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“Oh and Halbman next time try not to tempt fate. We’ll be chasing Warstars across the galaxy for the next two years.” Bell said over his shoulder as he started to pull on his equipment for the drop.

Halbman froze a moment the sighed. “Schiakes! I did say that didn’t I?”

Tear and Eli smiled from the pilot and navigator launch seats. Tear started the countdown for the deck crew to clear the load bay for launch. “Five… four…  three… two… Launch.” The engines of the small craft fired. A low growl started and dropped to a background rumble. The meddle of the skids scraped over the deck for a moment as the ship hovered then lifted a foot into the air. Eli flipped a switch on the console to his left. The heavy door in front of the ship slid back while the shield door closed behind them.

Tear pressed the gear forward taking the small ship into the next phase through the second outer door then the space door to the final jump point. In the blink of an eye the small ship had clipped a prominent piece of moon rock knocking it toward Earth. The push gave the rock the velosity needed to his the Earth atmosphere and be pulled in. Tear and Eli followed the pattern of rock shooting toward Earths surface.

“Trajectory seems good. We should reach planet side in less than ten minutes.” Eli said.

Tear jerked, the ship tilted for a moment. “What the…”

Bell grabbed the seat as the ship rocked again.

Eli flipped his seat around to the viewscreen to Halbmans left.  He switched the view to the out drone. The drone clipped to the side of the ship walked over the side to the damaged hull. The fire could be seen on the tip of what was left of the wing. Eli grabbed the drone extiguigher toggle to put out the fire out when a missile slammed into the side of the ship destroying the drone and shearing off the remainder of the wing.

“Oh drummex! Hold on!” Tear said trying to pull the small ship out of the spin that missile force them into.

“Well this is one way to get to the planet. We’re in Earth gravitational pull we can’t pull out with this damage.” Eli said when he grabbed the second drive stick.

Tear looked to her partner. “On Three… Two… Now!” Tear and Eli pulled the sticks to the right into the spin then pulled back to the left. The small ship tilted to the right then smoothly spun to the left. Halbman watched from the rear for Eli’s signal. Eli dropped low to his right and Halbman dove into the navigators seat. Eli slammed his hand down on the eject button for the right wing. The ship torpedoed to Earth’s surface.

The warship had long range scanners that indicated if other ships where in the passing space. Passing space being relative, of course, as the short light burst jumps allowed a ship to travel over one hundred light years in a single turn. The scanner wasn’t sophisticated it followed tiniest of patterns and shapes that moved through space. The only way to identify that it was a ship and not space debris was the speed at which the object moved.

The advantage still belonged to the Marshalls if they came in slow and random. “Helm, drop the engines and drift into the space surrounding the Warstar. If we’re lucky Fear hasn’t picked up on our approach. We should still be our of range for a full scan.”

“The engines are down to minimal for life support, Commander.” The helm replied.

Halbman’s voice trickled from the comm for a moment before Bell entered the main deck. “What is your plan? Float around and scan the planet from space. If we launch a short fighter, the Warstar will be alert. Unless we clip something that would drop us toward the planet.”

“Or get us to the moons shadow. If we can drift to the moons pull, we can hide the main ship in the shadow and have a piece break off headed to Earth.” A young eager voice came from behind Bell.

Bell smiled slightly toward Halbman who returned the look. The voice belonged to a Cadet Yun Tereare, Tear to those she called friends. She had worked her way up from academy to engineer and would be on her first assignment. The academy required all Marshall Flight Cadet have a full understanding of the laws of the galactic council to become a ground Marshall as well as a working knowledge of the ships that were assigned. Tear had a near encyclopedic knowledge of the ships workings as her mother was an engineer, but she wanted to be a field Marshall. Bell knew her story well as he had been her experienced training partner her first year out of the academy. She would be in her third year out, ready for the next assignment.

“Looks like your flying with us Tear, gear up.” Halbman said. “You too Eli.”

