DARKRIDER - STORMRIDER

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Another explosion rocked the tiny fighter as it clawed for Nullspace, and survival. Inside the cockpit its pilot lay unconscious, blood seeping from several wounds. Then the jump, and safety. Internal sensors noticed the injury levels, a field snapped on, then another. Engines shattered, almost powerless the ship sped through Nullspace. As it drifted a pale colorless glow slowly built up around the wreckage.

Time would pass, centuries... millennium, impossibly longer. Finally with only a few atoms of anti-matter remaining to power the survival fields, anti-matter that should have run out so long ago no one could count the time the wreak passed within range of another ship. For a moment a pale hand seemed to slide across the wreckage. It touched an antenna and a long broken connection was made. Faintly, almost ghostly, a call went out.

Jacques Le Cleric suddenly ceased his bored, seemingly aimless sweep of the interstellar communications bands, his dark eyes going wide. For a moment he stared at the frequency indicator, then started waving frantically towards Captain Goldpaw.

Intrigued by his communication officers sudden strange gyrations the lion stepped over. "What is it le Clerc" he asked as he towered over the young skunks shoulder.

Quickly plugging in a spare headset to the ancient communications board, Jacques held them up to his Captain. "A finders beacon Captain... I think" he whispered. "It's on an ancient military band, and an awful high one. Whatever it is its just in range. I think we may be running our course at a high angle to it."

Leo Goldpaw's eyebrows lifted. Interstellar law required any such beacon to be investigated, investigated and recovered. Or silenced. There were stories of great rewards that had been paid by grateful governments, and of the occasional ship found drifting. Her crew spread like rotten butter on her bulkheads... What was left of them. Holding the headset to his ears he listened. Interspaced among normal starsong was a thin signal, almost there, almost not. Le Clerc's stock went up a notch in the Leos eyes. Most civilians would have missed this.

"How much of a course change to this things bearing" he asked.

"One moment sir" le Clerc answered. "I'm transferring the data to Sandy's navigation station now."

Setting down the 'phones, Goldpaw turned towards Sandy Brightwaters. "Are you getting the data?" he asked the lith navigator.

"Yes Leo' the attractive young otter answered. "Running your program now. It'll be a minute or two tho, this things got a strange course."

Goldpaw nodded, returning to his chair to wait. Badgering his crew would interfere with their work, and something deep in the pit of his stomach really didn't want to know just what that thing was.

"Got it Leo" Sandy exclaimed a few minutes later. "Your new course to intercept is Z negative 127, X - 313, Y - 11. Time to target three hours, seven minutes at our current speed."

"Why so long" Leo asked.

"Target is moving away at mid-FTL speeds" Sandy answered. "The longer we wait, the longer it will take." She paused, glancing towards le Cleric. "And the less chance we'll have of successful recovery."

Leo hesitated, he could just report the contact, that in itself would be enough under the law considering its strange frequency, speed and course. Still, the thought of a reward was more than hook enough on their ragged budget. "Make your course, lets prepare for a possible hostile contact" he ordered. Scenes from space horror movies flickered through his mind. He growled, clearing his thoughts.

Neeki's computer alerted her to the unexpected course change. It took her a few minutes to double check, when the numbers came in she shook. They were headed out of the Galaxy, the only civilian ships that would do that.... She closed her dark green eyes. "Gods, please don't let them be slavers" she prayed. Being sold as a slave was every freeborn's nightmare, in Neeki's case it was worse. There were races out there that thought of her as nothing more than a mobile salad bar. Her lips fluttered in prayer.

Three hours later Sandy was worriedly studying the ships power log. Something was off, way off. "Leo" she whispered, getting the lions attention. "Something strange here."

Moving over to the otter Goldpaw leaned close to her head. "Tell me what you've got" he asked, his voice pitched low enough that only Sandy could hear him.

"Our power curve, either these readings are way off, the engines are out of phase..." She looked up into the lions eyes. "Or were carrying at least twenty thousand pounds we aren't supposed to be."

"Hitchhiker?" Leo asked.

