Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Author: Invid Fan
Title: The Waifs
Part: 1
Summary: When war has reached every corner of the known worlds, what can
you do?  Teen soldiers steal a space ship to try and find out.  Once you
kill, can you still be a kid?
Keywords: MinimulSex, SciFi, mf, teen



   THE WAIFS By Invid Fan (c)2012

   Prologue

   The memorial was unexpected.

   Amanda stopped in her tracks.  Ger continued on along the forest path
for another step or two, halting when he sensed her no longer at his side.
His eyes were worried, questioning, but already she was elsewhere.  All
that existed was the statue.

   It was simple, crude, and elegant.  A carving of a young child, holding
a small furry animal, set in a small break in the trees near a brook. 
Flowers circled it, red and blue, she thought, although in the moonlight it
was hard to tell.  The small eyes were upturned, and as Amanda's met
them...

   ...they said they forgave her.

   The almost thirteen year old girl dropped to her knees.  She wanted to
bury her face in her hands.  Cry, like she hadn't in years, but her blurry
eyes were captives of the stone child.  She couldn't even raise a hand to
wipe them.  What she had done...  what THEY had done...  it seemed the
stone eyes softened even more, the small head nodding at her thoughts, at
memories of lives lost and wasted.  The stump of her right arm ached, the
drugs wearing off.  She couldn't breath.  The pain, the anguish...

   Suddenly, Ger was there, kneeling in the grass beside her.  His arms
went around her, guiding Amanda into his chest as she finally broke down,
sobbing uncontrollably.  His tattered clothing was on its way to being a
muddy mess, but his arms held her tight.  He had been through worse.  They
both had.  Finally, a small stone digging into his knee ended the moment.
It was time to move on.  Gently, he moved his hands to her shoulders,
pushing her back a few inches.  With his right, he wiped the mud and blond
hair away from Amanda's eyes.

   "We have to go."

   "But..." Amanda sniffled.

   "Look..." Ger hated being the adult.  He was only two years older, damn
it.  Shifting his weapon a bit to get it out of the way, he brought the two
of them to their feet.  Her blue eyes meet his brown ones- she saw safety,
love.  He saw trust he in no way deserved.  Mentally flailing around for
something to say, he finally sighed.

   "Remember.  Remember what Don once said."

   Amanda stiffened in his arms at that name.  Her eyes hardened a bit,
sanity returning.  Ger nodded.

   "Sometimes...  you just can't do what's right."



   Chapter 1



   ****



   Almost a year before...



   ****



   Garon ran.

   Ahead of him, much too far ahead, across the wide tarmac of the landing
field, was the smallish bulk of the spaceship he intended to steal.  Behind
him, he hoped, were the dozen or so other teens he had led on this foolish
endeavor.  And, behind them, the sound of gunfire told him, were the
guards.

   Garon risked a look backwards.  Yup.  Rebel troops were pouring out onto
the field and starting to fire.  He was probably a good 100 meters away
from them, and another 50 from his goal, but his companions were strung out
way too much...  hopelessly exposed.  A girl, barely known to him,
screamed, her head exploding in fire as she fell forward, body rolling once
before coming to rest in a twitching heap.  The boy behind slid to his
knees beside her, pistol drawn.  He return fire on her killers, left hand
trying in vain to find some sign of life.

   "Damn it," Garon growled, turning his head back forward, increasing his
speed.  "I said no stopping!" They were outnumbered, outgunned, and their
only chance was nobody expecting someone to be this stupid.

   Thirty meters...  twenty.  He was almost there.  The open hatchway of
the hopefully empty scout ship beckoned.  Another scream behind him, male
this time.  Probably that idiot who stopped...  what was his name?  Nathon?
Just because someone you love was now gone...  Garon stopped that line of
thought.

   He was there.

   Turning 180 degrees, he threw himself back first into the hard hull of
the ship, just to the right of the hatchway.  His pistol drawn, with no
further thought he fired past his companions at the soldiers.  If he could
at least keep their heads down...  The next teen to reach the ship was
Blake, who slammed himself to the left of the door, dropping to his knees
firing as the other kids passed by into safety.  Troopers who had been
standing in the open jumped for cover, which for no reason made Garon
happy.

   A week ago, he could have been them.

   There had been 14, all told, on this foolish attempt at freedom.  Former
soldiers, from both sides, none over 16.  You joined early, or were drafted
into worse.  Garon had never liked the killing.  Some did, he knew, like
that psycho Lessa.  He, however, just wanted to get out of here.  Every
planet couldn't be like this.

   Five...  four...  they were almost all through.  To his shock Garon saw
Nathon run by, holding his right arm.  Well, what did you know...  The last
girl passed.  Blake jumped through the doorway, Garon turning to do the
same.

   He was dead before even taking a step.



   ****



   The hatch slammed shut, leaving most of Garon outside.  Blake looked at
what had made it through, straightening up and holstering his gun.

   "Shit..."

   Turning, he ran towards the bridge.

   Emotions got you killed.  Emotions got others killed.  You can deal with
all that once the day is done.  In the here and the now, you just can't
care.

   Or so Blake had been told often enough by his officers.  Frankly, he'd
never believed a word of it, which was why he was here.  Still, putting off
crying was sound advice, and he tried to follow it as he quickly made his
way down the main passageway.  Helpful signs pointed the way to the bridge,
and figuring the Rebels weren't sneaky enough to lie about such things on
their own ships Blake followed them to the chaos that was the bridge.

   "We're in, why aren't we flying?!" He yelled, finding an empty seat and
strapping in.  One dead body lay on the floor, a woman with long red hair,
head now bent at an unnatural angle.  Everyone ignored her with practiced
ease as they tried to figure out the controls.  One girl, pure white skin
contrasting with her black Federation uniform, had taken over the command
chair and was furiously working.

   "We're try-ing!  Nathon, smash that!" Jill pointed to a control panel,
the boy quickly drawing his gun to blast it.  Systems and screens which had
been resisting use became active, the main engines rumbling to life.

   "Everyone strap in!  Craig, launch whenever you can!" Those not at the
navigation controls dove for seats.  Others, seeing there weren't enough,
ran off the bridge to try and find their own.  The ship trembled...  then
started to lift off.

   He...  he'd made it.  They'd made it.  Blake couldn't believe it.  He'd
done it.  He was free.  A life of misery, years of pain.  There was
screaming around him, but he was too shocked to join in.  They'd done it.

   A small beeping sound started from the console next to Blake, All other
sound, apart from the engines, suddenly stopped.  Turning to Jill, Blake
asked, "What's that?"

   "...  a missile."



   ****



   "Damn."

   From the hilltop, it looked like a third moon, the explosion briefly
lighting up the night sky.  Such pretty colors for a moment of evil
destruction.  Then again, to Don, the difference between good and evil,
ugliness and beauty, had been getting fainter of late.  He took one more
look down at the spaceport spreading out at the foot of the hill, then,
turning, walked back into the trees and the path.



   ****



   Kine was waiting, leaning against a tree practicing his "I'm too cool
for this crowd but don't know it" look.  The sixteen year old figured he
should have one, just on the off chance it came in useful once they got off
this shit hole of a planet.  He wasn't sure what was out there, but if he
and his sister were going to be real kids again they'd best be ready.

   He heard faint footsteps, right hand near his pistol as Don walked out
of the darkness.  Silently, Kine pushed off from the tree and fell in
behind their fearless leader.

   The difference between them was stark.  Don was short, even for 14. 
Thin, with short brown hair, you really wouldn't give him a second look in
a crowd.  Until, that is, you saw his eyes.  Then you found a reason to not
give him a third look.  Kine, on the other hand, had the cut of a natural
leader.  Large for his almost 17 years, it was all muscle and lean power.
His dirty blond hair and blue eyes combined with rugged features to make a
face girls loved and men trusted.  Put him in a uniform, as he was now with
it's dark blue Federation colorings, and you had instant officer material.

   Too bad Kine had no desire to lead anybody.

   He was a follower.  He knew it, and was in no way ashamed of the fact.
Oh, sure, give him command of a small unit and he'd do his best to lead
them to victory, coming up with tactics sure to confound the enemy and keep
everyone possible alive.  But, large scale strategy?  Actually being
RESPONSIBLE for the lives of other not within earshot?  Oh, hell no.  He
wanted someone above him.  Someone he respected, someone to point him in a
direction and give him goals.  That for the past week this position had
come to be filled by the runt Don amused him to no end.

   It was probably the massacre at NuHavon that had started the exodus. 
The war had turned especially nasty when that city fell.  Young conscripts,
who hadn't wanted to be there anyway, started to fall away from the armies
in twos and threes.  There had been a rumor that the space port recently
captured by the Rebels was under defended, so small bands of kids began
moving in that direction, slowly combining, forming either mobs or units.
The mobs didn't tend to last long.  Kine had deserted with little sister
Amanda, joining a group of mostly Fed soldiers with Garon.  Before long
they ran into a large group of Rebels.  One group had food, the other
water. Need united them.

   That's when the fun started.  The usual suspects had tried to get
control, Garon among them.  At the evening councils around the camp fire,
they'd talk the big talk, outline ambitious plans, fantasies that would
make them all safe and rich.  Nobody believed a word of it.  If such things
could move them, they'd still be fighting for either freedom (Rebs) or
justice (Feds) in the war.  But, there, on the edge of the firelight, in a
battered Rebel uniform, was Don.  After the others tired of playing leader,
the boy would make suggestions that just...  made SENSE.  Sense that kept
them safe.  Finally, one evening, Kine decided to act on one of these.  A
quick raid on a farm.  It went so well, the next evening he sat next to
Don, supporting him.  This mostly consisted of nodding a lot, with the
occasional disgusted look no one wanted aimed their way.  Within days, the
coup was complete.  Don ran the show, even if he didn't seem to be all that
happy with the idea.  Those who didn't like it left, either to make their
own way or, as had been the case with Garon that evening, to try and show
they could do things better.

   Kine now saw the folly in that.

   "So," Kine cheerfully asked the back of Don's head, "What do we do now?"

   "We go back to camp." Don stepped over a small log, which Kine's larger
gait didn't even notice.

   "Then sleep I suppose.  I was thinking longer term here."

   "Oh, no sleep.  We have plans to make."

   "And you're not going to tell me, are you?"

   "Nope."

   "You just like hearing the collective gasps in wonderment at your
ideas."

   Don turned to him, his slight smile not at all reassuring in the
moonlight.

   "Naturally."



   ****



   Lessa's head turned towards the trees, hand on her pistol.  She tensed,
waited...  then relaxed as Kine and Don entered the clearing.  Sitting on
one of the logs placed around the evening fire in this small depression in
the hills, her mind went back to contemplating her situation.  Despite the
crowding, over thirty kids circled around the fire, she was alone, log
bench empty apart from her.  A few months ago, when her reputation as a
blood thirsty killer had been more than earned, she would have been, if not
happy, then content to be treated like this.  People were a pain to be
avoided.  But, now...

   The young girl stretched.  She had liked being feared.  There had only
been one attempted rape since that battle, by a guy who also fancied
himself a ruthless killer.  He probably figured her exploits were foreplay.
His official cause of death had been listed as "choked on his own penis",
although it didn't say how that had happened.  Lessa wondered if the family
thought he had managed to do it to himself, and took comfort in being
impressed by that feat.  Times change, though.  Now...  she wanted the
killing to stop.  She wanted friends.  She wanted...  to be a girl.

   Part of her laughed.  She ignored it.  Ignored the Other, as she
considered it.  It was time to move beyond what she had been.

   Lessa looked down at herself.  Here she was, sixteen, trim body, nice
firm breasts and long nicely formed arms and legs, and she still covered it
all up with green and brown military fatigues.  Others were slowly
discarding their uniforms, although replacements were hard to find, but
this outfit still defined her.  To even take off the jacket and wear just a
tight sleeveless shirt, unless she was doing hard labor, was unthinkable.
She wasn't Shelly.

   The thought of her one friend caused Lessa to glance that way.  Shelly
was still making out with Rich, those crowding them on the bench laughing
and making comments.  Maybe Lessa should become a slut.  It seemed like so
much more fun.

   Movement again caught her eye.  Kine and Don had made it to the opening
in the benches at the head of the camp.  As she always did with those who
tried to control her, Lessa sized the two males up.  Kine was...  well,
hunky she guessed, if you were into that kind of thing.  Her eyes easily
slid off of him, to the shorter boy.  Don always held himself as if he was
only part way there, as if most of his attention was off doing more
important things.  Lessa noticed he missed nothing, though.  He didn't talk
much, but those eyes...  she sometimes found herself just staring,
wondering what was behind them.  That some might find this...  unsettling
never crossed her mind.

   Not that's she'd care.

   "OK, listen up!" Kine shouted, trying to get their attention.  Good luck
with that, Lessa thought, glancing around.  They were in a party mood.

   "No!" came a young girl's voice, and Lessa placed it with the much too
bubbly Amanda.  The blond pigtailed girl was sitting with a couple of the
other pre-teens, and they all made cat calls back at her older brother. 
Kine good naturally gave them his middle finger, then cried out again for
silence.  When it didn't happen, he shrugged and looked down at Don.  Don
just sighed, considered, and stepped forward.

   "That explosion you heard," he said, loudly, cutting through the din,
"was Garon."

   Silence.

   "So, wait..." It was Rich, disengaging himself from Shelly.  "Garon..."

