed, I wanted my right arm free without excess baggage.

Vin turned her head to see what was causing all the excitement in the bar. “New blood. They don’t look worn out. If they came here looking for adventure, they are going to be severely tested, staying alive and away from the slavers. Slavers will kill to get their hands on anyone who looks like them.”

Toni leaned over and whispered. “They can take care of themselves. The blonde killed six men and two Churters this morning.”

Vin’s head snapped around to look Toni in the eyes. “You’re kidding? She looks like a slaver’s dream machine…., You know her?”

“She is my mate.” Toni’s eyes were gleaming.

Vin’s face showed disbelief. “And Red?”

Meliss gave a hint of a smile. “Sherry is my mate.”

“They look human.” Vin glanced at the two women before turning her attention back to the Pash.

“They are.” Meliss responded.

Vin turned to study the two women as they walked across the room to an empty table. She was trying to figure out how anyone who looked like those two women could be so deadly. She decided it proved the old adage, looks can be deceiving.

Sherry and I knew Toni and Meliss were in the bar before we ever walked in. We didn’t want to acknowledge we knew them, as we were hoping to double our chances of making contact with the clone underground organization.

Before we had walked halfway across the room a couple men were already following us to an empty table. Sherry and I never sat down as the men split up and walked over to opposite sides of the table we had stopped at.

“You need something?” Sherry looked at the man to her right.

I glanced in his direction. He was medium built and had a few scars on his left check he'd never taken the time to have removed. His clothes were well worn, as was the phaser he carried on his hip. I turned my attention back to his companion. He was a good match, except for the scars. In my mind I classified them as traders or movers of merchandise. They didn’t quite have the look of slavers or pirates, but they were only a small step above. I guess it was a very important step.

The man to Sherry’s right pulled the chair back. “What you ladies looking for? Tom and I can help you find it. You want to explore the edge of space? We know spacers who are outbound. They would be glad to have company such as yourselves. Or if you are looking for...”

“I don’t think you have what we are looking for. Why don’t you use your retro jets and park your ass back where you just left.” Sherry gave him a disgusted look, as her left hand dropped down to the handle of her sword.

The guy was too infatuated with Sherry’s body to take the hint or notice where her left hand was resting. “Why don’t you tell me what it is you are looking for. Tom and I might have it.”

Shaking her head Sherry sighed. “What is it I’m saying that you don’t understand? You need it in clearer language? Drop dead. Get lost. You annoy the hell out of me and remind me of Wubbe vomit.”

In spite of my best efforts not to, I chuckled. “Wubbe vomit? I guess they do, don’t they?”

“Glad to see you find us amusing.” The man pulled back the chair and was starting to sit down.

I knew what was coming. I reached up over my back pulling my sword the same time Sherry drew hers. Sherry was too close to the table and had to take a step back as she brought her sword out of the scabbard. She made a sweep with it under the chair seat. She cut the back legs out of the chair. Caught off balance, as he was more down then up, the man went over backwards with the chair as the chair legs fell outward. He sprawled out on the floor with what was left of his chair.

Because the Queen’s Sword didn’t have to be powered into what it touched to collapse molecular structure, I didn’t have to position for the swing as I brought it up over my head and down to cut the chair on my right. The man named Tom wasn’t as far down into the chair when it disappeared under him. He didn’t go down. He stumbled into the space vacated by the chair as he caught his balance.

I took a stance with the sword ready to swing if he made any threatening moves or went for his weapon. Tom’s eyes turned to two white balls of fear. He understood how close to dying he had come. He was also smart enough to not challenge me.

There was a solid thunk when Sherry stabbed the point of her sword between the guy’s legs who was lying on the floor. “Only two chairs at this table. I guess that means you need to find someplace else to sit.”

The man turned white as he looked down. It was with a cough when he managed to speak. “I think you’re right. Sorry, my mistake. We meant no harm.”

Pulling her sword out of the floor, Sherry gave a slight nod of her head as she took a stance, ready to attack if the man wanted to press the fight. It was unnecessary as the man found his feet. Both men scurried away as quickly as they had arrived.

Vin had been watching, along with everyone else in the bar. “Those girls are deadly. They handle those swords as good or better than any bounty hunters I’ve seen.” She looked over at Toni. “The chair by the Blonde disappeared when her sword touched it. It’s been a long time since I heard stories about the Sword of the Queen. I’m guessing I just saw the sword in action?”

A hint of a smile crossed Toni’s face. “It’s possible.”

FROM THE EDITOR: Barbie and I thank all of you for your comments and kudos, and want to remind you that comments and kudos are the only payment authors receive here at Top Shelf. We are very pleased that you are enjoying this story and we thank you for all your interest.

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.

“How many are there at any given time would depend on what was on the agenda. One or two would be there if everyone is out looking for your mate and her friend. Or around forty if they are all there for a meeting.” Dora added her knowledge to the conversation.

“Sounds fair. Point us in the direction and we will take it from there.” Meliss gave a quick look at Toni as he grinned.

“I’m in.” I wanted a piece of this action. “Sherry can have her talk with Dora and we can get out of the way while she is taking care of business.”

Dan gave a quick glance at Sandy. “Count us in. They will find out we were with you when you killed that first bunch and Crus. Either way we are dead men. They will drop a bounty on our heads too. There won’t be anyplace we can go and feel safe. Taking a few of them with me before I die will be a better way to go.”

Sandy shook his head. “That place is shielded. I don’t think we can make it in. It would take a Star Destroyer to blow a hole in that shield.”

Toni put his left arm over my shoulder. “Or one sword. I think we have the shield problem licked.”

“We are dead men.” Sandy took a quick glance in my direction after he said it.

“I know the expression, and you could be right.” I was laughing as I gave Sherry a wink. “I will be back in five days to check on you. If you have star jumped, leave information with Dora. If that isn’t possible, then leave it with Sandy, Dan, or Vin.”

Dora shook her head. “It's dangerous leaving information with another on this post. I suggest you call.”

A smile spread across the faces of Meliss, Toni, and myself as Sherry shook her head. “Can’t call across two billion light years.”

“What has that got to do with anything? I know you can’t call across two billion... The Pash use Polarity Drive? You traveled two billion light years from home?” Dora was in shock as she calculated the distance in her mind. Dan and Sandy weren’t doing a whole lot better.

“I’ll leave the message. You take care. This might be a game to you, but a phaser can kill you as quickly as it does everyone else.” Sherry walked over and gave me a hug.

She turned and took Meliss in her arms. “I will miss you. Be careful, our daughters need you at home.”

Meliss gave Sherry a tender hug and a kiss before he straightened up. “Come back safe. I hate to think I would have to kill all slavers to avenge any harm that may come to you.”

I don’t know if Dora or the two men put much stock in that remark Meliss made. I knew it wasn’t an idle threat. If anything happened to Sherry I was positive Meliss would spend the rest of his life hunting down and killing slavers. Pash didn’t start fights, but they sure finished most of them.

Five of us walked out of the café headed toward Control Center on pad six. The slavers on this post forfeited their lives when they put a bounty on Sherry and me. Now it was time to make them pay the price.

We didn’t go in the front door. We went in the back way, which wasn’t actually a door until I made one. Before we reached the shield, I pulled my sword and pushed it into the force field. We could hear the shield generators screaming as they overloaded when my sword sucked all the energy out of them. A bright fireworks of energy beams poured into the place where I had the sword stuck in the shield. A black hole formed at the tip of the blade and radiated outward as it collapsed the shield. Toni, Meliss, and myself had seen these results before. I can honestly say, Dan and Sandy were in total disbelief.

“Now!” I charged forward as the shield collapsed, and swung at the armored wall of the Control Center. There was a flash of light as the wall disappeared before us.

Toni and Meliss were already past me, firing as they ran into a room with only one man in it. The inside walls weren’t armored and Toni blasted the door in front of him. Meliss turned to his right and blasted a hole in the wall. Those rooms were empty as they should be. Toni ran into the next room, past the crater he had left when he blasted the door. Meliss did the same as he charged into the room through the gap in the wall.

I was right behind Toni as I sprinted for the door twenty feet away to my right. Toni and Meliss waited until I had reached the door. I was standing off to the side as I held the sword in my right hand and swung it toward the door. The door disappeared in a flash as the blade touched it. With the blaster I was carrying in my left hand, I hosed down the inside without even aiming, knowing I wasn’t hitting anyone. Dozens of phasers answered my shots. The slavers already knew something was wrong when their force field collapsed. They were waiting, and figured we were coming in the door. They poured a sweeping death of phaser fire into that doorway, guaranteed to kill anyone stupid enough to step forward.

“Crank it up.” Was in my mind. I was firing wild random shots back into the room. It was my job to make the slavers inside that room think that was where the attack was coming from. Toni and Meliss blasted holes in the walls. Toni and Meliss were at a full run when they made passages through the walls. The slavers were caught looking in the wrong direction when Toni and Meliss ran into the room, a nano second after the respective holes were blown. It was over in less than a heartbeat. The slavers were out matched.

I turned around to look at Dan and Sandy who hadn’t even made it into the room where I was. “Put up your weapons. This has already ended.”

Sandy hesitated before holstering his weapon. “Only a couple of them here? We missed most of them, didn’t we?”

Toni and Meliss walked out of the room as I shook my head. “All of them were here. You have your port back, if you can keep more slavers from moving in.”

Slipping my sword over my back I turned it loose, knowing it had disappeared. I holstered my blaster as I walked over in front of Dan and Sandy. “Hold up your right hands and I’ll swear you in.”

Neither one of them comprehended what they were going to be sworn in for, but they automatically held up their right hands.

“As an active Captain of the Earth Alliance, and still registered as Captain Brandy Winters of UF-2, I hereby do deputize Sandy and Dan as Justices of the Peace on Durus Nine. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s legal. You can lower your hands.”

I was looking at two disbelieving faces as they lowered their hands. “You’re the law on this outpost. It’s legal. I’ll drop the paperwork in the post log. The next cargo ship that comes by will hold your comlinks and security badges. Any questions?”

I glanced from one to the other. “If you two pick up where Crus left off, I promise to come back and personally take care of the situation. You're going to find a terrible temptation to help yourself to the money that flows by this post. You'll tell yourself it won’t make any difference if you take some. It either won’t be missed, or those it belongs to won’t report it, as they operate outside the law. Don’t do it. It’s tainted money. It will own you if you touch it. It corrupts and controls the lives of those who touch it. Think of Crus if you are tempted. ”

Staring with disbelieving eyes, Sandy dropped his hand as he shook his head. “You are joking aren’t you?”

“If you think I’m joking go take a look at the thirty one dead bodies in the next room. Deep space isn’t the place for anyone looking for a long life. Trading in slaves will shorten that life even more. I didn’t do you any favors. The slavers may want this post back. If they do, then you both are probably dead men. If they don’t, then the idea you are lawmen may keep any bounty hunters from wanting to kill you for any reward the slavers may place on your heads. Let’s go back over to Crus’s office and I’ll file that report. We need to be going. If you do your job right, this is probably the first and last time you will ever see a Pash.” I didn’t have to tell them that, if they didn’t do their job right, they wouldn’t want to see a Pash. They understood the message that wasn’t spoken.

By the time I left Durus Nine with Toni and Meliss, Sherry had already taken her ship and jumped space. I prayed she stayed safe. If the Earth Alliance had any inkling what I was involved in, I would have been court-martialed and executed. I found the double set of standards I was playing hard to believe myself. I had deputized two men, under the authority given to me as Captain of an outpost, while helping Sherry find people who would fight against that same authority. Now I was headed home to join forces against the Earth Alliance. In simple terms, I told Dan and Sandy to uphold the law while I was breaking the law. The concept would play havoc with the mind if one let it.

Two days passed, and we were leaving home again. I walked up the ramp ahead of Toni. “You drive.”

He stepped up into the ship behind me. “You sure?”

“Yes, you can get us there a lot quicker. I have to bring up the co-ordinates every time I take us anywhere.” I turned around waiting for him to take his seat behind the console.

He nodded as he moved to the console. Running his hand over the console caused a seat to form up out of the floor behind me. The side of the ship flowed back again. “You don’t take that long and besides, you will never learn if you don’t keep doing it.”

Taking my place on the seat that formed under me, I motioned with my finger for us to go. “Maybe I’ll have it figured out when I get to be your age.”

“Are you suggesting I’m old?” The side of the ship opened up again as Toni stood up.

I stood up and turned to look at him. “No, my King. I should be flogged for the mere suggestion you might be old. I was only suggesting you were sufficiently aged to be wiser than me.”

