Part III. 'Arrival'

In a blaze of white light, a ship returned from that strange realm through which it traveled as it covered vast distances through hyperspace. It was painted green and brown with the name Wrath of God on its stern. The onboard computer immediately started to scan the surrounding sky for navigational references.
"Trofar system." it concluded after a few seconds.
Kei smiled, satisfied.
"I did it right this time!" she said proudly. "I set in all the parameters all by myself and we arrived right where we needed to be."
Yuri checked her auxiliary screens and sighed.
"Yes, we've arrived. Only a few billion miles further out-system than I would have liked," she said coldly.
Kei gulped.
"Let's see... I think, I will jump to Ursa A and back. It will cost us extra fuel, but it will save three weeks of travel under light-speed."
Kei remained silent the whole time while Yuri was inserting new data into the computer. With a flash, the Wrath was gone.

In a flare of light, the Wrath of God leapt from 'between-space'. This time, the computer was much quicker to determine that they have arrived in the Trofar system.
Kei still was in melancholy. Yuri didn't disturb her while she oriented the ship toward their destination: Trofar IV. That done, she returned to the task of checking the details of the various catastrophes that haunted ships in this system.
About an hour later, Kei touched her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she said slowly. "I shouldn't have done that. It just seemed like a good idea to do the calculations myself."
Yuri smiled gently and hugged Kei.
"Why don't you join me in sorting through this data?"
Kei nodded, even though that idea didn't seem so good. But Yuri was already pushing her toward the second seat and handing her a data link. Kei plugged it in.
"I will handle technical faults, you can deal with collisions." Yuri issued quick instructions. "Look for cases without survivors."

Two days later, they had covered all the accidents described in the UG, WWWA, Space Exploration Institute, and some other databases. The total loss of ships that may have been victims of pirates was possibly as many as three hundred fifty, with two thirds of the reports having been tampered, forged or edited. Both girls stretched in their seats and looked over at one another.
"I suspect the two squadrons and carrier will be a bit inadequate to deal with an operation of this scale," Yuri said.

"Wrath of God calling station Tyre!" Yuri was speaking into the commlink. "We request a landing."
Kei hopped over the back of her seat, with one hand already powering up the weapons station as she strapped on her safety harness. Yuri raised an eyebrow.
"Just in case they get any funny ideas," Kei grinned, noticing her partner's look. After their prolonged work on databases, she was hankering for some combat.
"They aren't such fools," Yuri whispered back.
Comm crackled a few times.
"Station Tyre here. We read you, Wrath of God. Will you be docking in orbit or making planetfall?" a young voice asked. The video still hadn't come on.
"We will be landing, Tyre," Yuri replied.
"Damn piece o' crap..." a faint curse was heard, then an image came up on video. The man on-screen lowered his fist and shrugged his shoulders in apology. "We have two spaceports ready to accept you. Would you prefer Otama or Derry?"
"What's the difference?" Yuri smiled.
The man smiled back. "Otama is near the capital, but they'll rip three skins off you for the same work that Derry will only take two."
"We'll take Otama," Yuri declared.
"One sec..." the man turned away from screen. "Okay, you've got it. Prepare to receive navigational data."
Yuri turned on the computer input. There was a short whine and all the information was sent to their onboard computer.
"Happy landing. By the way, my name's Jamie and my week's shift ends tomorrow. If you are free, may I ask you on a small walk then?"
Jamie looked Yuri straight in the eye. Yuri felt charmed, as men's gazes were more usually aimed somewhere below.
"I will consider it," Yuri replied politely. "Where should I leave a message if I accept?"
"I'll be leaving the spaceport at 12:40 tomorrow. I'll wait for you at exit eleven."
"Agreed. Wrath out."

"Another lech," Kei stated, retracting the weapons for atmospheric entry.
"Hmph! You're just jealous because he asked me, and not you," Yuri poked out her tongue while checking the received data for any hidden additions. Finding none, she forwarded them to the computer, and Wrath of God began its descent.
"When he sees us both together, he'll pick me," Kei retorted.
"Why bother yourself about him? He's only 'another lech'." Yuri smiled.
Far to port, they left a small white speck behind as station Tyre emerged into Trofar's rays. Nearby could be seen the largest of Trofar IV's moons. To starboard, both girls now had a good look of the planet from space. It seemed so peaceful: two large continents and six huge islands, all covered in lush green, with only a few spots of light visible on the night side.
"This place could just become a top-class resort planet," Kei said softly.
"Perhaps… if they don't spoil it with their industries."

Otama City, capital of the fourth planet in the Trofar system, was growing. Ten years old, it was only a 'fresh out of diapers' age for a city.
In any case, for a city to have eight hundred thousand citizens on a planet where the total population was less than five million was hardly remarkable. Accustomed to overcrowded Earth, colonists usually imitated its building style at their new homes. Back in the UG, Kei and Yuri had seen planets where ninety-five percent of the inhabitants were crowded into one huge megalopolis.
In fact, the dispersion of cities on Trofar IV would become a different problem they would encounter if it weren't dealt with soon. Over half of the inhabitants, if the reports UG had supplied them could be relied upon, were living outside of cities in single houses, farms and small villages all over the planet.

"What's up, partner?"
"Nothing," Yuri stared out a window.
"I'm not blind. What's bugging you?"
"You'll just laugh, Kei. But that bird that fell dead to the ground when we left the spaceport... It's an ill omen..."
"Is that all?" Kei gave an amused huff of relief. "You always did have a soft spot for all these birds, flowers, and butterflies. Why don't you quit your job and join the Greens? I can just see you waving placards saying 'Stop terraforming!', 'Nature - Yes! Factories - No!'"

