A blast from the past. This story faded on me, now that the Kinderling story is done, thought I would finish it.
In case you are interested in reading this from the beginning:
Thanks for reading!
Not knowing what to do, and wanting to show respect, I stood and saluted back. "Tuck in Mr. Tine. The feast awaits!"
Lt. Tine quickly found his place and was whelmed by offers of various platters and advice on what to try first. It was nice to see everyone treating Lt. Tine like part of the crew. I could tell the rest of the crew didn't know what to think about the quiet, somewhat morose man at first. When he arrived, Lt. Tine was covered in prison tattoos. According to Cmdr Barona, tattoos were a part of the Morgaite prison system. When an inmate reaches a prison, they are marked with the prison's code and a code denoting the prisoner's status, with a symbol added for meeting major rehabilitation goals or sadly, for major disciplinary infractions.
Lt. Tine's face was practically a map of the Morganite penal system. You could read Lt. Tine's history from either his personnel jacket or the tattoos on his face. Lt. Tine was transferred from prison to prison. Each line on his face decoded told much the same story. Transferred - other than the top line on his right cheek, which had the code for arrived instead of transferred - a prison code, then one or more markings that indicated he killed another prisoner, then ended in a transferred out symbol. The list covered his right cheek - I didn't count the number of lines - and then continued on his left cheek about three quarters of the way down. The final symbol, on the last line of his left cheek decoded to "Exonerated".
Exonerated? From the tattoos on his cheeks, Lt. Tine had ended nearly twenty lives in his time in the various prisons. Cmdr. Barona couldn't tell me anything more. His personnel jacket merely said that he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no parole, and that he refused "Cybernetic Rehabilitation". The jacket then listed 18 murders while in prison without any detail, just a name and case code. Detailed a few different attempts to get the court to force "Cybernetic Rehabilitation". Then, said he was exonerated and released. It went on to say he requested to join the Morganite fleet and was commissioned to the rank of Lieutenant, with certification for Outside Work, and an astrogating rating. It didn't list any training, which had given me pause at first, but I watched him work and I'm satisfied that he knows his stuff.
It wasn't till I asked Mother Ahmisa that I got the rest of the story. Turns out, Lt. Tine was once a member of an ancient, but now-defunct sect of the Morganite religion. They studied the "old ways" and traveled through space using nothing but the stars to guide them. The sect had quite a reputation for all sorts of heinous crimes. Kidnapping, rape, piracy, you name it. So, when the ship Lt. Tine was living on got into an altercation with another ship, it was assumed that his ship was at fault. Answering distress calls, the Morganite fleet destroyed the sect ship. Lt. Tine was the only survivor having manage to get to an escape pod barely in time.
Thirty years later, a recording of that final battle was discovered by the new owner when that attacking ship was sold. It told the very story that Prisoner Tine claimed all those years. The sect ship hadn't fired a single shot. Not even in self defense.
Cmdr. Barona saw what I was watching and leaned in whispering, "The crew is accepting Lt. Tine, because they saw how easily you accepted him. Thank you for that Captain. I have family members who were passengers aboard the ship that attacked them. It's a sore spot in my family. While none of them were crewmembers, so there isn't much they could have done. They also didn't go out of their way to testify."
"So it was you who recommended Lt. Tine?" I asked.
"Yes," the Commander said, "The trial and buzz around Tine's conviction for piracy was hyped by the powerful family that owned the attacking ship. Pirates usually opt for cyber rehab, because they don't usually last more than a year or two in prison. With the way the story was hyped in the media, it is amazing that Lt. Tine lasted more than a few days, let alone thirty years."
"I suppose that would explain the little red marks on Lt. Tine's cheeks." I said.
"Probably. Normally it is illegal to remove penal system tattoos, but in Lt. Tine's case I wonder why he didn't get them all removed." the Commander replied. "I read the exoneration ruling. It's a blanket exoneration. There was enough of a question that the Monteno family might have been behind the attacks while Tine was in prison that the courts decided to overturn all of it. The judges included a ruling that Lt. Tine could remove the tattoos."