Toni started to step off the ship ahead of me. “I thought that was what you were suggesting.

We walked into the huge meeting hall together. I had been told there were approximately half a million Pash in that hall when it was filled. Today, it was filled past capacity, and more were still arriving. There were millions more Pash waiting at home, or wherever, for the result of this meeting. I could feel Meliss, and the four girls in there somewhere. Of course the girls would be the center of attention for the moment. They were the only natural born Pash females. Up until Sherry and I had daughters, no females were born to the Pash. The Pash took female mates outside their species. That was how Toni found me. I was so lucky in a lot of ways.

I walked with Toni up to the speaker’s stand. The hall was filled with voices, but not the kind most humans would ever hear or understand. It was a calliope of mind thought. It took me close to twelve years to learn how to separate mind thought in a crowd. It’s like humans learn to listen to only one voice in a room full of people chattering. Eventually, I learned to separate the mind chatter and listen in on a particular mind thought.

Toni raised his right arm up in the air and it was as if all sound in the world had been turned off. It became deafening in how quiet it was. “Humans are settling in the Trag universe. In spite of the notice to the Earth Alliance, and repeated warnings to the settlers, more humans keep coming and refuse to leave.”

“In a few minutes, our Queen will ask you to vote in support of the treaty we signed with the Trag. The Earth Alliance has betrayed the Trag by allowing this to continue without taking measures to punish those who trespass. The Earth Alliance has betrayed the Pash, as we also signed the treaty. The treaty was plain. No human settlement would be allowed in the Trag galaxy, in return for the Trag not unleashing any more bio mechanical virus on human life forms. Trade between humans and Trag was agreed upon, on the condition that those who had been infected would be in charge of the trade. That was the treaty the Trag, the Pash, and Humans signed. There have been no revisions, nor new treaties.”

Toni looked over at me. “My Queen.”

I nodded in agreement with Toni. “My Lord.”

Taking a deep breath, I turned my attention to the sea of Pash in front of me. “Your King and I have arranged to meet with the Trag, immediately after we take a vote. We hope to accomplish several things with our visit. We wish to convey to the Trag that the Pash do not break treaties. We want to meet with some of the settlers and convince them it is a situation of utmost importance for them to leave the Trag galaxy immediately, or they will forfeit their lives.”

Toni reached over and put his arm around my waist. He knew how hard this next part was for me.

I made sure my mind was clear before I started. “IF the Earth Alliance believes it has a right to take action against the Trag for killing the trespassers who refuse to leave, they may declare war against the Trag. If the Earth Alliance declares war against the Trag, they are also declaring a war against the Pash. We signed the treaty with the Trag.”

I started to say 'I know my people,' but humans were no longer my people. “I know the humans and they will risk war for the spoils of war. Toni and I have requested a meeting with the President of the Earth Alliance. We will remind him of the treaty with the Trag. We will also inform the Earth Alliance that a broken treaty and war with the Trag, means a broken treaty and war with the Pash.”

Turning my head to look at Toni, I sent him a mind thought. ‘Time to vote’

Toni squeezed me before he looked out across the sea of Pash. “The question is, do we honor our treaty, or do we let the Trag take care of this themselves? Yes is to honor the treaty, no is to let the Trag do this alone. Vote.”

We waited for the hologram generated, blue and white graph, to tally the vote. Seconds later the graph was solid blue. Not one single white showed up on the graph. I was proud of the Pash for their solid commitment to their treaty. I knew this could very well lead to war if the Earth Alliance did not pull the pirates and slavers from the Trag galaxy. How many had to die before it ended, if it began? No doubt our lives would be changed from this point forward.

Hours later Toni and I were on a starship, larger than Toni’s little personal craft. We were going to try and talk some sense into the humans, and their planet grabbing allies. There were no negotiations here. It was a clear case of 'leave the Trag galaxy or die.'

Our first stop, of course, was to visit the Trag. We wanted to reaffirm our commitment of support to the Trag and get a feeling for how bad the situation had degraded.

Toni parked the starship close to the Trag capital. I had been there many times on trade disputes. The Trag weren’t a bad species, if one could call plants an intelligent species. They just took a lot of getting used to.

This starship had teleport capabilities, and we beamed into the conference room. Toni gave me a mind thought as we faced a party of eight Trag across the room. ‘Let’s get serious. The Trag do not have a sense of humor.’

Four Trag separated from the group and walked over to meet us. “You have broken the treaty.”

I stopped several feet back from them. No matter how many times we met, I always thought they looked like walking mushrooms. They had four eyes on stalks, four arms and four legs, on a body that resembled a mushroom. Years back when we first met them, Toni told me they were vegetable life, not animal. It was a never-ending problem for me to comprehend that plants could grow to be intelligent.

Hoping to show respect, I bowed my head as I answered the Trag. “We only recently have learned of the transgressions. We have come to warn the trespassers that they must leave, and that the Pash will honor the treaty with the Trag.”

One of the Trag stepped up in front of the others. “We would be within our rights to kill them.”

Straightening up, I nodded in agreement. “You would. It may also bring war with the humans. I am sure many humans would die, but so would the Trag. You do not understand the numbers of the humans. Take the numbers of the Trag and increase them by several thousand fold. That would be the beginning of the human numbers. Even if you managed to kill several thousand of them to one of your deaths, they would still win in a war of attrition. “

The Trag looked back at the others behind him, before he looked back at me. “We should have destroyed them the first time. We will revise their DNA so they can no longer reproduce.”

I shook my head. “That won’t work. Only those that are infected will not reproduce. I know of your DNA virus. The first plan, where you were going to change all of them into females only able to bear females, could have worked. This second plan is flawed and will not work.”

“Then we will redo the first plan. The treaty was broken and is no longer valid. We are within our rights to wipe them out.” He waited.

Trag didn’t have facial expressions, so I couldn’t tell how serious his statement was. Was war eminent, or would they give us time to try and rectify the situation? “The first plan would have worked. It would have taken them by surprise. It won’t work now. They'll find one of your DNA bio-mechanical balls and it will be all they'll need to declare war. The Trag would not survive. The Pash signed the treaty along with the Trag. Let us see if we can make the humans leave the Trag galaxy, as agreed. If they do not, the Pash will join the Trag in a declaration of war against the humans.” I glanced over at Toni. That was a terrible commitment for me to make. If it came to war, many Pash would die along with the Trag.

“The Pash have never broken a treaty.” Toni was looking at the Trag, as he reaffirmed what I had said.

“The Pash are good, the humans are not.” The Trag studied me for a long time. “You will fight for the Trag? You are human. You also have reason to not like Trag.”

It was a long sigh. So long ago. I was a product of the Trag DNA virus, but now I thanked them for what I was, instead of hating them. “I am not all human. I am Pash. I was born human. That I can not change. My mate is Pash, my daughters are Pash, my friends are Pash and my home is Pash. The Pash part of me is by desire, the human part of me is by fate. I can not change my fate. I can change what I do with my life. I am Pash, I honor the Pash treaty with the Trag.”

“You fight for the Trag?” He waited for confirmation.

“No, I fight with the Trag. The Pash will not fight the Trag battles. I will try and intervene. Please let me see if this can’t be resolved without loss of life. If the humans will voluntarily leave the Trag Galaxy, before we start spilling life forces, it would be beneficial to all parties.” I started to say blood, but the Trag didn’t have blood. I was sure they would know what I meant though. They had dissected enough humans, and other life forms, to know what blood was.

“We shall wipe out all humans who settle in Trag galaxy.” He had all four eyes focused on me.

It didn’t escape me that talking to Trag was a lot like talking to a bot. The had a single purpose mindset. “You would be within your rights, but let me talk to the humans who have broken the treaty first, and see if we can get them to leave.”

“If they do not leave, they die. No human is welcome in Trag galaxy.” He waited for an answer.

“Yes, if they do not leave, they will die. You may kill the humans if they do not honor the treaty. I remind you that there can not be any dissecting of the humans or their allies for your experiments. It is in the treaty.” The problems with broken treaties are that all bets are off when one side stops following the rules. They shouldn’t be shocked when the other side does indescribable things in return.

“We will not agree to more terms. We have the right to protect Trag galaxy.” There was a definite tone in his voice.

I knew what that meant. The Trag would start dissecting the trespassers and designing viruses to wipe out the species. The Trag hated animal life forms. They only tolerated the Pash because of the treaty they had with the Pash. The Trag had captured, and dissected, Toni’s brother. The Pash retaliated with a vengeance. There was no doubt the Trag would have been wiped from existence if they had not signed a truce with the Pash.

It never failed to amaze me how contradictory life is as it moves along in time. At one time I would have killed all the Trag if I could. At one time the Pash were in position to eliminate the Trag. Now, here we were, ready to give our own lives to protect them. Some said it was Karma to go back and face the same problems in life from the other side.

“I would rather you didn’t start dissecting humans right away. Give me some time. I would like for them to leave voluntarily. You are within your right to kill them. I request you don’t make them suffer if you dissect them. Give me thirty days. I need time to contact all parties involved. We will meet with the some of the trespassers and the Earth Alliance.” I may have hated pirates and slavers, but being dissected by the Trag wasn’t the way to die, even for those kinds of life forms. I had a strong feeling the Trag were going to have a lot of lab specimens if those humans who were trespassing on Trag territory didn’t leave. I was going to do everything I could to convince the humans and their allies that they were not going to enjoy what was left of life, if they stayed in the Trag Universe.

“Thirty Earth days. Not one more.” The Trag waited.

Another Trag stepped up and set eight small cylinders on the floor before it backed away.

I glanced over at Toni as I shook my head. “This is going to get messy. I need to see Lass. I want to know what she can tell me about the future.”

“Let’s get to it. Thirty days is awfully short when you’re trying to stop a war.” Toni and I gathered up the cylinders. He touched the relay on his belt and we were back in the starship.

It was times like this that I wished Toni’s mom, Lass was still the reigning Queen of the Pash. I believed, with all my heart, that the hardest thing I ever had to do in my whole life was to commit the Pash to a war. So many lives could be lost on all sides. For what? Because of the greed of a few? If any survived they would look back, as they traded back and forth between Trag and humans, and wonder what the war was all about?

In my heart I knew that millions of lives were going to be lost. Humans had a very nasty record of making and breaking treaties as it suited them. There had to be a way out of this mess. The Earth Alliance had to understand that they could not ignore this treaty.

From The Editor: Barbie and I value your comments. We read each one and try to answer any questions you might have. Please remember that your comments and kudos are the only pay an author gets here at Top Shelf. Thank you to everyone who is reading, commenting and kudoing the story.

Our first stop after leaving the Trag was one of the human settlements on Kcagcu in the Trag Universe. Tony parked our ship close to the settlement. I could tell it shocked and scared those who saw the starship appear. I guess, in a sense, Pash starships appeared as if they were teleported out of nowhere. The polarity drive of the Pash starships meant instant travel.

The settlement was a mixture of pirates, thieves and claim jumpers. They were the human and alien flotsam of life. The scum of life, who wanted to take by force, or by crook, something that didn’t belong to them.

Toni started to transport us into the busiest building there, when I stopped him. I didn’t have to imagine what dropping both of us into the middle of a bunch of pirates would cause to happen. We would appear, and everyone in there would draw their weapon, or dive for cover. We would be dead before I could say, ‘Excuse me’.

We appeared under the ship instead. There were a half dozen men and a couple Sag aliens standing there, with their weapons in hand. One of the men motioned toward Toni with his phaser. “Nice ship. What do you want?”

Most of the men were staring at me. I could feel their minds working on several possibilities. They were thinking I was one of the women who traveled with the pirates. I guess that was the perception I would give, since I was designed to look like a pleasure slave, courtesy of Trag DNA coding.

“We wish to talk to the one who is in charge.” Toni took a careful measure of the men and weapons.

I could feel Toni doing a mind search on these men, and the alien Sag that was with them. I knew with Toni’s strength and speed he could handle them if they decided to kill us for our ship and weapons.

“I’m in charge. What did you bring me?” The man over to our left took a step forward.

Toni shook his head. “I came to trade, and offer a word of warning.”

“What do you have to trade that would be useful to us?” The man stepped up closer.

I held out my hand and opened it. Hundreds of small, round, polished jewels radiated and cast off rainbows of color. “Are you interested in precious stones from the mines of Venus?”

A smile almost spread across his face before he looked skeptical. “Venus is government controlled. No way you could get stones from there. Could you?”

