The Pilots and the Passengers
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: You guessed it. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: An AU future, and see below.
Authors note: This is a sequel to The Pilot, and The Pilots.
Author's note: Some sci fi fans may note some things that I have borrowed from other fandoms.
Captain Bescet led them to the council that ran this island and explained who and what the newcomers were.
Humans, Vorlags and perhaps even Kzin would have cheered and cried at the news. Both the Brigantes and the Iceni took the news calmly, merely nodding at the news.
While there seemed to be no ill will from the two races, Castle decided that at least two armed crewmembers, including one pilot, would remain on the ship at all times.
In the meantime, they did what they could to help their new friends.
"The batteries and accumulators for their radios are shot." Moecious said. "However, I think I can make some solar panels out of this and that. Some of it'll be from our supplies, and the rest is from theirs. The radios won't be very mobile, but they can put one on each island and one on each of their dirigibles."
"Do it, then." Rick said.
Skinny, surprisingly, was a fountain of information on all manner of ancient weapons.
"They have charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. With that they can make an explosive and use it for a weapon. I just need to find a good blacksmith to make a musket."
Rick nodded. "Sure. What the hell is a musket?"
Skinny laughed. "Give me a few days, and I'll show you one."
Rick was deep inside the bowels of the Brigantes' ship. Three crew, who had learned what they knew of spaceships from their grandfathers or grandmothers, looked on attentively. Much had been lost over the years. Jane translated.
"Your engines have plenty of power, you're just not getting it to your power grid. Some room temperature superconductors will fix that."
The three nodded, having no idea what the human was talking about.
"I'll get some from the ship and fix it for you."
The three nodded again.
Soon the islands and the dirigibles were communicating with each other, there was power aplenty from the grounded Brigante's ship, and Castle found out what a musket was.
"Okay, you pour that black stuff down the…barrel? Then you push a lead pellet on top of that, then you cock the…what is that again?"
"It's called a lock." The Kzin said, obviously happy with his new weapon.
"Okay, you pull the lock back and pour more of the black stuff there, so it goes through a hole in the barrel to the other black stuff, then you can fire the damned thing once? Just once? And then you have to do everything all over again before you can shoot again? They're better off with their bows and arrows."
The Kzin shook his head. "It takes years to develop a good archer. They have to start training as children. You can be a good musketeer after about ten minutes of instruction. And, this is just the start. They can build cannons. Guns that fire ten or twelve-pound iron balls. That'll shoot holes in most of the critters they have around here."
Rick just nodded. "Okay, you're the expert on weapons."
The Kzin beamed happily. "Next I'm going to work on making a rifle."
"What's a rifle? No, don't tell me. I don't need to know. Just do your thing."
Moecious, being a true Vorlag bartender, had found that both races had lost the ability to either ferment or distill alcohol. He soon fixed that and with a bit of effort, he soon had the Jolly Spacer II up and running.
"You want to go over to The Jolly Spacer II and have a beer, lover?" Kate asked.
Rick wrinkled his nose. "The beer tastes like it's made from green beans or something similar."
Kate smiled. "So, we'll have some rum. It isn't too bad and he mixes it with something like lemonade. He calls it a Vorlag Libre, whatever that is. Besides, get a couple of drinks in me and you might get lucky tonight, spacer."
Rick winked at her. "You're on, gorgeous."
Moecious personally escorted Rick and Kate through the crowd at the Happy Spacer II and sat them at his own, personal table.
"Commander Castle," Said their furry friend, "I made sure you and the Missus got the best aged rum."
"Yesterday's?" Castle asked.
Moecious looked offended. "Please, this has been aging since last Thursday. Enjoy."
Rick looked around at the happy crowd. "When we get back and they send a ship to rescue these people, I bet a lot won't leave. And they'll put up a statue, or something, to their main benefactor."
"Moecious?" Kate said.
"Who else?"
Once Moecious made sure that Andine and Lindane had their non-alcoholic drinks refreshed, he came back and sat with Rick and Kate.
"How did you end up as a saloonkeeper?" Kate asked.
"You must be joking." Moecious replied. "Everyone knows that Vorlags go throughout known space spreading happiness and cheer. We consider ourselves the biggest party animals in the galaxy. Kzin are known for their warrior prowess, humans for their ability to create huge empires and Vorlags for having fun."
Kate grinned. "I didn't know that. In fact, I've never met a Vorlag before."
"Your loss. But, I will admit that on rare occasions, we can allow ourselves to get a bit out of hand."
Kate and Rick looked around at the happy crowd, drinking, singing and dancing to what they both considered to be a truly awful, but very loud, band that Moecious had hired for the Jolly Spacer II.
"Really?" Kate said, suppressing a smile.
"Long, long ago, a wise human once said that one Vorlag is a problem, two Vorlags is a party, three Vorlags is a Mardi Gras, four Vorlags is a riot and five Vorlags is the end of civilization as we know it. Completely overstated, of course, but I suppose there is a kernel of truth in it. Another round? On me?"
