So this is the start of Part 2, and the closest I had to a standalone adventure. Not only is this all out there already, I just ordered a print edition. And do bear in mind, reviews are the only way for me to track if any of you are still with me this far.
"All right," Meliboia said. "We do this by the numbers." In the viewport ahead, a planet loomed. It was ugly. It was brown. It was the most dangerous planet in the Star Union.
"I'm ready," Ajax said.
"So am I," said Nopalina.
"I'm sorry, if it's all the same, I'd rather stay up here and read," Persephone said.
Meliboia dragged her footlocker into the middle of the cabin. She opened it and pointed out the weapons. "These are the variants of the 6mm MFCASK caseless small-arms family," she said. She took out the two largest weapons. One had a bipod and a very sophisticated electronic sight. The other had a circular drum and a hard point for a tripod mount. "These are configured for Tactical Suppression and Area Defense. The first one is my primary weapon, 50 round topside mag standard. There's room for spares on the side." She held up a transparent magazine clipped to the stock. It was loaded with 10 triangular rounds, each one consisting of a block of propellant around an elegantly tapered projectile. "The other takes standard clips or a 200-round drum. Pray we don't need it."
She unlimbered a third weapon with an extending stock. It came with a smaller magazine loaded with a shorter version of the ammunition. "This is the Multi-Role Carbine, they'll take a full clip of high-power rounds but you're better off with the medium 30 magazine," she said. "It's what you use when things are getting hot but you're still keeping cool." She attached a grenade launcher with a 5-round magazine. "And this is the 3cm Direct/ Indirect Fire Grenade Launcher, in case you have to explain something." She gave Ajax the weapon. When Nopalina pressed to hold one herself, Mel gave her a smaller case that held a nearly identical weapon. "This has a longer barrel. It should be easier to handle."
Finally, she drew not one but two pistols. "These are Close Assault Tactical, for if something gets up close and personal," she said. She waved the more compact of the two. "This is semi auto, 10 rounds; use this if you ask politely." She attached a stock and an extended clip to the other. "This is selective fire, 20 rounds, in case you have to tell them twice." She gave the smaller pistol to Nopalina, and kept the other for herself after Ajax declined it.
"They are fine weapons, my Lady," Ajax said. Mel leaned over for a kiss.
"Excuse me," Persephone said. "What do the letters stand for?"
"Easy," Nopalina said. She attached a spare single-shot grenade launcher to her weapon. "Mother Fo-'Cking Ar-Se Kicker."
The bridge module of the Amphion descended to the planet. Mel aimed for a long, narrow ridge. "We can follow the ridge to our objective," she said. "Stay away from the sand. It's where the borer worms are. Mostly."
They touched down between two distinct sections of the ridge. Mel emerged in her Lorica. She carried the Area Defense Weapon and a tripod. Persephone followed behind in a basic environmental suit. "There," she said. "Think you can handle this?"
The Maiden tried sighting the weapon. She pulled the trigger once. She did not flinch at the short burst of fire. "I guess so," she said. She took a book out of her bag. It was on knitting baby clothes. "Have fun."
Mel led the way in full armor. She wore a full breastplate, sculpted in feminine form, and a heavy Hoplite helmet with a steeply sloped visor. She carried her rifle slung in a storage rack behind her. On the belt that supported her greaves, she had holstered the machine pistol and a grenade launcher fitted with its own trigger and grip. Ajax and Nopalina followed in light armor. Once, a toothed proboscis at least 5 Cubits long erupted from the sand. It whipped back and forth, tasting the air. Mel raised her rifle warily, but did not fire. After a minute, the appendage withdrew. "It smelled them," she said.
As they approached the end of the ridge, she waved for another halt. She connected a small screen to her scope, allowing the others to see what it showed. Ahead were numerous stands of large cacti with asymmetrical bulbous pads and even uglier purple fruit, each as extensive as a small orchard. "This is our objective," she said. "The fruit is the only known source for several highly dense, very reactive compounds. For some races, it can cure cancer. For others, it gets them really stoned. For a few, it just gets their Mushroom fruiting. This is the only planet where the plant grows. They farm it…"
Nopalina took out a bag. "I collect prickly pear back home," she said. "This should be no problem." She patted the pistol at her own hip.