“We could and did.” Always show them the pretty things that dazzle the eye and they will take it.

He reached out his hand. “Let me see.”

I dropped all the jewels in his hand. “Are we trading?”

He wrapped the jewels up in his fist. “You just did. They are mine now,”

Toni nodded. “I figured as much. I guess there is no need of telling you about what else I have to trade?”

The man gave a faint hint of a smile. He opened his hand and dumped the jewels on the ground. “Depends. We have little use for trinkets and beads out here. If you have weapons or supplies, then we may be talking.”

Toni held out his hand and a slave collar appeared in it. “The latest from the Earth Alliance.”

Leaning up to take a closer look, the leader shook his head. “Looks the same as the old ones, but I could use a few. What makes this one better?”

“It has a muscle lock command. You can freeze the slave in position.” Toni opened it up and held it out.

The leader reached over and took it. He examined it before handing it back to Toni. “Give me a demonstration.”

As Toni looked around at the men gathered, and they started backing up. No one wanted to be under the subjugation of a slave collar.

The leader pointed at me. “Try it on your bitch. I want to make sure it doesn’t damage the merchandise.”

It wasn’t all fake when I shook my head with fear in my eyes. I started to back up from Toni. He was quick as he caught my arm and snapped the slave collar around my neck. “Stand still.”

My trembling wasn’t all fake neither as I stood still. “Yes Master.”

Their leader pointed at me. “That’s nothing new. Any slave collar will make them do as they are told.”

“Freeze, slave.” Toni nodded in my direction. “Have two of your men tip her over and pick her up. She’s as stiff as a statue. She can’t move from that position until I command her to move. Want your slave to stay in a certain position? Sure, the old slave collars would stop them if they moved, but only by knocking them down with punishment. I can leave her like that for days and she won’t be any the worse for it. It has to do with the muscles locked in position. They aren’t elastic.”

Toni was right, I couldn’t move if I wanted. The leader motioned for two men to pick me up. The sensation when they touched me was weird. It felt like my body had gone to sleep. I had almost no feeling. I was stiff, not flexible, as they pushed me over and picked me up by the head and heels.

“Looks good. Toss in the bitch and I’ll purchase the collar.” The leader was satisfied the new slave collars could lock a person up as solid as if they had been cast in stone.

The two men unceremoniously dumped me on the ground. Toni reached down and removed the slave collar. I managed to find my feet. Toni held up the collar. “This is what I’m trading. The woman stays with me. Are we dealing?”

“How much?” The leader was ready to try the collar on his slaves.

Squatting down, I picked up the stones the leader had dropped on the ground, as Toni begin the process of haggling for an agreeable price. All said and done, Toni sold the collar for two thousand Earth Alliance credits. Toni tossed in a handful of radiation sickness pills, after convincing the leader that Kcagcu had spectrum radiation, which would cause blindness if not prevented.

Toni beamed us back in the ship. We were gone. We were in deep space as I turned to look at Toni. “I don’t think that’s the way to trade. Let’s go home and decide on a more secure way to bargain with those pirates before someone gets hurt.”

“I get the feeling we don’t look enough like pirates to suit those people. We need someone who is one of them, or does business with slavers. We need someone who can trade with them without causing suspicion.” Toni looked over at me and shook his head. “Sorry about the slave collar. It was the only thing I could think of at the moment.”

Looking into his beautiful golden eyes, I managed a frown. “Remember, payback always comes.”

He stood up. “We are home. You mean sorry, and an apology, are not enough?”

“What do you think?” I was going to make him pay, and pay, and... “Come to the bedroom.”

Hours later, we made the jump to UF-2, after an idea came to me. When I was Captain of UF-2, a lot of different life forms passed my way. Now was the time to put that knowledge to good use. It had been many years since a Pash starship had parked in front of UF-2. And yes, we scared the absolute bejeebers out of everyone on that station when we appeared right in front of their noses from nowhere.

We docked in bay six, after receiving permission to land. I didn’t expect a hostile welcome, but we received one as Toni and I beamed off the ship.

The Captain was there, with a full detachment of armed personnel. “What’s your business here?”

I looked at his nametag. “Captain Deric, we are on an information quest. I am looking for a spacer who passed through here from time to time.”

“Who and why? What’s your authorization?” He was seriously studying Toni’s weapon before focusing his attention back on me.

“Could we make this a little more private? Captain, I have no idea why you are on a high alert, but my bodyguard and I are looking for information. I would like to use the station’s computer for a few minutes to see if the individual I am looking for is still alive.” I had a good idea the rumors of war with the Trag were already starting to spread across the galaxies.

Captain Deric was seriously studying me. “We don’t allow non-military access to our database.”

That brought a smile to my face. “I heard there was a policy change. Please Captain, if you check your records I’m sure you will find me there. I apologize for not wearing my uniform. I didn’t want to make this an official inspection.”

A look of doubt, and then shock, crossed Captain Deric’s face. I was exactly what all spaceport captains didn’t want to see, an official inspection of their station. I had a good idea I was still listed in the records as a captain, since I had never officially retired. I was betting my name was on the active list. It would be funny to log in and request back pay. That would bring me to the front of everyone’s focus. It would be a short lived joke, for sure. Very short lived.

“Uh... your name?” Captain Deric looked serious.

“Captain Brandy Winters.” I stepped away from Toni so he wouldn’t put his arm around me. I wanted this to look official to our Captain Deric. I was positive Deric was the eighth or nineth captain to rotate to UF-2 since my departure. If he looked over the names of the previous command, my name would be there in the list. If he had studied that list he would know, Brandy Winters, logged in as Bill Wickman, was retired in the middle of a Def-Com. He would also know I had never logged out, but a new replacement came in behind me, as soon as a Military Transport ship could arrive. Two and two added up to four in the log. Brandy Winters was a head hunter who had relieved Bill Wickman, who wasn't able to handle a Def Com. That meant I had military power and political muscle behind me.

Most of that was half true. As an ex Captain I knew how it would look to anyone reading the post logs of UF-2.

“But of course.” Captain Deric turned to the guard. “Henson, Brown, follow us, the rest of you stand down.”

Captain Deric motioned with his left hand. “Let’s keep this informal, shall we? Where would you like to go, Captain Winters?”

“Captain Deric, do you mind if I wander the station with my staff? I would kind of like to do this, as you said, unofficially. No reports, I’m only a visitor.” Smiling at Captain Deric, I motioned for Toni to follow me to the lift.

“Nothing official of course. Please look us over, Ms. Winters.” He dropped the formal title to keep it unofficial. He stood where he was, as Toni and I stepped on the lift.

In two minutes, Deric would be running my description through the grinder to see if everything matched. I was surprised he didn’t ask me for an eye scan, but then this was an ‘unofficial’ visit. He probably wanted to keep it as unofficial as possible. Toni and I stopped in engineering. We could access the Earth Alliance database from there, as well as from the control deck. It would be a lot more private in engineering. Only a couple of non commissioned officers were in engineering as Toni and I walked in.

I waved at them with my right hand. “Gentlemen, I’m only looking things over. Please don’t let us interrupt you.”

“Certainly. May I ask what it is you are looking for? If it’s the visitor’s lounge, it’s two decks up and at the other end of the station.” One of the men offered, as his partner nodded in agreement.

I took a good look at their nametags. “I’m not quite a visitor, Mr. Kander. If you need conformation, please comlink your captain and tell him, Captain Winters is in engineering.”

From the look on their faces, these men were old hands at unannounced inspections. “No, of course, go right ahead and look us over, Captain.”

“Thank you. I need to access your database for transient records.” I walked over to their computer station. “Access, Captain Winters.”

“Retinal scan confirmed. Access approved, Captain Winters.” The soft female voice of the computer answered.

I looked over at the two non-coms. “Gentlemen, I need a little privacy. Please take care of your duties.”

“Yes Sir, Ma’am, Sir.” The first one answered, as he urged his buddy to the other side of the room.

I went through a list of names and found whom I was looking for, but never stopped the list as I scrolled down the names. Finally I stopped the list on one of the officers who had been stationed on UF-2 and asked for a full report on Janna Veka

“We have to look this station over so it doesn’t look like we were here only for access to the computer.” I motioned for Toni to walk with me. It was like old times for both of us, as we wandered through several other sections of the station. I bet we really did look like an unofficial inspection team. The only thing that changes on an outpost are the names and faces. The station was an old friend, well worn over time.

We wandered the decks of UF-2, reminiscing about the things we had done. We talked about the lives lost and the lives saved. Of course, all the personnel had been rotated, but the station was the same. The one glaring difference between the current regulations, and the ones I had in effect when I was Captain, was the lack of side arms on everyone. Besides the security that met us in docking, Toni and I were the only ones carrying arms. The station personnel kept staring at us, wondering why we were armed. I couldn’t believe Captain Deric would order all arms locked up. God help this crew if they ever ran into some of the life forms I had seen when I was Captain. They would all be dead before anyone could get to a weapon. I also couldn’t stop thinking about the Trag. If Captin Deric was on alert because of the mounting tensions with the Trag, he should have issued side arms to all personnel. Captain Deric was obviously not battle hardened. I was praying he didn’t find experience fighting the Trag and, of course, the Pash.

Stopping in Control, I dropped a personal message into Captain Deric’s log. ‘All personnel should be issued side arms immediately. They should have those arms at hand at all times, even when off duty.’ After all, I was on an unofficial, ‘official’ inspection.’

I bet the crew thought I was crazy as I patted the console where the Captain normally sat. “She was a good post.”

Hours later we were back in the ship. “She’s on Lazarus in the Twins Galaxies.”

“That’s a penal colony.” Toni put the co-ordinates in the polarity drive.

“You got it.” I dropped a hologram card in the computer. “That will give us her location through the tracking device they have on that collar she’s wearing.”

Toni glanced in my direction. “We are there. There is a patrol ship sitting up there, to stop anyone from doing what you are fixing to try.”

“I know. We will have one minute and twenty-two seconds to get in, pick her up, and get lost, before they get a fix on us and blast us. Can you do it?”

“I can get you there. You will either be back on board with or without her in one minute and twenty two seconds.” He brought up the hologram of the planet Lazarus in front of his control panel. “I have her located. Tell me when you are ready.”

I took a deep breath. “Ready.”

Two seconds later, Toni had the ship parked a few feet away from our target. I beamed out to where I was standing beside her. We were lucky she wasn’t in a crowd of people, or alien life forms. It could have gotten messy.

“Jeeter, do you remember Captain Bill Wickman? I’m here to pick you up, without Earth Alliance approval.” I was looking at the frightened eyes of a woman who had just experienced seeing a starship and someone appear out of nowhere.

“I remember Bill. I can’t go with you though.” She pointed to her slave collar. “You move me off this planet without decoding this thing, and it will kill me.”

“Trust me, and don’t move.” I reached up over my back and pulled up a sword that wasn’t there a second ago. I took a swing. To her credit, Jeeter didn’t move, and twenty years of sword practice paid off. When the tip of the sword touched the slave collar, it disappeared. “Let’s go!”

Jeeter pointed to the bear creature standing beside her. “My friend goes too.”

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME!” I was counting seconds and it was getting thin.

She crossed her arms across her chest. “Not without my friend. Bill wouldn’t have left anyone.”

“ALL RIGHT, BUT GET HER FUR OUT OF THE WAY. IF MY SWORD TOUCHES HER FUR, SHE IS HISTORY.” I heard Toni give me a mental thought to get my butt moving.

Jeeter reached over to her friend’s neck and parted the fur away from the slave collar. I gave a prayer I didn’t miss and took a swipe. The collar disappeared. I slipped the sword over my back. It was gone again.

‘TONI, GET US ON BOARD, AND GET US OUT OF HERE!’ There was that familiar flash of light. The three of us were standing in the middle of the ship. I had learned over the years that the flash of light was only a mental vision, not a visible flash. When solid forms of energy, such as bodies, were changed into less solid energy and beamed from point A to point B, the mental picture inside that energy beam was a flash of light. To those not inside the transport beam, it was as if someone was there, and then they weren’t. There wasn’t any flash to those not inside the beam. I guess it was more on the idea of radio beam, rather than a flash of lightening. The bot had been right when he was explaining life to me. I would find that I would never know everything.

“Are we safe?” I glanced up at Toni, who was busy running his hands over the console.

“We’re home. Honey, you were slicing it pretty thin back there. You didn’t have a nano second to spare, and what’s with the extra guest?” He stood up as he was talking.

Glancing over at our furry guest, I shook my head. “Ask Jeeter. She said she wasn’t leaving without her friend.”