I had always heard that the Morgan penal system was harsh and unbending. It sounded like Lt. Tine had gotten a bad deal at first, but once evidence of his innocence was found, he was released. I don't think that most penal systems, even the best ones, would have handled it as well.
"Captain, there is a Captain Gregorious on the comm demanding to talk to you." Came Lt. Cmdr. Dorn's voice on the MC.
"Huh.. I thought he was dead." I commented to the table. "Please excuse me for a moment."
I made my way up to the bridge and signaled Lt. Cmdr. Dorn to patch him through.
"Captain Petra! I am pleased you kept the name." Came the voice of Captain Gregorious through the comm system.
"Captain Greagorious. I am pleased to know you are not dead." I said, not sure if I really meant it, but being nice didn't hurt anything. "I have a couple of people on my ship that belong to you. You want them back?"
"If you need them, they can stay."
"No, I would very much like them off my ship. Where are you? Can you come get them?" I asked.
"Right now, I'm staring down the very-many-many-oh-so-many barrels of a Morganite Battle Cruiser, and they are telling me to get lost, and I'm inclined to obey that order." Gregorious said.
"Hold on." I said. "Lt. Cmdr. Dorn, can you get me in touch with the Admiral?"
"Yes Captain."
It took a few minutes - I imagine they were very long minutes to Captain Gregorious - for Admiral Thomas to get on the line.
"Captain Petra, I hope everything is going well."
"Admiral, it seems one of our Battle Cruisers is detaining the ship of one Captain Gregorious. I would like to rendezvous with him in order to de-bark a couple of unwanted passengers, but I can't do that if he's blown to smithereens."
"Very well, I'll have my people send you a flightpath through the fleet so you can transfer your passengers, and I'll ask the Path of Paradise to hold their fire so you don't get any smithereens sucked into your intake."
"I appreciate it Admiral. Petra out"
"Captain, as much as I hate to ruin the dinner, I would suggest setting the alert status at least to warning. That is procedure for rendezvous with a ship who's intentions are unverified."
"Very well Lt. Cmdr. Dorn, set alert to Warning."
Soon the bridge was a flurry of energy as the crew scrambled to take their places.
"What's going on?" Came the surly question from Al. I looked long enough to see that he had Grace with him.
"When we are at condition two, Passengers are expected to stay in their quarters!" Said Lt. Cmdr. Dorn, rather forcefully.
"Al and Grace, get packing. Apparently you were mistaken about Gregorious. He's very much alive and we are taking you back to him."
Al seemed to blanche a little, and I might have heard a bit of a whimper from Grace. I didn't really care though, I was just happy to be getting rid of these two dead-weights.
Boy, Gregorious wasn't kidding. The Path to Paradise, one of the two heavy cruisers, and a mix of destroyers and frigates had what I assumed to be him covered in a way only the might of the Morganite fleet could manage. The ship wasn't the Pride of Rome though.
"Mr. Dorn, could you please hail Gregorious?" I asked.
"On screen Captain." That was quick, and even with video.
There he was in all his glory, with a young Chance looking over his shoulder. For a moment, Chance looked... odd... I recognized him, but he wasn't the attractive young man I remembered seeing... then he started to focus into the Chance i remembered.
"Battle Stations! Set condition ONE!" Came a shout from Cmdr. Barona behind me. I turned to see Cmdr. Barona pull out her side arm and push the muzzle into the side of Grace's head. "Turn it off, or I turn you off."
"Barona! What are you doing?" I asked.
"Look at the screen again Captain."
When I did, Chance was back to being unremarkable and not very attractive. I turned back to Grace. "You were doing that the whole time? Why?"
