Omoikane - The Forbidden Zone

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 71- The Forbidden Zone

Li’ira and I walked into the brig. Banic was in a cell there. He looked like the corpse of an Orion man mixed with a cyborg. I had uncomfortable Borg vibes from him. But he wasn’t a Borg.

“You almost look civilized,” He rasped “It’s been a while for me.”

“I’m Jay Hailey,” I introduced “I command this ship, the Omoikane. This is Li’ira, my Executive Officer. You’re under arrest.”

He chuckled “The civilized answer. Throw me in jail for my crimes.”

“That device you had, where did you get it?”

“Forgive me. My memories are indistinct. It comes from having lived so long. I believe it was in a museum of some kind on Orona Betha. That’s the name of the planet by the way, the eleventh Oron.”

“How did you know it worked the way it did?” I asked.

“Desperation. I saw it during a visit early on. I was young. The planet wasn’t in bad shape yet. The war was just starting. A war plague of some sort stuck here. Years later, I’d failed to protect the people. I cured the plague but far far too late. Then we got bombarded. I tried. I tried to be the voice of reason. I tried to lead. I was getting old. And the barbarians kept killing us and ruining what we tried to build.”

“I recalled the Device of the Ancients in the museum. I sent my best warriors to go get it. One returned.”

I experimented with it. I experimented on captives, slaves, and the dying. I discovered how to operate it. At first, I used it only on the worst. It transfers life-energy from one being to the other. I regained my life and youth by taking the life energy of others.”

“But you were using it on kids…” I said

“Why not? Why not indulge myself? Publicly executing psychopaths and murderers didn’t work. There was always the next psycho coming along behind. They tasted bad, by comparison. The young ones, The innocent ones, they’re fresh. They taste better. As an added bonus, they don’t have to live in the corpse of the world, as it decays in its grave.”

“Do you know of a way to substitute the energy it draws?” I asked.

He started laughing. He tottered around the brig cell, laughing. He laughed until he cried. “Don’t you think I tried? I tried for so long. See, back in those days I was the good guy. I was the hero saving civilization, you see.” He barked with agonized cries and laughter, “I was the hero, you see.”

I gave him a few minutes to regain his composure.

“We have a lot of questions,” I said.

“I bet you do. If I recall, civilized folks often pursue knowledge for its own sake. I did that long ago.”

“If you’re civilized, why are your people like that?” Li’ira asked.

He laughed some more “We survived the death of the world. We fought and fought it, and in the end, it ate us. Civilization isn’t just buildings, technology, or systems,” He kicked the fold-out toilet, “It’s a culture. It’s in your mind and your heart. The dying world wouldn’t have it. The world wouldn’t have it. It showed us the dead. It hit us with the dead. It drowned us under the dead. The great thing about dead children, and it’s really wonderful, is that they just can’t suffer anymore. It’s when they’re between death and life that they’re disturbing. At least while civilization lives in your heart.”

“So we fought and fought and waded through death, suffering, misery, shit, and disease until we changed. Until we became adherents to it. Servants of it. Those people down there - in my kingdom, in my palace, there’s no civilization in them. They worship me as their death god. But I had to be their death god. They demanded it. They wouldn’t have it otherwise. I tried. I tried. They handed me heads and ears and begged for my approval. They killed and butchered in my name. But it was in them all along. I had to give them what they expected to keep them in line.”

“Wow,” Li’ira said “Is that going to be your defense?”

“There will be no defense,” Banic said “I’ll die shortly.”

I could see Li’ira bite down on a “Good!”

“How long do you think you’ll live without a sacrifice from your machine?” I asked.

“A matter of days. Maybe a week or so,” Banic said “The need for it has grown more frequent of late.”

“You’re dying so hard, that stealing the lives of others isn’t helping,” I said.

“Oh, wouldn’t that be lovely?” Banic said, “So many times, I’ve said that this was the last one. I’ll die for real the next time. I’ll hold out and go where the dead go, like everyone else. But when it gets close, and you can feel it breathing down your neck… then the math changes. Impending death has a way of clarifying your priorities. When it comes down to it, I’ll do anything to survive. Most people would.”

