The Pilots and the Frontier
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: After all this time, you know what this means, right? Rating: K Time: About three years after my story the Pilots and the Passengers.
"Just what is your old customer retired from?" Castle asked.
Chupallo smiled.
"That's the sort of question you should not ask of anyone on Du Laric, Captain. Do you have some civilian clothing? Appearing on Du Laric in an Imperial uniform would not work, I fear."
"We have some. When do we meet your customer?"
"I'll send my landing craft in six hours."
Castle broke the comm contact and turned to his crew.
"Okay, I'll take Moecious, Simone and Jane with me."
"And me." Kate quickly added.
"No. You're the only qualified pilot so we need you to stay here. That's an order."
Kate stuck her tongue out at him.
"Meanie."
"I could go with you." Said Andine. "I do have some experience in being attractive to men."
Castle shook his head.
"That would separate you from Lindane. I'd like to break up as few families as possible in case this all turns to shit."
"Don't worry." Simone said, grinning. "Jane and I can make ourselves attractive, non?"
Rick changed clothes first, coming onto the bridge wearing a pair of cargo pants, a dark blue tee shirt and a black leather jacket.
Moecious was dressed much like a conservative Imperial businessman, in a dark grey three-piece suit, a white shirt and a conservative striped tie.
Then Simone and Jane came out. Rick's jaw dropped. They had on high heeled shoes, fishnet stockings, with skirts that came only to mid-thigh, but were slit along one side up to the top of the hip. Their midriffs were bare, exposing very toned abs and they wore cropped tops that were definitely see through. Their nipples were easy to see.
"Do you think this old fellow will notice us?" Jane said, smirking.
"If you try to bend over or sit down, you'll give him a heart attack." Rick said, then looked questioningly at Kate.
"Oh, don't worry." She said. "I trust you and they're my friends."
They got on Chupallo's landing craft and headed for the surface. They were met at customs by a large, well-armed, but surprisingly polite lizard of some sort.
"Good day, Captain Chupallo and welcome back to Du Laric. Do you have anything that is forbidden on your person?"
"Has anything been added since my last trip here?"
"No, sir."
"Then I have no contraband."
"Thank you, sir. Please walk through the tunnel to your right."
Chupallo walked into the tunnel and was lost to sight.
"Captain Castle, would you care to peruse the list of forbidden items?"
"Captain Chupallo already explained them to me. I have no contraband."
"Very good, sir. Please go through the tunnel to your right."
At the end of the tunnel, Castle was met by another lizard like alien. This one had a very large spider-like being on a leash.
"One last thing, sir. Martic here well have to sense you. Machines can sometimes be fooled, but not old Martic and his kind. Don't worry, sir. Martic would never hurt anyone."
Martic walked around Rick, sniffing and then walked back to his handler.
"Very good, sir. You may join Captain Chupallo to the left."
Joining Chupallo, Castle saw that the side of the tunnel was clear and he could see inside. He watched as Simone walked through. It took a second to realize that she was naked. He quickly turned around.
"Why are they making Simone walk through the tunnel naked?"
Chupallo frowned.
"She's not naked. It's just the machine. It's examining her. Look, now you can see all of her internal organs and her bone structure."
When Simone walked out it was clear that she was dressed.
"Um, Simone… I…That is…" Rick babbled.
"Did you see me walk through the tunnel?" Simone asked.
He nodded.
"Don't worry about it. Kate and I are nearly identical, so it's just like you were seeing your wife."
"You're not my wife, though."
Simone laughed.
"I'm sure when I tell Kate about this, she'll laugh about it."
"You're going to tell her…" Castle stopped. It would be much better for Kate to find out right away and from Simone than for her to find out later. "Good idea." He managed to mumble. He was very careful not to look at the tunnel as Jane walked through.
Chupallo had a very luxurious aircar waiting for them outside the spaceport.
"I have a certain image to live up to." He explained. "I'm a man of substance and influence and must always appear to be so."
The city consisted of large buildings separated by green spaces. That said, they would have been called green spaces on any human occupied world, but here, the open areas were riots of every color imaginable.
The buildings were equally distinctive. One was a monstrous black cube with no apparent doors or windows. Chupallo explained that it was inhabited by races that had evolved underground and never went outside, nor wanted to see the outside.
Several buildings consisted of spheres somehow fixed together and moving in ways that seemed to defy gravity.
"There's our destination, straight ahead." Chupallo said.
The building consisted of five very tall but slender towers in pastel colors. As they watched, the colors slowly changed.
The aircar landed on the top of one of the spires. They were met by a young, human woman.
"Greetings, Captain Chupallo, Captain Castle and crew. Grandfather is waiting to see you."
"You're his granddaughter?" Castle blurted out.
The woman smiled.
"Actually, all the humans on Du Laric refer to him as Grandfather, but in my case, he is my grandfather. This way please."
