Deadenders
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Castle reached a dead end with Season 8, but it's going strong here. Rating: K Time: The far future.
Castle headed back the way he'd come, feeling that he'd probably talked the doctor and her friends into coming with him. When he got to the area where he'd left the two unconscious men, he came to a sudden stop. The two men were now dead. From the looks of it, their throats had been slit. As he knelt to examine the one called Slaughter, the blonde left Vaughn's tent. She was now dressed in a conservative business suit and was pulling a large suitcase.
"Oh, hello there." She said. "Eric always did love to leave his safe open so he could examine what he'd stolen. Foolish man. By the way, my name is Gina. If you'd like, we could have some fun together before I leave this god-forsaken hellhole."
He shook his head.
"Sorry. I have things to see and people to do."
"Oh, well. Your loss." She smiled at him and walked down the street. He let her get well ahead of him and then headed back to Ryan's tent.
"Ryan, can I come in?" he called.
"Come on in. Make yourself at home. In fact, you can have one of the beds if you want. We'll come with you. It'll be easier if we're all together."
"I'm happy to have you with me."
"We need to get one more person." Esposito said. "There's a spotter not far from here that I've worked with before. He's damned good both as a spotter and a sniper. I'd like to go get him. I'll need you to explain things."
The two headed off and soon found themselves in front of another tent.
"Hey, McGary. You in there?"
"What do you want, you heathen?" Was the reply.
"There's a man here who's looking for some people. Me, Ryan and the Parks are with him."
"Come on in, then."
McGary was a big man. He was at least as tall as Castle and heavier. The weight was all muscle. Castle explained what he wanted to do.
"Never heard of bloody Aurora. Shot up much during the war?"
"Not a bit. It's as far from the Xanks as can be and they probably didn't figure it was worth shooting up."
"You can get the sniper gear we need?"
"You and Espo just tell me what you need, and I'll get it."
"How will you do that."
"I know a guy."
"Okay. Whatever it is you're doing it's better than rotting here." McGary said.
"Will be taking your buddy with you?" Espo asked. "If so, he'll need a bath. Two baths maybe."
"Ah'm no dirty." Said what Castle had taken for a pile of dirty laundry.
"Away with you, McAuslan. You're happy here since they feed you and you can sleep all day."
"Ah'm no dirty." Was the reply.
"You should come back with us." Castle said. "Easier if we stay together."
McGary picked up his few things and they went back to Ryan's tent.
"We're just in time for dinner." Espo said, seeing an automated vehicle coming down the street. "Have you eaten here before, Castle?"
"Never."
"When it stops in front of our tent, show your ID card. It'll dispense a ration pack for you."
"Ration packs? Really?"
"They have billions of them left over."
When the vehicle stopped, Castle noticed that Espo showed the vehicle two additional ID cards, so they got a total of eight ration packs for six people.
"How did you get the extra IDs?"
"One is from a guy who pulled a knife on Ryan. He's got no more use for it. The other two are from a couple who wanted to try life on the outside. I have no idea what happened to them."
"You actually want more ration packs?" He asked.
"One day they may decide to kick us all out of here. If they do, it'll be nice to have a supply of food. Plus, some of the ration pack items can be made into alcohol, if you know what you're doing. There's a guy one street over who knows what he's doing. We'll have a nice drink after dinner."
The drink wasn't the worst Castle had ever had, but it came close.
"What now?" Rick asked.
"We settle in for the night. Night is when the really bad people come out. If we use your guns, the camp administration might hear them and investigate. Best we fort up."
Castle slept with one hand on his submachine gun that night. He heard several screams and some odd thumps outside. It also sounded like someone was trying to pull the tent side up to get in. Espo pounded his baseball bat on the wooden floor and the noise stopped.
The next morning Castle had someone he wanted to see.
"The person I need to see is about twelve streets over from here. Damned near to the end of the camp. I'll be gone for a while."
"You'd better not go alone." Espo said. "You don't know the place. I'll go with you."
"Okay but be careful with your pistol. We don't need to attract attention. I only know so many guys."
When they got to the tent Castle wanted, he called out softly.
"Water Lily Chen, are you there?"
Suddenly there was a bright flash to his right, a loud crack and a cloud of red smoke. Both men turned towards it.
"As usual you turned in the wrong direction, Castle Richard. And I am correctly called Chen Water Lily. Family name first. Remember?"
Both men turned around to face Chen Water Lily. She was dressed in sandals, baggy black pants and an equally baggy black top. Her long black hair was in a pigtail that ran past her butt. It was hard to tell with her baggy clothing, but Castle knew she had a tall, very muscular body.
"In that case, hello, Chen Water Lily." Castle said, smiling.
"And what brings you to me?"
Castle explained what he wanted to do.
"You expect me to go with you to some underpopulated desert world? A cold desert world? Why would I do such a thing?"
"Because you're bored out of your mind here. That's why."
