Deadenders
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Castle reached a dead end with Season 8, but it's going strong here. Rating: K Time: The far future.
"We do have some rotgut made out of ration packs, but I can't really recommend it."
Reynolds grimaced.
"Ration packs? Hell, I can do better than that." He turned to the woman next to him. "Will you turn around so I can get access to your backpack?"
The woman did turn around and Reynolds took four bottles from the backpack.
"By the way, this is my partner, Wendy Wells."
Wells was tall, slender with a nice body and long reddish-brown hair, but from the way she stood next to Reynolds and the glare she gave the other women, she felt she was more than just a partner.
"You still drink Scotch?" he asked Castle.
Rick nodded.
"Well, I have Scotch, bourbon, rum and tequila. If you have salt, I have the makings of a margarita here. Wendy got me started on them. How many people do you have here now?"
'Twenty all together, including myself."
"Make that twenty-two." Reynolds said.
"How about you tell me how you survived the Little Blue Moon fiasco. I heard the entire First Scout Company was wiped out."
Reynolds was busy handing out alcohol to Castle's people, then making drinks for Wendy and himself.
"I broke my leg in training. The Docs couldn't repair it in time, so I missed Little Blue Moon. Donnie van Donk missed it too. He's still alive as of a year ago. I have no idea where he is though. But, for my troubles, I was assigned to a recon company in an assault division. Ever hear of a planet called Glacier?"
Castle shook his head.
"I may have heard of it, but I don't remember anything about it."
"Horrible place. Mostly rocks, ice and snow. Intel said it was garrisoned by an understrength Xank division with just light space navy forces in the system. Turned out there was a whole Xank corps there and a good chunk of their Combined Fleet around. They chased our navy away before we had all of our reinforced division down. In the first two days my company was down to forty people, including stragglers from other units, and assault landing crew like Wendy."
"Wait one." Castle said. "Wendy is a spacer, not a soldier?"
Wendy glared at Rick but said nothing as Reynolds put his hand on her arm.
"We were on Glacier for six months running from the Xanks before the fleet came back. I had seven people left by then. Six months doing that taught Wendy a lot. She's good. She'd have to be to stay alive."
Castle didn't look like he was convinced about taking Wendy along, at least not as a soldier and it told on his face.
"Look, Rick, you need me." Reynolds said. "When I was a kid, before I went in the army, I rode as a scout for Old Man Murtaugh on his trading expeditions. Why, I've been south all the way to the Lesser Dismal Swamp, east to the lands of the Ka Traghnor and north all the way to the Shining Mountains. I can take care of myself on Aurora better than anyone here, including you. And Wendy comes with me, no matter where I go."
"Okay, we're now twenty-two people."
Reynolds smiled.
"I think we have enough left for another drink all around. Maybe we could even drink some of that awful rotgut."
However, people slowly supped their second drinks. As they did, Kate came over to sit by Rick.
"Can I ask you a question?" She asked.
"Sure."
"Your friends talked about some sort of trading expeditions. What were they? It didn't sound to me like Aurora had anything worth trading."
"Well, maybe not. But, before the war, ships came regularly to resupply the Ancient Research Expedition with things that couldn't be found on Aurora. Since they had to come to Aurora anyway, they didn't want to go back completely empty, so they looked for things that they could sell to offset the loss. There are furs, gems, spices, a flower that can be made into perfume and even chatka. I guess some people off planet developed a taste for it. There was never a lot of trade, but enough to make trading expeditions worthwhile."
"Even when the war began, we'd get two or three ships a year and since all they'd take back were a few military recruits and some food, we still managed to sell some luxuries, even with the war on."
"The people I was investigating probably bought some of the luxuries." Kate said with some anger.
"And we also traded with the Ka Raras for things for us."
"Such as?"
"Mostly metals. I told everyone that the Ka Raras had begun to smelt copper. They'd mine copper for us, tin, iron, zinc, and a few other things."
"What did you trade to the Ka Raras?" Kate asked.
"Mostly horses and manufactured goods. Horses changed their whole culture. Most of the Ka Raras were nomadic and horses changed that lifestyle a lot. A lot of the manufactured goods consisted of guns, mostly smoothbore, flintlock muskets until we got enough of our industry set up."
"Can I ask you another question?"
"Sure."
"You've talked about your uncle's ranch. What about your parents?"
"My grandpa left the ranch to his two boys, my dad Tom Castle and my Uncle Mike. When I was about three, my dad's horse was attacked by a dragon and…"
"Wait!" Kate said. "Aurora has dragons? For real?"
"The Auroran dragon has a wingspan of about three feet at the most and weighs maybe five pounds. But it's bite is poisonous and very painful. My dad's horse panicked and tried to get away. It fell and rolled over on my dad. Broke his neck. My mom died about a year later, no one knew exactly why, but some people said she died of a broken heart. But for several years I'd stand at the front door of the ranch wondering why my parents didn't come home to me."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought up such a painful memory." Kate said, taking his hand.