She led them down one story and into a single room that appeared to take up the whole top floor of the tower. Castle thought it appeared lived in. There was a fire in a fireplace, and a portrait of two lovely young women over the mantle. There was a large desk at the far end of the room, covered with various machines. If Grandfather was supposed to be retired, his desk told another story. There were two chairs, one of which was Vorlag-sized and a comfortable looking couch.
Grandfather himself sat in a mobile chair beside the desk. He was definitely old, his face seamed with old scars and tanned by the light of many alien suns. His white hair was cut short and the expression on his face seemed…amused?
"Captain Castle, of the Imperial Space Navy? I'm Roderick Morgan. Will you please sit and introduce me to your crew?"
Moecious sat in the large chair while Simone and Jane sat on the couch. They quickly crossed their legs. Castle was sure Morgan couldn't see anything they didn't want him to see. He wondered how much that was. He sat in the remaining chair and introduced the other three.
"I understand you have three more ladies aboard your ship, Captain Castle. Are they all yours?"
"My wife is aboard the Pika-Don, sir. She makes, and the other ladies make, very sure I have no other ladies. Nor would I want anyone else."
Morgan pointed to the two portraits.
"I outlived two wives that I loved very much. I miss them every day." He quickly changed the subject, perhaps hoping to catch Castle off guard. "So, what's the fucking Imperial Navy doing this far past their borders, Captain?"
"Scouting."
"Scouting for what?" Morgan demanded.
"For whatever is out here. We have a pretty good idea of what's going on for say, fifty light years past the borders of the Spican Marches, and some idea of what there is another fifty light years past that. After that, we don't really have a clue. We do remember that during the Collapse a huge barbarian fleet attacked through the Spican Marches and raided hundreds of planets. So far, there's no sign of any such huge barbarian conspiracy in the areas we know about, but we'd like to know."
"So they sent one ship?"
Castle shrugged.
"The Empire is trying to restore the old Commonwealth, and have reintegrated perhaps a quarter of the old Commonwealth worlds into the Empire. The navy sent what they thought they could spare. And here we are."
Morgan stared at Castle for so long that Castle started to get uncomfortable. Finally, he spoke.
"I was born 121 years ago on a planet called Gwynedd. The Collapse, as you call it was well under way and the Empire was a vague rumor, no more. We fought the barbarians as best we could, but to no avail. I came here as a half taught engineer on a privateer and…"Morgan smiled. "And I prospered."
"I'm glad to hear that, sir. A lot of people didn't." Castle replied.
"Among them were the people of Gwynedd. I managed to get back about twenty years after I had left. It was all gone. A world of seventy million people, cities, farm, forests, seas…." Morgan stopped and looked away. "All gone. Nothing but radioactive rubble. And plenty more planets were just like that."
Morgan looked at his granddaughter, who was standing unobtrusively by the door.
"Braith, I need a drink. And get something for our guests as well."
"Grandfather, you shouldn't…"
Morgan cut her off.
"Yes, I know. I shouldn't drink. I might not live to be 122, so be a good girl and bring us some ale."
Braith left and soon came back with another woman who carried a tray with five mugs of ale. Braith carried a very large mug that was obviously meant for Moecious. The Vorlag smiled and took a sip, no more than a pint or so.
"Excellent. It's a shame we have no room for cargo, but perhaps Captain Chupallo could arrange for some to be sent to the Empire, to me."
"I thought you were an Imperial Navy officer, Moecious." Morgan said, looking a bit suspicious.
"I'm a personal friend of Captain Castle and I'm also a reserve officer, so I'm only on duty when they need me." Moecious lied smoothly.
Morgan laughed.
"You Vorlags are all the same, the galaxy's biggest party animals."
Moecious bowed from a seated position.
"And proud of it. sir."
"Work out a deal with Chupallo. He knows my prices." He then turned back to Castle.
"I'm no fan of the Empire and what its doing, Captain. The Commonwealth collapsed because it got too big. No nation, no bureaucracy, no government, no one and no thing could run it and it fell apart of its own weight and inertia. Now you're trying to do the same thing and I'm sure you'll fail as they did. Oh, not immediately, perhaps not in a century, or several centuries, but fail it will. At least I won't be around to see it happen, nor will any of my immediate family."
Morgan took a long drink of his ale.
"What's done is done, Captain Castle. In spite of being….let's face it, a criminal with a past that would have me executed on any civilized planet, I have a sort of a soft spot in my heart for the human race." He laughed and pointed to Moecious. "And to you Vorlags as well. I wish humans were more like your kind, Moecious."
"We've been trying to civilize the humans ever since we first met them, sir. They have many fine qualities, after all they invented beer, loud, raucous music, surfing, cheeseburgers, margaritas, Christmas, ice cream and so many other wonderful things. They're quite worth the trouble."
Morgan moved his mobile chair back to his desk and pulled something from a drawer.
"My area of operations has traditionally been a sphere about a hundred light years across, centered on Du Laric. Naturally, I've kept and eye on things farther away than that. This data cube contains all of the information I've developed over they years about this part of space. Catch." He threw the cube to Rick.
TBC