Shipwreck
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I feel wrecked not owning Castle. Rating: K Time: Far in the future.
"You could say that. Now, Father George and I had tracked Davidson to the Blue Wave, and found that he was going to sell the information he had to Demming. Now, Demming was just a career crook who was acting as a go between for whoever was the real buyer."
"Who was the real buyer?" Castle asked.
"I have no idea. But, when I was giving the last rites to Demming and Davidson, I got the data tab from Davidson that had what he wanted to sell. I also got an encrypted data tab from Demming. I assume it's information about the buyer."
"Did you kill Davidson and Demming?" Kate demanded.
"Of course not. The plan was to get them alone and interrogate them."
"Wouldn't they know they'd been kidnapped and tortured?"
Rick shook his head.
"No one uses those crude methods anymore. There are dozens of chemicals out there that would allow the men to wake up with memories of a passionate evening with, I'd imagine, an obliging redhead."
Sister Alexis laughed.
"I'm very good with chemicals and with being obliging."
"I thought nuns were supposed to be celibate." Rick said.
"I have a special Papal dispensation."
"Did you have anything to do with the destruction of the Blue Wave?" Kate demanded.
"Nothing. The whole point of what we were doing was to not attract any attention to ourselves."
"So, what happens now?" Rick asked.
"We'll get to the station, a ship will come for us, we'll all go on our separate ways, and this will just be a bad memory." Sister Alexis stopped for a second. "By the way, I found some gold and silver coins in what I take was Pully's saddlebag. With that and what we can sell their horses and gear for, we should do all right in the city."
"It'll be more than a bad memory for Miss Janice." Matilda growled.
"And for a lot of other people who lost loved ones on the Blue Wave." Kate said.
"We had nothing to do with the ship's destruction. It would serve no purpose." Sister Alexis changed the subject. "Mr. Castle, we still have to cross an unknown portion of this planet to get to the station. I'd like to hire you to assist me, and the others, of course."
"Sorry. Engineer Beckett is way ahead of you. She's hired me on behalf of the Hermes Lines to escort everyone to safety."
"That works just as well for me."
Later when Sister Alexis was out of earshot, Kate spoke to Rick.
"I don't recall hiring you, although it is a good idea, if you're interested. But, why did you lie to Sister Alexis?"
"It was easier than telling her straight off that I don't trust her. I don't think she cares one damned bit about anything but her mission. I usually am rather expensive to hire, since I am very good at what I do. But, since part of my job will be saving my own ass, I'll cut my price in half. A thousand Standard Credits a month, agreed?"
"I was wondering how a mercenary could afford to travel first class on the Blue Wave, and now I know. That's a shade less than I make in a year. But, you're hired. Now that you're an official soldier for the Hermes Line, what do we call you? Sergeant? General?"
Castle laughed.
"I usually hire myself out as a warrant officer, which is a rank between commissioned officers and enlisted personnel. But for now, you can call me Rick."
"How did you become a soldier, Rick?" She was curious.
"There's an old saying, going back to pre-spaceflight Earth. "Whose house doth burn, must soldier turn."
." That's what happened to me. I lived on a colony called Esperito. We were invaded by one of our neighbors and I was conscripted into the Esperitoan army. We won, after seven years, but my family was dead and our farm was contaminated with chemical warfare agents. I kept doing the only thing I knew how to do. And that's why I travel first class when I can. I'm not likely to live long enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement, even if I wanted to retire and….Do what?"
"That's kind of sad." Kate said.
"What about you? How did Kate Beckett end up as an engineer travelling from star to star?"
"I was Rebel Becks. I was born on New Bohemia. My parents are both well to do lawyers and they wanted me to do the same. I wanted to see something…different. The Hermes Line is perfect for that. Many lines, you go from one planet to the next and stay just long enough to discharge and pick up your passengers and cargo and then you're off. The Hermes Line caters to tourists. We go to a planet and stay for a week or two while the passengers see the sights. The crew gets shore leave, so we get to see all the sights as well. Or at least those we can afford."
"You may never have wanted to see the sights of this place, but at least you can afford it."
Kate just raised an eyebrow.
That night Kate slept curled up next to Rick. As he was in his armor, it wasn't at all comfortable, but she told him that she felt much safer.
It took three days to get through the forest and reach the river. Once at the river, things were much easier. The flatlands along the river were easy to traverse as there was a road, a dirt road, but a road none the less, along it. The road was patrolled by armed police who had the first crude firearms they had seen on the planet. Castle asked one of the troopers how his weapon worked and was amazed at how crude it was. He told Kate all about it.