The bear and Jeeter looked around in bewilderment. Jeeter asked the question that was on both their minds. “Who the hell are you, and why aren’t we moving? That patrol ship should be blasting us.”

I laughed as I remembered my first trip in Toni’s starship. “Jeeter, that patrol ship is wondering where we came from, and where we went. I’m betting they are searching for a stealth ship. Right now you’re safe. Earth Alliance couldn’t find you if they sent the whole fleet out on a search. You’re a couple billion light years from where you were a few minutes ago.”

Shaking my head, I had my own questions to ask. “What in the world did you do to get tossed into a penal colony? Did they implant you with a tracer along with the slave collar? And what about your friend? What happened to Joni, your old running buddy?”

She looked sad. “I pissed off a couple captains on a few outposts. I wasn’t kicking back any bribes as I was running in and out of the unexplored zones. I hit pay dirt on an asteroid and was going to be rich with galinium ore. Bill Wickman would have let me keep it, since I found it and claimed mining rights. He was an alright guy.”

“Tossed a few trumped up charges on you, sent you to a penal colony, and kept the asteroid for their own?” I guessed the outcome if money was involved.

“Yeah, something like that, and yeah, they put that damn tracer in me. I’ll glow like a trader’s post when I get close to any Earth Alliance forces. Same with Bunny here. She was with me. Joni was killed in an accident as we were testing the asteroid for quantity of ore. I miss him.” Her eyes turned sad with the thought of her lost mate.

I always thought Jeeter was a cutie. She had big, doe shaped eyes. Right now, she didn’t look that great. Life on a penal colony isn’t the place to keep up personal hygiene. Her lineage was of the reptile family. Her skin was a soft, brownish green. She didn’t have a single hair on her body, but that was normal for her species. She wasn’t wearing any clothes either, but that also was normal for her species. They laid eggs, not babies.

Jeeter took a hard look at Toni. “He’s Pash. I met one a long time ago. Latonvicaka was the name. We have never met before. What’s your name, and why did you pick me up?”

“My mate was the one who suggested we pick you up. You may address me as Toni.” Toni sent me a mind thought. ‘The other is a Bundadee.’

Bunny nodded. “Yes, and we also use mind thought.”

“A changeling? Is this your normal form?” I was curious, as I had read in the station logs about Bundadees. I had never met one.

Jeeter held up her hand. “Wait a second. First things first. I want to know why we were rescued, and who the heck is asking the questions? You’re human.”

Bunny put her hand on Jeeter’s left shoulder. “You’re looking at Captain Bill Wickman.”

“You’re kidding! I heard of such things but…? Kind of kinky if you ask me. Each to his or her own.” Jeeter was shaking her head.

“It’s not what you think. It wasn’t my idea, but I’m glad it happened. I hated it at first. I would never go back if I could. Jeeter, we need your help. I want you to trade with the pirates and claim jumpers settling in the Trag galaxy. It will be dangerous and could get you killed. I didn’t pull you out to get you killed. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.” I backed up into Toni’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me.

Jeeter studied my eyes and then stared at Toni. “Give me the plan before I agree or disagree. I know of the Trag. They like to dissect animal life forms. In case you didn’t pay attention in your biology class, I’m animal, and so is Bunny.”

“It’s the Trag’s biology class that is going to help you and us. I think the Pash can wash the tracer out of your systems with a trip through what they call a Field Portal System. It is a lot like their transporter. It was modified to sample the subject and remove the things in question.” I knew I hadn’t explained it very well, but it was difficult to explain.

Bunny glanced over at Jeeter for a second. “Sounds interesting.”

Nodding, Jeeter never lost her focus on me. “Sounds painful to me. You’re telling me that thing works like a giant vacuum and sucks things out of the body?”

“I guess that’s one way of explaining it. I was told it feels like being dropped out in space, and then pressurized.”

“That’s impossible. Even a wash job through a transporter won’t remove the tracer. That shit was injected in us and it permeated every cell in our bodies. It screwed up Bunny something awful. She can’t alter her appearance. I’d kill those bastards that did this to us if I could. It’s not right!” Jeeter didn’t have much of a facial expression, but her voice carried hate in the message.

I nodded. “First things first. Let’s go into the house and get you ladies cleaned up. If you want clothes or cover, let one of the bots know what you prefer.” I knew Jeeter only wore clothes when she traded with humans. I had no idea if the Bundadee wore clothes or not? When we picked them up, the only thing they were wearing was a slave collar.

We were off the ship and in the house in a flash of light. Jeeter looked around, like any careful spacer would. She made sure she cataloged all the passages and doors in her mind before continuing. “Nice place. Who does it belong to?”

“The Pash don’t own anything in a strict sense. Toni and I occupy it, along with our two daughters. If you want to say it belongs to someone, then Toni was the one who built it.” I walked up beside her as I was talking.

I pointed down the hall. “You may wish to take a bath and put on body cover before we go to the lab and see if they can wash that tracer out of your system.”

“Sure.” Jeeter and Bunny headed off down the hall.

It wasn’t that long ago when I was given the same courtesy. It was funny how life seemed to always be revolving back to the same cycle.

Lavess and Toness popped in a few minutes later. Toni came in from the study. Our daughters caught him and gave him a hug and a kiss.

“Who are our guests?” Toness always was direct. A beautiful girl, she was filling out with soft curves as she matured. She was certainly going to have more of an hourglass figure than female Pash normally possessed.

“Your mother brought a couple Alliance prisoners home after she helped them escape.” Toni looked over at me with a gleam in his eye.

Lavess turned to look at me out of the side of her beautiful golden eyes. “Mom?”

“It’s not the way your father makes it sound. Jeeter is an old acquaintance. We desperately need her help. She didn’t belong in a penal colony.” I wrinkled up my lip and gave the best ‘grrrr’ I could manage at Toni. It was a Pash warning to watch your step.

“Did she growl at me, or was she mocking our language?” Toni tried to keep a straight face, but it wasn’t possible. His eyes were smiling.

“Mom, this is the way you do it. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR” Toness made the air and walls vibrate as she gave her warning.

I shook my head. It would be a physical impossibility for me to duplicate a lot of the Pash sounds. They pushed the air up past the diaphragm in their chest, making their whole body a sounding board, not just the vocal cords like humans did. “Thanks for the express lessons. Tell your father that was what I meant. Grrrr.”

The girls looked at one another and burst out laughing. Lavess was giggling as she tried to imitate me. “grrrr?” Jeeze mom, that ought to warn everyone they are treading dangerously.”

She wiped tears out of her eyes as she looked at Toni. “Dad, did you get mom’s message, or do you want her to repeat it?”

At that, both the girls haw hawed as they clung to one another and laughed.

“Critics, everyone is a critic.” I walked over to Toni and put my arms around his neck. “Mess with me and I’ll make you pay. When I say, grrr, you better watch your step.”

“Yes my love. Although it’s not visible, I am quaking inside with fear. My bones are rattling. I am barely, by the slimmest thread, able to stand.” He wrapped his arms around me as he looked into my eyes.

“That’s better. For showing proper fear, you shall be rewarded.” I stood up on my toes and gave him a passionate kiss.

Toni returned the kiss and then turned me around so my back was against his chest as I was facing the girls. They both had looks of shame on their faces.

“Ummmm, mom and dad are kissing again. I shall never live down the embarrassment my parents cause me.” Lavess brought the back of her right hand up against her forehead as she rolled her eyes up.

“Yes, it tis such a burden to go out and face the rest of the world when your own parents are acting so juvenile.” Toness hung her head in shame as she let out a deep sigh.

“What beautiful daughters.” Bunny walked into the room. She was dressed in tan slacks, blouse, and boots. She also was wearing a sidearm, knife, and had a needle gun up her sleeve. She stopped and was looking at the girls.

Lavess, Toness, this is Bunny. Bunny, these are our daughters.” I motioned toward the girls as I glowed with pride.

Lavess and Toness nodded and curtseyed.

“Welcome to our home. We are most honored by your visit.” Lavess gave the official Pash welcome.

“You are most kind. It is I who am honored. Bunny bowed her head toward the girls.

Jeeter walked in and stopped beside Bunny. She was similarly attired, except she was carrying a rifle over her shoulder. I knew I had made the right choice in Jeeter. She and Bunny looked more pirate then most pirates I ever met. They had experience dealing with the scum of all worlds. If the Portal Wash could remove the tracer the Earth Alliance had pumped into them, then the plan was coming together.

“Make me an offer I can’t refuse.” Jeeter always was direct.

She wanted to know why I needed her help. If the circumstances had been a little different, I could imagine she would have been a pirate. Thankfully, she never slipped into that kind of life. “We need you to make contact with all the pirates and slavers in the Trag universe. You will be trading with them. Tell me what they normally like to deal in and we will try and get it for you.”

“And?” Jeeter knew there was more. Pash didn’t trade with pirates and slavers. There was a reason for the request, and it wasn’t trade.

“Girls.” It was going to be difficult explaining why I wanted Jeeter to trade with the pirates. I didn’t know if I could do it in front of our daughters. I also knew there were no secrets between us. They knew who I was. There was also the fact that, even though our daughters were out of hearing range that didn’t mean they couldn’t listen in mentally.

“Go ahead, mom. We love you.” Lavess walked over and took my hand.

Bunny held up her hand as she looked back at Jeeter. She had read my emotions and my mind. “I’ll take it from here. The Pash want us to give the pirates something extra when we deal with them. It’s a small gift from the Trag. Like all gifts, it should be given without the pirates knowing they are receiving a gift.”

She turned her attention back toward me. “Sounds like fun. Count me in.”

“You are going to be dealing with murders and cutthroats. They are the scum of life. They will kill you, or worse, if they find out what you are doing. They might do it anyway for the fun of it. I ran into some of them a few days back. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.” I wanted Bunny to know she was putting her life on the line in more ways then one.

“Bunny speaks for both of us. I don’t know exactly what it is we are doing, but Bunny does. That’s good enough for me.” Jeeter put her left hand on Bunny’s shoulder.

“We are in too.” Toness glanced over at her sister.

“NO!” I was sure I didn’t want our daughters close to any slavers. Toness always was the one to speak up without thinking. She was too much like me.

Lavess looked at Toness and then back to me. I knew what was coming before she said anything. Lavess was the one who thought things through. Her logic was murder if one was on the wrong end of her speech. “You are willing to let Bunny and Jeeter put their lives on the line, yet we can not? Are we more special than Bunny or Jeeter? Are our lives worth more than theirs because we are daughters of the parents of the Pash Clan? A life is a life. One can not be more valuable than another because of species or place in hierarchy. If you are truly Pash in your heart and soul, you understand this.”

I couldn’t stop the tears from falling, as I backed into Toni’s arms for support. I had to swallow several times to get the cotton out of my throat. “I won’t forbid you from helping. I know you would go anyway. Not out of disrespect for me or your father, but because you are Pash.”

It was all I could say as I choked up. Our daughters were going in harms way because I had brought Jeeter and Bunny to our home.

Bunny stepped up in front of me and took my hand. “We won’t let anything happen to them. I promise they won’t be harmed. They can’t trade directly with the slavers. They would become slaves themselves. They are too beautiful and not experienced enough to handle slavers, even if they are telepathic. Jeeter and I will make sure they stay safe.”

“Toni?”

He pulled me in tighter as he held me without answering. His pain was evident. In true Pash form, he was willing to let our daughters do what they knew was right. Even if it cost them their lives.

FROM THE EDITOR: As I have said many times, Barbie and I value your comments and we thank you for them and the kudos. Please remember to comment? Thank all of you who have been following and enjoying this story.

Time was of the essence. Those thirty days the Trag allotted us were steadily slipping by. We were headed for Lo One with Jeeter and Bunny. Jeeter and Bunny were both carrying side arms and knives. Normal attire for a lady dealing with pirates. Jeeter asked for and received a needle gun after she saw Bunny with one. Both ladies were carrying phasers strapped to their inner thighs, and knives in their boots. Sure it was old stuff, but sometimes it was that extra weapon that kept a person alive.

Toness and Lavess star jumped over to Sherry’s home to talk to Wasvaki and Aberombra, Sherry’s two girls. They were the same age as Toness and Lavess. I could only imagine what was going to happen when our daughters shared their story with Sherry’s daughters. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.

Cassida met us as we walked into the lab on Lo One. “I need a tissue sample to see if I can set up the extraction, before we put them in the chamber.”