"I'd bet on it" Sandy replied, "And if it hadn't been for this course change I don't think I'd have noticed it" she admitted.

Reaching past the otter Leo turned a selector, them spoke into a small mike. "Betty, Bob, we've got a possible hitchhiker. When were through with this recovery and everything's tied down, see if you can find him."

"O'kay Leo" Bob Bernardino answered, "How long until we make pickup?"

"At least another twenty minutes I'd guess" Leo answered. "We still have to find this thing."

"Right Leo, I'll set up here. When you give the go-ahead we can run a full scan in less than an hour."

"Good, heads up back there." He cut the connection and returned to his seat.

On the screen nothing showed but starlight, and not much of that considering their current course. According to both Navigation and Communications BARNARDS STAR had to be almost on top of the strange transmitter, yet nothing showed under visible, infrared or ultraviolet scans and they were fast running out of Galaxy.

"Thirty thousand meters" Sandy suddenly reported, her voice breaking the tension. "I'm getting a flashing ghost detection. Whatever it is it was highly stealthed."

"Try the landing lights" Leo suggested. “Lock them into your scanners.”

Huge searchlights, intended for use at spaceports during landing, takeoff and pretty much anytime between flickered on. Sandy quickly tied their directors into her scanners. For a few moments they seemed to hunt, then one by one they locked onto something.

Leo stood, staring at the image. "What in the name of Nine gods is that thing" he half whispered.

Everyone on the bridge just stared. On the screen a night-black ship, or what was left of one, tumbled slowly ahead of the STAR. As it tumbled the floodlamps showed just how alien, and how damaged the thing was. Where engines should have been was nothing but twisted, burnt metal, so carbonized it was barely brighter than the hull. Half a wing had been sheared off, only stubs remained where twin vertical stabilizers had been.

It was a fighter, a tiny one man deep space starfighter meant for squadron use. Leo grunted, he felt like someone had suddenly kicked him in the stomach, someone big. No one ever built many of those things, the pilot loss alone was political suicide. Even the few races that had tried them gave up at the high replacement cost, and low effectiveness ratings. That's why everyone had converted to the larger, stand-off style design. Much more effective than a close in fighter, with a quantum level higher survival rate. In fact, the only things that came close to the alien ship were solar system racers. His breath sucked in and his blood chilled as he made his decision. "Get an attractor on that thing" he ordered. His voice broke the alien spell, people dove into their work.

"Why not just drift over it Sir, let it slip into the hold by itself" le Cleric asked from his station.

"Two very good reasons Mister" the lion replied. "First, an attractor uses a thousandth the energy and time such maneuvers require." He paused, staring at the image again for a moment. "And second, if that things going to explode I'd rather it did so outside the ship, wouldn't you?"

Le Cleric visibly flushed. "Understood sir" he answered, quickly turning back to his station.

In moments a beam reached out, touching the wreak. Pieces suddenly..... powdered. Brought to a halt parts of the hull fell to dust, to continue their path through space as slowly rotating clouds of powder. Slowly the bulk of the wreak eased towards an open bay in the STARS hull.

"Where did it come from Sandy" Leo asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Adella's Galaxy, TO-272" the otter replied. "Taking into consideration the ships speed, course, and probable course changes....." She looked up from her board. "Leo, that things been in space longer than my race has been civilized. What kind of power could be running that transmitter?"

"An anti-matter pod" le Cleric's whispered reply filled the almost silent bridge. "A really big one."

Two hours later Goldpaw, Captain of the tramp Freighter BANARDS STAR stood watching as his two engineers worked to open the flow-fuzed canopy. Not much of the wreak not protected by the low grade stasis field had survived its long voyage, their rough handling hadn't been much help. Dropping the outer field had been childs play, even if the words were in an unknown language the huge pale orange arrow pointing to a single lever with a single word above it was universal. Only the cockpit, nose area, a huge bent auto-cannon and some structural skeleton remained. The rest was dust and metal fragments in small ant mounds on the deck. There was a crack, a grunt from the Ursiond then the canopy's metal shattered like glass.

"Leo, there's another flux stasis field here" Bob Bernardino reported. "Whatever is in here, well it's probably no older than when the field went up."

