Chapter 18

The Liberty slowly dropped down towards the moon Rhea.

Rhea was unique in the solar system: an ocean world wrapped in an ice coating. Beneath the two kilometer thick frozen shell that provided its visual surface, lay a twelve to fourteen kilometer deep ocean of pure water. A resource that humanity, naturally, was exploiting to its fullest. A half dozen pumping stations littered the moon, drilling down to the liquid treasure, filling enormous tanker ships to satisfy the needs of man. Already a ten meter gap existed in places between the bottom of the ice and the top of the ocean, and speculation as to what might happen as even more water was removed ran to the bizarre. Some had the ice shell collapsing, killing all living there. Others saw the creation of a brand new living space on the exposed rocky surface under the ice ceiling. An idea put forward by some engineers was to spin the ice shell, giving the inner surface its own gravity, and thus creating three surfaces on the world for man to colonize.

Those engineers tended to not find paying employment.

The spaceport landing pads were virtually empty as the ship touched down at Catty Township. The bulk of a water tanker dominated the field as the landing cradle adjusted to the much smaller size of the Liberty and a boarding tunnel was extended. It made contact just as the engines cut out. They were down.

"Welcome to Catty," the rather unimposing Dock Master told Kine as the ship hatch opened. The official was waiting for them right in the boarding tunnel, along with a dozen Rebel guards. They made up for his distinct lack of ... well, anything. Kine almost hadn't noticed him standing in front of the armed soldiers, despite his bright orange uniform. His brown hair was short and neat, and he had the type of face computers tended to churn out to fill in crowd scenes.

"Greetings," Kine said, not stepping off the ship quite yet. His eyes flicked from the official to the guards, then back again. "Expecting trouble?"

"Always. Step aside so we can inspect your ship." The official motioned the guards forward, but Kine stood his ground.

"No."

The guards paused, as the man's eyes widened. He looked down at the pad in his hands, then back at Kine.

"No?"

"Nope. Not gonna allow it."

The two locked eyes. The dock master broke off his gaze and glanced at his data pad again.

"L-look, after everything that's been going on out there, we HAVE to inspect every ship! I mean, we don't want the same thing to happen here that happened to the London!" He was sweating, partly due to Kine, but perhaps even more so due to the condescending looks his men were giving him. Kine was almost ready to feel sorry for the guy.

"But it's pointless." The official looked up. "I mean, if we ARE the spearhead of a Federation attack, as soon as your men step on board, the troops I have ready in the passageways behind me just out of sight will spring out and kill you all." The guards half raised their weapons at this. Kine remained still, calm. He went on, casually. "If we're NOT Feds, then naturally we'll probably assume you men are, and are trying to take over our ship. In that case any attempt to board us will result in either those troops behind me ready for just such a betrayal jumping out, or I'll shut this hatch and we'll try an emergency takeoff. This will likely destroy the cradle, and the docking bridge on which you're standing."

The Rebels were now looking at each other, concern on their faces. Kine caught the eye of the Dock Master, who was completely flustered.

"Now, given all that, and given this really is a small ship and we don't want any trouble, what I'd do if I were you is put a camera and a portable turret aimed right at this door, then let us into your fine town to resupply and spend money. If the camera picks up any large troop movements, you can have the turret blast away. What do you say?"

The man considered. He looked once again at the sensor readings they had of the Liberty, then at Kine ... and nodded.

"Sergeant, put a sentry gun and a guard on this gangway. Again," he said, in a relieved and happy tone, "welcome to Catty." Kine stepped out of the ship and walked over to shake his hand. Mel exited behind him, first excursion party organizing behind her.

Kine looked the officer over again. He seemed the type that knew lots of stuff, but just needed a friendly ear. He gave him his most charming smile.

"You know, we could really use the latest gossip from this system. There's so much rumor floating around out there, we have no idea what's going on. Why don't I buy you a drink, to make up for all this, and we can talk?"

The Dock Master's eyes widened, a slow smile growing on his face as his eyes traveled up and down Kine. The blond teen suddenly realized Sean would have been better suited for this. The man moved to Kine's side and, as the two started walking, put a hand on his back.

"You know, that sounds like a wonderful idea. It's about time for my break. I know this wonderful place down by Suzy's that serves these wonderful poached fish..."

Shelly ached all over.

It was bad enough working out. It was bad enough working out next to super warrior Lessa, and the young and eager Wendi. But, did they have to have the gravity turned up over one gee? "Oh, this way we'll really work those muscles, and you'll be ready whatever the conditions we fight in." Bullshit. It was all a plan to torture her, to make her feel weak and inferior.

The bra made it worse.

Lessa and Wendi, and Mari who was just doing stretches while watching the older girls, had decided to train nude. Something about it being just more natural and relaxing. It only took Shelly about five minutes to discover her larger boobs didn't like that kind of treatment, so there she was with her boulders restrained while everyone else showed off what the gods had given them. Grrr ... it made Shelly want to go find a man and bang him silly just to prove her body was in fact good for something. VERY good for it. Right now, though, she just needed drink and sleep.

The rec room door opened, the sound of soft music, mostly strings and woodwinds, lofting through the air greeting her. She was also greeted to the sight of Sean sitting at a chair pulled up next to a pool table, with a glass and bottle of booze in front of him on the railing.