   "They made it to a ship, and it was shot down."

   A soft voice gave a sobbing "no!", which Lessa placed with a girl she'd
seen often with Garon over the past few days.  Well, what had the fool
expected?  If she though he would escape, she would have gone with him. 
Some people just needed to accept reality...

   "I didn't want this to happen," Don went on, looking over the crowd. 
Kine stood a step behind him with his arms folded.  "But, in a way his
sacrifice could give us our freedom.  In an hour, we're going to go steal a
ship!"

   "What?!?" Half the kids were on their feet, protesting.  Don stood his
ground, waiting for them to quiet.  The oldest in the group, the dark
skinned Sean, took a step forward and motioned for the others to quiet as
he elected himself their spokesman.

   "Pardon me, mister leader sir, but wasn't Garon using your plan?  And
don't we now know it has a mild flaw or two?"

   Don gave a brief chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

   "Well, yes, he did use my plan.  And he did get to a ship.  But," Don
added, looking up at Sean, "he took the wrong one.  We want the cruiser."

   Sean again held his hands out to motion the others to silence.  The kids
were coming to realize they were seeing yet another power struggle.  One
that might actually matter.

   "A cruiser?  Really?  And we're suppose to pilot that with less than
three dozen?"

   "I admit it was a better idea when we had over four dozen, but we can
still do it.  We have the skills, and once in space it'll make surviving
that much easier."

   Don looked over the crowd, hands held out in almost a pleading gesture.

   "Look, this is our one shot.  They won't be expecting a second bunch of
waifs from the hills to come charging in, and they can't have repaired any
of the damage Garon caused.  They'll be tired and not as alert.  We either
do this now, or we forget about leaving this shit hole of a battlefield and
just go off and try and find someplace to hide.  Are you willing to fight
to be free from war?"



   ****



   Don looked out over the landing field.

   His blood boiled.  They had left the bodies.

   Well, did he prefer them to be out there now cleaning the place up?  Be
happy they had left that poor girl out there in the middle of the pad.  In
fact, be happy about everything so far.  It seemed rumors about the poor
condition of this place had been true.  Only one guard on the opening in
the fence Garon had made, and here they were, almost to the ship with no
one dead.  Good times.

   Now, the ship he wanted was...  ah, there.  Off to the side.  Large,
imposing, streamlined, hopefully fully refitted but not yet crewed... 
maybe two hundred meters away with no cover.

   Fuck.

   Don briefly reached up to touch the locket now hanging inside his shirt,
then turned to Kine.  The blond was looking unconcerned.  His sister next
to him, though, had started to hold his hand, her uniform now looking more
like a play costume than something earned in combat.

   "OK, here's the plan.  You stay here with five others and provide cover.
Once the first of us gets half way, you follow.  If you see any Rebels..."

   "Fire in panic and scream like a little girl."

   "Right." Don smiled.  He liked this guy.

   Kine pointed to four others to join him and Amanda, moving to cover. 
Don looked around once more, raised his hand...  dropping it as he started
running.

   Within seconds, most of the others had passed him.

   Don cursed his body.  Why wasn't he growing.  He had hardly grown at all
since Cyn...  no, no time for that.  Don increased speed, focusing on what
lay ahead.  Let's see, who was in front...  naturally, it was Lessa.  She
was a freak of nature.  A freak with a gun, the worse kind.  Or the best,
if she was on your side.  Maybe Kine can seduce her.

   He was starting to tire.  The physical part of soldiering had often been
more dangerous to him than the enemy.  He did have surprising reserves,
though, which had saved him more than once.  The sight of Lessa reaching
the ship hatch, followed by others, gave Don a renewed burst of energy.  He
buckled down.  Right.  Left.  Right.  Another right as he stumbled a bit
but managed to keep his feet.  Then, he was at the docking cradle, the
hatch in front of him.  Standing to the right of it, gun drawn, was Lessa.
Her untamed brown hair flowed down just past her shoulders, framing a face
that was alive with excitement.  Don stumbled to the other side of the
door, collapsing against it and trying to catch his breath.  Looking back
across the field he saw the rearguard coming up, but was too tired to worry
about how pitiful he looked.  Especially next to that amazon over there.

   Kine ran past, giving Don a nod.  As the last kid went in, Don and Lessa
slipped inside behind them.  Lessa hit the controls, the outer hatch
slamming shut.

   They were in.

   The change in Lessa, as the two of them stood in the airlock, was
immediate.  She holstered her gun, one of three he saw strapped to her
body, and let out a huge breath.  She almost appeared to get smaller, eyes
losing that gleam.  She closed them, seeming to try and compose herself. 
Eyes opening, Lessa looked over at Don and gave a small, sweet smile.  In
that moment, she almost reminded him of...

   Don pushed off from the wall, heading further into the ship.  Lessa
stood there a few moments longer, still emotionally decompressing. 
Finally, she just shook her head and followed.



   ****



   Don walked onto the bridge, pausing for a moment to take it all in.  The
plans didn't prepare you for the reality.  It was big, for one.  Three
stories tall, he had entered into the middle of the first level.  Looking
behind him he saw stairs leading up and two levels of control stations, the
top with a command chair in the center.  Kine sat there at the moment, kids
frantically running around him.  Turning to his front, Don's eyes focused
on the feature that dominated the bridge- the Nav Sphere.  Ringed on the
bottom by more control stations, this three story tall hologram would, once
they were in space, show the location of everything within sensor range. 
For now it just showed nothing.

   Turning, Don made his way up to the command level.  There was constant
yelling back and forth, but it seemed to him to be calm and controlled. 
He'd see if that lasted.

   "Kine!  Status."

   The blond swiveled his chair, stopping it facing Don.  He ran a sweaty
hand through his hair.

   "Five dead crew, only one minor injury for us.  Just secured the engine
room a few moments ago, so everything should be coming online.  Amanda!" He
yelled down to the second level, where his sister sat at the navigation
station.  "What's the hold up!" The girl replied by hold up a middle
finger. Kine sat back and nodded, as if this in fact told him everything.
Amanda's middle finger was suddenly replaced by two raised fists.

   "Got it!!!" The ship suddenly rumbled, chairs quickly filled as those
that could strapped in.

   "Engines online."

   "Anti-grav online.  Will stabilize at half g once out of the
atmosphere."

   "Sensors online.  Displaying exterior on screen." The huge curved front
wall of the bridge flickered into life, showing the space port and the
mountains beyond.  Suddenly it began to move downward, as...

   "We're off!"

   Quickening every second, the ground receded.  In moments, they could see
the entire base beneath them.  Then the valley.  Then mountains.

   Everyone was standing, cheering, hugging, kissing...

   Don, ignored, made his way over to one of the consoles.  Reaching over
the shoulder of the boy sitting there, he hit a few buttons.  Tracking
markings appeared on the bridge screen, followed by a a computerized voice.

   "Missile away."

   The bridge was silent.  Watching, they saw a faint trail lead down
towards their launching point, replaced by a flash of light.  The view
changed as the sensors zoomed out, a mushroom cloud rising out of the
valley.  Slowly, almost turning as one, they looked at Don.  He looked
back, calm.

   "NOW, we are free."



   Chapter 2



   Sean slammed his fist into the table.

   "Why, damn it?!?  Why?"

   He looked around the conference room.  The kids, packed in around the
table, on the floor or against the walls, mostly avoided his eyes.  They
were crammed into a space designed for less than half their number, a
meeting place for bridge officers.  Why the hell had fearless leader Don
made them meet here, instead of down in one of the large rooms in the heart
of the ship?  Sean's eyes slid over to the fool in question, sitting at the
head of the table.  Maybe he figured that by crowding them together they'd
look like a larger force.  Or, it would be harder to pull a weapon.

   "I told you before," Don replied, calmly.  "They were going to get a
missile lock on us.  It was either take them out or face the same fate as
Garon." His eyes focused solely on Sean, but Sean noticed Kine, leaning
against the wall behind Don, eyeing the mood of the room.  Must be nice to
have a giant like that at your beck and call.  Sean was starting to get
pissed.

   "Not good enough, damn it!" He pounded the table, and rose up.  "Not
good enough!" The kids on either side of him, around two years his junior,
flinched back, as it seemed did many in the room.  He noticed the two girls
sitting across from him didn't.  Lessa seemed to be leaning forward in an
interested manor, which couldn't be good, and the dark haired slut next to
her was openly smirking at him.  Sean turned back to Don, taking a breath
to calm down.

   "Look -- I left the Guard --" That was the wrong thing to say.  Sean
could practically feel the hate now focused at him.  Those in old
Federation uniforms had daggers in their eyes.  Those in Rebel garb looked
away, ashamed.  Kine's hand was now on his side arm.  Sean started again.

   "I left the Guard because I was tired of the killing.  Tired of
following orders I didn't believe in.  I do not want to start my new life
drenched in blood." He looked around.  "We can't accept this!"

   "HA!" The smirking girl stood.  "WE," she pointed around at everyone,
"killed six people to take this ship."

   Sean's hand whipped out to point at Don.

   "And he killed dozens, maybe hundreds in our name!"

   "No, I killed them in my name."

   Don once again had all eyes on him, motioning Sean and Shelly to sit. 
He rose, Kine pushing himself off the wall to step forward behind him.  Don
barely came up to his shoulders.

   "Look," Don told them, sounding to Sean's ears as if forcing himself to
at least sound reasonable, "we are free.  We are responsible to no one
except ourselves.  My actions and sins rest no more on your head than yours
do on mine." His eyes focused first on Lessa, who returned it
challengingly, then on Sean.  The dark skinned teen met his eyes for a
moment then dropped them.  "Hell," Don continued, "we've probably all
sinned enough to have built up some sort of immunity."

   He looked around the room.  His right hand, as it tended to do when not
otherwise busy, lightly touched the gold locket hanging from a chain around
his neck.

   "From now on, 'Do what you will shall be the whole of the Law'.  So,
unless someone else has a problem with my having saved all your butts,
we'll move on to other business."



   ****



   Kine was the second to last to leave the conference room.  Don was still
in his chair, playing with that damned necklace again.  Shrugging, Kine
turned and followed the walking and bouncing crew onto the bridge.

   Crew -- well, he guessed that's what they were now.  A crew.  Better
than a mob, certainly, and probably better than an army.  Harder to leave,
to be sure, and Kine had a feeling at least a couple would want to jump
ship the first chance they got.  He for sure wouldn't stop them.  Don was
right about that, everyone should be free to do what they wanted.

   Too bad options were rather limited.

   Kine saw Amanda down on the second level manning the helm.  She had
stayed to keep an eye on things, trusting he'd let her know if anything
important happened.  Meetings were boring boy things.  In a way, he was
glad she had, of yet, no interest in the things of boys.

   Laughing at his own silly joke, Kine bounced down to her.  They were
keeping the artificial gravity at about half normal, high enough to let
them drink and piss normally but low enough to keep power consumption down.
This ship drank energy like a mother fucker.  Trust the military to not
worry all too much about that while his old village had been starving.

   "Yo Bro." The twelve year old didn't turn as he landed behind her, and
he gave her blonde head a light bop on the top with a closed fist.  She
responded with a quick no look attack on his groin with her swinging left
arm, but his body was slightly turned so it just whacked his thigh.

   "Hey, 'manda.  Anything happen out here in the real world?"

   She shook her head.

   "Naw.  Not that we'd know.  I don't think we have the sensors fully up
yet.  I think Villa was going to look at it."

   "Flying blind in a stolen ship with a war going on.  Ah, good times --"

   "Have fun at your meeting?" Amanda leaned back against the high backed
chair, playing with the ends of her braids.  Kine thought she might be the
only one of their group with braids, most of the older girls going with
pony tails if they didn't just cut their hair short.  Well, there was that
cute half bald one...

   "Oh, yes.  Lots of yelling and kicking.  I only had to toss a few out of
the airlock." Amanda giggled at this.  "Oh, we picked our cabins and jobs.
Bridge detail was divided into three shifts, and you're with me on shift
2."

   "I don't know if I WANT to be with you.  You're a big meanie." She
turned as she said this and stuck her tongue out at him.  Kine, laughing,
responded by lightly cuffing the back of her head with an open hand.  His
smile faded, however, hands moving to massage her shoulders.

   "There's something else, though.  I can't explain it, but I just have
the feeling something is -- wrong."

   He felt Amanda stiffen.  Her voice came out low, with a hint of
desperation...  even madness.

   "Wrong?  Wrong??  Something was 'wrong' when Mom and Dad died. 
Something was 'wrong' when the Guard raped Jimmy.  We're together, and
safe. Nothing.  Is.  Wrong."

   Kine looked down at his little sister.  The love of his life.  His
bright star, keeping him alive and sane.  Leaning down, he kissed her
cheek.

   "You're right, of course.  Everything is fine."

   "Damned straight."

   She moved her hands up to her shoulders, placing them on top of his. 
They stayed like that, looking out over the now empty bridge.  All was
right with the universe.



   ****



   Lessa was getting a LITTLE pissed at her companion Shelly.  Walking down
the central corridor of the ship towards their cabin, the girl was much too
bouncy.  In more ways than one.  While her pants were long, form fitting,
and ALMOST regulation, somewhere she had found a loose short sleeve shirt
with an open neck.  Her breasts were bouncing freely, even dangerously, in
the low gravity.  Shelly seemed to be experimenting, figuring out what
movement created what reaction, not just with regard to her breasts but
also the various males (and females) they passed.  She was also keeping up
a stream of conversation about the meeting, and that probably was the most
annoying to the quiet Lessa.