“Yes sir.” The eager response came from Bell’s right. Eli Tomesicus, Tear’s true partner would be joining the Whisper drop crew as there was no reason to separate the two.

Bell’s shook his head and focused back on the screen for a moment before the high-pitched tone of his comm took his attention. “Andrisican here.”

“We have done a sweep of the area surrounding earth. The Resenchi have set up a stand on the other side of the planet.”  Halbman’s deep voice filtered through the speaker with the information.

“That’s what we expected.” Bell said in a questioning tone. Halbman wouldn’t call with information that was expected.

“Yes, but there is also a Warstar holding space on this side of the planet and the scan shows an Algathian life sign. The computer has sent back images and DNA that indicate the Algathian is Hoosier Fear.” Halman said obviously confused.

Bell stood and grabbed a light shield from next to the door of his temporary quarters/office.  “The Warstar, what was the name? There are only three listed missing that were unaccounted for not including those lost in battle.”

“Ah the Warstar is unlisted in our database.  The name is Overcall.” Halbman answered.

“Shickle this day gets better and better. The Overcall is a specialist Warstar. The ship is a living lost cause.” Bell said resigned to his fate of going from one end of the lowest levels to the other.

Halbman’s voice took on a haunted quality that Bell could hear through the comm. “A living lost cause? The annihilator bombs? I thought all the lost cause annihilators were sun destroyed.”

“They were supposed to be. Unknown to public, is that there was no accurate count of the ships carrying the bomb. Which means that there were a few retired Warstars that had the capability and two that are known to be living lost causes. Overcall and Outcause were … misplaced during a war launch in the Istribro galaxy. The council thought the ships were destroyed in the crossfire. It was the only time a lost cause was used in a battle zone. If the Overcall is really in orbit of Earth, we can’t take the chance of stepping out of place. We need to have entry and exit plans fully in place.” Bell replied as he moved from his office toward the main pilot deck. The options were not clear without a full scouting of the area, but the extra time could cost them.

“What about Fear? If he is on the Overcall he probably has another of those creatures. The Fear we have in custody probably warned the one at Earth of his imminent capture. That would explain the ridiculously easy apprehension.” Halbman said meeting Bell in the hall outside his office.

“Yeah that’s another problem.” Bell said with a sigh. He rubbed his hand over the back of his head where his fingers tangled for a moment between his dark locks and the leather latch of the mask.

The scramble to arrange enough bodies to properly cover each Galaxy Force Marshal galleon and the warships took longer than Bell had hoped. The spatial tide shift headed the winds of change for Mars and the Marshall ship LUD1CR!S lifted off with a trajectory for earth.  Bell Andrisican pulled up the files that were downloaded from the Warstar.

The creature was the first priority but now Bell wanted to know what he and his crew would be gliding into on Earth. The planets natural inhabitants were violent when scared or under the assumption that they were under attack. The Resenchi had a head start though he needed to find out what leverage they would have over the humans. The usual ploy was to damage the planet just enough to put the inhabitants at risk and then offer to save them. Few races took the ‘opportunity’ presented to them as the Counsel’s offered a better deal before the Resenchi could corrupt the people.

Now the Resenchi had been given information on a planet ready to step up to a galactic level that hadn’t had the privilege of a counsel induction. Bell knew the Resenchi would try to make it look as though the human’s had no other choice but to take them up on an offer of servitude. Bell wanted nothing more than to take a stand and send the Resenchi fleet bouncing into the nearest star. He knew though that his back up was limited. He had no way of taking the LUD1CR!S into battle. Halbman has convinced him to take a Whisper from the warstar’s battledeck to make infiltrating the planet easier as the Medic and Assault drones of the Marshals were not made for war.