“How many people did you kill to save your own life?” Li’ira asked.

“I lost count. Lots. Call it a thousand,” He said “Go ahead and charge me one thousand times with murder,” Banic sat down and felt the cover on the bunk, “Civilized people, in some ways, this cell is your version of my machine. I’ll die here, and your image of yourselves as civilized people will be renewed and live on.”

Li’ira turned and marched out of the brig, her face a dark green.

“We’ll do our best to make sure you meet your court date,” I told him.

He looked at me quizzically “In what court? You’re not from the Great Oron Empire. Who has jurisdiction over Orona Betha these days?”

“That’s a good question,”

“Well, whoever it is, tell them to check their damned comms. I’ve only had a distress call out for two thousand years.”

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 72 - Coronation Stations

The Coronation was a splendid affair. Nobles and Important People turned out in their finery. It was a joyous affair. There was music, food, drink and dancing. It was all wonderfully horrible.

These people were medieval. All the food was fresh because it was grown within 5 miles of the Capital. They had at best rudimentary sanitary systems and no running water.

The finery was very nice, but it was the product of teams of servants working like hell, encouraged by beatings and verbal abuse.

The vaulted stone ceilings carried smoke from fires, torches, and candles up and away, but the smoke still permeated everything.

The Nobles and Important Persons of the Kingdom of Novala were happy. Rathana’s return was surprising and magical.

Once Kidnapped by Banic and Forbidden Legions, her fate was pretty much sealed, until the Klingon Empire and the Federation intervened. We weren’t in time to save her father and the best knights in the Kingdom, but we got her out.

Tonight, with her coronation, Rathana took her rightful place and stabilized the nobles of the Kingdom.

Li’ira and I, Harksain Varupuchu, and Stephanie Anderson were in our dress uniforms with the full decorations representing Starfleet and the Federation.

“You say you fly on a ship, in the stars, like the ancient stories?” A large man with gray hair asked me.

“Yes, Sir, that’s true,” I replied.

He then asked me in detail about my uniform. He wanted to be able to read with it communicated. He showed me his ribbons and decorations. My commbadge recorded it all.

At the right time, Drums boomed, and cymbals crashed. It was time. Rathana looked a lot different than when we pulled her out of Banic’s dungeon. I could still see the young girl, but she was covered in the finest of finery, and the symbols that marked her status in the Kingdom.

Eight figures accompanied her. A Klingon honor guard. Six Klingon warriors in full armor and weapons all shined to a mirror finish. With them, Geenomar, a Damyip social unit. Also in step, Keena, a native girl. She was about the same age as Rathana.

Geenomar and Keena wore a lighter, different type of armor. I think it was meant to be civilian armor for Klingons who weren’t warriors but were participating in honor events.

The Klingon honor guard took their place at the ceremony, and Princess Rathana was crowned Queen of the Kingdom of Novala.

They made speeches and acted out the ritual, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it—something about Ancestors and being on the road to reclaiming ancient glory.

“Thank you for your support,” Rathana said after a long speech. “Novala and Orona Betha now enter a new era of history. We have made contact with Sky People. They have rid us of Banic. We now pledge friendship between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets. This is the beginning of our road back to the stars.”

She smiled brilliantly, and the nobles responded with thunderous applause.

I did my best to keep a straight face and a diplomatic smile. It was my least Prime-Directive-compliant moment so far. I had no idea what the Federation could do or would do. I had no idea what Starfleet Command thought we should do.

I looked at Kalabar, the Klingon Captain playing honor guard to Rathana. Her eyes were glittering, and her grin was genuine. She meant to race us for influence here. Seeing my expression, her grin grew a little wider.

-*-

I found Kalabar on a balcony overlooking the town. The town surrounded the castle that served as the Capital of the Kingdom of Novala.

“You guys are staying here?” I asked.

“We must,” Kalabar said.

