Chapter 39

The days that followed for the Empire and its forces were tense. A series of clashes between their allies and enemies on the far borders kept Fleet Command, along with its adjunct FleetInt, busy. The dead area on the border of Gershonian space was now sealed and a series of scouts sent in to keep an eye on the spheres; though currently only the original remained, which appeared to be turning the system into an armed fortress, in so far as you could turn such a vast area into any sort of fortress. The Empire also interdicted any trade ships trying to approach the area through Vraik territory, which went unnoticed by the Vraik as they were too busy fighting each other to almost extinction as well as taking an even bigger toll on their remaining resources.

My life remained as ever uncomplicated with my work switching from Medical Resource to the charity work I did. I also still carried out my tasks as janitor to the medical centre, though there was no pretence at paying me any more. Nor was I pestered by the newsies now, I was simply no longer newsworthy as such as I did not talk about what I did and with whom. I did remain friends with Teelae though and would occasionally turn up as a guest on her show, just to conform to my contract which stated I had to be available to be answerable to the press.

Of far more interest to me were the Security Group meetings and Amantil’s advisory group, where I at least got to learn what was actually going on and occasionally gave my thoughts on a few matters as the Empire put itself on a war footing. The biggest area of conflict was on the border of the Melanoqui Autarchy and the Ghangan Expanse where the Melanoqui were struggling to contain the massed waves of Ghangan fleets and their attendant ‘reducers’, which were basically huge hunting prides whose sole purpose was to kill off any intelligent life forms before the Ghangan settled a world. The creatures used were a type of Ghangan though bred (as far as the Empire could tell) for this one purpose and were commanded by the Ghangan forces as shock troops to reduce resistance to the invasion as quickly as possible. After that, the survivors of the native population were reduced to lives as breeding feedstock for the noble Ghangan who ruled their worlds.

Naturally any race who faced them tended to fight like demons, as the Melanoqui did, to avoid such a fate. This had caused them a lot of casualties and they were grateful to the Empire for the support that three Imperial fleets were now giving them against the seeming endless waves of Ghangan fleets. The Empire was also ramping up production of warships, particularly a type of long range fighter capable of XD travel and capable of savaging a reducer fleet which was composed mostly of armed transports. These were being transferred to the Melanoqui themselves who had no such design concept or construction facilities for the deadly little craft and they were being lauded by their fighter pilots as being the difference between being overrun and just hanging on. A movement within the Autarchy to permit men to serve in their armed forces was currently growing, though had gained little traction as yet. However the Supreme Ruler Millonra was quite open in her praise of the males of the Empire who were fighting and dying (along with Imperial women) in the defence of the Autarchy.

In the Regnat there was a sort of chaotic situation on their border with the regions where the Tcheeklan Ravagers roamed. The Ravagers, though somehow huge in numbers, would avoid any fleet large enough to be a threat to them and would simply melt away from any such threat, though would quickly reform to swarm down any group they thought weaker as well as being a constant thorn in the side of any planet they descended on. Currently the Empire was producing a relatively cheap and quickly deployable planetary defence grid that could keep the Ravagers at bay by giving them far more casualties and damage than they were comfortable with, making taking on a planet with one a risky proposition for the small flotillas based around a heavily armed Corvette they preferred. The Regnat itself was rebuilding its internal ties as well as increasing its fleets based on swift reaction groups to chase down the Ravagers, as well as trying to find out which Realms were funding, supplying and acting as their bases. So far only the Arcon Dominium was a known supporter, though the Ravagers themselves did not pass their fighting groups through Arconian space, merely traded there.

The Gershonians were currently licking their wounds after the mauling they received from the sphere and had brought up other fleets from the Dukes to constantly patrol the dead area frontier. As yet, other than scouting, they had not moved into the area in force until more was known of this enemy. Jessin, the Princess Royal of the Realm of Gershon was currently in negotiations with Amantil (via proxies) to purchase one of the reserve Fleets the Empire had, which although not quite up to the current Imperial standards was by far superior to the current Gershonian Ducal fleets and about on a par for the Royal Fleet.

“Morning, Dave,” Hiqua greeted me as I strolled into the medical centre to begin my work.

“Good morning, lovely Hiqua.”

“Aw, you’re so nice to me,” she beamed as I blew her a kiss and strolled through to the treatment area only to find Cass had taken a day off and we had a locum in.

“Salutations, Healer,” I greeted him.

“Greetings... ?”

“Cure David, though whilst working here I’m the janitor,” I chuckled.

“Oh, right. Senior Healer Cassire did give me an information package that mentioned you. I’m Healer Morano, I’m here for a binary cycle whilst Senior Healer Cassire renews her training and studies some new treatments available.”