Bell shook his head. “Get back in the game, Andrisican.” He whispered. He needed intel and the Whisper was their best option to get it. But he needed more he needed a chink in the Resenchi armor that would allow him and his team to strip the layer of secrecy from the slaver race.  He needed a spy.  The Resenchi Grain was a good choice though she didn’t follow the blood drinking addiction of her people she was still well respected due to her family titles. Grain was the last of her line of purists that gave her power even if she didn’t use it.

He would put her at the bottom of the list of options for help. The best option would be a pilot. The Coulouri took great pride in their piloting skills and their ability to protect those in their charge. The contact between the Resenchi and the Coulouri had been a surprise that allowed for an exchange of information that the Counsel desperately needed. The Counsel bartered with the Coulouri for knowledge, supplies and in some cases training for races outside the Resenchi/Intiari alliance. The Resenchi never stopped the collaboration gaining as much as they lost from the exchange.

“It the Intiari are creating a warfleet then what would they need Earth for? We know that the Resenchi were headed to Earth.” Sonchal asked.

Marshall Daine answered.  “The nbe negotiation. It the Intiari and the Resenchi can compromise Earth before the nbe negotiation then enact a war the Milky Way will have to release the territory to the Intiari.  They would essentially have a direct path to the heart of our galaxy.”

“But if we can stop the warfleet before the first launch then even if the human’s sign the bondage contracts the planet would still be considered Milky Way territory. The humans wouldn’t lose their claim to their home world and by galactic law would be able to return anytime they choose.” Halbman finished.

Elsa gasped. “Be they would have still signed the bondage contract. A contract that places them under the control of the Resenchi. I thought we would be saving the humans from what is at its base slavery.”

Bell sighed, he agreed with Elsa that the humans should be informed before signing away their freedom but the contract was illegal in most galaxies. “The contract is illegal signed or not the humans would still have their freedom. I want to save them from the Resenchis machinations as well but we have to save the Milky Way first. Once we have the galaxy properly defended then we can help the humans of Earth.”

“So we split up.” Aubnu suggested. “I will head out to the counsel with the information and the warships. Elsa you can tag along if you like. Andrisican you take Halbman and my LUD1CR!S to Earth. You can hold the mark line at the edge if you need to engage I have contacts within the Resenchi that can get you to the planets surface.”

Bell smiled. “Your still in contact with Grain? She is a very worthy friend to have within the Resenchi line.”

Aubnu laughed. The friendship she had fostered with the young Resenchi outcast has worked well in favor of the surrounding galaxies. “She is the best at getting out ‘useless’ information without being treated to scrutiny. Please becareful I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Good. I’ll look that over.” Bell said as he flipped his personal vid screen on. He typed in a search for unusual activity on the Warship. The results were to large to load. A new search for unknown travelers had better results. Five unknown travelers popped up on the screen. Four could be accounted for the last, however, was a new species. “Review notes on new species.”

“Species unknown,” The computer voice stated. “Located originally on Kemperia.”

“Kemperia is off limits for all travel.” Bell said aloud to the empty room.

“No futher data.” The computer chimed.

Bell logged off the vid with a huff. The unknown creature was on the loose and that seemed more important at the moment. Best to consider containment. “Computer what contained the creature before Fear?”

“Heshbian converter crate.” The computer supplied.

“A heshbian converter crate?” Bell questioned. The lead box wasn’t standard issue for freighters or warships as heshbian lead was in short supply. The box converted energy from specific energy sources to be used for ship building only.

“Marshal Andrisican, we’ve found the creature.” A guard said entering the room.

“Is there a heshbian converter crate functioning onboard?” Bell asked the guard.

“Yes sir, I’ve sent a man for it.” The guard responded.

“Good it should contain the creature.” Bell said and waited for acknowledgement of the creatures capture.

A few minutes later Halbman’s voice came over the radio. “The creature is contained. The converter is actually energy over. The slime appears to be a fuel source. The first drop lit it up. What the hell does this thing fuel?”

“Shit.” Bell whispered the human swear word. “It powers the Alliance Breaker Warfleet. That’s what the Intiari have been up to. This is what the Counsil has been looking for, this is the break they need.”