"They pour some kind of chemical powder down a steel tube. Then they drop a lead pellet down the tube and when they pull the trigger, something called flint strikes a piece of steel and the powder explodes, expelling the pellet. You have to do the whole procedure all over again before you can shoot again."
Kate just smiled and let Rick ramble on.
Another thing they found on the way to Y'les City was that they could buy food and find lodging in the small villages that lined the riverbank. For the first time in a long time, Rick was able to take off his armor to sleep. Kate also took off all of her clothing.
"You want to fool around?" Kate asked slyly.
"Not at all." Rick said.
Kate was angry and sad at the same time. But then Rick spoke again.
"When I make love to a beautiful woman, I do not fool around."
"Come to think of it, neither do I." Kate said as she grabbed his erection and mounted him, all in one quick move.
They both found themselves looking for prospective inns rather early in the afternoon the next day.
"So this is Y'les City." Rick said.
The city was walled with towers and only a few very well protected gates to enter.
"I've seen pictures of Rome back before spaceflight that looked like this." Sister Alexis said. "Rome was a beautiful city filled with marble buildings and beautiful statues. I hope Y'les City is like that."
The streets were an open air sewer. Both animal and human feces littered the muddy streets. Castle was almost hit by the contents of a chamber pot someone emptied from an upper story of a house.
"Watch what you're doing!" he yelled.
In return the householder gave him the one finger salute.
The houses themselves were shabby, cramped appearing and jammed together. Most looked like a good kick would bring them crashing to the ground. Castle was tempted to go back to the home of the man with a chamber pot and see if that was the case.
"Look." Sister Alexis said. "The man in the carriage. He looks very prosperous. I'll bet if we follow him we'll get to a better section of the city."
They did and Alexis was correct. They found a clean and pleasant inn where they were able to find rooms and meals.
"The girl who took our coins said they have a hot bath on this floor." Rick said. "Care to join me?"
"I can't wait to join with you. And I'm feeling very dirty right now." Kate said, looking up at him through her eyelashes.
The sunken bath was large enough to hold perhaps twenty people and steam rose from the hot water. But, there was someone already in the bath. Sister Alexis was sitting on the edge of the bath allowing anyone who cared to look to see that she was indeed a natural redhead.
"I was wondering when you two would show up. Care to join me? I'm very good at cleaning up. How about I soap you both all over and then rinse you and dry you off?"
"Both of us?" Kate said.
"Like I said, I have a special dispensation." The redhead said, winking at them.
'I think Kate and I'll go to the other end of the bath and wash each other."
"Suit yourselves."
Sister Alexis then began to wash herself paying very close attention to her boobs, ass and pussy. Castle turned his back to her so that if Kate kept her eyes solely on him, she didn't have to look at Sister Alexis.
Finally, Sister Alexis dried herself off and left.
"At last…" Kate began. But before she got any further, the door opened and Matilda and Janice came in.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Matilda said. "I thought the bath was empty once Sister Alexis left.
"We were just leaving." Kate said. She whispered to Rick. "I did get washed, but I'm still dirty."
The next morning, they were told that the town hall had an office that helped strangers to the town. The help they got was not what they had hoped.
"What?" Castle yelled.
"You went the wrong way." Said a clerk.
"What do you mean, the wrong way?" Kate asked.
"You went north to Y'les City. You should have gone south from where your craft landed to the Tiddim River, then you should take a ship south to the mouth of the Chidwin River. That's where you'll find that station you're looking for. You could go overland from the Tiddim, of course, but the land is an awful desert."
"So, we have to try to get back past the Horse People again?" Sister Alexis said, checking her two blasters.
"There's a convoy leaving for the Tiddim in three days." The clerk picked up a quill pen and a scrap of parchment. "Go to Wagon Master Delahn on the Street of the Aurochs. These are directions."
They left, but were very unhappy. They did find Wagon Master Delahn, however.
"I'm headed south in three days. Do you wish to buy or rent a wagon?"
"How do you plan on getting past the Horse People?" Castle asked.
Delahn laughed.
"They'll be no problem. Come to the stables with me."
He led them into a large, stone stable that reeked of animal manure and other, less identifiable odors.
"That's what pulls our wagons." He said, pointing to a very large, grey furred animal." Don't get close. They'll try to gore you with those horns until they get to know your scent."
They all looked at the huge animal. It was as tall as Castle was, at its shoulder, a good two meters. And very bulky and muscular.
"What is it?" Castle asked.
TBC