"Can you drop this field too?" Leo asked. His right hand slid unconsciously over the sidearm now strapped to his side.

"Easy as pie" Bob answered. He pointed to something outside of the lions vision. "All I have to do is pull this here handle, and hope this little power unit don't set off a critical overload. As old as this thing is, I don't think that's going to happen."

"All-right" Leo decided, "Do it." He pulled his weapon, aiming it at the faint grey field beyond Bernardino's bulky frame.

A sharp crack, followed by a high pitched wine came to Leo's ears. Without the tiny trickle of power it needed, the stasis field collapsed. Seconds later Bob looked in, whistled, then turned ashen faced to his partner Betty LaWest.

"Medical, Now and fast" he reported, "I don't think she'll last much longer."

'She?' Leo thought, holstering his weapon as he hurried to his Chief engineers side. Looking into the shattered cockpit he found himself staring at the pilot. Bright orange blood covered most of the strange instruments and the female body in the pilots seat. Reaching in he unbuckled restraining straps, gently lifting the small body. Turning, he followed LaWest to the STAR's medical section.

Behind him Bernardino started making visual records of the pilot compartment. Protected by the stasis field, several months of research laid before the inquisitive engineer, including the navigational computer. Time seemed to slow, a low off tune whistle escaped him as he worked. Other computers were still running, probably on their own backup power, and they weren't for navigation. His commgear suddenly beeped, a sharp chirping in the bays death silence. Tapping its activator he growled "I'm busy, can it wait?"

Sandy's soft voice answered him. "We just wanted to know what kind of lifeform it was" she asked. ""It's been two hours and no alert, no report. Leo and Betty are locked in medical, your the only one we can ask."

"Oh. Ah' right. Looks like this was a recon ship, probably a fast conversion of a close in fighter because I've found hardpoints.... and a weapons computer." He paused, stepping back to stare at the wreak. "I donn-o who's it was, never saw anything like it or this language before. Sure could use ah' comp-hacker rit' now. Pilot was alive, an' female. Kinda short, maybe five feet, little more, orange blood. Looks like a lot of the intel gear was protected by the stasis field. Not the sensors, just storage. Couldn' guess her race tho." he finished. Then a memory of a something he'd learned in school as a child, an old race not often seen. "Wait," he said, licking his teeth, "Lynx... I think she's a lynx."

Neeki Elodea was frightened. She'd tapped into the STAR's communication systems and what she had heard made her wish she was home. A ship from outside their galaxy, a ship older than even otter civilization? That was fascinating. What had her so frightened that she had almost disconnected from the STAR, a suicidal move, was the type of ship.

'What kind of race builds that class of starfighters' she wondered, 'Knowing most of the ones they launch will never come home.' The idea of a race with such a lack of care for life to build such a ship. She shivered and a leaf broke off, fluttering to the deck. 'What if they were proud to fly them' she thought to herself 'Or worse, they had too." Moving to the port nearest her she stared into the Stardark, imagining what it must have been like to fly into an enemy ships fire until you could count the rivets on her hull. "Thank you Goddess, that they are so far away" she whispered. Then another thought came to her. As long as that ship had been in space.... What if someone was following it? Turning away from the port she started reviewing her options.

Lieutenant Nola Copperheart clawed her way out of nightdeath strange dreams to wake in a darkened, quiet room. A remembered scent drifted through her mind for an instant, as if someone had been leaning over her for a few seconds. "Ideen?" she asked, looking around the darkened room. For an instant she thought she saw her, then memory came back and she sighed. Ideen wasn't there, couldn't be there. She sniffed again, strange odors.. Certainly not her race, not the dogs either. Could it be the VJ she wondered? She'd never met a member of the strange mouse race that had become so important to hers, she had been stationed too far Eastward. She thought back, trying to remember what had happened but an insistent, droning voice kept interfering with her thoughts.