"Sure. I may get lucky tonight."
Kate stuck her tongue out at Rick.
They had done all that they could to help the castaways and now it was time to continue their mission. They left their new friends behind and headed back into space.
"This should be no trouble." Skinny said. "Almost towards the very center of the galaxy we should see four very bright stars that form a perfect square. The one we want is to the galactic north. And there they are."
"And there they are over there." Rick said.
"And there." Lindane added.
"There and where, nothing slips like seven." The Quinncinx said morosely.
"Easy for you to say." Rick grumped.
The first two had no habitable planets, but the last one they went to had a pleasant Earth-like world orbiting around it.
"This could be it." Rick said excitedly. "There are some really big buildings down there."
"Given what we've seen in the previous planets we've visited, I'd say let a drone check this one out." Kate said.
Everyone agreed.
Castle put the ship into orbit some 1500 kilometers above the planet, in a polar orbit. Kate went to the sensor station to check what was below.
"Rick, I'm not picking up any communications of any sort, and I don't see any evidence of any kind of power generation on the planet. There's no nuclear, fusion or matter-antimatter energy sources and the atmosphere is pristine, eliminating older sources of power." Kate worked to controls of the drone, now far from them. "Wait one. I have something. Take a look."
A view appeared in Castle's viewscreen. "Okay. It's a lot of trees. So?"
"Now let me show you what it looks like with ground penetrating radar."
The view changed. "Okay, there are squares and rectangles and…." Then he figured it out. "That was a city. It's been overrun with vegetation for…what? Thousands of years? Tens of thousands?"
"A very long time."
They continued observing the planet, finding evidence of cities that were almost all reduced to the barest of ruins.
"There's something." Kate yelled. "You won't need anything fancy to see that."
Castle checked to viewscreen as others looked over his and Kate's shoulders.
"How big is that?" Skinny asked.
"At a guess, the whole complex is about five square kilometers. The building itself is about a kilometer high and covers maybe three square-kilometers. The rest appears to be just a kind of courtyard, and none of it has been over grown with vegetation."
"Should we go down and take a look?" Castle asked.
"That's what we're here for." Skinny said.
"Let's have the drone circle it a bit first." Moecious said. "Just to be sure."
The drone went in quite close, letting them see just how big the structure was. The main structure was a tower that had an entrance a good two hundred meters high leading to a vast room. At the back of the tower were two rectangular wings which were not quite as high as the main tower.
"There." Lindane cried. "At the corners of the courtyard, in front. Those are statues. Get a close up."
"Those things are thirty meters tall." Rick said. "Do you think the people who built the place were that big?"
"Whoever they were, they were women." Simone said. "They have boobs."
"They also appear to have mustaches." Kate added.
"I prefer my women to have boobs and no mustaches." Rick said.
"That's because you've never had a furry mate." Skinny said, smiling. "You have no idea just how erotic the feel of a furry…" Then he noticed he was being glared at by Kate, Simone, Jane, Lindane and Andine. "Although I suppose smooth skin has its attractions." He finished lamely.
"Blurry stuffing excites whole intestines." The Quinncunx said, chuckling.
"We'll land in the courtyard and keep the drone circling around to keep an eye on things from above." Rick decided.
They landed and prepared to check out the vast building.
"Skinny, Moecious and I'll check the place out and we'll take Pinky with us in case we need a key."
But the Quinncunx had wrapped itself around Lindane and was moaning softly.
"Come on, Quinncunx. This is what you came here for." Rick grabbed the pink being, but he clung to Lindane so fiercely that Rick was afraid he'd hurt the little fellow.
"He trusts me. I'll carry him out." Lindane said, standing and holding the Quinncunx with one hand.
"Then I'm going with you." Said Andine quickly.
"Me too." Jane said."
"And me." Both Kate and Simone said together.
"No, no and no." Rick said. "I need a pilot here in case we have to make a quick getaway. That's Kate. I need a gunner to man the gun turret. That's Simone, since she's a good shot. And I need someone else here, just in case. That's Jane."
The three women glared at Rick, but didn't argue.
"Lindane and I will need weapons." Andine said.
"Do you two have any qualifications…" Rick began.
"Yes. As you've been told, a number of dangerous men had lusted after both Lindane and myself. I engaged a Kit'Ab combat master to prepare us to defend ourselves."
"That's impressive. It'd be more impressive if I had any idea what a Kit'Ab combat master was."
"There are very few in human space." Moecious said." But they are masters of all manner of combat, from winning a bar brawl without facing jail time to commanding fleet actions. I've witnessed these two practicing. They're quite good."
Rick opened the weapons locker and handed out a pistol to each woman. They both stared at him.
"Just a pistol?" Lindane said.
Rick rolled his eyes and handed out a carbine to each woman. He watched as they expertly field stripped the weapons, examined them and reassembled them.
TBC