"Gregorious owns me. You think Al doesn't leave my side because he's in love with me. It's not true. He never leaves my side because he is my handler. Please Petra... Captain... Kid... Don't leave me with them, don't give me back to him."
Well huh... Grace being a slave sorta explains a few things, but not enough. I turned back to Gregorious.
"So Gregorious, how did you escape?" I asked.
"Chance and I got into an escape pod just in time. This ship, the Trusty Traveler, found us just in time."
"You sure do seem to be in charge over there now. Where is the Captain of the Trusty Traveler?"
"I bought the ship from them. I am a man of means. The good Captain and his wife are picking out which resort planet they want to retire to as we speak." Gregorious said with a smile.
I don't trust smiles. At least not those coming from Gregorious.
"Ok, Let's dock so you can have your people back. Helm! How soon till we are docked with the Trusty Traveler."
"Thirty Minutes Captain." replied Barns from the helm.
"Al, Grace, go pack your things." I said. "You are both going out that airlock, it's up to you if that happens before we are docked with the Trusty Traveler or not. I am not in the mood for any more games. GO!"
When our two unwanted passengers were gone. "Barona, I want to stand down the Condition One, but make sure everyone is in position just in case Gregorious tries something... Because I expect him to try something."
Sure enough, Gregorious didn't dissapoint. Thirty minutes later we were docking with the Trusty Traveler. as soon as the hatch to the airlock started to open, it was pushed in by a boarding team from the other side. Barona and the crew were ready and jumped into action and had the boarders repelled in no time flat. A few bodies littered the airlock, all from the other side, none from ours.
"Captain, might I suggest handing these two over to the Baskins. They are better equipped to handling a telepath, and with how she was trying to influence you, a good enough case can be made that she is in with this Gregorious person." Cmdr. Barona said.
"You are right, of course."
"Captain, Trusty Traveler on the comm for you." interjected Lt. Cmdr. Dorn.
"Hold on. Any way we can shut that one down before I talk to him?" I pointed at Grace. I was tired of talking to Gregorious and not knowing when I was being influenced or not.
"Sure think Captain." Said Dr. Farn as a short yelp came from Grace. Then she flopped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. "Oh catch her... Never mind. I always think of saying that too late. Sorry young lady."
"On Screen."
"Petra, I had to try to board! Can't you see? They are manipulating you. do not give it to them!" Begged Captain Gregorious.
"Give what to them Gregorious." I asked.
"The 'rus homeworld. They just want it so they can get the technology! They'll destroy us all!"
"Helm. Can we de-dock from the Trusty Traveler?" I ask.
"Yes Captain." replied Barnes.
"No, listen to me! Where is Al and Grace? They'll tell you!"
I looked and sure enough, Al and Grace were gone.
"They are in the VIP quarters used by Grace, Captain." Whispered Barona.
"Barnes, get us back to our place in the formation." I said.
"Captain, what about the Trusty Traveler?" Barona asked, "Should we have the Path to Paradise take care of them?"
"Sounds good to me."
As we flew away from the Trusty Traveler, it turned to follow, and appeared to be absorbed in a column of light coming from the main gun on the Path to Paradise. I was a little shocked. Both because I had never seen such a weapon, and at how efficiently, heartlessly, and completely the small ship disappeared.
Seeing my discomfort, Barona said, "Sorry Captain. After they tried to board us, the Path to Paradise was on high alert. The Trusty Traveler started powering weapons. Captain Ardencourt of the Path to Paradise is a no-nonsense kind of Captain."
"Very well. Can you see to it that Al and Grace are handed over to the Baskins?"
"Shuttle is already on the way, Captain."
"Thank you Barona. I think we can stand down from Alert now. I'll be in my quarters."
I managed to get to the Captain's quarters, my quarters, without too much emotion, and even got the hatch sealed before I broke down and cried. Was Gregorious one of Pete's old friends like he said he was, or was I just going around murdering the only connections to Pete that I had left?
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