Halbman’s voice filtered through the speakers again. “Sir if you’re right…”

“If I’m right then we are going to war. The counsil will not stand for an attempt to breach the galaxy line. Halbman find someone that can data mine that ship for any indication of the warfleet. If we can get proof to the United Galatic Counsil then Counsil 4 will be able to request the sanctions on the Intiari be expanded and strengthened.”

The beginning.  A new moment in time. There was light and dark. Now there is only one second to the next. One inhaled breath, one exhaled breath. Nothing beyond the current second. The next breath doesn’t come. Still silence.

A twitch. No inhale. No exhale. Only movement and a soul deep emptiness that needs to be filled. Nothingness waiting to be fed. A shuffle from the right. Something dragging from the left. Surrounded by others seeking.

——————————————

I have finally finished my degree and am off on a new adventure. Plans never work out for me in the way I want them too. I’d do better to fly by the seat of an ideas. I will be trying to post on my blog on a regular schedule from now on. Let’s see how well I really do. I am trying to decide if my Hoosier Fear story is complete or not. I will be posting a new part soon.

Just wanted to throw out a short thought with this entry then get back to finishing the tale.

“He’s using them as bait. Fear is trying to lure us into his grasp.” Halbman said knowing the Theives

Elsa stepped forward appearing on the screem from her place near the second flight com. “When Fear came to Mars he had two huge humans with him. Mercenaries from the outlands. I don’t think he choice them for their brains. But they are strong like nothing a human should be.”

“Experiments, great. You think they were injured on purpose to get our attention?” Halman asked.

Bell’s eyes met Halbmans. “Yes, It’s Fears M.O. We need to execute a search. But we can use the Warstar’s security to do that.”

Halbman nodded. “Need to get the new control modifiers in place on these as soon as possible. There is no way I want to be chasing Warstar’s across galaxies.”

Aubnu snorted. “You know the criminals will just find a way to hack it. The security bots can only be controlled by central hub because no one has found it useful to steal the codes yet.”

Bell smiled. It was true the security of the Warstar’s hadn’t been compromised before as no one in the criminal element had a use for the clunky old things. The newer models were only slightly less awkward. The battlecruisers were to be streamlined with the new run out to accommodate new ideas and technology. Fear had used the lack of oversight to slip in a loyal follower and take over the three warstars docked for overhaul.

The compromised protocol that Bell has used now allowed the Marshals to use the security bots to access the vid links of the ship. The damage to the Warstar was enough to disable the flight deck luckily the security zone hadn’t been hit. Fear would need to disable the bots by hand to override the Marshals view.

Bell typed in the council code to access the vids for fugitive retreivel. The bots whirred to action on the vidscreen. It only took a moment for the Warstar’s security to locate Fear. The Algathian stood over the down human his dark skin rippled as Hoosier Fear moved to pick the man up. Fear growled something at the creature he held then dropped him to the floor in disgust.

The humans injury looked severe to Bell possibly caused by shrapnel of some type. Fear ranted for a moment then turned leaving the control room. The screen switched to a different vidview. “Fear is in the pod bay. He’s going to jump. I’ve sent jump coodinates to override anything he does. Aubnu prepare jump shields in pod bay and clear the deck. Halbman get a team from Marshal Daine to greet our guest.”

Bell met Halbman on his way to the pod bay. “What are we going to do to stop the hallucinations?” Halbman asked.

Bell smiled at the question. “Give him a bath.”

Halbman laughed. “The ship’s contamination cleanse?”

“Yup.” Bell answered passing through to the pod bay control center. “It shouldn’t cause a problem. Fear is Algathian he shouldn’t be oozing fear slime.”

Halbman nodded. “You think it’s some type of Intiarin Tech?”

“No, I think the slime is a living creature. A lifeform that secretes the fear pheromone. We don’t have all inhabitants of in each galaxy in the system so it could easily be missed. Fear knew of this creature or was given it and used it against us.” Bell said just a the escape pod appeared in the bay.