She listened a few seconds before determining that it was some sort of sleep training program, there was a slight tingle in her scalp. 'Probably image language' she decided, as the alien words slowly made sense, 'I've been out a long time for it to make this much sense.' Slowly she tested her limbs, both legs were in casts, this didn't surprise her. Two thin tubes ran through her sinus's, one down into her stomach, the other oxygen most likely. They bothered her. Since only her left arm was free, she used it to reach up and remove the bothersome headset, silencing the droning voice and alien images. With a slow pull she removed the two tubes running down her sinus's, there was a dull tug and she tasted blood. 'That was stupid' she decided, already her throat was complaining, in a few hours it would be raw. Still with the voice, images and tubes gone she was able to think again.

It had been a semi-normal recon flight she remembered, the only difference being they'd had to convert an IRONDART for the job. Their last recon craft was down with a blown engine. Everything had gone according to plan until her fifth drop from Nullspace, right into a squadron of dog space superiority fighters. With no weapons it had been a duck shoot... With her as the duck. The last thing she could remember was pressure, then pain as her legs twisted the wrong way and a dull pressure against her chest. Then the ship made an emergency dive into Nullspace.

Lights suddenly started coming up, she looked around again, proving to herself that her eyes still worked at least. Three beings stepped into the room, a lion, otter and bear. Their clothing told her they were civilian, but nothing else. 'Prisoner' she decided, 'Well, it's better than the kitchen of a dog ship.' Ignoring her bodies protests, she pulled herself to a somewhat sitting position, waiting for their interrogation to begin.

Leo nodded to himself as the strange woman dragged herself up, 'I knew she'd have ta' be tough' he thought to himself. In his mind he went over the information their ex-hitchhiker had extracted from the alien computers. He was still somewhat awed at how the plant girl, their newest crewmember, had not only broken the security TSR's but both code and a better part of the language in less than a month. That she'd been there when they needed her sent a shiver up the lion's spine, something very strange was at work here. He was too intelligent to call it chance, and too religious to look into it any deeper than he had to. Neeki's strange talent had allowed them to fine tune their sleep training program. Standing at the foot of the bed he took a breath, preparing to speak.

"Nola Reana Copperheart, Lieutenant, NRI377B-266139" the woman said, breaking the silence, pre-empting Leo's planed greeting.

Leo nodded, more to himself than anyone else. "Name, rank and serial number, right?" he asked.

"All you will from me" the woman replied, "Unless allies you are, and can prove."

Leo shook his head, "No, we're not allies, neutrals or enemy" he told her. "In fact, we've never even heard of your race before. I'm Leo Goldpaw, Captain of this freighter." He waved at each of the two with him. "This is Sandy, my navigator, and Bob my Chief Engineer. We're here to help you, nothing else.

Nola closed her eyes. 'It's possible' she thought to herself. 'VJ safety fields have been known to keep pilots alive for years, I could be almost anywhere.' Opening her eyes again she looked into the lions face. "What pulsars within one hundred lightyears, what are periods" she demanded.

Leo tapped Sandy's shoulder and she stepped forward, looking into Nola's face. "Within one hundred light years there are two" she reported. "JD-17 with a period 2.2 seconds and JD-11 with a period of .38 seconds." She paused, forcibly pulling herself from the depths of Nola's brown-black eyes before she could continue. "This information is probably useless to you Lt. Copperheart, this isn't your galaxy."

Nola laughed, a short bark before her abused throat stopped her. "Not my galaxy? Or you mean solar system. I seem remember people get backwards. But your right, aren't any pulsars those periods anywhere 100 lightyears from other." She took a breath, ignoring the pain in her throat as she felt long unused muscles stretch. "Let's hear story."

Sandy lifted a tiny remote, pointing towards a screen mounted next to the bed. As Nola watched the screen lit, showing the picture of a bar galaxy. "Your galaxy" the otter told her. "40,200 light years away from our position, give or take a few million miles. You have been in stasis over 14,000 of our years. From studies of the remains of your ship we think that is around 18,900 or so of your years, if Neeki translated your language correctly." She stopped, studying the blank face in front of her. "It is a good possibility your race doesn't exist anymore."