   "I mean, come ON, Lessa!" the black haired sultry beauty said as they
reached their cabin.  "You?  A MEDIC?"

   "What?  Think I'm not good enough?" Lessa moved to her bed and sat down,
as Shelly closed the door.  It was your standard one person bed, one of
four in the room.  Incredibly comfortable compared to what she was used to,
she poked the mattress to double check that in fact it wasn't really a
rock.

   "No, no, that's not it.  I mean, you patched me up great that one time,
and nobody else in this sorry group seems to have experience.  It's just
--" Shelly plopped herself into a chair facing her, her breasts flopping
down a moment later.  "I mean, you're -- well, I would have thought Storm
Trooper would have been more up your alley."

   Lessa gave her a dangerous look.

   "I mean," Shelly continued, not worried, "medic is so -- BORING!"

   "What's wrong with boring?  I could use some boring."

   Lessa started taking her shoes off, wiggling her toes happily once they
were free of their prison.  Happy feet made a happy person.  That had been
learned early in life.  She looked over at her companion.  They'd known
each other for almost a year, Lessa having come across the broken body of
Shelly in a ditch while trying to catch up with her unit.  Normally, she'd
have just left her there, but for some reason Lessa decided to check if the
girl was alive.  Most of what had at first seemed to be blood turned out to
be the local wet clay, and a low moan confirmed life was still holding on.
Lessa had dragged the girl with her that night, and Shelly had been tagging
along with her ever since.  Hell, she stayed so close many were ready to
assume the two shared a bed -- if it wasn't for the fact Shelly was sharing
so many of theirs.  Well, that and not believing Lessa could be with
someone.

   "What about YOU?  You don't have to stay with me, Shelly.  There are
enough cabins for everyone to have their own.  Hell," she said, arching an
eyebrow, "you could even share one with Rich."

   Shelly looked away from her, grabbing a pillow and hugging it.

   "There's nothing between Rich and I."

   "Really?  I do agree that there couldn't have been ROOM for much between
you two the other night by the lake.  Or were you two doing nothing for two
hours?"

   Shelly looked back, grinning.

   "Ok, it was fun nothing!" Her smile faded.  "But, nothing all the same.
To be honest, right now I need a friend more than a fuck."

   "I don't know if I should be relieved or offended."

   Shelly looked over at the now grinning Lessa, and growled.  With a quick
motion she tossed her pillow at the lean brown haired girl.

   The reaction was instantaneous.  Lessa launched herself off the bed,
away from the attacking pillow.  Her gun was in her hand before she even
knew it, aimed at the head of her only friend.

   She almost hung in the air, the two sixteen year olds staring into each
other's eyes.  Lessa's momentum carried her onto the floor, where with a
natural grace she rolled and came up in a crouch, gun back in its holster.
Shelly just looked at her, in frightened awe.

   "You're right -- we could use some boring..."



   ****



   Ger loved this ship.

   He loved all ships.  Hell, all machines and most computers.  But this...
this was a fine piece of spacecraft.  It was new, that was clear.  After
decades of war you honestly didn't expect to see new pieces of war
equipment, but thinking about it, he realized the way the stuff was being
blown up they still had to be making things somewhere.  Maybe the rest of
the system WAS in better shape than Faranth.

   It couldn't be worse.

   But, this ship!  You had two crew levels running its length, connecting
to the first two bridge levels in the front and the engine room at the back
of level two.  On the third level, behind the bridge, was the captain's
quarters and meeting room, as well as cargo space running all the way back.
And, here on the bottom of the ship, the shuttle bay.  There was so much to
learn about it!  Weapons system, flight systems -- where the bathroom was.
Ger took a look around.  Not seeing a sign, he decided he could hold it. 
This was too interesting to interrupt.

   He was sitting at the moment in the cockpit of one of the two shuttles.
There were bays for four of the craft, but he suspected they were lucky to
have these.  They were older, having seen plenty of service, but were still
in good shape.

   "Look at this!" Mel looked over, and Ger once again marveled at that
haircut.  Bald on one side, a long red haired braid on the other.  Maybe
she was compensating for having almost no tits.  "Laser turret, two missile
batteries, one per side -- it even has a gatling gun!"

   Mel smiled, almost looking pretty.

   "You think that's bad ass, you should see the mission specific add-ons.
Ken there almost wet himself." A head popped out of the back passenger
compartment.

   "You're not exactly dry yourself, my love."

   "The day you get my love is the day you're rotting in a ditch!" Mel
whipped her head around, glaring at Ken.  Ger sighed.  She no longer looked
pretty.

   "Well, if that's your kink, honey bunny --" Ken's smirk looked like it
was about to get cut off with a large dull knife.  Ger quickly interrupted.

   "You know, I really wish we had something like this at NuHavon.  Could
have made all the difference."

   Silence.

   Ger turned.  Mel and Ken were staring at him, faces expressionless.  Ken
moved up next to Mel, one hand going to her shoulder.  It was then that Ger
realized they were both wearing battered Rebel uniforms.  His own
Federation one suddenly seemed to be glowing neon.

   "You," said Mel, slowly, "were at NuHavon."

   Ger swallowed, trying to keep both of them in his line of sight while
both organizing his thoughts and figuring out the best defensive plan.

   "Um, yeah.  457th Fed reserve."

   More silence.  Ken spoke.

   "15th Home Front.  We were defending our homes in the south."

   Ger closed his eyes.  He hadn't seen it.  The rumor had been the Guard
recruited from that part of the city.  When his side had broken through
into the civilian areas --

   "I -- I wasn't there.  I -- we were in the north, and were over run in
the breakout.  I'm  --" His eyes were wet, tears streaming down.  Their
expressions didn't change.  Finally, Ken just turned and exited the
shuttle. Mel looked at him for a moment longer.

   "Don't give a fuck if you're sorry.  Don't give a fuck if you were
saving all the babies on my mom's side of the family.  You don't mention
that city's name, and you don't cry like a bitch.  We can forgive those we
respect." She got out of the seat, then stopped in the hatchway without
looking back.

   "You're not forgiven."

   Mel then turned, dropping her gaze between his legs.

   "And find a fucking bathroom."



   ****



   So, thought Kine, this is the captain's cabin.  Sweet.  Had a nice
double sized bed, to better sexually harass the crew, it's own little
kitchen so you don't have to mingle with lesser beings, a nice desk which
he was now sitting in front of -- and Don sitting behind said desk, playing
with a small stuffed tiger.  OK, he wasn't really -- playing with it.  More
like petting it.  Scratching it behind the ears.  Not something you really
wanted your leader to be doing.

   If nothing else, it would make Amanda want to bring that bear she sleeps
with everywhere.

   "You do see the problem, right Don?" Please, god, let him not have gone
insane.  That was all they needed, their first day in space.

   Don sighed, removing his hand from the fluffy pet.  Ken let out the
breath he didn't know he was holding.  Thank you, whichever god or daemon
answered.

   "So, we have -- nothing."

   Kine took another look at the inventory on his tablet screen.

   "We have food for maybe a week at normal rations, but we've all gone
hungry so we can double that.  We're running on only one power cell instead
of three, so assuming we do no fighting we can travel for as long as we
have food at current speed.  Turning off the gravity gets us another two
days.  No life support gets us a third day." He tossed that one in there to
see if he was paying attention.  Don gave him another look, chuckled, and
closed his eyes.  His hand went back to the tiger, crushing its head.

   Silence.

   "Soooo --." Kine finally said, leaning back in his chair.

   "So."

   Don opened his eyes.  They had that hard look in them again, the one
that Kine had come to count on to get things done.

   "We stay on our present course and speed."

   Kine blinked.

   "That's it?"

   "For now." Don's eyes -- didn't so much as challenge Kine, but told him
he'd better leave.  Standing, he did just that.



   ****



   Once the door closed, Don leaned back in his chair and let his arms fall
limp.  Why him.  Why was he the one that had to deal with all this shit. 
Because, he heard Tiggy the Tiger tell him, everyone else is an idiot and
you don't trust them.  Right you are, Tiggy.  Thank you.  I can always
count on you to state the obvious.

   Don's hand once again went to his locket.  It was plain, golden, oval...
worn.  Don ran his fingers over the smooth surface, trying to find comfort
in it.  With a mind of their own, and years of practice, his fingers found
the catch and sprung it open.  A photo of a young nine year old girl
greeted him.  Her dirty blond hair was in one long braid, falling over her
shoulder, down the right side of her flat chest.  His thumb brushed over
her face...  suddenly, he saw it as she had last been.  Right eye and
cheekbone missing, burned jaw open in a soundless scream.  His thumb
reversed the motion.  Once again she was beautiful.  Why did his mind keep
showing him that picture.  Why --

   He closed his eyes and was there.  He could smell the mud,.  The fire.
He could see little Cynthia next to him, laughing.  Confident her eleven
year old brother would protect her.  Her golden necklace and locket, a
mirror to his, flashed in the setting sun.  Her favorite lucky toy was in
her belt pouch, striped tiger fur just visible.  Some adult officer down
the line was yelling, the drum of explosions was all around.  Cynthia
laughed at him, turned to look over the stone wall --



   ****



   Cynthia laughed at him, turned to look over the stone wall --



   ****



   Cynthia laughed at him, turned to look over the stone wall --



   ****



   An hour later, the ending still hadn't changed.



   Chapter 3



   Amanda was singing.

   Three little words that, for Kine, spelled unspeakable horror.

   He sat in the command chair on the bridge, head down, hands covering his
ears.  Still it penetrated, doing untold damage to his fragile sanity.  He
couldn't -- no -- make it stop --.

   "Make it stop!!!"

   Kine yelled at the top of his lungs.  This, however, only brought
laughter from the two girls down by the Nav Sphere.  When not mocking him,
they were otherwise taking advantage of the rather boring bridge watch by
getting some sewing in.  All over the ship, uniforms were being taken apart
and altered, often revealing wonderful pieces of flesh to teens like Kine
who appreciated such things.  Sue and Rachel were trying, without much
success, to make skirts or a sun dress that worked out of the limited
materials (sheets and such) found on board.  Nothing had been cut so far:
they couldn't afford to waste fabric on flawed designs.

   Amanda, meanwhile, kept singing in her high sweet voice.  The blond
bobbed her head to the beat as she kept an eye on the screens in front of
her.

   "Ducky, ducky, lucky, lucky, duck duck duck!  Lucky ducky, ducky lucky,
duck duck duck!"

   She called it the revenge song, incredibly annoying strings of words to
punish her brother whenever he did something totally beyond the pale.  This
morning, it had been spilling her one ration of juice onto Teddy.  That
could NOT be forgiven -- well, it also was for Kine making eyes at that
Irene.  Amanda wasn't exactly sure why she got so mad when her brother had
female friends.  Not that she admitted to herself that was, in fact, was
what was going on.  Anyways, it probably was mostly the fact Teddy was now
sticky that required Kine to suffer.

   "Duck, duck, duckity duck duck!" The rest of the bridge joined in on
that line, and Kine just let out a long tortured "Fuuuuck!" as his
contribution to the musical endeavor.

   A sudden beep stopped all that instantly.

   "Amanda!  Talk to me!" Kine was out of his chair, jumping over to the
station next to Amanda.  She was furiously collating the information
filling her screens, head down, both braids touching the console.  Two
levels below, Sue and Rachel had flung the loose fabric behind them,
quickly bringing all the sensors online.

   "Large mass and energy readings at the far end of sensor range!" yelled
Amanda.  "Putting it on the sphere!" Kine looked up as the large hologram
sprang to life.  In the center was a representation of their ship.  His
eyes traveled outward, to the extreme edge of the sphere -- There were a
mass of dots, quickly growing in number as they came into range.  He jumped
back to the captain's chair, grabbing the remote, pointing it at the image
and rotating it so the new markers were closest to him.  As he selected
each dot, information bubbles popped up.  There were two groups, it looked
like, possibly closing on each other.  But, they were between planets! 
What the hell --

   Kine's eyes widened.

   "It's a space battle!"



   ****



   Don entered the bridge, pulling his shirt over his head.  The first
emergency naturally would catch him sleeping.  He saw a few more kids
running into the room down below, and he approved that Kine hadn't started
a general alert but instead called up a full staff.  No reason to panic
everyone if this turned out to be nothing.  Kine was waiting beside the
command chair, stepping aside as Don came up from behind and sat down.

   "So, what's up?"

   Kine pointed the remote at the sphere, indicating masses of blue and red
dots, just slightly overlapping.  Looking at the scale, Don saw they were
still maybe an hour away at current speed.

   "It's a space battle, from the looks of it.  Gods, I didn't know they
had fleets that big still.  At least a hundred ships a side, with the Feds
having the advantage, although we still don't have them all in range. 
We're pointed right at the middle of it."

   Don leaned forward, bringing his hands together under his chin.

   "What the hell is OUT here?  Where are we?" Kine changed the image to
one of the solar system.  The familiar ring of 12 orbiting planets, 53
moons, and various dwarf planets and large asteroids filled the bridge. 
The blinking icon of the ship was between the orbits of the 4th and 5th
planets, the battle taking place 4 days travel behind the current location
of Xeres.  Don couldn't make sense of it.