Bell watched security surround the craft. The eight foot high, three foot wide door held tight over the cavournous interior meant to hold ten survivors. The pod didn’t have external vids or internal navigation. Fear had entered the destination into the main pod escape computer before leaving the Warstar. The pods would get the survivors to the nearest habitable planet in the area if unable to make the destination logged. Fear had to hope for the best.

The counsil had started to make changes to escape pod protocols and options to give survivors a better chance at being found quickly. After all some planets may have the right conditions to live but that didn’t mean they were safe. The Warstar Fear had stolen on the way to be overhauled and refitted for the newest upgrades and the escape pod were still flying blind.

Majour Halbman moved into the bay while Marshal Andrisican watched from the control room. “Majour, start the door override. Let’s get in.  I’ll get the cleanse started for full check. Halbman remember your breathers set to contamination micro organisms and substances.”

Halbman nodded. The man switched his mask on then started the override. Five minutes passed and the pod doors seal broke open. The moment the door popped Bell hit the enter for protocols to start.

The scan lasted 45 seconds.

Then a scream rent the air.

Slime shot up from the slightly open door. The slime coated the outside of the pod. Bell could see the slime seemed dryed out in spots. “It’s dying.”

Halbman moved back from the slime. The slime bubbled and oozed toward the nearest host. The young guard shuffled back quickly to the door.

“All personel pull back to secure locations.” Bell said over the coms. Once the pod was cleared. “Halbman I’m cleansing the room from live water feeders. Should take 15 minutes to be ready.”

“Yup.” Came Halbman’s reply.

Bell jumped when the main line popped spewing artificial fuel into the pod bay. He blinked shut the shield for the observation deck and glanced at the door. The slime had escaped the pod bay and oozed across the room in record time. “Great, intelligent slime. Halbman?”

“Yeah, I see it sir. I’m evacuating to secure location. Security is with me.” Halbman’s slightly frantic voice filtered through the Bell.

“Marshal Daine assume I’ve been compromised and run full diagnostic.” Bell said.

“You got it.” Marshal Daine replied.

The scan ran and the bean detected the contagin again removing it from Bell. The slime pulled back form the room allowing ship security to fully seal Bell in the room for protection. “Daine?”

“Your clear Andrisican. What the simes is that stuff?” Daine asked her image appearing on his vidscreen.

“A living being of some kind. Looks like the fear pheromone was exreted as a defence but I haven’t actually seen the creature. I highly doubt its just a ball of snot.” Bell replied. He turned to the door. “Send the contamination team to secure Fear and the pod. This is going to require more study..”

“You got it.” Daine said making the call. “I’ve got a team mobilized and I have a drop feed of the Warstars history for the last three years. It’s been loaded to your wrist com.”

“Good. I’ll look that over.” Bell said.

Bell looked at Halbman and said “Earth. The new treaty is to nbe negotiated after Earths first contact. The Resenchi are going to try to get there first. Aubnu, I need a secure link to Counsil 4.”

Halbman looked shocked saying. “Counsil 4 isn’t that a major jump in protocol.”

“We have a leak Halbman. That calls for a next level call.” Bell said then turned to the vid screen that appeared. “Sonchal, I need the full Counsil. Protocol  6VH5116044O.WX.1”

Sonchal, a rep tech for the off world Counsil business, looked a little put out. “ Full Counsil isn’t called by local system accounts. I’m sorry I will transfer you to the local Marshall.”

“I am the local Marshall. That’s why I used the protocol.” Bell said confused.

“Local Marshall for the Pendical system is Marshall Poon Bisaca. Protocol # registers for Bell Andrisican deceased.” Sonchal said.

Bell grunted. “Protocol 1-644/83RLLs/461.10.166.”

Sonchel’s jaw dropped on the screen. He looded ready to respond when he was replaced by the Counsil chamber. A new voice cam on the line before the screen was filled with a face. “Compremised? Really Bell?”