The cab driver said nothing, concentrating on his driving while letting his two passengers argue. Many had sat behind him and talked. Some interesting secrets had even been spat out in drunken bravado. He knew how to hold his tongue. These two, though, he couldn't place in any familiar category. They stood out from the crowd, that was for sure.
The car turned off from the road and pulled up to a place that looked more like an exhibit in an architectural museum than a useful structure.
"Hilton Hotel, ladies." he said, noticing their looks. Newcomers, he at last realized. Definitely newcomers from some high-tech world, maybe even from the Union.
"Are you sure?" the redhead asked.
"Yes. You gave me the address, I drove you to it."
"Let's check it out," said the brunette as she climbed out.

"What's all this?" Kei asked, no, demanded from the man behind the registration desk.
"It's the Hilton Hotel, Ms. ..."
"Kate Sinclair."
"... Ms. Kate. Yes, you have ordered a double room."
"I mean, what is all this stuff?" Kei pointed at the wooden staircase, French doors, and a small marble fountain at the far end of the hall.
"Ah! It was all the idea of the previous owner. He decided to build a copy of a hotel from back on old Earth. Before overpopulation and expansion." The clerk answered with visible relief.
"Ohh-kay… I'll take the keys."
"And your husband? Will he be arriving later?"
Only Yuri's intervention saved the poor clerk from a close-up view of Kei's boot -- from the underside.

"How the hell was I supposed to know?" Kei growled as they walked down the corridor. "Where's it say that this hotel, the one Hilton on the whole damn planet, is for newlyweds!"
"If I hadn't stopped you, we'd have been in serious trouble right now!"
"My husband!? Urrr…did you see how he looked at us when I said you were with me?"
"Yes, and I can imagine why."
Kei stopped dead, her eyes widening. "I'll beat that idea out of his skull!" she hissed.
"Calm down, you're attracting attention."
"Of all the goddam perverted--"
"Kei."
"What?"
"The keys. We're at the room."

"Okay, no more bugs." Kei declared as she climbed out from under the bed. "Only good thing I can say, at least there's no dust down here."
Yuri nodded, placing the mirror back on the bathroom wall. It turned out to be quite ordinary.
Usually they would do such work with their electronic devices, but being planetside undercover meant no high-tech stuff other than whatever they could get through Customs. Their detectors, light as they were, exceeded the limit.
For better or worse, they only found one bug. That one was in the main room, poorly disguised as a nail supporting a painting. Yuri pulled out her set of microelectronic instruments from the secret compartment in her desktop case and quickly locked the bug onto itself.
"Got a plan?"
"Yes. Sooner or later, we will need to contact the high-level officials. We were ordered to do that upon arrival. Our identity change was only to prevent them from throwing us out on arrival, 'due our bad reputation', as that punk in Covert Ops put it," Yuri stated.
"You think the officials might be involved?"
"With an operation as large and sustained as this one is, I'm certain of it. There's no way someone could pull something like this behind their backs for so long. I know there's no limit to human stupidity, but this is too much. If we are wrong about this, we can always apologize."
"Okay, so we're on our own. Y'know, it's a real pain in the butt that they have limitations on the weapons we can carry."
"On many of UG worlds, you can't carry weapons at all. That blaster-launcher of yours really shocked that lady in Customs. 'You are wearing this?'" Yuri parodied in a small, quavering voice.
Kei sighed, glancing at the tiny needle gun she held now. The rest of her arsenal had to stay aboard the ship.
"Anyway, I have a meeting with Jamie in the morning. Perhaps, being in a position like his, he knows something about what's going on around here, What about you?"
"Well, since you're going to be relaxing, someone'll have to get some work done. I'll check the bars around the spaceport. Maybe I'll turn up something."
"Sounds fine," Yuri smirked. "For tonight, let's check out the hotel restaurant..."

The evening was passing breezily.
Kei was slow-dancing with an attractive boy she had snatched right out from under Yuri's nose. Yuri didn't mind this time: the fellow she was talking with was also good-looking. And single. Not that a gold ring on a finger ever stopped Kei from going after what she wanted.
"You really are from the Union?"
"Union?" Yuri returned to the conversation.
"United Galactica, excuse me. We usually just call it 'the Union'. You're really from there?"
"Yes. What's so exciting about that?"
"Well, you know, we've had almost no contact with the Union for around ten years. The ships come and go, the colonists sometimes arrive, but immigration to the base worlds has practically stopped."
"Interesting. I can say nearly the same about your home world," Yuri smiled. "Until this month, I didn't even know it existed. And I've seen many planets."
"Yes. But I have visited only a couple dozen... and they all look pretty much alike."
"Are you a merchant?"
"No," he said, taking two champagne glasses from a steward's platter and offering one to her. "I'm a captain. I'm working for one of Twinmoon's wine-makers."
Yuri felt great. It wasn't often that she could work while having such a simple, good time.
"Isn't it dangerous to run cargoes through here?" she asked in a casual tone. "In the UG, space pirates sometimes show up. I hear that one was hunted down not half a year ago."
"Ahh. No, not at all. You're safe enough if you have a strong ship."
"And yours is strong?"
"Not very. But we can show some teeth to anyone who tries to stop us."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"And you? If I may judge from your interest, you're in a similar line of work. Am I right?"
"Yes. Only I have my own ship. I'm an independent."
"Oh, that's very nice. I hope to get enough money together to start my own business in a year or two."
"That sounds wonderful. Maybe we'll meet in the future."
"I hope it won't be by competing for the same job."
The music ended, then took up a slightly faster dance tempo. The man set their glasses down on a passing waiter's plate and turned to her.
"May I ask you for this dance?" he inquired.
Yuri agreed.