She clicked her remote and the view changed, showing a wide looping line between the bar galaxy, a spherical cluster and the lens galaxy the STAR's crew called home. Nola's stone face, hypnotic eyes and lack of reaction to her statement had shaken the otter a bit. She settled herself, regaining her own calm. "As best I can tell this was your course. You came out of your galaxy, through the outer fringe of this spherical cluster, and entered our galaxy at a high angle of attack." She clicked again and closeup of the path through their galaxy replaced the larger view. "You were exiting our galaxy when le Clerc detected your signal."

"So you say. This very fanciful imaginative writer have Captain" Nola replied. "If want me believe, I trust you way proving I've lived nineteen thousand years?" She looked at herself, her youthful body only partially covered by the thin bed clothing. "Injuries aside, I seem in very shape someone that old."

Leo looked over to his crew. "Bob, get her the chair, lets get this over with" he ordered.

The bear stepped out of sight, returning quickly with a wheelchair. He carefully transferred the, to him, fragile lynx from her bed to the chair without much trouble.

As Bob buckled her in Sandy leaned over. "I'm sorry about the diapers" she whispered into the Lynx's ear, "But you've been asleep over a month and we're short handed."

Nola just grunted, ignoring the wrapping around her hips. "Show me proof" she demanded. She sniffed again, catching a slight acrid scent. "You remove them later, you want" she replied in her own whisper.

“Her ship first Bob, then the viewport" Leo decided.

Minutes later Nola was sitting beside the remaining wreckage of her ship. A huge monitor was displaying the video loop made when they discovered her, and what had occurred when the attractor had made contact. "Lucky be alive" she whispered. "Full quarter ship gone." Reaching out she ran her good hand along a heavy stress brace, amazed as part of the massive structure fell to powder under her touch. Lifting her hand to her lips she tasted the metal, no acrid bite of acid answered her tongues probe, only the oily taste of tallium alloy.

"Let's see galaxy you proud of" she said, her voice suddenly subdued.

She stared out the viewport, both with naked eye and a high power set of binoculars recovered from her ship, for over half the day before finally nodding. "I'll never forget you Ideen" she whispered in her own language, a whisper Goldpaw wasn't meant to hear but did. She turned the chair to face the lion. "Thank Captain Goldpaw, remaining out Nullspace long must costly. You've made point, I recognize some satellite clusters. I know galaxy is bar, and wouldn't be others resolvable this low power device." She sighed, her head drooping for a moment. "From positions... Well, what say has be true." She stopped, taking another deep breath. Leo pointedly ignored the tear than slipped slowly down one cheek. "What you do me now" she asked. "Slavery, vivisection, turned your governments"

"I don't know" he replied, breaking into the lynx's spiral of depression. "We thought about turning you over to the authorities, you and your ship. There would be a great reward to be sure, as you know a ship like ours is always running on the edge. But well, after a while I came to the realization we'd vanish rather quickly, if not immediately. I mean, we know about you, and your ship. If not the government, someone would take us out eventually." He squatted beside the chair, bringing his face more on a level with the sitting woman. Her face was now impassive, still as the surface of lake. 'She'll make a dangerous poker player' he thought, 'I'll have to remember that.' "How would you feel about joining us" he asked. "We're constantly shorthanded, and well... I'd hope for the same offer if our positions were reversed."

Nola closed her eyes with a sigh. "I time think" she replied, "Many changes..."

"Take all the time you need" said Leo. "We're at least two months out from our next port anyway. Rescuing you took us well off course, but it isn't like we've a strict schedule to keep. We turned back on the most economical course." He stood, towering over the seated woman. "My first, and most important question is, what do you like to eat, meat or plant?"

"Meat, not very cooked" Nola replied with a smile. "You keep most plants yourself."

Leo smiled. "Well, Neeki's going to be happy to hear that" he committed as he turned her chair. "Now lets get you to your new quarters, Sickbay just isn't meant for long term occupation. Sandy will be bringing both your ditty and emergency bags, Bob found them under your seat. I'll have her bring them with your supper. Once we figured out what your blood is based on, well most of our foods should be safe for you. There aren't any other lifeforms with aluminum based blood that I know of." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, none of our blood meats are eatable by you, fish yes, but only reptilian based ones. But" he grinned. "There plenty of grains, they seem to match your system."