Jeeter didn’t look like she was comfortable with the idea of what we intended to do with her. I guess her treatment on the penal colony didn’t give her much faith in other races. Humans could be cruel to the extreme when they had the chance.

Bunny walked over to stand by Cassida. “I’m ready. What do I need to do?”

Cassida picked up a small cylinder off the lab bench and waved it down the front of Bunny. “Got it. Give me a second to see if I can separate the tracer from your cells.”

She slid the cylinder into a slot on the lab table as she turned to focus her attention on the monitor in front of her. Her fingers were running over a keyboard as she was talking. “Nice tracer. It integrated with the cells of the host. It’s mineral, not biological. Let me match up with the atomic structure and... Got it!”

She turned back to look at Bunny. “It’s gonna hurt, but I can remove it.”

“We are wasting time. Let’s get it done.” Bunny gave Jeeter a quick glance as she mentally prepared herself.

Cassida pointed toward a large cylinder with a door in the side. “It will be easier if you aren’t wearing anything when we do this.”

Bunny didn’t hesitate as she dropped her clothes and her weapons before stepping into the chamber. The door silently slid shut behind her, as Cassida was playing with her keyboard.

In all my time with the Pash I had never seen the Field Portal. At this moment, I was glad I'd never had a need. It looked clinical. I would swear the cylinder Bunny had stepped into looked like it disappeared for a second before it reappeared.

The door slid open and Bunny looked like she was in shock. Toni was there to pick her up and carry her over to a couch. She lay there with her eyes open, not focusing for several seconds before she blinked and a soft moan of anguish escaped from her lips.

“Bunny?” Jeeter reached out to hold Bunny’s hand.

Bunny focused her eyes on Jetter. “Are you sure?”

Jeeter looked relieved, as she shook her head. “Yes, I’m sure. How do you feel?”

“Best damn ride I ever took in my whole life. Ever step into a blender?” She sat up and looked around. “Wonder if they got all the parts put back in the right order?”

Jeeter looked over at me with those big doe eyes of hers. “Guess that means it’s my turn, huh?”

“Only if you want, Jeeter. You don’t have to do this.” I could see that Jeeter wasn’t too sure about walking into a Field Portal.

Jeeter was pulling off her weapons and clothes. “If Bunny can handle it, I can handle it. We go as a team.”

She stepped up in front of Cassida and turned to look at me. “No matter what, thanks for pulling us out of that penal colony.”

Cassida nodded, as she ran the cylinder down the front of Jeeter. “I got it. Anytime you are ready, step into the chamber.”

“I’ll never be ready, but sometimes one has to go on blind faith. I would have followed Bill Wickman to the ends of the galaxy if he had asked. He was an okay guy.” Jeeter took a deep breath as she stepped into the chamber.

There was a soft hum and lights started flashing on Cassida’s control panel. “Hold on. The tracer is pulling pieces of her cells along with them as it is removed.”

Toni moved up beside Cassida. “Put her back together with the tracer if it’s not possible to remove it without killing her.”

“I’m trying, Toni. I never pulled tracer out of a Hespa before. Her cellular makeup is really something.” Cassida was working furiously with the touch screen under her fingers.

“Catch her, Toni.” The door to the chamber opened up. Jeeter was falling.

Toni easily caught her in his arms and carried her over to the examination table. “Is she okay?”

It scared me that we might have killed Jeeter. Her thin membrane eye covers were halfway down over her eyes. She looked dead. “Jeeter? Cassida, is she alright?”

Bunny moved up beside Jeeter. She was taking quick glances from me to Jeeter, wondering if her friend was dead?

Cassida shut down the Field Portal, picked up the body scanner, and walked over where Jeeter was lying on the table. She waved the scanner over Jeeter. “She’s regenerating. Her species is capable of growing new cells, along with arms and legs if something happens. I went ahead and removed the tracer from her system. Now she is rebuilding cells that were damaged.”

Cassida laid down the scanner. “It will take a day or two for her to regain consciousness. I’ll stay with her. All the rest of you can go on.”

Bunny shook her head. “I’m staying.”

“Bunny, time is essential. If Cassida says Jeeter is okay, I would bet my life she was okay. You need to be briefed about the situation. Toni is going to teach you how to drive a Pash Star Cruiser. You can’t spend months traveling between planets if all you have is a few days to get the job done.” I knew time was our enemy at the moment. Bunny needed to be working, not holding a sick friend’s hand.

She looked up in surprise. “We get a Pash Star Cruiser?”

Toni nodded. “It seems to be the only option. I don’t think any of those Earth Alliance ships will work for what we need.”

“Jeeter, pull yourself together girl. We get to drive a Pash Star Cruiser. Come on, girl. You don’t want to miss this one.” Bunny was picking up her clothes and weapons from where she had dropped them.

The Trag always met us in numbers of four, or any multiple of four. They never met us with an odd number of Trag. I had never seen three, or five, or one. It was always four or multiples of four. This time was no different. We met them and there were four Trag. It was also always just Trag. They didn’t have names.

“You wish for us to supply these with bio- cutters also? You said we could not send the DNA to the humans, since it would be reason for war. DNA has no other purpose than design. The bio-cutters you request only work on humans. Do you wish to start a war now?” The Trag was addressing Toni.

“We have a plan, but we need help. We explained the plan to them and they agreed.” Toni nodded toward Bunny and Jeeter. “We wish to prevent a war, not start one. We only wish to infect the ones who are trespassing in the Trag galaxy, not the whole human population. Also, we wish for those who are infected to be infertile, not fertile. Is it possible?”

“Must discuss this in conference.” The Trag was moving away.

“You don’t have time to discuss this in conference. Time is a luxury we don’t have. It has to be immediately.” Toni took a step after the Trag.

It stopped and the other three Trag moved up where they were touching one another. A moment later it stepped away from the group. “We agree to the request. We will have the bio-cutters you desire in four hours.”

Toni looked back at Bunny and Jeeter. “This is the last chance to leave, and go back to your old way of life. The Trag will make the bio-cutters for us. You aren’t human and it won’t affect either of you. The Trag are very good at what they do in bio-science.”

Jeeter looked over at Bunny. “Do we trust them? What keeps them from using us as one of their lab specimens?”

Toni glanced over at the Trag. “Their word. They haven’t learned the art of lying. They are as close to black and white as you will ever find. They either give their word, or they don’t. I’m sure after they have been dealing with humans for a few thousand years they will figure out what lying is.”

Bunny nodded. “I’m game.”

Jeeter shook her head. “I like the idea of driving that Pash Star Cruiser. Die now, die later. I guess what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. I’m in.”

I realized at that moment what a symbiotic relationship animals and plants have in life. No matter how intelligent we think we are, we will always need one another. The Trag had knowledge that would jump human science ahead by a thousand years. Humans had knowledge that would jump Trag exploration ahead by a thousand years. I was wondering if I was going to see a sharing of knowledge, or the end of a species. A Galactic War was coming, unless we could stop it.

Our daughters were already hard at work mapping out the illegal settlements. Sherry’s girls demanded to go along when they found out what Toness and Lavess were up to. In a way, I guess it was as safe as staying home. There wasn't any ship in any galaxy capable of catching a Pash Star Cruiser.

It was time to set up a meeting with the President of the Earth Alliance. We were going to see if negotiations could stop this madness before it sucked us all into a war. The treaty was clear enough. No trespassing in the Trag galaxy. Humans had a nasty history of making treaties and then breaking them when it suited them.

We discussed our plans with the Trag. They weren’t willing to go along on a meeting with the Earth Alliance. They didn’t trust humans. I gave that some thought as we headed back to the ship. I didn’t trust humans either, and here I was going into the lion’s den. Not only that, but I was going to drag Toni and my best friend along with if we could catch up with her. I desperately needed Sherry to be there when we talked to the Earth Alliance. Time was our worst enemy. The initial thirty days the Trag gave us to get rid of the trespassers was grinding along at a definite pace.

Two days later we had a diplomatic meeting set up with the Earth Alliance. Our first stop was to pick up Sherry.

"You broke the treaty." I was talking to a group of men who were sitting on a dais or platform. It seemed humans had the idea that, if they raised themselves above those who questioned their judgment, the humans were automatically superior in intelligence and power. Where do they get ideas like that? Dumb!

"They were murdering settlers and traders." The man in the front center responded. He was sitting at the peak of a pyramid seating arraignment for the group of twenty-one black robed men I was facing.

"Your settlers and traders were nothing more than pirates and thieves who deserved to die...,"

"THAT IS BLASPHAMY!" The man on my far right shouted at me, as he glared hatred and pulled himself up in self-rightness indignation.

I stepped up to the banister and leaned across it as I studied the men in front of me. "It is the truth. The Earth Alliance made a treaty with the Trag. That was and is a treaty all of you were party to. You agreed you would not allow human settlement in the Trag galaxy. Nor would you steal from them, or allow their laws, if broken by humans, to go unpunished." If these men thought their black robes, their higher perch, or their condescending attitude intimidated me in the slightest, sadly they were in gross error of judgment. But then, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. An error in their judgment was what brought us to this situation. They were human and thought all life forms were lesser quality than themselves.

The man in the middle was the President of the Earth Alliance. He looked to his right and left for support and agreement from his cabinet. When they all nodded their heads, I almost laughed. They were nothing more than a bunch of yes-men.

Lucus, stared down at me as if he could scare me with his demeanor. "We have to protect our settlers and traders. Settlers have built on Rious Six and several other planets in the Trag galaxy. They have a right to be...,"

Shaking my head, I stepped away from the group of men. "You admit by your own words, settlers are in the Trag galaxy. THEY HAVE NO RIGHT! Your treaty with the Trag, signed twenty one years ago, was explicit in its language. No human would settle in the Trag galaxy or any galaxy of their allies. You have allowed the pirates and thieves to violate that treaty time and time again."

I sighed in disgust as I shook my head. "Your greed for what does not belong to you is unbelievable. You hope to start a war with the Trag under the guise that you are protecting legitimate lives."

The men looked shocked when I pointed my finger at each of them individually. "You think you are immune to war, as you sit so far from it inside the center of human expansion to the stars. I have met you before."

"We have never...," Lucus started to protest.

"We have met. You are all the same. The names and faces change, but you are the same. You make treaties as long as it suits you, and break them when you want. The treaty with the Trag was more for the salvation of humanity than it was to protect the Trag from the exploitation of humans. Their human coded DNA virus is not reversible and spreads like a plague once it is released. That treaty was to keep the Trag from using the DNA virus code on...,"

"I would think, you would be the last one to defend the Trag. Are you not a product of their experiment?" Lucus interrupted.

"I thank God for that. At least I'm a little less human because of their virus."

That brought a collective gasp and looks of disdain from the assembly. Lucus smirked. "You are a freak. Nothing more than a whore. You are an abomination of life."

Toni was on my right and the Sherry was on my left. I could sense their hatred as they started to pull their phasers.

'No!' was my mind thought to both of them

I smiled at Lucus. "Thank you for proving my point. I am a lot of things. I am Pash by marriage. I am a woman ordained by the powers of life. I was born human by mistake."

I could sense their hatred building toward me. I held up my right hand to silence their murmurings. "Please, allow me to finish. A whore I am not. I have taken one mate for life. That is the Pash part of me. I could never love another as long as I live."

Sighing unconsciously, I held out my petite hand and looked at the long sharp fingernails. "An abomination? I guess I'm that in some eyes."

I looked up at Lucus as I rested my hands on those abundant hips I was blessed with. "What I am, or what I am not, is immaterial. You must respect the treaty with the Trag. If you do not pull those pirates and thieves out in twenty two of your earth days, they will be killed."

"YOU DARE NOT KILL..." Lucus was glaring at me.

"I DO DARE, AND I MOST CERTANLY WILL, IF THE TRAG ASK FOR THE PASH FOR HELP TO ENFORCE THE TREATY YOU SIGNED!" I already knew Lucus was not going to pull those pirates out. He was going to let them die, in order to start a war with the Trag and their allies. It was part of human nature to sacrifice a few lives for greed, as long as the life sacrificed wasn't their own. In this case it would serve a double purpose. A few pirates would die, which meant the Earth Alliance would rid itself of a few vermin. Getting rid of something they wanted to eliminate anyway could start a war, and the Pash would be doing the housecleaning if necessary.

"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN EARTH ALLIANCE! We will not be intimidated by your threats. Do not get in a war you can not win. We will crush the Pash as easily as we will the Trag if you allow the Pash to get involved in this. If one of our settlers dies, then the Earth Alliance will declare war, be it against the Trag, the Pash or any of their allies stupid enough to engage in war with the Trag." Lucus looked for support from his yes men after he glared hatred at me.