I shook my head and grimaced.

“We were captured. Dishonored,” Kalabar said. “We must restore our honor. This Kingdom will provide us the chance to do that.”

There were times I hated Klingon honor. “This place is a mess. It's going to be a long program of hard work to get it flying straight.”

“Your people love that sort of thing. I’ve been to Darnara and the Lefyt Colonies. You have civilizing missions all over this region of space.”

I winced “Bringing the light of civilization has bad connotations for us.”

“And yet, here you are,” Kalabar said.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Excuse me,” Geenomar said.

“Greetings, “ I said.

“Thank you for repairing Geenomar,” Kalabar said “She is a valuable crew member.”

“We like the Damyip pretty well ourselves,” I said.

“Lotara and I have been speaking with the Damyip. A Pax mission has been started and will be dispatched once complete,” Geenomar said.

I looked around “Here comes the future.”

Kalabar said, “It’s better with friends.”

“Tell me about Keena,” I asked

“She was a native scavenger and rat. Her skills in stealth and filching are excellent. She offered to become our guide. In the fighting at Banic’s castle, she disappeared, but never gave up on us. She harassed the Forbidden Legions until you arrived with your subtle diplomatic maneuverings. She is my crew now. She has honor. Keena and Geenomar are the only ones of my crew with honor left intact.”

“And your honor demands…” I asked

“We must regain our honor by fighting enemies. In my house, we fight to defend those who cannot fight as we do. Klingons are protectors. We will protect this Kingdom and Queen Rathana until each of us has slain an enemy in honorable combat.”

“No disruptors?”

“Not unless the situation is dire. Bat’leths only.”

I shook my head “I pity the bandit or invader who gives you an opportunity for honor.”

“As well you should. But we got captured. These people are not to be underestimated. I was full of myself and foolish. I will not make that mistake again.”

-*-

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 73 The Hostage Game

The Forbidden Palace was a burned-out wreck. Although our raid was done with stun beams and transporters, the Palace was a death trap of fires and flammables. At some point during the engagement, something fell over, and the fire spread.

“You must return Banic to us,” Naigwa said. He was a big guy. Wide and heavily muscled.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” I said “I can’t let him kill anyone else.”

“You stole his magical artifact,” Naigwa said.

“Somehow, I doubt that would keep him from killing anyone,” I said “You and your people have a choice ahead of you. Things have changed. Doors are open for you.”

“I made my choice long ago, outlander,” Naigwa said “I walk the Forbidden Path. I serve Banic. That which is forbidden to others is open to me.”

“Forbidden by whom?”

“I have access to one thing you value. I can reach one thing you don’t want me to—the innocent. Give Banic back, or we will unleash slaughter. This world is filled with girls like the ones you stole from us. I will kill all of them.”

“Kalabar would love you,” I said “I hope you get to meet her. All the leverage is against you here. You don’t have enough brutality to brutal your way out of this.”

Naigwa raised his right hand. I heard a shriek. Two soldiers approached holding a young girl between them.

“Before you do anything rash,” I said.

Naigwa smiled an evil smile “Those who walk in the light fear death. They fear pain. We revel in them.”

“We’re talking here. Don’t shut that door.”

Naigwa made a gesture, and his men put a blade to the girl’s throat. She whimpered.

“Talk all you wish. I will kill one such person every hour until you return Banic to us.”

“No,” I said “No. The time for talking is over. Beam me up.”

As the transporter grabbed me, I saw Naigwa grinning like he’d won.

-*-

“Yellow alert,” I said as I stepped down from the transporter pad. “Staff meeting in the briefing room.”

Li’ira looked at me “You okay?”

“Nope. We will have to save everyone we can and then make sure they’re neutralized.” I said.

Tippalan and Galaglan were coming in the doorway.

I yelled, “Nope! Action now. Feelings later.”

-*-

“I want hit-and-run raids to try and move hostages out of there,” I peered at a holographic map of the area around the Forbidden Zone.

“Some of my guys are still injured from the last time,” Stephanie said.