   "So -- did they accidentally run into each other out here?  Fighting
over some secret base we don't know about?"

   "Our problem," Kine responded, returning the view to the one he
considered the most important, "is what the hell are we going to do?  Can
we go around them?" He looked at Don, hopeful expression fading as the
young man continued to stare intently at the image.  "Tell me we're going
to go around them --"

   "Amanda!" The girl almost came to attention in her seat, looking over at
Don.  Anyone her brother respected, she respected.  So long as they weren't
ugly girls with big boobs.  "You have the Rebel Friend or Foe codes for
this ship, right?" Her eyes widened as she nodded.  Kine just looked at
him.

   "Oh, no, you can't be --"

   "Go prep the shuttles.  Time to go shopping."



   ****



   The alert klaxon echoed through the passageway as Lessa hurried down it.
She was trying, with limited success, to get her left arm through the
correct hole in the white Medic vest while keeping her feet.  Fucking thing
didn't want to go on over all her ammo belts and such.  You'd think the
designers didn't expect medics to be armed to the teeth -- It didn't help
that they had never actually PRACTICED any alerts.  It was still all really
theoretical what everyone was suppose to do, and she hoped to hell no
important station went unmanned.  Freedom had made them lazy.

   Yea, freedom.

   She, at least, had a job.  Kine had signaled her to get to a shuttle, so
that was what she was doing.  Why was still unresolved, though.

   A doorway on the righthand wall opened, followed a half moment later by
Rich almost flying out.  He was buckling his pants, yet still managed a
rather amazing acrobatic maneuver to avoid her.  He twisted, turned,
bounced off the far wall, then was streaking back the way she had come. 
Looking after him, she never saw the second figure flying out the open
doorway.  They crashed into Lessa full force, sending both first into the
wall, then the floor.  Lessa discovered a large naked breast in her face,
and, sadly, recognized it.  Getting her hands under the bulk of the
intruding body she shoved them up, revealing a rather dazed topless Shelly
looking down at her.

   "Oh, hey Lessa!"



   ****



   Don was getting impatient.  He just wanted to get in, do this, then get
out.  Time was not on their side.

   They were coming up on the very fringe of the Rebel fleet.  The sensors
showed a handful of ships, seemingly dead, isolated from the main body. 
Don hoped to hell one of them fit their needs.  It was pure luck they had
stumbled across this, but given the other plans he had been forced to
consider over the past week he wasn't about to overlook a gift spaceship.

   "No, no --" Rich, obviously interrupted in the middle of some fun given
his fly was open, went through the intercepted transmissions.  It was a
long shot, but --

   "Got one!" Don walked behind him, looking down at the screen.  "Cargo
ship sending out a distress signal.  It has pressure but no gravity,
they're asking for an evac."

   "Perfect." Don went back and sat in his chair.  "Let's hear the signal."

   " --day, Mayday!  Core breached!  This is the cargo ship Hanson!  Eight
crew still alive!  Mayday!" Don signaled to Rich, already donning a
communication headset.

   "Hanson, we have heard your Mayday!  We're close but cannot dock. 
Please use your escape craft and we will pick you up."

   "Thank you!  Thank you!" Relief was evident in the survivor's voice. 
Sure, they could have used the life boats any time, but military grade ones
were not designed for comfort, or long use.  They started with 100 person
hours of air, so the more you crammed in the sooner rescue was needed.

   Those in charge really didn't want people bugging out in a battle --

   Don hit the communication button on his arm rest.

   "Kine, we have our ship.  You all ready down there?"



   ****



   "Hell no."

   Kine looked around the shuttle cockpit.  There was no way they were
ready.  That wouldn't matter to Don, or to himself, really.  If the
military taught you anything, it was how to make do with what you had.

   Bitching helped.

   Ger was in the shuttle pilot seat.  He claimed he could fly this thing,
and given none of them had ever been in space before there was no better
option.  Kine had no opinion of the kid, really, never having fought with
him.  Behind him in the cabin, though, was someone Kine did have an opinion
about.  Irene.  Picking her for this mission was pure flirting on his part.
Dark eyes, a slim, curvy figure, hair cut short with a longer patch
sweeping over her eyes, firm breasts -- OK, practically, he had picked her
to hack into the ship's computer, but if he was honest with himself he just
wanted a situation where he could show off for her.  While girls did tend
to throw themselves at him, Kine found himself letting them go sailing by
to hit the floor while he went for the hard to get types.

   Well -- not all the hard to get types.  Lessa, also sitting back there,
was not someone anyone would want to get.  He had heard the tales, and
frankly didn't want to be alone with someone who had gutted the enemy.  Or,
really, even one who had false rumors about that floating around.  Ken and
Mel completed their little band.  Their love/hate relationship was
fascinating, especially since they shared a cabin.  Maybe they were brother
and sister.  Kine shuddered at that thought.  Luckily, his sanity was saved
by Don's voice over the radio.

   "They've launched the life boats!  Get out there!" Kine looked across
the bay at the other shuttle, saw a wave from its pilot, and gave the
return signal.

   Large doors opened downward on the lower front left and right of the
cruiser.  Shuttles slid out along rails onto the doors.  With a kick from
the engines, they detached from their moorings and raced off towards the
wounded cargo ship.  On the radio, Kine heard Rich sending out a signal.

   "Life craft!  We are an evil pirate ship!  We're jamming all signals! 
Stand away, and we'll leave as soon as we've done our piraty stuff!" Static
filling the cockpit as the jamming started, he turned the radio off.  No
communication would be possible until the mission was over.

   Kine looked back at their new home as Ger corrected their course a bit.
This was the first real view of it he had seen, and Kine had to admit they
had stolen a pretty ship.  The front was a large flat oval, two large
turrets mounted top and bottom (the bottom one able to retract for surface
landings).  The back section was sort of a curvy triangle, with four engine
units running most of its length.  The ships smooth reflective golden skin
was an attempt at protection from lasers, but mostly these days ship to
ship fighting consisted of tossing huge solid things at each other. 
Punching a hole in a ship was easier than trying to slowly burn one.  The
shuttle they were in was sort of a long rectangle, although wings could be
attached for atmospheric flight.  Able to hold a dozen fully equipped
marines, it was currently stripped for maximum cargo space.

   "We're coming up along side!" Ger used the joystick controls to ease
them next to the right side airlock, while the other shuttle headed towards
the other side of their prey.  Kine unbuckled, floating back to the others.
They got ready, gravity turned off to match their destination.

   Once the side shuttle door was lined up with the airlock, an inflatable
ring sprang out of the hull and formed an air tight seal.  Short claws
extended to hold them steady, grabbing matching connectors on the other
ship.

   With no attempt at subtlety, they blew the interior cargo ship door
open. Lessa shot across the large room, flying towards the opposite wall
with guns in both hands.  She was already half way before the others burst
out themselves.  Kine and Irene streaked towards the passage leading to the
front of the ship, while Ken and Mel took cover on either side of the
airlock.  As Lessa reached the far wall, she twisted, feet pushing off
towards the back of the bay.  Looking first at the flying teen, then each
other, Mel and Ken decided the lack of gunshots meant all was clear.  They
moved from cover, rushing to find the cargo records.  The other bay door
burst open, the crew of the other shuttle joining them.  The two teams got
to work.



   ****



   Kine and Irene entered the bridge.  Irene quickly vaulted to the main
computer station, slipping a memory drive out of her satchel.  Checking the
current status, she yelled out an update.

   "Engines won't blow up for another half hour."

   "That's good to know." Kine moved around the bridge, grabbing any disk
or the like he could find.  He also grabbed a cold bottle of beer from a
cooler next to the captain's seat, contemplating the empty bottles nearby.
This could explain much.

   "So, Irene --" She looked over.  "You come here often?"

   Irene raised an eyebrow at Kine, then laughed, catching the unopened
bottle of beer he tossed to her.  She was about to open it, only to
remember the zero g.  Shaking her head, she put it in her bag and turned
back to the computer.  Kine came up behind her.

   "Anything good?"

   "It's hard to tell.  I'm just grabbing everything I can get using the
codes from our own ship.  We can sort through it later." Kine watched her
work, then cleared his throat.

   "So -- are you with anyone?"

   She shot a glance at him, which softened as she saw the sincere look on
his face.  Her heart was beating fast, but then it had been for the whole
mission.  This thought amused her, probably for no particularly good
reason, and Kine saw her eyes get a delightful twinkle in them.

   "Well, I'm standing next to you.  Does that count?" He laughed, Irene
turning back to the screen to finish up.

   "Only if it's an experience you want to repeat." She unhooked her
equipment, double checking that everything was safely stowed on her person.
Facing Kine, she put her tough, callused hand on his cheek.

   "I'm willing to have you try and talk me into it." Irene's thumb brushed
Kine's lips.  Eyes twinkling, her feet came up and pushed off, sending her
quickly headed back towards the cargo bay.  Kine stood there alone for a
moment, a slow smile coming to his face before he followed.

   It was a good day.



   ****



   "Four ships behind us!!!"

   Amanda's cry tore through the bridge, all movement freezing for an
instant.  How --

   "All defenses online!  Recall the shuttles!  Take us close and place us
between the shuttles and the enemy!" Don's orders were instantaneous.  They
had been expecting something to go wrong, although this hadn't been high on
the list of potential disasters.  He watched teens jump to their jobs, then
whipped around to Amanda.

   "How the FUCK did they get so close?!?  What the hell was your sorry ass
doing!?!" Don's face was pure fury, and Amanda was literally thrown back
against her chair.  Eyes wide in terror, her mouth refused to make a sound.
Don gave her a disgusted look.  "You've just killed your brother, you know
that." He turned away.

   Amanda felt tears cascading down her face.  No, no -- no.  No.  She
wasn't going to go catatonic.  Kine needed her.  She had work to do.  He
had told her he'd never leave her alone.  She was old enough, knew enough,
that such a promise bound her as much as it did him, that she had to always
make his job as easy as possible.  That meant saving him so he could save
her.  The fear in her eyes turned into determination, and using both
sleeves gave them a quick wipe.  Taking one extra moment to give Don a
quick, hateful stare, she got back to work.



   ****



   They were still half a kilometer from the abandoned cargo ship when the
shuttles disengaged and began racing back towards them.  Don turned the
cruiser to face the approaching Federation ships.  It was no contest.  They
had no power, maybe a half dozen missiles, each blast from the laser
turrets was a day's travel lost --

   Don had no idea what to do next.  He wasn't a captain.  He wasn't a
leader.  He was fourteen fucking years old, minus the fucking part.  What
the hell was he doing leading a bunch of kids to their death in space.  At
least none of them would lie in a field, dying for days.  At least that was
something positive.  Hmm...  maybe if he sent them into the main Rebel
fleet they could get lost in the battle, sneak out the other side --

   "Six more targets, right under us!" Rachel down at the base of the Nav
Sphere gave the cry, looking up unbelievingly.  Did they even HAVE sensors
anymore?  Don looked at the positions of the ships.  All of them were
coming within weapons range at once, and Kine wasn't back yet --

   Rich at the communication station suddenly looked up, amazed.

   "Don -- the new ships are hailing us.  They're telling us to drop back
while they engage the Feds.  They --" Rich started laughing.  "They're
rescuing us!"

   Don's mouth literally fell open.  After about a second of total silence
on the bridge, he shook his head and then hit it once with an open palm.

   "Sure, why not.  Makes total sense.  OK!" He got back into leader mode.
"As soon as Kine and friends are back, I want us out of here!  Top speed to
the second moon of Xeres --" he checked the computer, " -- that's Xanth. 
Keep maximum distance between us and any ship, BS your way through any
communications but try and keep radio silence."

   "Shuttles docking!!!" Amanda let out a yell, jumping in her seat.

   "Don't wait for them to get in!  As soon as they're attached, move it!"



   ****



   The hanger bay doors were just starting to close as the ship began to
turn.  Splitting the difference, it headed off away from both sets of
approaching ships, engines kicking in.

   The Rebels, now within range, launched a full barrage of long range
torpedoes at the Federation battle cruisers.  The cruisers, figuring a
Rebel cruiser was a much better target than a couple small destroyers, let
go with a half dozen missiles at the retreating ship before focusing on
this new attack.

   It was only luck that saved them.  The path of the missiles took them
past the empty hulk of the cargo ship, fate declaring that the moment the
reactor should fail.  Five incoming missiles were destroyed.  The last...



   ****



   Don opened his eyes.

   He hadn't remembered closing them.  That was always a bad sign.  Let's
see, where had he been.  Ah, yes.  The bridge.  The missile had been coming
in --

   "Oww."

   He sat up.  The thin blue sheet covering him fell down to his waist,
revealing he was wearing nothing but his undies.  Great.  Head throbbing,
he raised a hand and felt a large, bandaged bump above his right eye just
below his hair line.

   "How are you doing?"

   The voice came from the other side of the room, which his mind now
determined was sickbay.  Don swung his head around to look.  Across the
empty beds, he saw Lessa standing in front of open cabinets.  She was
wearing combat fatigues and a nurses blouse, an interesting combination,
obviously in the middle of putting supplies away.  Any further situational
analysis was cut short by pain, Don's neck objecting to moving.  He put a
hand up to rub it.

   "I think I should ask you that.  What the hell happened?"

   Lessa smiled, a small one, and started walking towards him.

   "You fall down go BOOM!"