"Just what can she do for us?" Espo asked. "Make fireworks?"
"I make things. I repair things. I improve things. I destroy things."
Espo laughed.
"What kind of things?" he demanded, not sounding the least bit impressed.
"Things like this pistol." She drew a small something from the waistband of her trousers.
"You made a pistol? In here? You couldn't possibly have gotten ahold of anything to make a real pistol."
"Perhaps if I were to kill you, you'd understand. For a very brief second."
Castle stepped between the two,
"Chen is very good at what she does. I've seen her work. If she says she built a pistol in here, that's what that is."
"If you want to believe her, well, you're the boss. But that isn't a weapon of any sort."
Chen smiled and fired a bullet between Espo's feet.
"I could go higher." She said softly.
"Will you come with me?" Castle asked.
"Of course. I'm going mad with boredom in here."
"It'll be better if we all stay together. How much help do you need moving your stuff?"
"None at all." Chen whistled and a dozen or so children appeared.
"I fear that your auntie will have to leave. However, I have trained you well and you will prosper here and wherever you go from here. Now I need some help moving my things."
More children came out of the tents and began hauling away boxes and crates of things.
"How the hell did she accumulate all that stuff in here?" Espo asked.
"She makes things." Castle replied.
"As long as were over in this area, do you need some machine gunners?"
"Always."
"The Grant brothers aren't too far away. They're very good. Very, very good with machine guns."
The Grants turned out to be twins: Blond haired, pale complexioned and in very good shape. One was doing one handed pushups, while the other was working out with weights made out of cinder blocks.
"Michael, George. I have a man here who has a proposition for you. He needs some machine gunners." Espo said.
Again, Castle explained what he wanted to do.
"What kind of weapons can you get us?" Asked Michael, who had been doing pushups.
"I had in mind two M17A5 machine guns in .338 and two 15mm M80s."
Michael shook his head.
"You'll need a hell of a lot more than the two of us for that lot."
"I was planning on leaving the 15mms and one M17 at the ranch. I can recruit some Ka Raras to carry your ammo and other supplies."
The brothers looked at each other, then nodded.
"That's the best offer we've had. We'll do it."
"How many offers have you had?" Castle asked.
"Just yours."
The whole group headed back to Ryan's tent. When they got there, Castle was pleased to find that Dr. Parish and her four friends were waiting for him.
"Dr. Parish, I'm glad to see you've decided to join us."
"Not so fast, Big Boy." Parish replied." Before we do anything, we want to see all of this stuff you've promised us, and apparently promised to the people with you."
"Sounds like a good idea." George Grant said.
"And it is a good idea. I'll take you to the ship that'll carry us to Aurora. Most, but not all, of the stuff I wanted is aboard."
"Wait." Said the brunette. "You have your own starship just waiting for you?"
"No. The ship is taking the first consignment of goods to Aurora for the Ancient Research team. When the war began, they shut down the project but now it's starting up again. They'll have to gather a lot of highly trained people, which will take time, but a lot of the equipment they'll need is going first. The ship is here and I'm here and we're both going the same place."
"And how do you rate that kind of treatment?"
"I know a guy. By the way, I know everyone else's name, but not your name and Ann's last name."
The brunette stared at him, then spoke.
"My name is Kate Beckett. She's Ann Hastings."
And so, they were off. Everyone noticed that they went through the exit procedure from the camp without showing their IDs, or being checked for contraband, such as the weapons they were carrying. That was very unusual.
Once at the ship, Castle led them aboard and took them to deck six of the Janet Gaines. The ship was a fifty-thousand-ton freighter, shaped like an egg and somewhat the worse for wear. Most of the human race's ships were the worse for wear.
"There is the stuff." Castle said.
"Four 6x6 trucks with four trailers." Espo said. "Couldn't you have gotten some armored vehicles?"
"Before the Xank war there were a number of minor wars between human colonies on the same planet and a few within the same colony. Now that the Xank war is over, they're starting up again. Human Command won't let artillery, aircraft, tanks, any other armored vehicles out of their control. They'd like to control infantry weapons, but there's just too much of that around for them to control. So, I get trucks."
The group split up and began examining the supplies Castle had assembled.
"There's a hell of a lot more rifles and ammo here than you'd need for a reinforced squad." Espo said, hefting a 7mm battle rifle.
"My uncle has three human riders working for him and fifteen or twenty Ka Raras. I plan to arm them. Then there's a couple of similar ranches nearby I'll provide weapons for and some nomadic tribes. And some for just in case."
"Riders?" Espo asked. "What do they ride?"
"Horses."
"Really? Horses, in this day and age?"
"Yes, horses. They're perfect for poor planets with little industry. Horses are self-replicating, can be self-repairing, and they don't need expensive fuels. And what can be eaten by the Ka Raras can be eaten by humans and vice versa. Of course, humans need vitamins and whatnot which we get from the food stocks we originally brought from Earth."
TBC