"Grains" Nola cursed, then coughed. "I'd eat leaves."

"Don't tell Neeki that" Leo warned as he stopped next to a hatchway. Nola's name was freshly painted on the metal. "She's a plant herself"

"This have see" said Nola.

"You will" Leo laughed, "As soon as you can walk again. Still, most of our hard alcohols are safe enough, just stay away from the beers. Most are based on a grain that would send you running for the bathroom." He helped her out of the chair onto her new bunk. As he did, the smell of her diaper drifted to him. 'I better get Sandy down here now' he thought to himself. 'This woman just doesn't complain about anything.'

"No beer?" Nola snickered. "Roa always beer eventually turn me, right she's turned to be." With Leo's help she slid across the bed, lying flat on the crisp green sheets. "Pea-Green. I as well back on carrier."

Latching the chair against the cabins wall he turned to the door. "They were cheap, we needed replacements, well you get the idea" Leo answered. "I'll have Sandy down here with your supper and bags in a few minutes. She's been taking care of you most of the time anyway. Bob dug some crutches out of storage, as soon as you can learn to walk with them we'll drop the diapers."

Nola smiled seductively. "Want do now?" she asked, her voice rough, but pitched low.

Leo just smiled and shook his head. "I take it if your not trying to kill someone, your trying to get them in bed?"

Nola giggled, "Well... It been few.... millennium?" She watched as the attractive lion left, shutting her door with a bit more force than need-be. "Ah Ideen" she whispered, reverting to her own language in the semi-darkness. "I can feel you, did you stay with me so long just to make sure I was safe?"

A soft whiff of an ancient scent was her only reply. Closing her eyes, she laid back on the bed and remembered the young Otter. A sly smile crossed her lips. 'Well' she thought, 'I've waited nineteen thousand years. I guess I can wait... a few minutes longer.'

Six weeks later Leo was again visiting the lynx's room. Her cast's were gone now, Sandy's therapy sessions, and her time helping Bob tear down her ship had brought her recovery along rapidly. He'd watched some of her sessions in the workout room. He was impressed, not only was Nola competent, she seemed to be able to turn anything into a weapon. Her language skills had improved dramatically as well. She seemed to throw herself into her studies. A smile tugged at his mouth as he remembered the partial loaf of bread she'd stuffed down le Clerc's throat, after he'd made a casual disparaging remark against Bob. Stopping at her door he looked at the strange lettering under her name before knocking. She'd carefully written her name and rank in her own language and Bob had just as carefully painted it in. Taking a breath, he rapped the metal smartly.

Nola answered the door on his second knock, stepping back and waving to the single chair in her quarters. Leo stepped in, taking the offered chair.

"I take it you've come to a decision on my offer" Leo asked.

"Yes" the Lynx answered as she sat on the spartan bunk. "Although your an undisciplined lot" a glitter in her eyes took the sting from her remark, "I have come like several of you." She paused, seeming to reflect on something. "I also finally figured out the social structure of your ship Captain." Something in her voice caught the lion off guard, as if she knew something he didn't. For the moment he let it pass. "If you don't mind my rather, military lifestyle, and fact I can't stand le Cleric, I'd very much like to join your crew."

Leo laughed at the latter, "It does take something to get along with him" he replied.

"Like iron bar across his muzzle" Nola injected.

The lion nodded, 'She'll do' he thought to himself. He'd been keeping abreast of the strange aliens recovery and interests with nightly briefings from Sandy. He'd expected this. "I've already spoken with the crew" he said. "I'm happy you decided to join us, we can always use a competent person, and there's so much that we want to know about you."

"You'll need to know everything about me, want to know about my race, technology and such" she answered.

"Nothing you don't want to tell us" Leo replied. "Just remember, everything you know is a bit out of date now." He settled back against the bulkhead behind him. "I've got to admit, your taking this very well."