   Don raised an eyebrow at her.  That, at least, was pain free.

   "Ah.  Humor.  I never learned to get into that much." Now it was Lessa's
turn to raise an eyebrow.  She sat down next to him, on the edge of the
bed, giving Don an appraising look.  It was a look he had often seen aimed
at others.  Pointed in his direction, especially by this girl...  it was no
longer something to be thought of humorously.  The survivor instincts for
wariness began to come to the fore, especially as she smiled like that as
she spoke.

   "True, but I hear that you're a master at sarcasm."

   Don gave a short laugh.

   "Master?  Not hardly.  More like a student who must practice
constantly."

   "Maybe you should practice wearing seat belts.  Those bridge chairs have
them for a reason.  You were the only one injured when the bridge was hit."

   Don looked up at the ceiling, expression one of mock exasperation.

   "Details, details.  You girls are always nagging us about unimportant
little things like that."

   "Well, someone has to tie your shoes for you." Lessa stood and
stretched, seemingly half unconsciously, half in unpracticed flirtation. 
Don was old enough to at least look, and enjoy doing so.

   "If it gets too bad I'll go barefoot." He stretched his arms in
imitation of her, immediately regretting it as his neck again howled in
pain.  He grimaced, Lessa stepping over to him, sincere concern on her
face.

   "Is it bad?  Here, let me help.  Turn around." Don didn't resist as
Lessa turned him to sit on the edge of the bed, feet not quite touching the
floor.  She grabbed some ointment, climbed up and knelt on the bed behind
him.  He felt her pause.  Looking at the far wall, he caught a distorted
reflection of her seemingly...admiring his back.  That was just wrong.  The
reflection's gaze coming up, eyes widened as she saw where his eyes were
looking.  Blushing, she applied the salve to her hands, placing them on
him.

   Don jumped when at the first touch.  Nobody touched him.  Ever.  Not
that he wanted to be touched.  Happiness and comfort led to loss and pain.
He had learned that.  You can't let anyone get close.  You can't -- his
eyes closed.  Don felt himself relaxing, giving in to her caresses.  The
heat from the salve penetrated his muscles, her soft, unsure, touch sending
emotions and mind reeling.  He couldn't think.  And, as always happened
when his guard was down, memories came...



   ****



   They were sitting on the banks of a small stream, alone that summer day.
Their knapsacks under a nearby tree still had about three days of food. 
Enough so, for once, they had no worries as they rested among the
butterflies and frogs.  A giggle filled water fight had ended with Don on
his back, hard rocks bruising his shoulder.  To make amends, Cynthia had
sat him on a large rock as she kneaded his shoulders.  They were both
topless and barefoot, necklaces gleaming in the afternoon sun.  Cynthia had
begun to hum a quiet song, one their mom had sung before that world had
ended, Don slowly adding his deeper voice.  His hand reached up to touch
his locket...



   ****



   It was gone.

   Don's eyes opened in sickbay.  Murderous hate flowed out from them, as
his hand clutched at nothing between his breasts.  Behind him, Lessa hummed
a happy tune, hands moving over his scared skin.  She had never touched a
boy before, never with other than murderous intent at least.  It was... 
nice...

   "Where is it?" Don whispered.  Lessa paused, leaning over his shoulder
to look at his face.

   "What?"

   Don exploded.

   "WHERE THE FUCK IS IT, YOU BITCH!"

   His hands shot up, grabbing Lessa by the arm and neck with a strength
and speed that shocked her, throwing the girl over his shoulder onto the
floor in front of the bed.  Her instincts took over: rolling away, she came
to her feet in one smooth motion about ten feet away.  Her hand was at her
side grasping where a weapon, in a perfect world, would always be.

   "What the FUCK is your problem!" Lessa watched as Don got off the bed,
clad just in his underwear, and began slowly walking towards her.  Those
eyes -- she was shocked to find they scared her.  She could take him.  Of
course she could take him.  Her eyes darted around looking for weapons
regardless.

   "Where.  Is.  It."

   "Where is WHAT?!" What the hell is he -- Lessa noticed Don's bare chest.
Standing up out of her combat crouch, she pointed at an end table drawer
next to his bed.

   "In there."

   Don stopped, turned, and casually walked over and opened the drawer. 
Taking out the golden necklace, he gazed at the locket for a long moment.
Slowly, he reached and fastened it around his neck.  Turning, he gathered
up his clothing and began dressing.

   Lessa just stood there, watching, mind a sad, confused mess.

   "Who is she?"

   Don paused, back turned, before continuing to buckle his pants.

   "Who's who?"

   Lessa's expression hardened.  Fine.  Be that way.  She showed no
sympathy as he groaned in pain, his body twisting as he put his shoes on.
Finally, a fully dressed Don walked by her towards the exit.  Pausing in
the doorway, he spoke without looking back.

   "Sorry about that."

   Then he was gone.

   Lessa just stood there for a moment.  One hand reached back, found a
chair, and guided her body into it.  She blew out an exasperated breath.

   "Stupid prick --"

   Leaning back, she gazed up at the ceiling.

   "Nice ass, though --"



   Chapter 4



   Shelly happily bounced down the passageway.

   Her shift in engineering was over with.  It was time to party.  For
once, it wasn't just going to be Rich pawing at her for an hour (or
vice-versa).  The booty from the big raid had been counted and cataloged,
and they were just two days from planetfall at maybe a place they could
live out their lives.  After eight days of half rations, it was time for a
feast.

   Two days -- Shelly slowed down a bit.  The idea that she'd have to make
decisions again soon, important life changing ones, frightened the girl. 
She didn't want to think.  She didn't want to decide.  Hell, she didn't
want to do anything.  She just wanted to be happy.  Happy in the here and
now, not some mythical future that may or may not happen if she'd just
suffer a bit now.  Was that so wrong?

   Yes, to hear Lessa and just about everybody else talk.  They called her
a slut.  Well...  Lessa didn't call her that.  Much.  Lessa understood
Shelly, or at least thought she did.  Shelly could still see, though, at
times, the disappointment in her best friend's eyes.  To Lessa, temptations
were something to be resisted.  When your instincts tend to lean towards
brutal violence, Shelly agreed, that's a very understandable viewpoint. 
But, Shelly just wanted love.  To at least feel loved, if not be loved, and
so far only the bed of a man had provided that.

   She hadn't found friendship, or companionship, there, though; Rich was
OK, she guessed, and he certainly provided the pleasurable release she
craved.  But if Shelly wasn't interested in his large cock it's doubtful
they'd have anything to do with each other.  Hell, the only person who at
all interested her was --

   Lessa.

   For the hundredth time, Shelly wished she had some sexual interest in
girls.  She had tried, the gods knew, even secretly playing with herself in
bed while watching Lessa get undressed, hoping some switch in her brain
would click and her wonderful Lessa would suddenly satisfy both sides of
her.  But, alas, no.  Nothing.  Only Lessa could provide the friendship,
comfort, and security she needed, and only some random guy could give her
the sexual release she needed.

   Maybe she should try a dog.

   Laughing at that thought, Shelly approached the door to the main
cafeteria/rec room.  Stopping, she composed herself.  She had to project an
aura of happiness and sexual confidence, while at the same time letting
everyone know she wasn't some slut who'd be up for a gang bang later.  It
was a fine line, and one of the reasons she stayed with Rich.  Nobody was
going to force themselves on her, knowing they'd then have to face Rich.

   The door opened, revealing the party was already in full swing.  Loud
music was playing, something with a fast beat and sultry lyrics.  About 25
kids were already here, divided into small groups either dancing or
talking. All were drinking, a keg set up and opened on a table near her. 
Timothy was playing bartender, and giving him a saucy wink she took the mug
he offered, sauntering over to an empty table against the wall.  Most
people were against the walls, which amused Shelly to no end.  When nobody
is willing to have their back to the door, seating options dry up quickly.
Now, there's an idea, she can open a restaurant that only has against the
wall seating!

   Shelly took a sip.  It was smooth, and fruity.  Like nothing she had
ever tasted before, but it was a big universe and she was from a small
town. A longer sip confirmed she'd be helping drain this keg long into the
night.

   The dark girl looked around.  She saw Sean against the opposite wall,
talking to some guy whose name she wasn't quite clear on (Mac?  Jack?). 
Sean was the only one in their little band with darker skin than her, a
random quirk to be sure.  Surely skin color had been varied enough
everywhere she had been.  A quick thought came to her about the various
survival advantages skin color might have.  The dark skinned could travel
better at night, so maybe the light skinned could hide better during the
day?  Assuming they all traveled naked, which led her thoughts off into
other directions, and laughing she took another drink.  Shelly looked at
Sean again.  He was her boss in Engineering, but she hadn't talked to him
much.  It was obvious he didn't want to be here, or at least wasn't
enthralled with current management.  It was likely he'd be the first of
their merry band to leave.  No loss, to her way of thinking.

   Movement caught Shelly's eyes, as The Trio started dancing.  She shook
her head, laughing.  The three youngest members of their band, Amanda,
Sirenia, and Wendi, had become inseparable.  The two 11 year old girls had
been traveling alone without siblings, or friends, quickly latching onto
the slightly older Amanda and her powerful brother.  They rarely could be
found apart, although not being suited for bridge duty the younger duo
instead drew kitchen detail.  They roomed in the cabin right next to Amanda
and Kine, and Shelly had heard tales of Kine waking up to find all three
snuggling up to him after bad dreams.  That kind of thing could put a crimp
in your social life.  Assuming he wasn't into that.

   "May I have your attention, please!"

   Various catcalls and cries of "no!" greeted Ken as he stood up on a
table.  Good naturally swearing back at them, he took a long drink from the
pitcher in his hand.  Where did he get a pitcher, Shelly wondered?  She'd
have to find one --

   "For tonight's entertainment, assuming this horrible music wasn't enough
--" More catcalls.  " -- we have some video direct from the plundered ship!
Haven't even bothered to see what they are myself, so let's put them on the
screen!"

   The lights darkened a bit, Ken jumped down, and the screen behind him
came to life as Shelly took another swig.



   ****



   "I don't want to do this," Don sighed.  Kine, walking at his side on the
way from the bridge, gave him a look that was totally unsympathetic.

   "Aww -- does the fearless leader not want to have fun in front of his
followers?"

   The black look Don threw up at Kine made him realize he had gone a bit
too far, so he back peddled a bit.

   "Look, you show up, say something, then you can go back to your cabin
and do whatever it is you do.  Everyone apart from Sean respects you, so
the least you can do is pretend you respect them."

   Don sighed, putting a hand up to his temple.  The bandage was gone, but
there was still a nice bump.

   "Don't worry," Kine added, "if you accidentally show emotion you can
blame it on that."

   The door they were passing on their right opened, a surprised Lessa
suddenly standing there.  She was dressed in what Kine had to admit was a
nice looking green blouse, with nothing under it, and blue jeans.  Her face
seemed to gain a little color as she looked at Don, but he decided not to
read anything into it.  It wasn't like either one was human.

   "Oh!  Um, hi you guys." Lessa paused a second, gathering her thoughts.
Her eyes seemed to ignore Kine.  "So, Don, how's your head today?"

   He cocked his head up at the taller girl, a faint smile on his lips.

   "Now that's a rather personal question.  How's yours?"

   Lessa stiffened, eyes narrowing as her face got even redder.  Laughing,
Kine got between the two of them and put an arm around their shoulders. 
Immediately, their anger turned on him for the intimacy of his touch. 
Which, naturally, was the idea.  Kine might not be a leader by choice, but
a people person he was, and he couldn't afford to have these two at odds.
Hell, maybe he could get them to hook up and breed.

   "Come on, you two!  Let's not fight!  It's party time!  And I know how
much both of you just LOVE to dance and sing!" Lessa sighed as they started
to walk down the hall again.  She leaned around Kine to look at Don.

   "Know a good place to hide the body?"

   "We're still short on meat, so there's that option."

   "See?" Kine said, smiling.  "You two are already making cheerful small
talk.  Soon there will be actual conversations and exchanges of
information!" They came to the cafeteria door.



   ****



   The chaos inside had them immediately alert.  Taking a quick two steps
inside, they spread out, eyes taking in the scene.

   Shelly was on top of one of the dining tables, screaming.  "We should
kill them!  KILL THEM!  Let me go, you mother fucking cunt!" Sean was up on
the table behind her, holding her in an arm lock that didn't seem like it
would hold long.  She was struggling frantically, hair and breasts whipping
this way and that.  The rest of the kids were arranged around her table,
some shouting agreement and encouragement while most stood in stony
silence.

   Shelly noticed the three newcomers.  Using a move Lessa honestly didn't
know she had in her, the teen managed to throw Sean off, jumping down and
rushing Don.  The table fell over, Sean crashing to the floor with a thud
and a curse.  Perhaps it was because it was her friend, but Lessa
hesitated. Next thing she knew, Shelly was grabbing Don by the front of his
shirt.  Her face was reddened in pure anger and fury, shaking him with each
syllable.

   "We have to rescue them!  We have to find her!  Do you hear me, you --"
Shelly suddenly found herself pulled off of Don, a large hand clamped over
her mouth, arms pinned tightly to her side.  Kine half carried her
backwards a few feet, squeezing tightly until the girl made a muffled sound
that was more pain than hysterical rant.  Don put a hand to his chest,
shook his head to clear it, then glanced at Lessa.  Lessa just gave a
puzzled shake of her head, not having an answer to the unstated question.
The now silent crowd circling the group, they both stepped up in front of
Kine.  Shelly had stopped struggling.  Her eyes were red and puffy, tears
replacing anger.  Kine removed the hand from her mouth, but kept both arms
pinned to her back.  Someone handed Lessa a cloth, which she used it to
wipe her friend's face.