We were at war. It may have not been declared yet, as a declaration of war had yet to be announced. But..., make no mistake about it, Lucus was determined to let the pirates and thieves break the treaty. Lucus wanted humans to settle into Trag territory for the abundance of natural wealth and Trag gene coding knowledge they had found there.

I could read their mind thoughts. There was no reasoning with Lucus or his kind. They didn't care about sacrificing lives for riches of territory, science, and personal wealth. They were sure the war would never touch them. They could walk in and collect the spoils of war when it was over.

What he was thinking was as old as mankind itself. Sherry could read mental thought and was also good as a seer. She was also a product of human genetic cloning. She had told me to research American History before our meeting with the Earth Alliance. I did, and it made me sick to my stomach as I read what the white man had done to the Indians. The white man made treaties and broke them faster than they could be written. The Indians believed a word or treaty was a bond to never be broken. The Indian would die before he broke a treaty. Yet, with each new broken and remade treaty, the white man used to it as an excuse to push the Indians off more and more of their land. Treaties were broken time and time again by the white settlers as it suited them, and lined their pockets with wealth.

It was unbelievable that the Indians could be so trusting after one treaty was broken. Yet, trust they did, and they did it time and time again, until there was no land left to push the Indians from unless they were exterminated. And yes, I'm ashamed of my human part to say that we even tried that as the women and children were butchered in their villages, by surprise attacks from the Calvary, as one more treaty was broken. I guess I should have never read the historical records about Black Kettle and Custer. It made me sick to think I was born of man.

Sherry had foretold this meeting. It would not stop a war with the Earth Alliance. I knew she was probably right, but I had to try anyway. The greed of these men to take what didn't belong to them, and their complete lack of compassion for those they were willing to let die to achieve their goals, still shocked me.

Toni was also my husband. All Pash could read mind thought. I acquired that ability after giving birth to our two daughters. It was one of their many gifts to me as I carried them from conception to birth. Their Pash genes mixed with my human genes as they grew inside me. Unlike all those who had married and bore children to Pash before Sherry and me, we did not morph to look like Pash during motherhood. I regretted that because the Pash were of the feline family. They looked human enough, except they were all slim, sleek creatures, with the strength of cats.

I would never be slim and trim. Lucus had been right when he said I was a product of the Trag virus. Sherry had also been infected by that virus. We were always going to look like the poster, pinup babes for any Traders Post frequented by pirates and thieves. That was the result of the Trag virus. It was an ironic twist of fate. At one time I had wished for nothing more than to wipe out the Trag civilization for what they had done to me. Now I was defending them. I was willing to give my life to save their universe from Lucus and those like him.

One other feature separated the Pash from humans. They had yellow cat eyes with vertical pupils they could dilate at will. Those eyes could see quite well in the dark where humans couldn't.

"Lucus, you are not looking at the whole picture and this war will...,"

"You will address me by proper title. I am the President of the Earth Alliance. Address me as Mr. President when you speak to me." Lucus glared daggers at me for my infraction of formality.

I started to laugh and caught myself. "If formality is what you wish then I strongly suggest you address me by my formal title."

He blinked, as he stared first at me and then at Sherry and Toni. "I see. Well..., you can give yourself any title you want, but it's so trite as to be of no importance to the Earth Alliance."

"No!" again I had to tell Toni and Sherry, with mind thought, this was not the time to pull their weapons to defend my honor

I was wishing I had worn Battle Dress to this meeting. Alas, it was too late for wishing. My attire was a blue gown, long sleeves, floor length hem, and a cathedral length train. The gown looked like flowing blue waters, embroidered in intricate detail with blue stones that sparkled like star reflections off that water. My spiral earrings were blue stone and tinkled with the slightest movement. I was wearing five inch pumps, with a stiletto heel. My brown hair softly fell across my shoulders and cascaded down my back ending at my hips. I was wearing a blue crystal crown and carried a jeweled dagger on my left hip.

As my council, Sherry was similarly attired. Her flowing gown was soft sea foam green, no train. Her earrings were crystal spirals, soft green in color. Although she was Queen of her Clan, she was not wearing her crown at this meeting. She did have a sword on her left hip and a blaster on her right. Space travel and any meeting were not to be taken lightly. Even a diplomatic meeting such as this one.

"Mr. President, if you do not respect my title, I can not respect yours. You may address me as 'Your Majesty' or you may address me as 'Your Highness'. My title may also be addressed as 'My Queen' if you like." I knew mister uppity up was not going to address me as anything beside 'whore' or 'abomination'.

Lucus's face turned beet red as he struggled to choke down addressing me as anything besides scum. "I am President of the Earth Alliance. I do not lower myself to bow or scrape to any whore."

"NO!" Quickly I glance over at Toni and then Sherry.

Sherry glanced at me as she sent me a thought message. 'He is a disease begging to be eradicated-----Let me help him succeed'

'Killing him will accomplish nothing-----he will be replaced by the next one who is as bad-----my honor is not worth dying over-----we will not lower ourselves to his level of intelligence' I thought back to her and Toni.

"Lucus...,"

Lucus stared down at me from his seat. "That is, Mr. President, you freak. You will address me by my proper title."

I stepped up and put my hands over the railing separating us from Lucus and his council. "Lucus, you do not know what you have done by refusing to remove the trespassers from Trag boundaries. This war will come all the way back to you. You and your bloodthirsty band of miscreants will see blood. I promise, your blood will be mixed in with those pirates and thieves you so willingly defend for a few pieces of gold."

Stepping back sadly, I shook my head in pity at those who were no more than pawns in this sordid mess. The front line troops would be the first to be sacrificed. Then millions more troops would be poured into a battle the humans could not win. “Please pull all animal life forms out of the Trag galaxy, or war will be upon your head.”

I thought Lucus was mad before. I had misjudged. His face turned purple as he exploded. "YOU CAN NOT THREATEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE EARTH ALLIANCE. GUARDS! ARREST THIS WHORE AND HER WHORING ESCORTS!"

UF-2 BOOK 2 CHAPTER 7
BY BARBIE LEE
EDITED BY CATHERINE LINDA MICHEL

So, we come to the end of Book 2, Seeds Of War. Will our heroes and heroines be able to avert was with the Earth alliance, or will there be a space battle the likes of which would curdle even E.E. 'Doc' Smith's sensibilities? This chapter is a bit more violent than previous ones so be prepared. Also, a new player enters the game. Who is it? Who are they? Only the author knows. Strap in, settle back and get ready for ACTION!

FROM BEFORE: "Stepping back sadly, I shook my head in pity at those who were no more than pawns in this sordid mess. The front line troops would be the first to be sacrificed. Then millions more troops would be poured into a battle the humans could not win. “Please pull all animal life forms out of the Trag galaxy, or war will be upon your head."

I thought Lucus was mad before. I had misjudged. His face turned purple as he exploded. "YOU CAN NOT THREATEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE EARTH ALLIANCE. GUARDS! ARREST THIS WHORE AND HER WHORING ESCORTS!"

And NOW...

 

The guard on Toni's right was swinging his rifle off his shoulder. Toni's reflexes were a hundred times faster. Toni pulled his sword off his left hip with his right hand and cut the man in half. I reached over my back for a sword that would only be there for me. Toni had already turned and shot one of the guards by the door before I had laid my hand on the Queen's Sword.

Sherry had her sword out and swinging as the guard to her left was bringing his weapon to bear on her. She stepped up with her right foot to face him as she brought her sword up. She caught the guard in the middle as she swept up with the blade. She split him open from bottom to top.

I wanted Lucus to taste what he had started as I leapt forward bringing my sword over my head from between my shoulder blades where I had retrieved it. A shield screamed as sparks lit up the assembly room when my sword smashed into the force field guarding the president and his council. A hole formed in the force field around my blade, refilled, formed again, and then the field collapsed as the room was plunged into total darkness.

Toni fired his blaster again and another guard died. By this time, Sherry had her blaster in her left hand and she fired at where the president had been.

Unless the humans had special gear for seeing in the dark, they were lost. Sherry and I could see in the dark as well as Toni. It was part of the blessing our daughters had given us as we carried them in our womb and shared life forces.

The president and his council had dropped down through a lift under their seats when the shield had been activated. In the time it took for my sword to collapse the shield they had fled the massacre they had started.

"TO THE SHIP!" I wanted to pursue the President, and kill him in the worst possible way, but it was too late for that. In my mind I could feel them speeding away on a transport as I spoke.

"FOLLOW ME!" Toni shot two more soldiers who had blindly and stupidly run into the room.

We were in the hall running for our ship parked two blocks away in a VIP dock. Alarms were now going off and a security door slammed shut at the end of the hallway. I could hear them slamming shut behind us as well.

"MY TURN!" I swung my sword into the door. There was a flash of light as it disappeared.

"Gotta get me one of them swords." Sherry laughed as we fled through the opening where a door used to be.

Toni pushed me to my right as he dodged left. A blaster shot plastered the end of the hall in front of us. Toni spun and fired in the direction we had escaped from. He fired twice more before he turned to follow Sherry and me down the hall in the direction of our ship.

There was no doubt, Toni would have already been at the ship if Sherry and I had not slowed him. I was wishing with all my heart I had morphed, with the gestation of our daughters, to look like a Pash like all the other mothers, but it was not ordained. By the laws of physics, Sherry and I were not designed for running fast. We were also not dressed for battle. We did the best we could with our gowns and heels.

"Last door. Soldiers on the other side waiting by the ship. Six of them." Ahead of Sherry and me, Toni had reached the security door leading to the VIP dock.

"I sense them. Sherry and I will take the three on the right." I was swinging my sword at the door. Like the time before, there was a flash of light, and the door disappeared.

The soldiers were ready, but not that ready. I guess they expected it to take a few seconds for the door to melt from blaster fire. The Queen's Sword caused molecular collapse. A good way of explaining it would be to say anything it touched turned into a black hole. Of course objects I was slicing through could not sustain a black hole as there was not enough collapsed matter in the center. The matter collapsed in on itself, couldn't hold in that form, and rebounded back out as light, X-rays, gamma rays, and a whole host of other energy particles.

The soldiers never stood a chance. Toni was by my left side when the security door disappeared. Sherry was in lock step right behind me. Toni fired three times as I caught a blaster shot with my sword. Sherry fired twice and I trapped another blaster shot. Toni took care of the last soldier.

It was a waste of life. They were defending a tyrant when they were thinking democracy. Why does human history repeat itself over and over and over? Are humans that stupid or is it a karma they carry? We were at the ship when I screamed. “NO WAIT!

Toni yanked back his hand before he touched the ship. “Force field. I sense it too.”

“They set up a shield around the ship. Let me see if I can collapse it without touching our ship.” I was sticking the point of the sword up close to the side of the starship.

“Careful, you touch our ship with that sword and we will walk home, and could you hurry? More soldiers are on the way.” Toni turned to guard our backs.

An eerie glow formed around our starship as I moved my sword in close to it. A black hole spread out from the tip of the sword half way around the ship as the sword swallowed the force field. Black holes could be formed from solid matter, as well as pure energy of a force field. There was a huge suction as the force field collapsed at the end of the sword. I thought we were all going to be swept in before there was a flash of light. The power generator for the force field had burned out, and the field collapsed.

“Toni!” I touched the side of the ship and a ramp flowed out of the ship while a door formed.

“GO! I’M RIGHT BEHIND YOU!” Toni fired twice down the hall leading from the meeting room.

I wrapped my skirt up in my left hand and sprinted up the ramp with Sherry right beside me. I hadn’t even made it inside when I screamed. “TONI, NOW!”

The flight console was in front of me. I glanced over my right shoulder to see Toni as he literally jumped into the ship. I slammed my hand down on the hatch control and the ramp flowed back into the side of the ship. The opening closed. The star map was up in front of me and I touched a star with my finger. The ship gave an unexpected shake.

“Did they trap us?” I was looking at an unfamiliar star map that generated in front of the flight console.

Toni had made his way up beside me. “I don’t know. Let me check.”

He slid down into the seat and pulled the console up in front of him. “No, we aren’t in the Earth’s dimension. I strongly suggest you find your seats. I have no idea where we are. They must have been trying to toss another force field over us and you jumped through it. It bounced us out in unexplored space.”

I was looking for my seat as Sherry took hers. “Great. And home is which direction and through how many dimensions?”

I looked over at Sherry hoping she could sense the way home with her seer abilities. “You sense anything? Got any ideas in that mind of yours?”