Nola turned to look at the lion a moment, then stared at the wall. "My wife died a few months ago in battle." She paused. "A few months? God I'm probably the only living being that even remembers that she existed, much less her voice, her touch..." she sighed. "She's dust upon dust now. Only I remain to remember the smell of her hair, her taste. I'd given up on life when she died, it's why I took the mission."

"You didn't expect to come back" Leo stated.

"I didn't want to come back" Nola corrected.

"Am I correct here, you said wife, not husband?" Leo asked.

Nola nodded slowly. "There was a medical mistake centuries ago, my time. When your one of almost eighteen thousand women after the same male." She giggled, "I've learned about your social structure and laws, you take love where you can get it Captain. Ideen and I were... very much in love." She stopped, looking back at the lion. "It doesn't mean I don't like males" she half growled, "It just means there weren't any... available. As a race we learned to accept this, and most of us always managed to find love." She laughed. A deep throaty sound. "But a man is... was always in our dreams. I guess you'd call me bi-sexual. I'll take love where I can find her, or him since there seem to be a few unattached males aboard. Of course none from my race are available and I remember a lot of my people were taking VJ lovers by the time I ... left" She winked at the lion, "Somehow I feel Ideen would want me to find love again. I'll be happy with what I find. Even if it's as the Captain's toy-girl."

"Maybe things changed for your race" Leo sputtered, dodging that loaded bomb. "It has been a little time since you left."

Nola laughed, a soft sound, barely audible. "That, my dear Leo, is an understatement. But I doubt I'll find a taxi to take me home anytime soon, I certainly don't have the credit to phone mother for a ride, and well...." She stopped, biting her lower lip. "If my race survives I don't much think I'd be very welcome by them. I am violence, they are probably peace. Such do not mix well.” Her eyes twinkled again as she too changed the subject. "I'm a fighter pilot without a ship, a grunt without a squad and a woman without a race. Yet you still want me to join you?"

Leo laughed too, a deep rumbling sound compared with the lynx's softer voice. "Bob and Betty say that with your help they can build you a new fighter. Hell, it might be useful to have a madwoman ready to fly down the throat of death. It'd scare most pirates into dirtying their pants." He chuckled, "Fighters stand off, fire missiles, energy weapons and such, then they fight each other and the smaller auxiliaries. They just don't cruse ten meters off your battleships hull unleashing solid slugs and explosive rounds, it just isn't done. We have fighters in this galaxy yes, but no one builds anything like what you were flying." He shook his head. “Never did. There aren't that many people who love to fly ground support aircraft in deep space fleet battles, your losses must have been very high."

Nola closed her eyes a few seconds before replying. "Captain, when your facing invasion from five directions by nine races, a dozen cheap fighters are worth one expensive one. It was the VJ and we, against almost every race we had contact with." She stopped, and giggled. "Well, we DID start most of the fights ourselves, and we were winning on all but one front the last I heard. I've wondered these last weeks, did Admiral Ironclaw stop that invasion force or did the Irii crush her, and that entire sector." She looked up. "I'll never know, unless you've a really good radio antenna."

"No, I'm afraid the frequency you were using isn't a common one" Leo answered as he crossed his powerful legs. "I'm afraid we can't do anything about a squad either, how does Ship Security set with you." He smiled, without showing any teeth, "And we'll be your race, your family... if you want. We visit a lot of out of the way places, a mongrel crew like ours? You wouldn't even be noticed. Especially with Bob or I next to you." He laughed again, "We, we sort of attract all the attention.

Nola nodded, reaching out with her hand to take the lions massive paw. "In that case, I'd be honored to become part of your crew. Any family is better than being alone." She sighed, "Gods had a reason for me to survive, maybe Ideen had a hand in it. I don't know Captain, but I'm your to use as you wish." She stopped, seeing the look in Leo's face and broke out laughing. "Oh no Captain, I've no designs on you." A sly smile crossed her face. "Male or female, I'll find love, in my own time, my own way."

Leo left the lynx's quarters headed for the bridge. 'Why' he thought, 'Do I get the feeling that I just bought a bottle of nitroglycerin. And what' he continued as he stepped onto the bridge, 'do I think I'm going to do with it.'