   "What happened?"

   Shelly looked up at her, eyes still crazed.  She whispered.

   "Look --"

   Lessa looked at her questioningly.  Amanda stepped forward, eyes dead,
pointing to the large video screen.

   "There."

   Don and Lessa looked.  The image, maybe six feet across, was a close up
of a young naked teen.  She was bruised and battered, obviously being
fucked by a large man.  The paused picture showed her face clearly, the
pain and hopelessness in her eyes making both wince.  Don looked over at
Ken, raising an eyebrow.  The lanky teen just raised his hands in apology.

   "It's a rape video.  I'm sorry, I didn't go over the videos we got from
the raid.  It just said 'Teen Fun'." Don looked back at it, then over at
the sobbing Shelly.

   "But what's her problem?"

   Shelly's head whipped up to look at him, her eyes more sane, but still
filled with rage.

   "I know her!" She broke down again, sagging in Kine's arms.  Slowly, he
lowered the dark haired girl to the ground.  Lessa knelt down, putting her
arms around her friend, letting her cry into her chest.  "I know her --."



   ****



   Don cast his eyes around the room, seeing if anyone coherent knew
anything.  Red headed Sirenia stepped up next to Amanda.  Her voice was
soft.

   "Shelly said the girl was from a village near hers, and they used to
play together.  Rebels raided and she vanished." The pale girl started to
tear up herself, Amanda and Wendi quickly flanking and hugging the preteen.
She looked Don in the eye.  "They're capturing kids and...  and filming
them doing -- things until they die." Sirenia broke down, and Don once
again looked over at Ken.  The half bald, half red braided Mel was now
standing with her head buried in Ken's chest, and he spoke to Don with his
eyes fully focused on her.

   "It's a professional company.  Logo, address, everything.  I looked and
there's a couple more in there along with the real movies and porn."

   Don closed his eyes and sighed.  They didn't need this.  Neither did
those poor girls, but -- He turned and looked down at Shelly again.

   "So -- what?"

   She looked up, startled, as if no human could say what he just did.

   "So, what?!?  We go find them!  We rescue those kids and kill the
bastard adults who are doing this!"

   Don's head hurt, and he moved a hand up to rub his bump.  How could he
make them understand.

   "You realize we're just barely surviving ourselves.  We just managed to
get out of our own hell by the skin of our teeth, and now you want us to go
charging in and rescue others.  Thirty five kids in an underpowered space
ship are going to rescue a billion others in need.  Really." Shelly
struggled to her feet, not believing what she was hearing.  Half leaning on
Lessa, she jabbed a finger at Don.

   "What's the point of being free if not to do what we want!  I want to
rescue her!" At the look in Don's eyes, she closed hers and nodded in
acceptance.  "Yes, I know.  It's been a year and she's probably dead. 
But...  we can save the others, we can shut them down."

   "And how many of us die doing this?  And we can't kill ALL the evil
adults doing this all over the system --"

   "We are not your followers!" Shelly screamed.  "If we want to do this
and you don't, you can just leave the ship!"

   Don actually chuckled to himself.  This is what happens when you tell
others they have rights.  He looked around, his eyes catching Sean's.  The
darker boy nodded.  The mood was definitely in favor of this mad idea, at
least in the here and now.  But to risk everything for something so -- his
eyes once again focused on the poor girl on screen.  For a brief second, he
saw not a stranger, not a victim...  but his Cynthia.

   Sighing, Don turned to Shelly.

   "We'll give it a shot." Shelly broke free of Lessa and threw her arms
around him, the crowd cheering.  Pushing the red eyed girl away, Don spoke
softly.  "Once we land on Xanth, we'll see what our options are.  We're not
going to suicide for this quest, OK?" She nodded, and he gently pushed her
away.  Making a show of straightening his shirt, he looked around the room.

   "I need a drink."



   ****



   Lessa half carried the drunk Shelly into their cabin.  The happy
roommate was singing some song about milkshakes, jiggling her breasts at
the appropriate time.  Or at least close enough, given neither the tune nor
the words were that close to the original.  Lessa staggered over to
Shelly's bed, dropping the girl onto it.  She stood up straight, cracking
her back.  Those curves are heavy, she thought.  Or maybe it was all the
drink in her, although most of that must have flowed out when they were in
the bathroom a few minutes ago.

   Walking over to her bed, Lessa turned on the light and started to
undress.  She hadn't had too much of the mystery fruit drink, but it was
enough to make her just want to crawl under the covers for a week or two.
Surely they'd let her do that.  She pulled her top off, and was taking her
pants off when she heard Shelly sit up.

   "Lessa?" It was a quiet voice.  Lessa looked over.  Shelly sat with her
arms wrapped around herself.  "Lessa -- I don't want to be alone tonight."
Lessa got a puzzled look on her face.

   "I'm always here, you know that."

   "No -- I don't want to sleep alone." Lessa's face got bright red.  She
had wondered if this would ever come up.  She loved her friend, as she had
loved no one else since losing her family, but she had no thoughts in that
direction.  She had few enough going towards men, although Don had started
to piss her off by showing up in her dreams.

   "Shelly, we've gone over this.  Do -- do you want me to take you to
Rich?"

   Shelly looked at her and shook her head, her expression one of such
sadness Lessa couldn't help but be moved.

   "No, Rich can't help.  Can't I -- can't I just hold you tonight?  Just
that?"

   There was no way Lessa could refuse that look, not after all they had
been through together.  She removed her pants and panties, and pulled back
the sheet.

   "Ok, but remember I can have you flying out of the bed and into the wall
at the slightest provocation, right?"

   "Yup!" Shelly bounded upward, shedding her clothing like a pro, and in a
minute she was sliding into the narrow bed with Lessa.  Lessa turned the
light off, and they faced each other in the dark.

   The closeness disturbed Lessa.  Their bodies were pressing against each
other, breast to breast, thigh to thigh.  She had never been with someone
like this, not even as a little girl.  That she liked it and wanted to draw
her friend closer only made her want to push her away even more.  She felt
a hand on her cheek, and Shelly moved closer and whispered.

   "Oh, Lessa -- You -- you know I love you."

   "I know."

   Two words that said so much, of what could and couldn't be.  Shelly
moved down Lessa's body a bit, snuggling into her.  Lessa held her close,
getting used to the soft warmth that was her friend.

   "Good night, slut."

   "Good night, psycho."



   Chapter 5



   War in space had not turned out at all like anyone expected.

   Part of that, most likely, was due to the long peace that had come
before.  When the colony ships had entered the system, they had been
determined to fill these planets under the leadership of one government. 
One Federation, democratic, giving freedom and representation to all.  And,
for a few centuries, it had lasted.  Mankind had prospered, spreading to
fill habitats as quickly as they could be developed.  However, there is a
limit to how many people one system can govern.  A limit that exists on all
levels.  It simply is not possible for one government to rule even one
entire planet, over a certain population, let alone a solar system.  Cracks
began to show.  Protests sprang up, here and there, but there wasn't much
concern.  Nobody wanted war.  It would all work out.  Democracy would save
the day.

   When the revolt came, it came everywhere.  Planets didn't declare
independence from the Federation: continents and cities rebelled, first
from local control, then all external authority.  Fighting broke out on the
surface of a score of planets and moons.  As the Federation tried to regain
control, various Rebel factions united in opposition.  For the first time,
warships traveled the solar system, and planets surround themselves with
defensive and offensive weapons.

   It was here that the first prediction of interstellar war was shattered.
Naturally, it had been assumed, the key to defense was the control of
orbital space around a planet.  No fleet would be able to force a landing
against a well defended world, and nobody on the surface would be able to
launch unless they controlled the skies above them.  Orbital control was
the key.

   Then came the disaster at Cecilia.

   The Federation had launched a major offensive on the main Rebel
controlled island continent, managing to get a large beachhead.  A relief
fleet had been launched from one of its sister moons and, detecting this,
the Cecilia Federation had put every weapon they could into orbit.  They
would hold the skies, and wear the planet side Rebels down.

   Still holding three spaceports, the Rebels launched anything they could
to disable those satellites.  Laser weapons, hunks of rock with ion drives,
pebbles -- With every one they disabled, the Federation tried to launch a
replacement, resulting in even more to be sent up by the Rebels.  For a
week both sides fought for control of local space, even as the ground war
stalemated.

   When the Rebel fleet reached Cecilia, it found no orbital weapons to
drive them away.

   What it did find was the moon surround by a half kilometer thick debris
field of impossible to track stone and metal scraps no captain would even
think of trying to travel through.

   Cecilia was cut off from all physical contact with the rest of the
system, and the shockwaves were felt throughout humanity.  War was one
thing, but this -- there could be no winners if this ever happened again.
Orbital defenses were mostly abandoned on contested worlds.  The war would
be confined to land, air, sea, and space.  In practical terms, this meant
that if some patch of planet or moon was either on your side or neutral, a
good ship could most likely force a landing.  Once there, however --



   ****



   The large bulk of the ship slowly dropped through the down-pouring rain.
It's mass seemed to hover for a moment over the landing cradle, whose large
hydraulics positioned the ground supports to roughly match the ship's size
and shape.  With a final lurch downwards, the former Rebel cruiser settled
into place on the moon Xanth.

   Twenty minutes later, the bulkhead door one fourth of the way up the
ship's hull opened.  Five forms in green rain gear stepped out onto the
metal gratings.  The shortest one looked up at the sky, seemed to give a
resigned sigh at the cruelties of nature, then led the way down the gangway
towards the apron and the approaching spaceport officials.

   Don was nervous.  What they were about to do would, perhaps more than
stealing the ship itself, chart their future.  They could easily die here
like a bitch; not only were they horribly outgunned by the local ground
security, but they had been directed to land at a cradle near the very
center which allowed almost no chance at defensive action.  What was worse,
they now had to -- deal with adults in nonlethal ways, projecting an aura
of strength.  If only they could just shoot them --

   The officials were waiting at the base of the ramp.  Three middle aged
men in red uniforms, what Don assumed to be the local design, stood with
computer pads under a red tarp.  Four armed guards had carried the poles as
they marched out to the ship, and with the supports now secured in
conveniently located holes, the guards stood on either side of the
officials, hands on their weapons.  The five kids walked under the shelter.
After a moment's pause to assess the situation, Don removed his hood.  The
officials looked shocked at his apparent age.

   "Welcome to Xanth," the middle one said, giving the group a careful
look. "Who's your captain?"

   Don stepped forward, the adults passing quick glances among themselves.
Their spokesman raised an eyebrow at him.

   "This is your ship?" Don nodded.  "Hmm --." The man made some entries
into his pad, then looked up again.  "Ship name?"

   They had forgotten to name the ship.

   Don chuckled.  He contemplated looking back at the others to get their
input, but he could already sense their grins and figured it would give off
a sense of weakness.  Looking at the officer he pulled a name out of the
air.

   "It's the Liberty."

   "Registration?"

   "No."

   The man once again sized up Don and his companions.  He looked up at the
large bulk of the ship, seeming to be calculating.

   "Size of your crew?"

   There it was.  They weren't under the protection of anyone.  If their
ship just happened to change hands once again -- who would protest?  Don
lowered two fingers from each hand, and silently both Lessa and Sean
stepped forward next to him.  Sean threw back his hood, pulling open the
front of his rain gear.  His Guard uniform came into view.  One of the
security guards took an involuntary step backwards.  Another half started
to lift his gun, a single glance from Sean causing his hand to quickly drop
away.  A moment later Lessa copied Sean, removing her hood and drawing back
her poncho to reveal a battered uniform with a red and black braided cord
on her left shoulder.

   The officer looked at it, Don easily reading his thoughts as
comprehension slowly dawned.  Oh, god...  the Federation gave those out
for...  he looked at the face of this young girl.  That hair color, her
age...  his eyes widened.  This was HER!  She seemed to sense his train of
thought, eyes narrowing.  The man quickly looked away, finding his eyes
once again on the small male teen in front.  The Don smiled, a smile that
did nothing to reassure.

   "Our crew is large enough for our needs.  We just want to stay for a few
days most likely, unmolested..." Don's hands made small gestures indicating
Lessa and Sean "...and do some business.  There will be no problems, I
assume?"



   ****



   Not long after, Don, Lessa, Sean and Shelly made their way out the front
gate and stood in the early morning rain looking at the city.  Seneca was
small, mostly neutral, and probably home to a few hundred thousand. 
Sitting in the middle of a mostly forested continent, they made most of
their income from either the wood trade, or the rather more dangerous trade
between Rebel and Federation communities.  Don figured they'd be safe here.

   For awhile.

   After dealing with the spaceport red tape, he had sent Irene back to the
ship with orders for Kine.  They would start sending groups of kids out
into the city on leave in an hour, large groups not just for protection but
so the adults wouldn't know exactly how understaffed the ship actually was.
Those that wanted to make a life here were, naturally, free to.  From what
Don had seen so far, now that they had access to the planet's net, there
were probably worse places but this was no paradise.

   Then again, what place was.