“Replicate them armor. Pull everyone with combat training or experience. We’ll lead off with the Ane machines. Ireymalan, How many can you run?”

“I can run as many as you need, Captain, but after about 12, my reaction time will begin to suffer. I can set up remote piloting stations, if you’d like organic crew members to run some.”

“Please do,” I said “How many do we have?”

“We have 24 coyotes, and 8 timber wolves.”

“Use all of them.”

“Rules of engagement?”

“Stun everyone with a weapon.”

It became clear from our scans and the map that the reason the Forbidden Zone wasn’t put out of business were strong natural defenses. Mountains to the east and north. A big river to the west. To the south wetlands that gave way to that same river. They had three passes and a Bridge/Fortress thing.

I zoomed in and ran the geological overlay over the passes. I could see watch points. I highlighted all of them and then circled specific ones.

“We’ll cut off their access,” I said “We’ll collapse the passes and destroy the bridge fortress.”

“I’m not entirely comfortable firing starship weapons at a medieval enemy,” Stephanie said.

“If we don’t stop them, they’ll wait until we leave and then take their revenge on their neighbors, who are also medieval,” I pointed out. “They have to know the Federation is a big dog, and they do not want to get in our faces again.”

Stephanie looked me right in the eyes, “No revenge. Do not let this get personal.”

“Once we set the engagement plans, I’m a spectator. I’ll only press the start and stop buttons.”

That was good enough. We quickly finalized a plan. I’m not sure it was a great plan. But I was sure that my crew could handle it.

-*-

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 74 Strategy

Naigwa was standing in the parade field with his men and his hostage. The sun had just gone down; twilight was taking hold.

“How many will we kill, do you think?” His second Nescalo asked.

“You saw his face. He was weak. He may have fled for good,” Naigwa said grimly. If the coward spaceman just left, then he was slaughtering girls for nothing. “Her, and then two more, just in case they’re watching.”

“What in the hell is that?”

Bright lights, brighter than any shooting stars, rained down. They moved as quickly as shooting stars but kept getting brighter. They split into groups and dropped into the mountains at the passes. Where they dropped, the mountains seemed to heave and disappear into dust clouds.

Naigwa turned and saw… monsters. Metal beings. Different shapes and sizes They raised arms, and beams flashed out. His men dropped like stones. Their damned stun beams. The hostage was screaming bloody murder, and Naigwa didn’t blame her. Soon, she got hit and went down. The metal monsters used the distraction of the light show to sparkle in behind Naigwa and his people.

When things get rough, your brain shuts off. You don’t do thinky things. You do what you’ve practiced. Naigwa drew his sword and charged. The metal beast caught his arm in a grip of steel. Naigwa didn’t feel the pain much. He was too adrenalized. It grabbed him and worked him around so he could face the Forbidden city.

“Captain Hailey says hello.” the metal beast said

There was running and screaming. Metal beasts roamed and stunned at will, and nothing anyone could do could stop them.

Another metal beast stopped near the hostage girl. She fizzled away. “Even if you take every girl in the city, we’ll just get more.”

The monster holding him turned until they were facing west. “What do you call the fortress and bridge complex on the river to the west?”

“The Forbidden Bridge,” Naigwa said “No one’s ever taken that fortress.”

A orange-red beam of light appeared from the sky to the ground in the west, like lightning but dead straight. Naigwa felt heat on his face from the bolt. The sky crackled with sharp, cracking thunder.

Then, more of them, Beams danced around. Naigwa could see flames. As if from lightning strikes. The number of them and the heat was disquieting. “What is that?”

“They’re like the beams from our arms or the weapons wielded by the crew, but much much bigger. Designed to allow one starship to damage or destroy another. No one will ever take the Forbidden Bridge now. It no longer exists. Only rubble, debris, and the dead remain.”

Naigwa blinked. It was too big. He couldn’t process it “What was that before?”

“We’ve collapsed your passes. Witnesses should be along soon.”

