The Rise before the Fall
Epilogue
Four days had past since Aisha was left abandoned on Blue Heaven and stripped of her rank and title. The unbelievable nature of the event was just now beginning to sink in. With the meaningless title of Resident Officer, and no money or resources to rely on, Aisha spent much of her time scrounging for loose change that people carelessly dropped. Once offered a twenty-wong bill by a sympathetic stranger, she turned it down because of her Ctarl Ctarl pride. It had been three days since she had eaten and almost two days since she had anything to drink. What money she had she used in an effort to contact home but all her attempts to reach family and friends were intercepted by Ctarl Intelligence who informed her she was jeopardizing her mission by trying to contact people outside of CI. Remembering that Tarbal's cousin, Taver, was the comms officer aboard the planetary space station, she managed to reach him earlier that day. He promised to have someone she could talk to in exactly 5 hours but she would have to initiate the call. If he initiated a transmission to the Terran world it would arouse too much suspicion. This way he could conceal the call's origin.
The time had come as Aisha placed the last of the money she had into the public interplanetary communications machine.
"85, 90, 95, 300 wong" She said to herself as she tried to keep her hand from trembling. The tear tracks down her cheeks were clearly evident and the condition of her hair and skin were obvious indicators that she had been sleeping outdoors without any opportunity to shower or clean up.
It took about 15 minutes for the connection to be established. To Aisha, every minute felt like an eternity. Finally, the familiar face of Taver showed up on the monitor.
"Taver, were you able to find anyone? Were you able to find Augusta?"
Taver stepped aside so as not to waste any time and let his guest have the comm.
"Unfortunately no, not Augusta but I hope I'll due."
"Striker! Thank God. Where is Augusta, still in Alpha 61?"
"Yes, we haven't been able to reach him on private communications and we didn't want to broadcast what happened to the whole fleet. Aisha what did happen?" A confused and worried Striker asked.
"I don't know. I don't understand why this is happening to me… We were making our approach into Blue Heaven. Another ship that was docked here had already launched and was on a collision course directly towards us. I ordered her to yield but she refused. We altered course by two degrees to avoid a collision. Other ships were pursuing her. I ordered them all to halt and all of them did except the one ship. We opened fire on it but hit nothing, then it jumped into sub-ether space.
After interrogating the other pilots, I discovered the ship that got away was the Horas and her captain was the Outlaw Hilda. I ordered that we begin pursuing her immediately but me crew had already contacted home and we were ordered to stay put.
Three hours later, Governor Jiudus sent a recorded message blaming me for Hilda's escape and stripping me of my rank and title. I've been made… resident officer of Blue Heaven."
Aisha began to cry.
Stunned by his former captain's emotional display, Striker responded in the only way he knew how.
"Stop that! What good will tears do you now."
Aisha stifled a sob and wiped away her tears.
"You're right, you're right. I'm okay." She took a couple deep breaths to steady her nerves.
"Are you sure that's all that happened?" Striker asked in an overtly suspicious manner.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, nothing official has been reported yet but the rumor going around is that you opened fire on the Blue Heaven colony and almost started another terran war."
"WHAT!"
"Not only that but they're saying you actually had the Outlaw in custody and then released her for no reason at all."
"That's crazy! I did no such thing!" Aisha insisted.
"Alright, alright, I believe you but someone is really trying to make you look bad."
"Where's my father? He could straighten all this out."
"Possibly, but he's still on deep space station evaluations and won't be back for at least three months."
"Damn, that's right." Aisha paused, deep in thought trying to consider her alternatives.
"What am I going to do Striker?"
It was Striker's turn to think.
"How much money do you have left?" He asked.
"Nothing." She replied.
"None at all?"
"The conversion rate is brutal around here and it costs the equivalent of 220 durwongs to make a call. I had to scrounge for money to make these last two calls."
"When was the last time you ate?" His concern was written all over his face.
"Hmm, three days ago in the afternoon. This Terran food is so empty. Even after I ate I still felt hungry, but I didn't want to waste any more money on food."
"Well for starters you're going to have to get a job."
"What?!"
"That's the only way your going to survive until I can arrange to have money transferred to you. You'll need to open an account somewhere so I can transfer the funds. But until then, you need to eat."