“He said I was dead and calling from an off books system.” Bell stated.

The face on the screen frowned. “Right compromised. What’s going on Marshal Andrisican?”

“The situation is worse than originally thought Counsel Hoge Tu. The Mars station has been derailed all communicationout is controlled. Hoosier Fear has an illegal PRD, a living fear slime, and backing form the Resenchi.” Bell stated in his best justice voice.

“Great, what do they want?” Hoge Tu asked then shook his head. “Don’t! I already know. This is a bigger breach than expected.”

“Hoosier Fear is top priority for you Andrisican. I’ll handle things from here. We’ll push through the Earth Protection. Then we can halt any agreements. Good luck.” Hoge Tu ended the transmission leaving a mildly amused Marshall.

“Well it looks like we’re hunting Fear for war crimes now.” Halbman said while he typed coordinates into his arm log.

Elsa looked to Halbman. “What were you hunting him for before?”

“Theft! High Class Warstars” Bell said matter of factly.

Sonchal laughed. “You’d think the theft of Warstars would mean war crimes. But the ships are not classed classed high enough for that.”

“Do you have trackers set?” Halbman asked pointing out a blip on the track screen he’d pulled up.

“No.” Sonchal shook her head. “Never had the chance.”

Bell followed the blip on his wrist display. “It’s a warship tracker. He’s coming to us.”

Sonchal grabbed Elsa’s arm. “You’ve just been drafted. Grab the bag over there and follow me.”

Elsa looked to Adrisican and Halbman confused with a bit of fear mixed in. She grabbed the bag and ran to catch up with Sonchal.

Halbman smiled, “Now what?”

Adrisican opened the door to the restricted sections. “Prepare Weapons. Sonchal and Elso went to ge the main ship moving but that warstar will be here before she can lift off.”

Halbman followed Andrisican to the gunports.

Bell dropped into the Marshall top tank rack gun seat. He checked the specs switched to the land weapons ready for a quick switch to air current laser and open space if needed then waited.

Three minutes to intercept!

The ship shook preparing for ground off.

Bell could feel the ship shift and whirr.

Two minutes to intercept!

He double checked the settings and weapons ammo for the ground seekers.

The weapons pod slid out to fire position.

One Minute to intercept!

Bell heard the target alarm and fired.

The old Marshall ship rocked as the all tank shield was hit with minimizer missiles. The effect tilted the ship for a moment when the missile found a in the shield. Bell switched fire from ground to air current lasers and fired again.

Smoke from the port pods wafted through the small space. A hint of blood mixed in with the smoke, the scent of it hit Bell hard. He shook his head concentrating on his weapon. He fired two more air found off before the last shift to open space rockets were fired.

The marshall’s tank shield failed suddenely dropping our of view and turning the ship onto it’s back. A faint “shint” reverberated through the halls. Bell continued to fire.

A puff from the gun port behind him caught Bell attention.  A laser sight had hit it’s mark above Bell’s gun cutting the fire line. He was out of the fight. He twisted the comm to jet line and called, “I’m out the laser sight was hit.”

“I’m hit too.” Halbman replied. “The warstar’s turning though? There’s someone else firing on Fear’s ship.”

“Hey boys. Need a hand?” The familiar voice of Marshall Riza Daine filtered through the jet line comm. “I knew leaving you on your own was bad idea.”

“Thanks for the backup.” Halbman sighed through the line.

“The warship is losing altitude. I’ve launched tow pods. Once the pods have hooked we can start retrieval protocol.” Sonchal’s voice joined the line.

“Marshall Daine would you mind setting down and prepping for cleanup. Mars needs a new local district office to be flown in. Sonchal you need debrief and tie away before you take ove office shifts again.” Andrisican said.

“Yes sir.” Both women replied.

“We off to Earth?” Halbman asked entering Bells gunnery view pod screen.