Naigwa wriggled desperately, but the metal monster didn’t even notice.

The screaming and running continued, now notably disorganized.

-*-

After about ninety minutes, his guards were long since awakened from the stun beams. Most left, ran off to save what they could, and fled.

Nescalo was there. His sword was destroyed. Everything he could think of to do amounted to nothing. The Metal Monster wouldn’t even acknowledge him,

A group of people walked up to Naigwa. They were wearing weird armor, of no material Naigwa could identify. They were carrying the beam throwers, but bigger. Two-handed models. A few cult members drifted behind them, curious about what was happening.

A woman, that odd color of the outworlders, but brown instead of pink, walked up. The mechanical monster let Naigwa go and floated back.

“You the leader of this shit hole?” She demanded.

Naigwa looked around. His sword was in reach.

“You the fucker that threatened that girl in front of my captain?”

He couldn’t move. The metal beast would stun him.

“They won’t stun you. Come get some,” The woman beckoned.

Naigwa glared at her.

“We all watched you. Mister Death Eater. You’re pretty good at talking shit when there’s hostages. Let’s see how you do when it’s a fair fight.”

Naigwa couldn’t think of anything else to do, so he fell back on reflex. He grabbed his sword and hurled himself at the woman.

Stephanie stepped back, and to the side and made a swirling block with her phaser rifle. Naigwa’s blow went past her and his balance carried him a little too far over. As he tried to draw back and reset his balance, Stephanie’s elbow appeared out of nowhere and Naigwa found himself on the ground with his face hurting.

Naigwa scrambled up and reset. This bitch was on his ground now. He’d show her a thing or two.

-*-

Naigwa’s breath rasped in his throat. He hurt all over. The outlander woman threw him around and landed punches and kicks almost at will. Every time he attacked, it went wrong.

A few of his people watched. Nescalo stood with two of the armored outlanders. They prevented him from interfering.

Stephanie grinned. She was breathing hard and covered in sweat. Her armor was scored and scratched where she used it to block blows from Naigwa’s sword.

“Play time’s over,” Stephanie said

Naigwa figured out what that meant and aimed a fast, powerful blow from his sword at her head. He knew she wouldn’t be there when it got there, he meant to loop the sword around and catch her on her other axis. But she was there, just a little closer than he figured. She caught his arm, wrapped it up with an odd leverage, and twisted.

Naigwa screamed as his arm bent backward where there wasn’t a joint.

Stephanie dropped him and scooped up his sword.

Naigwa rolled away and desperately tried to recover from the pain.

Stephanie stood over the man and gestured with the sword towards his head. “Huh? Huh? I thought you relished pain and death, mother fucker! I thought you ate this shit!”


Naigwa scrambled to his feet, trying to get himself together.

Stephanie did a shuffle and put a round kick through his head. It was one of those blows where you could see his head deform slightly and vibrate badly from it. Naigwa went down like a sack of potatoes.

Stephanie rounded on Nescalo, “Eat the pain, fucker! Come embrace the suck, Let’s go!”

Nescalo backed up. He’d seen the fight better than Naigwa.

“Oh? Oh? You don’t like that? What’s the matter, you badass deather eater? You worship death! You revel in pain! Well, here I am! Show me how weak civilization is! Show me how walking in the fucking light makes you weak and pathetic. I’m right here!”

The followers of the death cult just backed up.

“We went easy on you!” Stephanie shouted, “We planned this attack to minimize the deaths and injuries. You try that stupid death cult bullshit on the Klingons, and the photon torpedoes will be in your laps. The Klingons won’t have to steal your shitty swords out of your stupid hands. They’ll have better ones with them! They won’t set their beams to stun. You’ll watch your idiot friends torn to shreds and cooked from the inside out by disruptor beams! I train to fight real warriors, not you backwoods, shit-kicker limp-dicked motherfuckers!”

Stephanie threw Naigwa’s sword on the ground in front of Nescalo, and turned away.

Then, to emphasize the point, she reversed and ran at him yelling “Come here! Come here! Why are you running? Come here!”