   The city was just waking, and as they walked down the street into the
commercial areas it took awhile to find an open place to stop and eat. 
Shelly didn't seem to mind- she had thrown her hood back, enjoying the rain
on her face after almost two weeks in metal rooms.  She had never thought
she'd miss nature this much, but she had never been without it before. 
Lessa, hood very much covering her head, looked at her friend.

   "Want me to keep the sprinkler system over your bed on all night while
you sleep?" Shelly stuck her tongue out, then laughing shook her head so
her long hair threw water in all directions.  Given the downpour, nobody
noticed.

   A cafe serving breakfast was finally noticed at what seemed to be a main
intersection, stairs leading down into the restaurant almost hidden between
two large clothing stores.  A sign next to the front door had a picture of
a handgun surrounded by a green circle.  The teens looked at each other. 
The idea of there even being restrictions on weapons was a new concept, and
they'd have to pay close attention to where they went.  Local police
getting on their case was not part of the plan.  They entered, finding
themselves in a small wood paneled room with a long bar, tables and booths.
All wood, and now that he thought about it Don realized most of the
buildings were made with the local hardwood.  Must be nice for a place to
be that self sufficient.  It also crossed his mind that it might also be
why war had not come here.  Any conflict would destroy the very thing they
would be fighting for, so it was much easier to leave the continent
independent and just trade for the stuff.

   They removed their rain garb, hanging them from handy hooks just outside
their booth, and sat down.  Don sat on the inside with Shelly across from
him, with Lessa and Sean on the outside ready to take on danger.  Don noted
that Lessa was next to him and not her friend, but wasn't sure if that was
so that Sean wouldn't be near him.  A waitress came over, taking their
order.  Once she walked away, Shelly looked at Don.

   "So...  we're here.  Now what."

   Don pulled out a small handset, and brought up a page of information.

   "Well, we have a couple goals.  First, find out who wants to leave." He
glanced over at Sean, who just silently returned his look.  Well, that was
awkward.  Don gave a slight smile and turned back to Shelly.  "Second, we
see if we can sell some of what we got in that raid.  If we can turn those
four rods of uranium into a few months worth of food, that's tons of
problems solved.  Third...  we try and find ways to make enough cash to
keep the ship and us going.  Maybe we carry cargo, although all we'd be
suited for is stuff that's small and illegal."

   "Do we care about illegal?" Lessa asked.  Don gave her a speculative
look.

   "Depends on the law.  Mostly we should avoid danger, and anything that
would bring the wrath of anyone important down on us.  The whole point of
this is to live to a nice happy old age, not have adventures and get
ourselves killed." Sean leaned forward, hands together, elbows on the
table. The waitress returned with their orders and he waited until she once
again left them alone.

   "How does that mid-battle raid fit into that theory?"

   "We needed food and supplies, so had to take risks.  If it had been a
defended gold transport instead of an abandoned cargo ship, we'd have
ignored it." They had in fact found some gold on board, electronic banking
between warring planets being somewhat unstable these days, with much of it
to be used to pay for their stay here.  What spaceport parking didn't
require had been divided among the crew to give them spending money while
in the city.

   Sean considered for a moment, then glanced around.

   "What if we found people interested in having us go after transports?"

   Shelly looked at the slightly older teen with an amused glint in her
eye.

   "Go pirate?  You serious?  That's keeping a low profile and staying
safe?"

   "You're the one who wants to raid sex slave camps." Shelly's face
colored a bit.  He went on.  "If we're going to do that, going to work our
way up to taking on at least one of these evil groups...  why not make
money doing it."

   Don pushed his cup to the side, and leaned forward towards Sean. 
This... this was interesting.  He motioned for the dark teen to continue.

   "We look around, see what the various 'under the table' opportunities
are, and see what fits our abilities and needs.  We have a warship.  We
have experienced soldiers.  Our services could be used...  on our terms. 
We also keep our eyes open for leads about the camps.  Those disks had a
company address, but those are probably just distribution point, and
anyways it was in a city we have no chance of getting near.  We can sort of
casually work towards that goal while getting stronger ourselves."

   Don had to admit, he was impressed.  He sat back, taking a sip of the
sweet caffeinated drink, mulling over the idea.  He looked over at Sean.

   "I like it.  So, you're staying?" Sean considered for a moment, then
nodded, taking a swig from his own cup.  "You want Kine's job?"

   Sean actually laughed at this, the first any of the three had ever heard
from the serious teen.  Shaking his head, he looked Don in the eyes.

   "No, no.  Kine is a fine second in command...  and he can be mine when
the time comes."

   Now it was Don's turn to laugh, a good, honest laugh.  He half stood and
stretched his hand over the table towards Sean, who, grinning, reached his
own out to shake.  Shelly and Lessa just looked on, both amused and
bemused. When both boys sat back down, Don looked at them.

   "We probably should also keep an eye out for kids who might want to join
us.  Runaways, deserters, etc.  Not just anyone, mind you, but if they're
willing and won't disrupt things too much..."

   Shelly nodded.

   "Yeah.  We need more.  There's a distinct lack of hunky males on our
ship."

   "You can say that again," replied a depressed sounding Sean.



   ****



   Kine and Irene took in the view out the trolley windows, sun braking
through the clouds over the strange cityscape.  Across from them, talking
merrily, sat the Trio.  Well, Wendi and Sirenia did most of the talking. 
Amanda was distracted ,watching the hands of her brother and the skank. 
They weren't holding hands, and for some reason she couldn't fully
understand she wanted to keep it that way.

   Kine, on the other hand, was looking forward to lots of hand holding, if
not more.  He had not seen Irene much since the raid, the crew's sleep
patterns varying to allow bridge and engine room to be manned at all times.
That she had agreed to come with him on this excursion was, to him, a great
step.  That the Trio would be hounding him...  not so great.  The way they
stuck to him, there were times he wondered if they thought they were his
wives.

   "Look!"

   Wendi pointed out the window behind Kine, the older teens turning to
look.  Spread out before them was a large, forested park.  Large trees, a
lake, what even looked like...  playground equipment!  Parents and kids
were scattered throughout.  Kine, gazing at them, felt a longing he hadn't
had in a long time.  Irene's hand slipped into his.  As the trolley slowed
for the station, they just gazed at the normalcy of it all.  The younger
girls crowded behind the couple for a better look, Amanda putting her hands
on her brother's shoulders and practically jumping up and down.

   "Oh, please, can we go there?!?  Please?!?"

   Kine gave a dramatic sigh, as if this would kill him.  The bouncing got
worse.

   "Oh, I guess..."

   This got him three kisses on the cheek, as well as an amused look from
Irene.  As the trolley stopped, the three girls sprinted for the nearest
door.  The two older teens followed at a somewhat slower pace, Irene's hand
still in his.  Stepping off, a dirt path beckoned.  The kids, after a brief
pause to roll in the wet green grass, probably staining newly made skirts
and blouses, ran to a swing set.  The one boy using it, seeing the
attacking hoard, fled.  The sound of his sister's laughter, so long
unheard, lit up Kine's face.  Irene squeezed his hand, smiling.

   "You're a good brother to her."

   Kine shrugged.

   "At times.  We wouldn't be in this situation if I was as good as I
should have been." He looked off into the distance, a formation of aircraft
flying across the horizon.  Their feet took them past the playground, onto
a path around the lake.  "She had the chance to get out, you know.  But she
refused to leave me.  Joined the military so she could stay by my side."

   They passed a young family having a picnic, a six year old boy and his
five year old sister fighting over the last sandwich.  The father,
laughing, took it for himself.  Kine shook his head.

   "Now if that wasn't a metaphor for life, I don't know what is."



   ****



   The trouble with being strangers in a new city is, naturally, you don't
know the lay of the land.  The trouble with relying on government
controlled nets for local information is, naturally, they're not going to
tell you about anything that might be at all embarrassing.  For example: if
a part of town isn't exactly the safest place in the world, if in fact the
government and the police have lost control of it, they may not let word of
that onto their nice information networks.  Locals, naturally, just ignore
anything government supported, but strangers will not have access to
underground streams of information.  They, in fact, may have to wander into
the unsafe shit holes to gain access to such streams.  Such situations are
what make life interesting.



   ****



   Don and Lessa were not holding hands.

   He was kneeling on the ground, back to the wall, gun drawn.  Lessa stood
in the middle of the side street, a half dozen thugs arranged in a
semicircle before her.  Her poncho had been tossed off at the first sign of
trouble, but while the sight of her two sidearms had given the unwanted
guests pause, Lessa showed no signs of using them.  The scum were just
armed with various hunks of metal, or sharp knives.  There was no point
drawing more attention with gunshots.

   She crouched, waiting.

   She was fast.

   Don blinked, almost missing the whole fight.  As they came, she threw
herself at the legs of two of them, drawing a long knife from a leg sheath.
Coming to her feet, she left behind slashed tendons and howls of pain.  One
of their knives was now in her other hand, only to be thrown at the thug
she considered the most dangerous.  He fell, the hilt sticking out of his
throat, as she charged the remaining three before they could get a grasp of
what was going on.  The last, having the seconds the deaths of the others
bought her to somewhat think about survival, managed to get her club up to
block Lessa's blow.  Barely noticing, Lessa used her momentum to flow
around the woman, knife sliding off the metal rod and slicing through arm,
shoulder, and back.  As the thug staggered, Lessa stepped into her, grabbed
the top of her head, reached around with her knife, and slit her throat.

   As the last body hit the ground, Lessa stood up straight.  She was
breathing hard, but not labored.  Her eyes flickered to either end of the
street.  Nothing.  Kneeling, she wiped her blade on the shirt of the woman,
quickly searching the bodies.  Don came up behind her, eyes taking in the
buildings around them.  Someone was on a balcony five stories up, watching.

   "Time to go," he said, holstering his gun.  She nodded.  Standing, she
handed him six wallets.  He tossed her the discarded rain poncho in return.
A minute later, they were back on a more traveled roadway.

   "Do you think he sent them?" Lessa asked.  She hadn't trusted the
merchant.  He had been too...  reasonable, offering fair prices for their
stolen goods.  Don shook his head.

   "We haven't either the goods or money on us yet.  If he was going to do
anything, it would be after the sale.  No, we just looked like kids in the
wrong place." He thought.  "Just to be safe, though, I think it'll be best
if we look around and see if we can get a better, or at least similar,
offer."

   She nodded.

   "Sorry I let them surprise us.  My guard wasn't...  well, where it
usually is."

   "You recovered nicely, that's the important thing.  You're not upset I
stayed out of the way?"

   Lessa gave him a speculative look.

   "No.  You know your limits, and knew I needed room to maneuver.  I
actually respect that." Don cocked an eyebrow at her, smiling.

   "That's a good excuse.  I'll use it the next time I'm cowering in fear."

   She smiled back.

   It was a good first date.



   Chapter 6



   Sean hated this.

   He looked at the ring on his finger.  It was silver, the image of a dove
engraved into the top.  A dove of peace -- the symbol of The Guard.

   Military life, even more than life in general, is full of irony and
related unintended humor.  Their official title was "Homeland Peace Guard",
and whatever the original intent of their creation, their dove was now a
symbol of hate and inhumanity throughout the system.  Naturally, never
having seen a real dove, for all Sean knew they were the assholes of the
bird kingdom to begin with.

   Why did he even still have this ring?

    -- well, to be honest, for cases like this.  His eyes wandered around
the bar.  It wasn't crowded, this early in the afternoon, and as yet there
was no sign of the contact.Sean had ditched the uniform already, naturally.
He understood why Don had made him wear the thing to that theatrical
production that morning, as intimidating local officials was a time honored
use of The Guard, but once the shops were open he bought a few more
respectable outfits.  One single Guard walking the streets, anywhere, was
liable to be a dead man.  Oh, he'd take a dozen or two with him, but
nowadays that wouldn't frighten enough civilians away (if civilians
actually existed, and he had his doubts now).  He had needed new clothes
anyway.  Practical ones, for both fighting and leisure.  Not surprisingly,
they had designer lines just for that.  He had even seen outfits for the
upwardly mobile mercenary.  Nice, actually, and just the thing to let
others know who the dead men walking were.

   But, the ring.  The saying was The Guard never abandoned its own.  This
was a promise, and a threat.  Once you were in, there was no leaving.  You
could run, as he had, but in some ways you were still theirs.  They had a
part of your soul.  If there was a "benefit", to being a former Guard, it
was that you now belonged to a group just as committed to protecting its
own as those still in the service.  Sean would now see exactly what that
meant.

   Still nobody around matching who he was expecting.

   Sean looked over at his table mate.  Shelly was nursing a drink, bored.
He had asked her to come for a number of reasons, despite the fact he
really didn't care for her.  She was too flighty, for his taste, tending to
swiftly swing between care free slut and revenge filled bitch.  The latter
he respected a bit, but it wasn't enough to outweigh the former.  On top of
that, naturally, she was nowhere near his type.  However, this kind of job
wasn't one you wanted to do alone.  Apart from the usual buddy system
aspect, having a woman at his table kept others from bothering him.

   He let out a sigh.  The guy better show up soon, though, as in another
ten minutes Shelly was likely to start trying to find a guy to fuck.  She
was already casing the prospects out.  Personally, he didn't see anything
worthwhile.