"it's painful whether or not I talk about it. But what about you? Tell me about Kate Beckett."
She took her hand away.
"My parents were lawyers on Earth, and that's exactly what I wanted to be. They had gone to some sort of conference on the moon when the Xanks made their suicide attack. The dome they were in was hit by a crashing Xank attack boat. All of the bodies were blown out into space. Their remains were never found. After that, I wanted to be a spacer. I had dreams of being a gunnery officer and vaporizing Xank planets. But I was assigned to the Constabulary, investigating criminals. I'm not sure I would have made a good gunnery officer. And don't apologize. Like you, the memory is painful, even if no one brings it up."
Kate got up and walked away.
It took another two weeks for all the gear for the Ancient's Research Expedition to get to Aotearoa and be loaded onto the Janet Gaines. When Castle and his team got aboard there was good news and bad news.
"The good news," Rick said, "is that we have more equipment than I had planned on. More weapons, ammo, radios, medicines and lots of other stuff. It'll make the trucks kind of crowded when we do get to Aurora, but it's all for the good."
"What's the bad news?" Pappy Walden asked.
"This is a freighter. The galley is big enough to store and prepare food for the crew only. We'll be eating more ration packs. But it's only for another month."
"That's like forever." Alexis grumped. It seemed everyone agree with her.
Rick did manage to cheer Kate Beckett up.
"Kate, we have chatka here which I like, so I'm giving you all the instant coffee from my ration packs. I know you said it tastes like a monkey peed in battery acid, but I notice you still drink the stuff."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
The ship had to make three stops before they got to Aurora. The third stop was a planet named Silesia. There, they had visitors.
"Which one of you is Richard Castle?"
The speaker was a tall man in camouflaged fatigues. His boots were shined to mirror brightness, his pants had razor sharp creases in them, as did his jacket. His black beret sat perfectly on top of his shaved head and at his side was a pistol. Another man, similarly dressed stood with him. Between them was a disheveled looking man, who had his hands cuffed behind his back. His face couldn't be seen as he was staring at the deck.
"I'm Richard Castle. Can I help you?"
"I'm Sergeant Bock, Silesian Planetary Police. This man wishes to speak with you."
The man raised his head and smiled at Rick.
"Nice to see you again, sir."
Castle groaned.
"No. What could I have done to the Universe that would cause it to have my path crossed by that of Billy Bergman?"
"The Universe loves you, sir. If I hadn't heard you were coming this way, you'd have missed out on the best missile man there is. And you need a good missile man."
"So I do. Do you know where I might find one?"
"You're always joking, sir."
"Sergeant Bock, what did this man do this time?"
"Sir, there's a war memorial in the main square of the capital, Legnica. It features the Angel of Peace placing a halo on a soldier. The soldier is meant to symbolize the many war dead from Silesia. This person got drunk and bet his low life friends that he could fire a missile through the halo and not hit anything."
"Just how much damage did he do?"
"Not a bit, sir. Even drunk I shot a missile right through the halo and on into the ocean. I don't think I even killed any fish. You know how good I am, sir. And you know I never drink in combat."
"Do you recall Matross Ridge?" Castle asked quietly.
"Okay, sir. But that was just one time and who would have expected a Xank battalion to attack a full division? Besides, I did just fine, even if I was a bit…under the weather."
"As I recall you couldn't find your missiles even though they were about six feet from you."
"Okay, but I found them, and I knocked out two of their armored infantry. Great big males in powered armor. I stopped 'em dead."
"Sergeant Bock, what'll happen if I don't take this man?"
"He's been accused of drunk and disorderly behavior, firing a weapon of war inside city limits, attempted desecration of a war memorial, assault with intent…"
"I'm sure he did all that and more. What'll happen to him?"
"He'd likely be sentenced to two years in the labor gangs. There was a lot of damage on Silesia."
"And after he's released?"
"He's not a citizen of Silesia. If he doesn't have a job, he'll be conscripted into the labor gangs."
"That's a scam, sir. In order to get a job, you have to have a work permit. To get a work permit, you have to have a job."
"That's all in accordance with Silesian law." The sergeant said.
"One problem, Bergman. I don't have any missiles."
"No problem, sir. I have 378 in a bonded warehouse. The Silesians can't touch 'em as long as their bonded. They're all 75mm multi-function missiles, you just fire and forget 'em. I've got anti-armor missiles, anti-personnel, anti-bunker and even anti-aircraft missiles. And I have lots of spare fuses. I know you won't need many anti-air missiles, so I can change 'em."
Castle thought for a moment.
"I may regret this, but okay, Bergman. You can come with us." Rick turned to Reynolds. "We have spare uniforms and gear. Get him outfitted. Do we have anyone who can give him a haircut?"
"I can." Wendy said.
In under an hour, Bergman looked the part of a competent, sober soldier.
TBC