The death eaters in the audience audience broke and ran several steps back to stay out of Stephanie’s reach.

“Fuck with me again!” Stephanie shouted, “Fuck with me again and see what you get!”

Then Stephanie very deliberately turned her back on the cult members and walked away, saying “Dickless bitches, I don’t know who you think you’re fucking with.”

I turned off the screen.

Good.

-*-

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 75 Temptation

I walked into the science lab. The machine was on a cradle, looking about half disassembled. All sorts of sensors pointed at it, looking at the machine every which way from Sunday.

“How are we doing?” I asked.

Galaglan looked at me, frustrated **The only way I know this thing isn’t Rishan is that it hasn’t shut down. The material it’s made of barely registers. I’m detecting micro-dimensional circuitry. Not that the stuff is micro in size - it’s using micro-dimensions.**

Tillean looked frazzled. “We put test subjects in front of it. Algae. Mushrooms. It activates. We put batteries and items radiating in every frequency we know. No activation. I don’t know how it defines a living system. I don’t know how it detects whether anything is dead or alive.”

“What are the things you’ve taken from it there?” I asked

“These components are Ancient Orion technology. They were added after the fact. They help guide and focus the effect. We’ve stripped the machine of all non-original components… we think.”

I looked at the thing. Steal life from one to give it to another. It's a dangerous idea. Who, faced with death, might not succumb to temptation? I was tempted to phaser the thing to slag myself, just to keep from learning who else might fall. To keep me from thinking about it in the future.

The Federation has something like it and much worse stored away somewhere.

Galaglan said **Honestly, Banic’s a monster. If we tricked this thing into changing impulse power to life force, would you still use it on that guy?**

“Yeah. Let someone with stars on their collars worry about it.”

**Your brothers?** Galaglan said.

I grimaced. Three of my brothers carried around admirals stars. Would I be comfortable punting it to them so I didn’t have to make the hard decision? Sure. Why not. As it stood the the decision was easy. Banic was not going to see this machine again.

No quick tech or science fix. The question was. Let him eat someone else’s life force, or let him die.

“Now I have to get off the problem trolley and look at the other problems,” I said.

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 76 Hope in a Cargo Container

I beamed down to Orona Betha, the Kingdom of Novala.

We were setting up a refugee camp in a field. The huts were made of cargo containers and other materials we could scavenge from our own stuff.

There were hundreds of rescuees from the Forbidden Zone—mostly women and children. But there were all sorts of folks. They ate emergency rations. They drank emergency water packs.

We were frantically making up the rest of what they’d need as we went.

I did see one thing that made it better. Grins. My crew was smiling. They were busting their asses to help people. The refugees of the Forbidden Zone were shell-shocked and had little idea of how to proceed.

Several soldiers from the Novala Army helped. I saw several of the guys from the coronation watching my crew work.

Duke Zellephon, the old guy who asked me about my uniform, approached “Captain,”

“Sir, how may I help you?”

“That seems like it would be the motto on your coat of arms,” he said, “I have questions.”

“Sure,” I said.

He questioned me about how we happened to have the materials he was seeing. He was curious how we were ready to conduct a refugee relief mission on such short notice. He knew enough about gathering people into a group and directing them towards a goal, so that he could dimly see the Federation’s greatest strength.

Technology was all well and good, but not useful if you can’t use it effectively, or if you didn’t realize it was needed. The Federation’s secret was advanced management techniques. Organizing a problem into steps and matching each step with a solution. My crew knew how to form working teams and get things done.

The Duke was very interested in how we did that sort of thing. I walked him through what I could like it was a field training exercise in the academy. He wasn’t a stupid man. His management techniques were outdated. He wanted the knowledge we had.

I waffled and then said “I’ll get you some of our manuals. It’ll take some work to translate them properly. But you know who also knows this stuff? Kalabar. The Klingons look like barbarians, but they borrowed a lot from us and made it theirs. Ask her to train your guys in management.”