Sherry got real quiet, then shook her head. “I have no idea where we are, but we have company.”

“I have it.” Toni brought a starship up in the hologram. “Nothing I’ve seen before. Sherry are they friendly or hostile?”

“Neither. They are curious, wondering what we are doing.” Sherry had her eyes closed so the physical world wouldn’t distract her as she felt with her emotions for the other ship.

‘Permission to come aboard, Your Highness.’ Was in our minds. Obviously the life on the other starship had mind thought.

‘Our ship or your ship?’ Toni projected back.

‘Our ship is a lot bigger. Would you like to transport over?’

‘Sure.’ Was hardly out of Toni’s mind before all three of us were standing in a huge control center. I took a look and then a second and third look at our hosts. They were almost there. It was as if I was looking at a Will-O-Wisp. I couldn’t see through them, but they were not definite forms either.

One of them walked up in front of Toni and nodded. ‘Welcome aboard Your Highness. I sense uncertainty in your mind. Either this was an unplanned trip, or you are lost.’

He walked over to Sherry. ‘Ah, one who can see the future. An unexpected pleasure. Your Highness, welcome aboard.

Was Your Highness his normal greeting, or did he sense Toni and Sherry were heads of our clans? I was trying to puzzle out the question when he turned toward me. ‘It is difficult for me to verbalize, so I use mind thought. You carry the Queens Sword. You are Queen of the Pash. We know about the sword because we can see it. Many millennia back it was a gift to the Pash Queen. We also know of the seeds of war that are being sown between the human race and the Trag race.’

“Can you stop the war.” It was more natural for me to use my voice than my mind for conversation and sometimes I forgot.

‘We can not interfere. It has not been that long ago that you learned some things are ordained. The seeds of war may or may not produce fruit.’ He backed up and what I perceived as a female stepped up in front of me.

She held her hand. ‘May I see the Queens Sword?’

I reached over my back and brought it up in front of me. “If you touch it, it will destroy you.”

She reached out. ‘I am the sword designer. It will not hurt me.’

Holding out the sword with two fingers, I handed it to the woman. She took it in her hand and examined it. ‘It needs an adjustment. It has lost some power over the millennia. I will be right back.’

I didn’t have time to dispute her taking the sword. She was gone.

Another woman appeared in front of us. ‘I have programmed into your ship’s drives, the portals back to the Pash dimension. When you return to your ship it will take you home.’

Toni nodded his head. ‘Thank you for your help. You are most kind.’

The first woman reappeared with the sword. She held it out to me. ‘I do not believe you will have any more trouble collapsing any force fields. The molecular collapse should cause a wrap around effect as your sword touches the field.’

I took the sword and slid it over my back. Did she know about our escape from the Earth Alliance because they were there, or because she read our minds? I decided not to ask. “Thank you for all you have done for us.”

She held out her hand toward Sherry and a sword appeared. “I brought a gift for you also. If this war happens then you may find a need for this.”

Hesitantly Sherry took the sword. I could only imagine she was afraid it might not be adjusted to her body. She didn’t have to worry. The sword was in her hands and it didn’t make her disappear. “I do not have anything to offer in return besides my thanks.”

“You have the heart and conscience of honesty. That is enough.” The woman who handed Sherry the sword closed her eyes and nodded as she backed away

The woman looked around at Toni and Sherry. ‘You may stay if you want. The War would not reach you here.’

“No, it is our destiny for whatever happens, to try and prevent the war. If that’s not possible then we must support the Trag even if it means dying. Some causes are worth dying for. Dying for a just cause cannot be wrong.” I answered before Toni or Sherry had the chance.

‘As you wish.’

We were back on our own ship without that familiar flash of light when transported by beam. I looked around. “Toni?”

He gave the mental thought, ‘thank you’ before he reached up and touched the star map in front of his console. “We are home.”

I had a million questions about the life entities we had met. Our curiosity had to be put on the back burner, as war was looming larger and larger. Possibly several races could be wiped from history once the war commenced. The Pash were one of those who could become extinct.

Now it was a game of waiting to see if we were going to war, or not. I was positive Lucus wasn’t going to back down from declaring war with the Trag. He wanted their galaxy and he didn’t mind sending in a few billion innocent soldiers to die for his cause. And they would do it because their Commander in Chief said it was the right thing to do. All wars are insane! Good young men and women died needlessly for all the wrong reasons.

Sherry immediately left to contact the underground of the human population and their allies. Lucus would label them traitors and have them tortured and executed if he won this coming war. They really were putting their lives on the chopping block if war broke and the Trag and their allies didn’t win.

The Earth Alliance took in a huge number of non-human allies as the clouds of war became darker and darker. Everyone could smell the spoils of war. Planets, property, goods, land, and slaves could be had for the taking after a war of this magnitude.

The Trag had the Pash as allies and the underground movement on their side. It was nine days before the Trag ultimatum for all settlers to leave their galaxy when I met another plant intelligence as they gathered to support the Trag.

It was our daily trip to the Trag galaxy to try and negotiate a settlement to this madness. When Toni stopped the ship we were smack dab in the middle of millions of other unidentified ships. Shields on the alien ships immediately went up as one, and enough firepower focused in on us to make us a distant memory.

“What’s going on?” I was watching the monitor and it didn’t look good.

“I don’t know.” Toni called the Trag over the communicator. “Trag, this is Pash starship. Clarify the situation.”

“Pash, you are cleared. The Muvin have joined us.” Came back.

We beamed into the council building where we always met the Trag. I was looking at a life form there I had never seen. It reminded me of…? I had no idea. The body was round and red in color. There was no head or eyes, but it had a lot of limbs waving back and forth. I imagine it was sensing its environment with its branches or whatever. Not everything needed eyes to understand what was going on around them. What they did need was the ability to handle tools or objects if they were space travelers. This thing could do that with the snake like limbs it had. They also needed the ability to intake quantities of food if they were mobile. Then they needed the ability to think or reason if they were intelligent. I guess this thing could probably do that. They were driving starships, so they had to have something in the mental capability department as well. They also needed the ability to understand instruments. Driving a starship wasn’t done by sticking an arm out the window and feeling the air currents to see if one was headed in the right direction.

“Trag, do you have more allies? I would like to know in advance. The next ones might shoot us and then ask if we were on your side or not.” I stepped back from the Muvin as I had no idea if it understood we were not the enemy.

The Trag that stepped up to meet us turned one eye toward the Muvin. “The Muvin are not allies of the Trag. They join this war because their galaxy is not too distant. We stop the humans now, or the Muvin will find they have to fight alone when humans want their galaxy.”

I started to tell the Trag that was the exact definition of an ally, but thought better of it. The Trag had some unusual ideas about who was or wasn’t an ally. “How many ships did the Muvin put in space? Can they tell the difference between friend and foe? If it comes to war we will have many Earth Alliance ships fighting with the Pash and Trag. We certainly don’t want to have to defend ourselves from those who are fighting on our side.”

“Muvin put many ships in space.” The Trag answered, as it waved an arm toward the Muvin.

Sighing, I glanced over at Toni. “Make sure the computer does a ship count before we leave. There will be a bunch of Trag ships in there, but we can do a fair estimate if we subtract the number we have been checking the past week.”

“Sure, I was thinking of doing that already.” Toni beamed us back aboard our starship.

We found Jeeter and Bunny on Durus Nine. The large settlement where Toni and I had first landed, almost twenty days ago, was nearly deserted. The only life forms left were non-human. I was positive the Earth Alliance would find it tough sledding trying to defend illegal alien life forms instead of illegal humans.

If I hadn’t sensed it was Bunny, I would have never known it was she. She had changed her looks to those of a beautiful human female. I acknowledged her with a nod of my head. “You could have fooled me if I didn’t know you.”

“The pirates like this form. I use whatever is pleasing to them.” She had her hand resting on her phaser and it looked natural.

I was sure she had plenty of practice the way she casually carried herself. My attention was turned to Jeeter. “How’s it going?”

Jeeter shook her head. “Still have several colonies to visit yet. It would have been faster if Bunny and I had split up but it wasn’t safe. She watches my back and I watch hers. There is no honor among thieves. They will slit your throat, or doublecross you in a heartbeat if it suits them, or if they can see a profit in it.”

“Yeah, just like Earth Alliance.” I muttered under my breath.

“Captain, we need more time and more of those bio balls from the Trag. There are more pirates and claim jumpers than you estimated.” She held up an empty cylinder to show me.

“I guess you didn’t want to go back to the Trag and pick it up yourself? I can’t blame you. Probably a good idea. The Trag have allies and they are vegetable life forms also. I don’t know what the Muvin think of us. We need to set up a buffer between the Trag and Muvin ships and the other life forms that are joining in this war.” I took the cylinder from Jeeter. Toni and I would go back and get it refilled.

We tried to set up a meeting with Lucus and the Earth Alliance at a neutral location to stop this madness. It was to no avail. They never answered our request. I imagine there were a couple reasons they wouldn’t meet with us. They were afraid of an ambush like they tried on us, or they were gathering forces for the looming clouds of war.

Despite my prayers the final day arrived. To many of the Pash and a few billion humans, it was the final day of life. The Pash had been gathering in the Trag and Earth dimension for hours. My monitor was almost solid white with Pash starships. Toni and I kissed our daughters goodbye before beaming aboard a Star Destroyer. Pash Star Destroyers weren’t large ships, as they carried a compliment of twelve fire control stations. The energy those individual gun turrets were able to hurl was more than an Earth Alliance Battle Cruiser would be able to withstand. Their Star Destroyers wouldn’t be any safer. The problem was, they would outnumber us a hundred to one. How many shots can one take before we take one ourselves? The odds were against us surviving, no matter how powerful our weapons were.

I looked over at Toni and smiled. “I love you with all my heart. I have always loved you. Thank you for my life.”

Toni smiled. “Thank you for loving me. You are my life.”

“It’s time.” I reached up and touched a dot on the hologram in front of my console. Millions of Pash starships jumped distance and dimensions, as they were sync, locked with our ship.

“GOD HAVE MERCY!” Came from one of the hundreds of thousands of ships in front of us.

“Underground, this is the Pash. Please stand down and do not fire.” I wanted those ships to know we were not the enemy. Luckily, no one got trigger-happy on either side.

“Pash, where did you come from? You weren’t there a second ago.” “My god, my whole screen is filled with ships.” “I thought there were only a couple dozen Pash.” “Anyone able to count the number?” “Are all those ships Pash?” Came back from other ships scattered across space.

“Cut the chatter. The Trag and Muvin are moving up.” I could see hundreds of thousands of ships approaching from the Trag home planet.

“Trag, this is Pash. Did you get your screens in place?” I was hoping the Trag did their part. With our superior numbers, the Pash were going to take the brunt of the battle against the Earth Alliance. Those screens I was hoping were in place would bring the Earth Alliance ships to a halt, trapped in an electronic field the Trag had spread across space. The net would only work so long before the Earth Alliance figured it out and broke their ships free. Hopefully, in that short period of time, we could destroy most of them if things when as planned.

“Pash, Trag, net is in place.” Came back over the communicator.

“Pash, deploy to battle positions.” I could see a few hundred thousand ships approaching from the Earth Alliance. All the Pash ships disappeared off our scope. I knew if the Earth Alliance had seen them, they would think it was a blip on their screens and nothing more.

Our screen looked empty with only Trag, Muvin, and underground ships left on it. The Pash had moved back out of scanner range into battle groups. Five ships to a group, they would appear, pick targets, disappear, come back and do it over and over until they were either destroyed themselves, or the Earth Alliance and their allies were destroyed. War was for killing. A great man once said, “The idea is to not die for your country, but to make the other poor bastard die for his.”

I switched to the Earth Alliance frequency. “Admiral Baker, this is Queen Brandy Winter of the Pash Escubanesa Clan. I am here with King Tonlosania of the Pash Escubanesa Clan. We wish a conference.”

“We have no need for conference, your Highness. We are here to protect the settlers. Back off, or face our guns.” Came back.

“Admiral Baker, are you in too big a hurry to engage in war you can’t spare a few minutes to talk? Are your men so eager to die that you can’t talk to King Tonlosania and me? I promise the war won’t go away, even if you take a few minutes longer to begin. Please, your men might like a few of those minutes to think about their families. Please give me the honor of meeting my opponent if for no other reason.” I was praying something I said got through to Baker.

“I heard what you did in the meeting with President Lucus. You tried to kill him under the guise of a meeting. I will not give you that opportunity with me.”