"But what can a career officer do here on a Terran world? You've heard the stories. I don't want to wait tables for these Terran scum and I can't take my clothes off and dance for their pleasure. I can't." She began to cry again.
"Keep it together Aisha."
"I should have said yes." She whimpered.
"What?" Striker asked confused by her remark.
"Augusta, I should have said yes when he asked me to turn down this mission and marry him."
"Aisha"
"I'd be with him now instead of this hell hole." She wept.
"Aisha, pull yourself together." Striker snapped.
She stopped and stared at the monitor.
"You can't change the past but you can dictate your future. Were you given any orders before you were left behind?"
She thought for a moment.
"Yes, to find out all I can about the Galactic Leyline and its coordinates."
"Okay, first thing you need to do is talk to some people over at the space docks. Find out what you can about this Outlaw, Hilda. Maybe she'll be returning to Blue Heaven soon."
She nodded.
"If it looks like she won't be coming back soon then get a job waiting tables."
Her eyes grow wide as saucers.
"I know, I know but consider the alternative." Striker reminded her.
She hung her head and groaned.
"Now is not the time to let your pride get in the way of your survival."
She nodded in agreement again.
"Aisha, I'll get word to Augusta and your father somehow. We'll figure something out. You gotta just hang in there until we do. Okay?"
"Okay." She agreed. "Striker?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you." She smiled for the first time in days.
"Hey, after all the times you've saved my butt, it's the least I can do. Don't worry Aisha, you have friends looking out for you, caring for you."
Her smile grew.
"Striker, can you do me another favor?"
"Anything."
"When you talk to Augusta…" She paused, "tell him, tell him I love him, and that I'm sorry I didn't say it more often."
Striker paused a moment. "Okay, I will. I promise."
Aisha smiled again when suddenly the monitor was filled with static.
"Striker? Striker, can you hear me?"
A second later a Ctarl Intelligence officer was on the monitor.
"Lady Aisha, you are making an illegal transmission. All communications must go through Ctarl Intelligence. Any further attempts to communicate to anyone outside of Ctarl Intelligence directly will be considered a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment or permanent exile. Is that clear?"
"Yes, but how am I supposed to fulfill my mission if I have no money to live on, let alone use to search for the Galactic Leyline? And how come you're telling people I almost started a war out here and knowingly let the Outlaw Hilda get away after I had her in my custody? That never happened. Why the lies?"
"Ctarl Intelligence has not released any word concerning your mission. All the things you mentioned are simply rumors that have been circulating. I don't know where they originated. As for funding, you are a Ctarl Ctarl Officer; you've received numerous citations and honors for your resourcefulness. Think of something, but be sure whatever you do, it is legal, the Empire does not need another embarrassment from you Aisha Clan Clan."
"What do you mean, another embarrassment? I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't know it was her." She retaliated.
"Ctarl Intelligence, Out." The monitor went blank.
"I… GRRR! You Bastard!" Aisha screamed.
Now Aisha's sadness and sorrow had changed to rage, rage at the Ctarl Intelligence Officer who had the nerve to accuse her so. Rage at her senior officers aboard the Orta Hone Hone, especially her first officer who hesitated in following her orders at every opportunity, at her tactical officer in the Orta Hone Hone for hitting everything except the outlaw's ship when she ordered him to fire. But especially at the Outlaw Hilda who cost Aisha her title, her rank, her place in the sun.
"I'll find you Hilda. If it's the last thing I ever do, I'll find you." She growled.
Gathering her composure, she thought to herself, 'Okay, Striker was right. Got to start at the space docks and see what I can find out.'
She began walking out of the Public Communications Center. Just as she got outside her stomach grumbled loud enough for two people, who were heading into the Comm Center and were about five meters away, to hear causing them to stare at her. Aisha put her hand on her stomach to ease the pain then noticed the two people staring at her. At first she smiled sheepishly but then realized why should she be embarrassed in front of Terrans. It was a Terran that got her in this situation to begin with.
"What are you staring at!" She snapped.
The two people jumped back and immediately rushed into the building.
Aisha took a few ragged breaths, licked her lips and headed towards the space docks.
'The walk there will probably take me about 20 minutes.' She thought, 'I hope I can find out something useful.'
Little did she know that an unpainted grappler ship with four offset engines was just a little more then an hour from space dock.