Gee, just the male to solve her problems.

Sean turned as the door closed behind her, and it was obvious he had put a dent into the bottle already. He smiled, raising a full glass to her in toast.

"Hello, Slut!"

"Hi, Buttfucker."

Shelly went over to the bar, looked around, grabbing a bottle of white wine. Opening it, she turned, leaned back against the bar and took a swig. She probably should be hydrating, or some such, but man she needed this.

"So, what have you and the Evil One been playing at?" Sean turned his chair a bit so he faced her across the pool table. Shelly suddenly noticed how ... tired he looked. His day hadn't been much better than hers.

"Oh," she said, taking another swig before dropping her arm to hold the bottle casually by its neck. "just training to be super soldiers. You know how it is. Can't destroy all your enemies without getting in some jumping jacks." Sean just shook his head at her.

"WHY are you doing this? You have to know she's crazy."

Shelly closed her eyes.

"I know, I know..." She sighed at Sean. "The last time she was like this, I did nothing. She went off and just ... butchered. Came back two weeks later with ... scalps! If I'm with her this time, maybe..." She shook her head. "I have to try. I can't live with myself if I don't."

"You're as bad as Kine," Sean snorted. "Worse, maybe. He's going along with her to try and steer her madness into productive, non-suicidal paths. You're just going to follow along and hope, when the time comes, you can talk reason into her."

"There will be more hitting than talking, I suspect."

They both took a drink. Shelly gave him a speculative look.

"Why don't you just leave? If you know where this is going, and you don't want to be caught up in it..."

His sigh mirrored hers.

"I should. Just go. Leave all of you to flame out, in a meaningless blaze of glory. But..." Sean looked down at his empty glass. "I'm still somewhat of an outsider here, socially, but this is the most welcome I've ever been. If I leave ... well, unless I go back to the Guard, I'm back to ground zero. Except I'm alone on a strange moon instead of my home world."

They were silent. Shelly contemplated the bottle in her hand, found the cork and shoved it back in. Putting it back on the shelf, she looked back at Sean. He was actually rather handsome, now that she actually thought about it. Then again, maybe it was the wine

"Either help us ... or leave." He looked up at her. "I'd rather you were around, myself."

With that, she walked out to find some lucky boy to fuck.

"You see," the Dock Master, whose name was Timothy, said as he took the small umbrella out of his drink, "the whole place is falling apart."

Kine sat across from him in the booth, nursing a beer. It had a nutty flavor he hadn't tasted in awhile, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. The same went for this bar, and his companion, nutty flavor and all. He was surrounded by the tackiest decorations he'd ever seen, a collection of bright colors and fake plants that give the place the look of ... well, his own personal hell. As for Timothy ... at least he was as talkative as Kine had guessed.

"I mean, take yesterday as an example," Timothy continued, pausing to sip at the straw coming out of the fake coconut. "We get this SOS from the London, right? Big attack! Then it cuts out, which you kind of expect if the attackers are doing their job. But, then there's another message about us doing this big invasion of Nene, and them calling for help followed by silence. Imagine, two major operations at the same time! Naturally, we figured one of them had to be fake, but who knows!"

"Was there an attack on Nene?" Kine interrupted, leaning forward. He was barely touching his drink, but didn't think his companion had noticed.

"I don't THINK so. My former roommate Rodney is in logistics and usually sends me warnings about that kind of thing, but I haven't heard from him this last week. It's just like him. He was always vanishing for a day or two, not bothering to tell me where he was spending the night..."

"Have you heard anything about what happened on the London?"

"Oh! Yes! My friend Shela was on the first relief wave that got there. The sneaky Feds had already left by then, naturally. They even destroyed the docking ring as they did! Imagine that!" Kine did imagine it. "So, she goes inside with everybody, and it's a bloody mess. And I mean, bloody. Lots of survivors, yes, but they didn't care who they killed. Sent missiles everywhere, just blowing things up..."

"But," Kine asked, trying to actually get useful information, "what were they AFTER?"

"Oh," Timothy said, waving his hand dismissively, "Who knows. There's that whole secret weapons development place there at the far end. Could have been anything from there. They trashed the place, that's for certain, from what Shela said. Fired at everything BUT the base at the start, but after their troops had gone in and done whatever, they blasted the hell out of it. Tough thing, those old stations, the outer shell never ruptured..."

"I'm just curious as to how they managed to get that close undetected." Kine sat back in his chair. This was the important question, so far as they were concerned.

Timothy waves his hand dismissively.

"Oh, probably was that new fangled scanner jammer thingy they have. Ours still has some bugs, although it's suppose to be better than the Fed crap, but obviously they work well enough to do the job. Silly things, changing the balance of power and all that..."

"But," Timothy suddenly said, leaning forward and giving Kine a look many a girl had given him before, "enough of that. Tell me something about yourself..."

"Big Brother!"

The whinny little girl voice startled both of them. Turning, Kine saw Amanda running over to him. She was holding her stuffed bear, pouting like she was six. He was half surprised, and half relieved. And half angry if she had been allowed to come here alone. A quick glance behind her, though, showed Jenny and Hanna in the doorway. Hanna gave him an unobtrusive wave, then the two of them were gone. His attention turned to his sister who was standing next to him looking worried and angry.