The Duke grinned “Many of my my knights and squires fear her.”

“Rightfully so. All the more reason to ask her to train them.”

“Tell me of this machine.”

It was a drilling rig. We needed clean water for our refugees. Their area had a decent aquifer. We just needed to dip into it. I explained what it was and why.

He was grim “We make prisoners or soldiers on discipline dig ours. With hand tools.”

“I’m told a mission is coming with more machines. Things will get better here.”

“We will struggle to feed this many new mouths.”

I sighed “I have a fix for that, too. We’ll have it in place before we leave.”

A woman wearing dirty rags approached “Please. My child… She’s ill.”

The Duke looked at me I tapped my comm badge “I need a medical team down at the refugee encampment.”

“There’s a team already there, Captain. I’ll have them head your way. I was about to call you. You wanted to be here when Banic passed. He’s getting close.”

Zellephon frowned, “I understood Banic to be dead already.”

“I said he could hurt no one else. That’s because he was in a brig on my ship. Soon, it’ll be much harder for him to hurt anyone else.”

Varupuchu approached me with the medical team. “I’m heading back to the ship. Harksain, how many replicators do we need to feed these folks?”

He said “I’d leave four, and two power supplies. They should last until the Damyip get here.”

“Alright, we’ll do that, then.”

I beamed back up

[jayphailey]

Omoikane 77 Banic’s End

I walked into the sick bay with the smell of a field on the planet still on me.

Hobolisk caught me “Look. We’ve done everything required by ethics. I don’t see what you get by wallowing in this. Just go about your business. By the end of shift, he’ll be off our books.”

I nodded “I feel like I’m killing him. I need to look him in the eye about it.”

“You didn’t kill him. He’s been dead a long time. He’s just getting dead enough to overcome his denial about it now. He’s a monster. You should husband your empathy and concern for those who deserve it.”

I did a faint Clint Eastwood impression: “It’s not about deserve.”

Hobolisk saw my frame of mind and decided he’d already spent all the fucks he had allotted for this case “Suit yourself.”

“Thank you,” I walked over to Banic.

He was strapped into the medical bed. Cybernetic arms don’t care how weak their owner is. They thrash and grab just as hard.

He looked at me “Please. I’m sorry. I don’t want to die.”

“That decision has already been made,” I said. It was a hard thing to say. I kinda had to break something inside to say it.

“My followers…. If they consent…. I can live…”

“No. Your machine is no longer usable. That door is closed.”

“But… what if I only take half from each one? Maybe a fraction from many?”

“Why didn’t you do it that way before?”

He didn’t understand. He shook his head at me, confused “Please… Please…”

I watched his life signs deteriorate.

“I’m afraid,” he said

“You’re not alone,” I said.

He fell silent. I put my hand on his shoulder. He tried to thrash and got nowhere in the restraints. Then he stilled. He wriggled some occasionally, each wriggle getting fainter and longer between them.

He mumbled for a long time. Then he stopped.

After what seemed like an eternity, his life signs bottomed out and went flat. The medical bed made a plaintive alert “Deceased, no resuscitation possible.”

“Goodbye, Banic,” I said.

**Good riddance!** Galaglan said.

**Indeed,** I thought.

I turned. Hobolisk was very absorbed in some business “Any instructions for disposal?” He asked me.

“Make sure his cybernetics are safe and available for scientific investigation. We’ll drop his remains in the Oron system when we get back there.

“Sentimental,” Hobolisk said

“I don’t want him turning in a relic for his death cult later,” I said.

I walked out of the Sickbay, thinking about what else I needed to do today.

Li’ira caught me “You okay?”

“I’m getting kind of tired of post-apocalyptic worlds,” I snarled, “It's getting sad.”

She looked at me understandingly “We’re in the middle of a ruined Empire. Everything around here is post-apocalyptic.”

I shook my head and grinned “A pax on both their houses.”

Li’ira said, “There’s Jay.”

-*-

It took several days of clean up, charting, exploration, and diplomacy before we left Orantha Betha behind.