"We will cover you," Ajax said. He raised his carbine. Mel took aim at what looked like a cave a hundred meters away. "Run."
The first of them came out as soon as Nopalina moved. It flopped down as Mel opened fire, giving Ajax a good look as it thrashed. Its skin was purple, its blood was orange, its viscera black. It would have been two Cubits tall upright, but it was clearly adapted to run on all fours. A second pair of arms were folded against its visible rib cage. Its kind were called Kophon, meaning Deaf-Mute. Already two more had emerged, then five, then ten, and then he pointed and shouted as twenty burst out of a burrow in the opposite direction, at only half the distance.
Nopalina reached the cactus colony and began picking fruit. By then, Mel had brought down 5 of the Kophon with single shots. Ajax joined in as a group of 4 came close enough to hurl their own projectiles. A perfectly spherical rock bounced off his visor. He fired instinctively, felling the creature that threw it with a three-shot burst to the head. The scope gave him a clear view of the face. It had large eyes with reddish-brown irises. In place of a mouth, it had an array of mouthparts that looked like folded hands, curling and uncurling as it twitched. That was the source of their name, as they had neither a jaw to form speech nor the delicate bones that were the organs of hearing in Earthly vertebrates. What resembled tufted ears in fact detected scent like the feelers of a moth. He took down another with two bursts. He then fired a grenade, set to burst over the heads of the others. That sent them scurrying back.
Nopalina opened fire with her pistol. Ajax looked to see three of the Kophon among the cacti. She felled one before the gun ejected an empty clip. The others tried to cut her off as she retreated through the convoluted paths of the garden. She still took time to pick three more fruit for her half-full bag. One of the creatures stepped directly into her path. Rather than reload the pistol, she brought her carbine to bear. She fired the launcher instead of the gun. It discharged a needle canister almost point blank into the creature's face. Ajax overheard her on a channel she obviously had not remembered was open: "Not now, Kiv… Yes, I am with her…"
A steady hail of projectiles pounded their armor. Most were mere rocks, but there were also seedpods that burned or burst in clouds of smoke. Mel was staggered by one that exploded in a spray of crystalline needles. Ajax tried to cover Nopalina while Mel continued to thin the main force of the Kophon. A dozen of them were circling the cactus colony. The Maiden brought down three with five bursts, emptying her clip. He felled two more and fired his last grenade. By then, Mel was firing bursts herself. At a quick glance, the King estimated that she had brought down at least 20, possibly 30. She slammed a spare clip into her weapon. The cartridges transferred from the clip to the main feed with a clacking sound like billiard balls. "Something isn't right," she said. Then she resumed firing.
"We are leaving!" Ajax called to Nopalina. He winced as a rock struck his helmet. She shrugged and started running back. "Leave the bag!" She shook her head furiously. Mel traded her rifle for the pistol as a group of eight threatened to cut them off. Two more Kophon went down. She risked a fully automatic burst without the stock, felling one more before the others scattered. She then drew her grenade launcher and fired down a newly opened burrow that they had emerged from. Ajax reached down and hauled Nopalina up, bag and all. Mel fixed the stock to her pistol and loaded a 20-round clip, just in time to fire a burst into the face of a lunging Kophon. They hurried along the ridge, with well over a hundred of the creatures behind them.
The proboscis of the borer erupted from the sand as they retreated. A needle canister from Nopalina's weapon shredded its hide without inflicting serious damage. Ajax grabbed Mel's stowed rifle and emptied a clip. The rounds from the harder-hitting weapon drilled through and through. The creature withdrew. As they approached the module, Persephone set down her book and readied her weapon. Mel dived and pulled Ajax with her as the first volley went over their heads. "Sorry," Persephone called out.
As they ran for the ramp, an especially large Kophon sprang out from beneath the ship. It reared up on hind legs, 3 Cubits high, directly in Mel's path. Each arm bore slashing blades. Its mouthparts spread, revealing a gaping maw lined with serrated teeth that slashed and scraped without the restrictions of a jaw. Mel drew her sword and assumed a fighting stance, just before Persephone blew it in half. The Myrmidoness could barely see through the orange gore that spattered her armor, but she made no attempt to clear her visor. She grabbed the Area Defense weapon, tripod and all, and raced up the ramp. Persephone gasped as Ajax threw her over his shoulder and followed.