“On screen.” Immediately Admiral Baker came up on a hologram in front of me.

Admiral Baker did not look pleased as he stared back at me from across twenty thousand miles of space. “I am not going to let you try the same trick on me you did on President Lucus. This is a waste of time.”

“Admiral, Neither I, nor my mate, nor counsel started the fight when we were meeting with Lucus. If I had started that fight we wouldn’t be here discussing it. Lucus and his counsel would be dead. The only reason he’s alive is because we were caught off guard. It was us who were ambushed in that meeting. Think about it. We managed to fight our way out of the hall and back to our ship after Lucus ordered his men to arrest us. Do you honestly think we would kill the guards before killing Lucus if it had been us who started the fight? Would you in that kind of situation?”

Admiral Baker looked doubtful before he answered. “Don’t bring any weapons and you may come aboard.”

“Do we have your word as an officer and gentleman this is under a white flag of truce, and you won’t try the same trick Lucus tried?” I didn’t like the no weapons idea but if there was any way to halt this madness I was willing to give it a try. I was probably going to die anyway, so why not die trying to save a few billion lives?

He nodded in agreement. “You have my word. You may return to your ship after we talk.”

“Tell your gunners to stand down. We are going to approach.” I glanced over at Toni and he was slipping off his sword and phaser.

Admiral Baker turned his head to talk to someone across the deck. “First Officer, tell our gunners to stand down. We have a Pash Starship approaching.”

“Aye aye, Captain. Gunners, stand down, Pash Starship shall be allowed to pull up alongside.” Came from someone off the side of the view screen.

I waited a couple seconds as Admiral Baker turned to look at the screen. I was waiting to give him time for the command to get through to his gunners. “Are their fingers off the triggers? We move pretty fast. I don’t want to get shot by someone who had a twitch.”

“My men don’t twitch. You may approach.” Admiral Baker looked disgusted.

I glance over at Toni. “Beam our crew over to another ship in case his gunners are twitchy.”

“Not a chance.” He touched the red dot that was in the hologram. We were beside the Admiral’s Battleship the Missouri. Less than half a second later we were inside the control deck of the Missouri.

“Permission to come aboard, Admiral.” I was looking at Admiral Baker who looked shocked that we were already there.

“Holy sh... you don’t waste any time do you? You were twenty minutes away.” He blinked his eyes to make sure we weren’t hologram generated.

“Admiral, I asked to talk. Twenty one years ago your Earth Alliance signed a treaty with the Trag. The treaty stipulated there would be no humans or animal life allowed into the Trag Galaxy.” I handed Baker a copy of the treaty.

“This treaty is non-negotiable. If you declare war on the Trag for defending their rights in a treaty your own Earth Alliance signed, then you are no better than the pirates and slavers you are protecting. Lucus thinks this will be an easy victory and none of the blood letting will get back to soil him. He’s wrong. The Trag do not go by rules if a treaty is broken. If you start a war by defending the pirates and slavers, who have illegally settled into the Trag Galaxy, then there are no rules.” I could see Admiral Baker was an intelligent man, but how much he was willing to follow illegal orders, or how much he would take upon himself to follow a signed treaty, was anyone’s guess. The military drills into their men that they must follow orders, no matter what, and without question. If an officer doesn’t follow orders, then he can kiss his career goodbye.

Admiral Baker was looking at the treaty. “Captain Jaser, pull up a copy of this Earth Alliance treaty from our records.”

“Yes Sir.” The Captain to our right walked over to a seaman sitting in front of a console and repeated the command to pull up the treaty.

“Your Highness, you must convince the Trag there are rules to war. We are civilized and will treat prisoners decently. We will not harm civilians or non-combatants. We do not destroy cities needlessly. I’m sure you would be able to convince the Trag they need to follow the Global Convention.” Admiral Baker looked first at me and then at Toni.

Shaking my head, I looked Baker in the eyes. “Admiral, if you don’t honor a treaty, you have lost all honor and can not expect the other side to be honorable.”

I sighed as I thought about how humans had always wanted to fight wars. “Admiral, you are the first flotilla to arrive at the Trag Galaxy. There are millions of other ships headed this way at flank speed as we speak. We both know some of those ships will be arriving in a few days. Others, posted on the other side of the Earth Alliance settlements, will be traveling for over a year before they arrive.”

“This war will not be fought only here. It is going to be spread clear to the other side of human settlement. I can assure you with the first shot fired, Earth itself is going to be under attack. Those Earth Alliance ships on the other side of the universe are going to be destroyed before they even know they were in the war zone. Every human settlement is going to be attacked almost immediately. This is going to be the most ungodly war humanity ever started, and possibly the last, because the Trag and Pash don’t take lightly to someone signing a treaty and then breaking it because they feel like it.” I watched disbelief grow in Admiral Baker’s eyes.

“You wouldn’t...” He had never heard of such a thing and his mind couldn’t comprehend instant war across the spread of humanity.

“I would and so would the Trag, the Muvin, the Pash, and a dozen of their allies. Admiral, your wife’s name is Dee and your two sons are named Chris and Charles. The first shot will unleash a war you do not want. Your family will be victims of that war. It will reach all the way back to them. If you’re lucky, you will die and not realize what you have done if you persist in following illegal orders. You have been ordered to defend pirates and slavers who are breaking a treaty the Earth Alliance has signed. If you were following orders to enforce that treaty then you would be legally and morally right.” I was desperately praying somewhere, I was getting through to this man.

Captain Jaser handed a copy of the treaty to Admiral Baker. “Her copy is correct. Nothing was altered or changed on it.”

Admiral Baker studied the treaty and then looked it over again. “Have any new treaties been made?”

“No Admiral.” Captain Jaser shook his head.

“I see. Our orders are in direct violation of this treaty?” Admiral Baker sighed as he knew his decision could possibly end his career. “Are you really positioned to strike our convoys on the other side of the universe?”

For the first time I saw a chance of stopping this war before it started. “Yes, and everything in between. My King will give you a ride over and back if you like?”

Shaking his head, he smiled. “No, as much as I believe you, and I would like that ride, I would be deserting my post. Would humanity be wiped out?”

“I doubt it. Not completely. There would be a few isolated pockets of humans left. The Trag don’t take kindly to broken treaties. They would do their best to make sure humans were taken off the species list. Humans would lose any ability to travel in space. Any ship that lifted off a planet would be a target and that would be a pointer back to where other humans were. The Trag would eradicate any humans they found.”

Admiral Baker glanced over at Captain Jasper. I knew he was looking for support one way or another. “Admiral, President Lucus sent you out on a fool’s errand. He was thinking of this war costing a few thousand or a few million lives and then the Trag Galaxy would be his for the spoils. I promise you, it’s not a mouse you are fixing to swat. You are about to unleash a dragon and this dragon will have his revenge on every human.”

I really didn’t want humans to know the number of Pash they would be up against, but I was desperate to stop a war before it began. “My Lord, if it pleases you, bring up the Pash Starships.”

Toni nodded in agreement. “It is done.”

“HOLY MOTHER OF MARY!” Came from the helmsman.

Admiral Baker turned to look at why his helmsman had spoken out. “OH SHIT!” He was looking at a view screen that was almost pure white with ships scattered as far as the sensor could monitor. “Where did they come from?”

“They just appeared, Sir.” The helmsman was trying to decide if his monitor was being fed erroneous information.

“Admiral, what you are looking at is not a hologram. Those Starships are real and their weapons are lethal. Your shields are useless against their phasers because their phasers are in a different sync than your phasers or shields. One hit from one of their guns and your ship is history.”

“Please, for the love of God, for the lives of every man, woman, and child, do not enforce a broken treaty against the Trag. You will be signing the death warrant for all of humanity.” I was praying Admiral Baker had a little bit of self-initiative in him.

Again I turned to Toni. “My Lord, if it pleases, deploy our ships to battle position and be prepared to give the order that no quarters are to be given or taken.” I was praying a little bit of military protocol would jump start the Admiral’s mind. It was what he had been trained to follow all his life.

Toni was staring straight at the Admiral. “It is as ordered.”

The helmsman’s screen went blank except for a view of space. “They are gone.”

Turning to look at the view screen the Admiral had passed beyond shock. “Are they on the other side of the universe?”

“Some are. They have broken up into battle groups. Each group is following one of your flotillas, ready to wipe them out if my King gives the command.”

Admiral Baker glanced in Toni’s direction and I could tell what he was thinking. I shook my head. “Or if he stops communicating with them. Admiral, we communicate by mind thought. So do the Trag and most of the others who have joined this battle. They don’t need equipment or mechanical devices to talk to one another across space. This is what I was trying to explain to Lucus when he tried to have us imprisoned. The treaty the Earth Alliance signed with the Trag wasn’t to protect the Trag from humans, it was to protect humans from the Trag. The Trag were going to wipe out the human race before the Pash intervened on the behalf of humanity.”

I glanced at Captain Jasper. “This is one treaty you must defend with all your honor.”

Admiral Baker took a deep breath and sighed. “Please your Highness. Give my staff and me time to discuss this alone.”

I had no idea how old Admiral Baker was, but at that moment he looked to be five hundred years or more. “Certainly Admiral. My King.”

We were back aboard our Starship and just as quickly the ship was at the edge of their scanner range. Toni was studying me. “What are your feelings?”

I shook my head. “The Admiral believes me but he’s fighting with years of following orders without question. It depends upon how much backbone he has. He is an honorable man, but can he overcome his military training and make a career decision? It also depends on how many of his staff will support him.”

My years as Captain of outpost UF-2 had given me the knowledge of what Admiral Baker was going through. We were still waiting an hour later when Jeeter and Bunny’s ship showed up on our screen along with four Trag ships following along.

“Captain, the Trag have been counting noses and I think they are ready to give it more time.” Jeeter came over the communicator.

Looking over at Toni I was wondering if he was thinking the same thing? “Jeeter, has everyone left?”

“The humans have, Captain. What is left isn’t by choice. It’s non humans who are stranded without any ships to leave by.” Was Bunny’s reply.

As the Earth Alliance ships started moving my heart jumped up in my throat. Then we picked up a transmission. “Trag, this is the Commander of the Earth Alliance Space Fleet. We are here to pick up any trespassers in the Trag galaxy. We request permission to proceed.”

“Admiral Baker, this is Trag Alliance. You have one day to pick up those illegally in Trag galaxy.”

“I’m wondering if this is a trick?” I was looking at Toni. “Could be they want us to stand down and then they will attack?”

“We will wait to see. A few days waiting should be plenty.” He was double-checking his monitor for any extra ships from the direction of earth.

Jeeter pulled up beside us. “Permission to come aboard?”

“Permission granted.” I touched my console.

Jeeter and Bunny were standing inside our ship. Jeeter shook her head. “I love your transporter.”

She held out her hand toward me. “Your plan worked. We traded these things with the pirates and they did the rest.”

I was looking at the bio balls in her hand. “Changing all the human pirates into females desiring sex, not war, wasn’t exactly my idea. The Trag came up with the idea a long time ago.”

Bunny picked up a couple of the bio balls out of Jeeter’s hand. “Who would have thought a war could be fought and won with a few little things like this?”

I had to laugh. “The Trag are good at things like that. I imagine that was why Lucus and his cabinet didn’t want to meet with us. They were too busy with female problems. I gave them a dose of the same when I leaned over the banister to talk to them. The virus was a lot smaller and airborne as I let it slid out of my hands. Hopefully the new council and President they elect will honor the Trag treaty without the threat of war. I know human nature though, and I wouldn’t bank on it. Maybe the threat of visiting one of the Trag planets as male and leaving as female will keep the pirates and trespassers away?”

Jeeter nodded in agreement. “I imagine it will. Big, strong, tough pirates don’t want to change into sex starved female nymphomaniacs. I hope the Trag haven’t come up with a virus for my species.”

“Who said they haven’t?” I winked at Toni as I answered Jeeter.

I thanked God no one died in an insane war that day. It was funny that a little thing the size of a bb could divert a war. Did the life forms that handed Sherry a Queen’s Sword know what had happened? I was curious to find them again.

FROM THE EDITOR: I know that this seems like a cliffhanger, but this is the very last bit that Barbie sent me. IF there is any more, I will get it up and posted ASAP. Both Barbie and I want to thank ALL the commenters, those who left kudos, and those who send private messages. We REALLY appreciate your input and corrections that you suggest. YOU readers are the reasons why writers write and post stuff for free on sites like this one, and on behalf of all the great authors here and on other sites,we thank you, from our hearts.