“Hopefully I won’t be needed, but Hiqua can find me if necessary,” I replied, thinking the man should really have checked his information pack.

“Oh ... OK.”

I wandered back outside, seeing Hiqua grinning at me. “Thanks for the heads up, Hiqua,” I said with a wry smile.

“He’s so green he could embarrass a lawn,” she giggled. “He’s just out of his training and this is his first time unsupervised.”

“Let’s hope the section behaves,” I chuckled. “I’ll make sure he’s known as hands off.”

“Already done. Tokko, the Crimson Sun Enforcer, was in earlier and looked him over.”

“That was quick,” I replied surprised.

“Tokko’d picked up an injury dealing with a rogue member so just happened to turn up when Healer Morano arrived,” Hiqua explained. “I don’t think she was too impressed, but, he’s hands off now.”

“Good, last thing we need is him being scared off.”

“Unlikely, unless he’s like you and goes wandering,” she nodded.

“I like new experiences,” I chuckled. “Plus there aren’t many things or people here for me to worry about.”

“Yes, you frightened Cassire the first time you showed up here to clean the place. Until then we didn’t dare go into the market as we thought we’d be mugged ... or worse.”

“Still get the odd fool, though Mamma keeps an eye out for them for Endo.”

“I still haven’t figured Mamma out as she seems to have some sort of power or position here, but no one knows just what,” Hiqua replied with a puzzled look.

“She’s the head of the market syndicate,” I replied. “Ensures that the traders are not interfered with by the Entertainment Syndicate and the various gangs. She employs some of the Crimson Suns to keep order as and when it’s needed.”

“She’s Endo’s boss?”

“Not really, just in regards to market security. It’s why the market is neutral territory. Other markets have similar arrangements, though none seem to work quite as well as ours, according to Kirim.”

“I think it’s all down to mutual respect,” Hiqua nodded.

“Yes, makes for a nice place to sit and chat if that’s what you want.”

At this point the door burst open and two Guardians arrived dragging an injured and profusely bleeding woman.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I got them to lower her gently to the floor.

“Think she tried to get to the recruiting centre from the Entertainment Centre,” one of them, whose voice I recognised as Rigg, replied. “There’s still a tense stand-off going on as some fool used a hyperbeam pistol on her. We think there may be more casualties, but can’t get in as yet.”

Morano had come rushing out at Hiqua’s yell and was now examining the woman with his wand looking shocked and shaken.

“Calm yourself, Healer Morano,” I said in gentle tones. “Treat it as an exercise.”

“I need to get her on a treatment bed,” he stated with a quavering voice.

“No problem,” I nodded and with the help of the two guardians, lifted the unconscious woman far more gently than she’d arrived and carried her to a treatment bed.

“Thanks guys, you can grab statements later,” I thanked them, getting a cheery wave off Rigg as they headed back out to their comrades.

“Her spinal cord is severed,” Morano muttered. “Severe blood loss too, but I can deal with that.”

“Can the cord be repaired by the facilities here?” I asked.

“No, Median and Upper levels, yes, here, no.”

“Sort out everything you can do here, I’ll take care of the rest.”

“You will?” he asked astonished.

“I’m a Cure, it’s what we do.”

“Oh, oh yes.”

“Also get ready for more casualties, if someone was prepared to openly use a hyperbeam pistol, you can bet they’ll go down fighting.”

“Right,” he swallowed nervously.

“Don’t worry, you’re doing OK. Just keep them alive and stabilise them; we’ll sort out what needs doing after.”

“Y ... yes, she’s stable now.”

“OK, put up a privacy screen and I’ll do my bit.”

Eight hundred rotations later (getting on for six hours) we finally had the last of the patients, including a couple of guardians, stable and mostly cured. Morano looked totally shaken, but had held his nerves together when a rush of casualties threatened to overwhelm us. Fortunately both Hiqua and I were trained Meditech’s (a bit like paramedics) and had rapidly triaged the flow with the aid of a Guardian Meditech called Flinna and allowed Morano to concentrate on the most critical.

The young lady I’d cured was currently being interviewed by Baltus and would, after her statement, be taken over to the recruitment centre to escape her current vocation.

“What the hell was going on?” I asked Flinna as we all trooped outside to Mamma’s wagon.

“Gods damned idiot Verrick, the owner, was preparing for an assault on the new centre in the next block over and had got hold of a few illegal weapons. Problem is, the security goons he chose to use are a bit clueless and one of them used a pistol on an absconding entertainment girl,” she answered as Mamma provided us with tuchs.