Bell turned to the Majour. “We’re going to Earth. After we talk with Hoosier Fear, I want to know the extent of their plans. Maybe we can use this to get ahead of Intiara. Jumm Balago has been a little too helpful recently.”

Halbman nodded on the screen. He then turned to his console. Bell watched the Majour start a scan of the disabled warstar. “I’ve got three lifesigns. Two Human and one Algathian.”

“One of the Human life signs is very faint.” Aubnu Sonchal said over the comm. “He’s using them as bait.”

Halbman dropped his sidearm shock on his face. “Oh, Crats, I’m sorry. I don’t know why, but for a moment, you didn’t look like you.”

Bell glanced up at the trajectory of the blast. The shot burned a small spot into the wall behind and above Andrisican by a good four feet. “Well, good thing your hallucination was tall, or that would have been difficult to explain.”

Halbman snorted, “It’s Fear, isn’t it? The slime that touched me it’s causing hallucinations. I’m infected.”

“It would seem so,” Bell said, tapping the keys on the med console to his right. “I’m running a sweep for known hallucinogens.”

The room suddenly lit up red then green. Elsa turned red-faced to Andrisican. “That balk rat infected me, didn’t he?”

Haldman nodded, “And me.”

“Good that worked. The office had been under protocol for a while, but the virus controls were set for diseases only. That could be why Hoosier Fear is living up to his name.” Bell pressed another button, and a gate dropped over the door.  He moved toward a door on the right of the entry wall. “Coming?”

Halbman smartly turned to follow. Elsa looked at the door, shocked. “Are we prisoners?”

Halbman scoffed. “Don’t be stupid. The gate is to keep things out. We’re registered to be here. The Marshall made sure. We’re at the very least ‘security public.’”

“Security public?” Elsa repeated.

Bell responded. “Security public means public only spaces. No private quarters, not your own, and no secure locations are open to you.”

“But can I leave?” Elsa asked

Bell could see she was agitated when he answered. “Of course, the gate is added protection. If you leave and return, you’ll need to state your business and name at the door. Then submit to the security processes, a cleansing. You will then be allowed access.

Elsa looked torn. “So I can leave but if I come back, I could be infected again and will need to be cleared.”

“Yeah, it’s a precaution for the office. But also a way to free you.” Haldman said.

Elsa glanced at the gate and followed Bell into a game room of some kind. “This is the central public area. To your left are the guest quarters and other public places. To the right are the barracks and employee restricted sections.”

Elsa nodded then turned to the hall for the guest rooms. She took a step when another voice called from the other door. “Who the calk are you? You have no authorization to be here?”

“Hello, Aubnu,” Andrisican said, voice full of authority.

“This local yours then?” The female Aubnu asked.

Bell smiled. “Yes, she’s with me. What happened here?”

Aubnu looked disgruntled for a moment before her eyes glazed over. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Andrisican stepped back from the woman, hitting a button on the wall. The ship’s computer voice responded. “Self-diagnostic! Problem found. Problem resolved. Run virus protocols.”

Light surrounded Aubnu for a moment then released. “That slimy little rodent dropping. I’ll eviscerate him. Oh hi, Marshall Andrisican. What can I help you with?”

“What happened Aubnu?” Bell asked letting Aubnu know the situation wasn’t ‘formal’ business.

“Fear happened. The upper management fo the Marsh took a stand against Marauders in our galaxy space. The marauders took exception. They sent in Hoosier Fear though we didn’t know that at the time, it started slow disappearances. Then bodies started to appear. Before we knew it, the people began to turn on each other. We never did find the source of the mind poison.” Aubnu said weariness in her voice.

Bell sighed. “Slime, it’s a living slime probably from the Ependras galaxy. Whose behind it do you know yet?”

Aubnu looked sick. “The Intiarans, though we only saw their lapdogs the Resenchi in our systems. Without Mars protection, the Milky Way is ripe for attack.