"We have to go go go!" Mel called out. She backed up to a wall mount that linked to her Lorica. The armor split open, allowing her to climb out. She scrambled into the cockpit proper, clad only in her Cingulum and inner mail. Ajax ran to her side, himself down to an undershirt and athletic shorts. A push of a button started the firing sequence. As it counted down, they looked up… and saw a Kophon with a vastly enlarged skull standing on the canopy. Mel pushed another button, and the hum of the engine died.
"Well, they let us keep the fruit," Persephone said as they rose to reunite with the main hull of the Amphion.
"The fruit's no good," Mel said. "It's the wrong strain, and not ripe. The big one was probably trying to tell us that. I should have figured that out. The compounds will be unstable."
"I still don't understand," Ajax said. "They let tourists come and shoot them to collect the fruit?"
"I told you, they're a hive mind species," Mel said. "The ones we saw were drones at the end of their lifespan. If we hadn't put them down, they would have been turned into cactus fertilizer."
Ajax shook his head. "Do people do this knowing the truth?"
"The tour guides have kept the real rubes in the dark," Mel said. "They usually empty their guns in the air and run away as soon as they see one Kophon, never mind a hundred. I heard of one operator who got left behind when one of the marks hotwired his ship. The ones who pay enough for a real fight are usually in the know. It's not risk-free. About 2% of professional hunts end in one or more human casualties."
They cleaned the Lorica over a grate in the lavatory floor, using a detachable showerhead set for maximum pressure. When that failed to clean off the heaviest residue, Mel used a flame unit at the lowest setting. Ajax considered the fruit. "Does this really have value?" he asked sadly.
"Enough to make a profit on a successful hunt," Mel said. She had finished cleaning the suit and started applying a powdered cleanser to a trail of gore on the floor of the bridge module. "They figured out how to synthesize the active compounds years ago, but it's difficult enough that only the big concerns can really afford it. Of course, they only market their products for approved, regulated medical purposes, and they come down on anyone who tries to cut in on their patents. Gray-area applications are only sustainable with a supply of the fruit. Now that I think about it, we could get something for this after all…"
Ajax clasped her hand. She looked up in surprise. "My Lady," he said, "I still do not know if you would choose to be my Queen. But whatever comes, promise me this… Never go back there again."
Mel dropped the bag. Several of the fruit rolled out. "All right," she said. "By my name, I promise." Then they kissed. "Now… what are our sleeping arrangements going to be?"
They and the Maidens considered the layout of the interior. The holding cell had two bunks, one over the other. Then there was the main cabin, with one bed big enough for two. "You can have the bunks," Mel said to the Maidens.
"It would not be proper for us to share a bed while we are courting," Ajax said.
"But it would be to share a bed with an Attendant?" Mel said with a smirk.
"It is our duty to the King," Persephone said.
"I have an idea," Nopalina said. "There is a ritual for a Lord and Lady to share a bed before marriage. Lady Narcissa told me about it. We just have to do the Binding Against Temptation…"
Meliboia surveyed the result. Ajax was tied to the head and foot of the bed, completely unclothed. "You know," she said, "I like your rituals…" Behind her, the Maidens glanced at each other and smiled.
"I could have stopped them, of course," Mel said. She lay in her Cingulum, testing her own bonds. "But they were having so much fun."
"Oh, I could get out," Ajax said. "I just don't want them disappointed."
"So," Mel said, "are you ready to propose yet?"
"I have not decided," Ajax said.
"Well, how's this for a proposal?" Mel said. "Next time we stop in port, we get skunked, get hitched at the scuzziest chapel we can find, and consummate our marriage in the ship lavatory."
"Ah. I might consider it," Ajax said. He pondered a moment longer. "Why the lavatory? We have the bed."
"There are… unique possibilities," Mel said. "I could show you… when we are wed, of course."
"Now that, I would consider," the King said.
And the ship sailed on across the stars.