Chapter 28: Insert Lame Pun About Lions Here.
Mike piloted the Nova as they flew through the Tahiti system. The supplies problem concerned him, but it wasn't severe enough to want to risk taking a side trip into Terra for supplies. Miranda Base might be neutral, but the Mirandans would only go so far and offered little protection if the Military, bounty hunters, or what else might come after them. His main concern wasn't, however, with having to fight them off, but with whether they might refuse to deal with them at all, what with the bounty on their heads.
Talia was a concern as well. He had nothing against killing if necessary, but after having seen the destruction of that cruiser put her down for days, he didn't want to have to put her through that again unless absolutely necessary.
"I hope you haven't left a family behind back there," Mike murmured to Derek, in the co-pilot's seat. He spoke quietly so as not to wake the others, who were asleep in back.
"Meh," Derek said with a grunt. "The Father commanded me to produce children, but He never mentioned that he'd take them and throw them away pointlessly."
"I'm sorry."
"I had eight children. Seven of them were killed pointlessly either in the Karzan Military or directly because of it. The youngest, he ran off and became a Death Dancer. I haven't heard from him in two years now and don't even know if he's still alive."
"What's his name?" Mike asked.
"Neil Paskins," Derek said.
"Doesn't ring a bell," Mike said. "Not that that means much, of course. There's a lot of Death Dancers I don't know."
"I suppose this is my chance at a new life," Derek muttered. He had changed out of his Military uniform on Kansai Moon Base and was now wearing comfortable civilian clothes. "It's been just a lovely week, hasn't it? I've been electrocuted, almost had my balls cut off, got branded a traitor, shot at, almost killed, and now I'm a criminal."
"Heh. You seem to be taking all that pretty well, though," Mike commented.
"Well, what else can I do? Curling up in a corner crying or something wouldn't help." He chuckled softly. "Maybe this way I'll find out what ever happened to Neil, after all. Maybe I'll be able to make a real difference instead of just pointlessly sending kids off to die." He sighed.
Mike ignored his growling stomach as he entered into the jump hole to the Kenya system. It had been a quiet trip, really. The Military must have lost track of them completely, as nobody had attacked them the entire way.
"The Death Dancers celebrate when one of our own dies," Mike said. "It may seem odd, but it really doesn't happen that often. You might think Death Dancers would be more prone to dying stupidly than most people, but really, if they survive their first few weeks as a Death Dancer, they're much, much less likely to die than usual. It generally takes extreme circumstances to do a Death Dancer in. So yeah. Your son might still be around and kicking just fine, or he might have eaten it in his first mission. I can check up on him when we get back to Dracula if you like."
"That... would be appreciated, thank you."
"I'm debating whether to take the chance of landing at Kilimanjaro Station," Mike commented. "I wasn't planning on stopping there as I was never really on good terms with the inhabitants, but I hadn't anticipated this food problem."
"Do you think we can make it to Transylvania without it?"
"Yes," Mike said, "but it won't be pleasant." Reluctantly, he set in a course for Kilimanjaro Station. After some while, they came to the station and docked. "Let's hope the natives are friendly." He checked his side arms and headed for the hatch.
Just as he'd suspected, a group of hungry Lions was outside and ready to pounce. Whipping out his blaster, he shot and stunned three of them before they scattered. They didn't go far, though, just behind the nearest cover. Apparently they weren't going to get any real help here. Mike sighed and raised the setting on his blaster and began roasting one of the bodies.
"What's going on out there?" asked Kalli.
"Would you like your meat rare or well-done?" he asked.
"Um," Kalli said. "Well-done. I suppose that can't be any worse than space rations."
Derek asked, "Is it considered cannibalism if you eat a sentient member of a different species?"
"Nah," Mike said. He grabbed the corpse and hauled it into the ship, since everyone was awake again anyway, and secured the hatch shut again. "Kalli, take us out again toward the London system. I'll make lunch." As Kalli did that, he prepared the meat and tossed the waste into the recycling chute, and they ate.
"A little tough," Kalli said. "Although better than space rations, I must say."
"That should tide us over to Transylvania easy," Mike said brightly.
"Why did they attack us, anyway?" Kalli wondered.
"They're Predators, most likely," Mike explained. "They attack space travellers just to eat their flesh. Hence why I was so wary about landing here. Sometimes they'll allow visitors, if they're in a good mood and aren't hungry or anything. But Kenya is really Lion space, no doubt about it. Other parts of the galaxy have Bears, Wolves, or Tigers, who do the same. For the most part, they know better than to bother Death Dancers unless they're desparate."
"So they wanted to eat us, but we ate them instead?" Kalli said. "Irony is kind of tasty, isn't it."
Mike put the leftovers into storage as they went on to the London system. Once in the London system, they finally were attacked by the Karzan Military. The fought off the small fighter patrol without much trouble and continued on to the jump hole to the Lorres system.
"Looks like the patrols are finally on to us," Mike said. "Aside from utter lack of common sense to attack us."
They passed a group of junkers cleaning up space debris, who did not bother them. Mike left them alone. He wished that the junkers were more helpful sometimes, but at least they kept their mouths shut for the most part. They didn't butt into anything that wasn't their business. Along the way, they ate some more Lion meat.
Then, after blowing up a few more patrols, they wearily reached the Lorres system. "Shall we stop for space rations and cramped bunks or just keep going?" Mike asked.
"Let's keep going," Kalli said. "We're not far now."
"We'll get there tomorrow, now that we're securely in pirate space," Mike said.
They finished up the last of the Lion on the way to the Transylvania jump hole. They passed through there without more than a passing glimpse at other pirate vessels and arrived in Transylvania, and made for the Dracula Nebula. Along the way, he spotted a rather familiar freighter.
"Jake! Good to see you. How's the construction project going?"
"Everything's going great here," Jake said. "How'd the rescue mission go? Where's your ship?"
"We had a few snags along the way, but we got everything we came for, and then some," Mike replied. "We'll talk more on Dracula. There's some interesting and unexpected developments that have come up."
"I can't wait to hear it," Jake said.