   A somewhat rough middle aged man, with the bearing of a soldier, came
down the steps and had a word with the bar maid.  Sean took another sip of
his ale.  As the newcomer made his way over to their table, Sean moved to
get Shelly's attention.  She had already noticed, shifting into business
mode.  Her eyes hardened.

   He wasn't that scruffy, Sean saw, now that the stranger was sitting
across from them.  He had a few days worth of beard, but his hair was well
kept and cut short.  He wore workman overalls, obviously just off a job. 
The busty waitress placed a large beer in front of him, and as he lifted
it, the slightly tarnished ring on his finger slid into view.  Putting the
mug down, he saw Sean's, nodding while giving the boy an appraising look.
He also spared a glance for Shelly, but seemed to dismiss her.  The eyes
lingered, though, on her assets.

   "I've been told you're looking for assistance." He didn't give a name.
Sean nodded.

   "We're with a group that has a ship.  We're looking for -- business
opportunities of certain types, or at the very least information.  We'd
rather not annoy or ally with the Rebs or Feds at the moment, or get in the
Guard's way."

   The man cocked his head, considering.  He also took another look at
Shelly, cleavage nicely on display.  The look she returned was neutral.  He
nodded slightly.  Sean thought he saw the lack of flirting as working in
their favor.  The stranger rubbed his chin.

   "What are your restrictions?"

   "I won't patronize you by pretending we have morals," Sean said, smiling
slightly.  "However, we do have -- interests, and people we wouldn't mind
hurting as we make our way."

   "Slavers," Shelly said, darkly.  The man shot her a look, then glanced
at Sean who nodded.

   "We're open to many kinds of jobs, for or against most people, but
nothing that helps Slavers."

   "Hmm -- you do know, naturally, that I may be aligned with some you
dislike." He raised an eyebrow at them.  Sean shrugged, putting his hands
around the top of his mug so his ring was again displayed.

   "And if that is the case, I trust you will let us buy you another beer
and let us be on our way." They held each other's eyes for a moment. 
Nodding, the man raised in mug in a toast.  Sean did the same.

   "I think we can do business together." Shelly raised hers as well, the
three drinking.  Once the mugs were back on the table Sean pulled a pad of
paper out of his bag.  He ripped out a sheet, and slid it across the table.
The man took out a pen, writing a few series of numbers without his hand
touching the paper.  When he was done, Sean pulled it back, handing it to
Shelly.  The man pulled out his own pad, the process repeating.

   The information having been exchanged, they relaxed.  The stranger
looked over at Shelly, giving her a playful leer.

   "So, my Lady, how about you and I celebrate our new business
arrangements?" Shelly leaned forward, breasts saying hello in a delightful
new way, lips giving him a sexy smile as she looked him up and down.

   "Tell you what, old man.  Next time we're in the city, I'll look you up.
And, depending on how you've steered us, either we'll fuck -- or you're
fucked."

   With a laugh, he raised his mug to Shelly.

   "Looking forward to it!"



   ****



   Ken being happy was starting to piss off Mel.

   He always pissed off Mel.  It was his one defining trait.  In fact, now,
you could almost say the annoyance that was Ken was the one constant in her
life.  The rest of creation could explode and reform in a million random
ways, yet she could always rely on her oldest friend being fucking
annoying.

   Which was good.  He was her rock.

   "So, are we lost yet?"

   He was holding a tourist map, printed on glossy paper.  It had lots of
bright lines, colorful pictures, and very little information.  Ken didn't
seem to care, though.  He responded to her question by just smiling.

   She hated that smile.

   A raindrop fell on her bare scalp.  Great.  Just great.  Reaching a hand
up, she wiped the bald side of her head off.  Maybe she could pick up a
silly hat with the name of a local sports team while they were here.

   "This way!" Ken indicated they should turn right at the intersection. 
Mel's eyes flicked around.  There were few cars, little walking traffic. 
This wasn't a good neighborhood.  Not enough rubble, or burned out
doorways. No cover, should the feces hit the spinning blades.  Now, home...
home was someplace where you could always hide.

   Rounding the corner, she finally saw something recognizable.  Two girls,
dark skinned with torn clothing, stood back to back.  A dozen teens, not
much better dressed, circled around them.  Catcalls could be heard, threats
of rape, murder, and other fun familiar sounds of home.  Mel felt her fists
involuntarily clench.

   There was the sound of paper crinkling.  Eyes flicking over to her
right, she saw Ken slip the map into his jacket pocket.  His shoulders
rotated, neck worked out a kink.  His eyes stayed on the gang.

   "Rescue or revenge?"

   His question was calm.  Ken was always calm, when it came to a fight. 
Mel was emotion, rage.  Ken was her rock.

   "Rescue."

   He nodded.  Unbuttoning his jacket, Ken undid the fastener on his belt
knife.  Mel did the same.

   "No death, unless cause.  Hit the tall one and distract.  I'll take them
down the left hand alley."

   As one, they began jogging down the sidewalk.  Mel cleared her mind. 
She had been where those two girls were.  She had also been one of those
ringing them.  Hunter, prey.  Today, she was hunter.

   She was noticed while she was still a few feet away, one of the mob on
the other side of the girls looking right at her.  Mel payed them no mind.
Knife out, she plowed into the nearest thug, a girl about four inches
taller than her and twice as heavy.  She sliced into some of the blubber,
getting a satisfying cry of pain in reply.  As the girl staggered, Mel shot
an elbow up into the head the boy next to her, at the same time spinning
around behind him.  Kicking at the back of his leg, she pushed her human
shield into another boy.

   The mob scattered.

   Leaving the injured to their fate, noting that more than her two were on
the ground suffering, Mel turned and ran.  Ken was twenty feet in front of
her, guiding the two girls.  One of them seemed to be limping, but still
kept up.That was good.  They had to move, get to populated areas. 
Sheathing her knife, wishing she dared clean it on her shirt, Mel entered
the alley.



   ****



   Ken stopped about midway up the passage.  It was as good a place as any,
and if they were going to be trapped there might as well be no obvious
closer exit.  Keep them guessing, that was his motto.  So was rescuing
attractive women.  Well, that was more of a habit and hobby than a motto.
The exact definition of words was not something he concerned himself with.

   "You two OK?"

   He watched as the two girls collapsed against the brick wall.  They were
attractive, at least to him.  Twins, he thought, or at the very least
sisters.  They stood about shoulder high on him, breasts not that developed
yet, although in the loose shirts it was hard to tell.  They were thin,
obviously not all that well nourished, with skin a bit lighter brown than
Sean's but much nicer to look at.  Their hair was black, curly, as well as
very dirty.  Mel came up to them, limbs moving effortlessly as she slowed
from a run.

   "They OK?"

   "That's what I just asked." Ken took a quick glance at the ends of the
alley.  Still clear.  "OK, we have to go.  Your choice, ladies.  Either we
leave you here, having done our heroic duty, or you point out a nice
restaurant in a public part of town and we treat you to a meal." His eyes
flicked up, casing the rooftops.  He hated alleys, unless he knew them.

   The non limping one looked up from her sister Bella, grey eyes shining.

   "Thank you." The other one nodded, pushing herself away from the wall
and standing next to Bell.

   "Yes.  Thanks.  We'll take that food."



   ****



   Amanda sat on her bed, the day's purchases spread out around her.  Lots
of new underwear, a big bag of candy, a shirt she just HAD to have, and a
paint set.  The smooth white wall in front of her displayed the first use
of those paints: a yellow sun, over green grass.  The more she looked at
the pitiful work of the past half hour, the more they seemed to mock her.

   She wanted to stay.

   She wanted to just stay and play in that park every day.  To be under
the blue sky, on swing sets, feet kicking the dirt.  She wanted to be out
of this white box she had spent the last two weeks in.  Just the idea of
going back into space made her want to scream.  She couldn't do it --

    -- but Kine wouldn't leave.

   She knew that.  Amanda didn't even have to ask.  It wasn't that bitch
Irene: that was too new to have any pull on him.  No.  It was Don.
Amanda had seen it before, this side of her brother.  Kine would not
leave Don.  Not now.  He had even said so, a few days ago.  He had found
someone he respected, someone he trusted.  Someone he could follow.  He

wasn't the type to abandon such a person so soon into service.

   But, what about HER?!?  What about HER feelings?  Mind you, her brother
didn't know, yet, that she wanted to stay, but that was no excuse!  He
should KNOW how she felt, to the point of suggesting they stay when he saw
how much fun she had today!  Amanda grabbed up her teddy, hugging it
tightly.

   Maybe if she just left.

   Yeah, that was it.  Amanda could, just before they were going to leave,
walk out of the ship and stand there waiting.  Kine would HAVE to join her.
He wouldn't abandon her!  Yes, that would work -- she'd leave, force him to
choose between her and his own desires --

    -- and he'd hate her.

   No, not hate -- he'd be disappointed in his little sister.

   She hugged Teddy tighter.  That would be worse than hate.

   Amanda looked around the room.  Where WAS big brother, anyway?



   ****



   There was nothing, Kine had discovered years ago, better than a fiery
naked girl thrashing under you.

   He had grown up fast, as most of his generation tended to.  He had seen
death by age ten, caused death by age twelve.  That was the same year, as
if to counter the growing horror around him, that his growing body began
cutting a wide swath through the hearts and thighs of the village girls. 
Sex was good.  Sex was fun.  Sex, also, came easily enough that he could be
casual about it.  Wait for someone special, not have to settle for anyone
because, well, he could HAVE anyone.

   Irene was incredible.

   She was practically growling, legs locked around his ass, hands gripping
not his back, but his shoulder muscles.  A slight shift in positions a
minute ago had suddenly revealed the perfect angle for their joining. 
There was no thought.  Just emotion.  Joy.  Pleasure.

   Life was good.



   ****



   The ship dining room was filled.  Well, maybe filled wasn't the right
word.  The small crew wasn't exactly rattling around in the large space,
but neither was it standing room only.  The laughing, talking kids were
spread around enough that it, at least, seemed like they had the numbers to
take on the universe -- if you squinted and tried real hard to see things
that way.

   Everyone had come back.  Don was surprised at that.  He would have bet
they'd have lost a few, even if only to arrest or accidents.  It WAS a nice
city, one that at least on the surface was peaceful.  Maybe they had come
back to hear what he had to say, figuring they had a few days to make a
decision.  Don entertained the thought of sneaking off to the bridge and
taking the ship into orbit himself, but laughingly dismissed the idea. 
They were here, that was the important thing.

   Actually, was it important?  Did it matter?  What if they all did want
to leave?  They could sell the ship, buy a tree farm, and live out their
days here.  Did Don really fucking care?

   And if he did care, was that just his ego talking?

   Once again Don had to question his motives.  Why was he leading these
idiots?  Why did he think only he knew enough to keep them alive?  (because
that's true, that's why) Why couldn't he just go off on his own, find a
cave, mourn his lost Cynthia?  He closed his eyes, fingers touching the
golden locket.  That's all he wanted.  That, and --

   He looked up, and saw cute little Sirenia.

    -- and he wanted, once in his life, to save somebody.

   Even if they didn't want or need to be saved?

   Kine finally entered the room, receiving a large chorus of greetings. 
He was closely followed by Irene.  Don shook his head.  Stupid hormones. 
They were going to get someone killed one of these days.  He was amused to
see he wasn't the only one unhappy with Kine's choice of how his time was
spent: Amanda pounced on her brother.  Pointing at Don, he seemed to be
pleading that time was of the essence, that his presence was needed.  A
moment later, he was at Don's side.
"Whew -- well, that went well!  So, are we all ready here Mister Leader,

sir?"

   Don just looked up, wanting to slap that smile off his face.  In the
end, he just sighed.  Not killing your own people is the true skill of a
leader.  Stepping up onto a chair first, then a table, Don looked out over
the crowd, raising his hand.  To his complete surprise, within seconds the
room had quieted.  The voice in his head asked him if he liked that power.

   "Thank you.  I won't take up much of your time --"

   "Good!" Shouted Sean from the back of the room, drawing laughter.  Don
chuckled, although not at the joke.  Such a response is almost required
when that line is used.  Hell, experienced speakers probably pause for it
the same way they do for applause and laughter.

   "I'm up here to talk about what happens next.  What happens to each of
you as individuals -- and what happens to us, as a group.  Or a crew, or
however you want to think of us."

   "Fucking unwanted orphan waifs!" The female cry came from somewhere in
the middle of the room.  Ger turned his head to look at the person.

   "We're 'FUOW's?"

   That brought the house down.  Don dropped to a crouch, his hands
covering his face, trying with mixed success to not break out laughing. 
Kine collapsed back against the wall, only friction keeping him upright. 
Eventually, things settled down.  Accepting an unexpected cup of water from
Lessa for a quick sip, Don stood up again.

   "Well, whatever we are, we have choices.  Now -- this is a nice moon. 
Hell, a nice city.  And," he noted, looking at the crowd closer, "it
obviously has nice clothing stores." Just about all the kids were wearing
new outfits, with not a uniform to be seen.  They cheered agreement again,
a couple of girls and one boy standing to twirl and show off their
ensemble. "Some of you may want to stay here.  That would be
understandable. But -- this is the first place we've visited.  The first
planet we've landed on.  Surely, it's worth taking a look at what else is
out there?  Once you leave this ship you may never travel again -- do you
really want to not know if paradise was just a couple planets away?"

   Don saw them nod, and...  felt ashamed.  He felt his hand start to make
its way to Cynthia's picture again, and almost jerked it back.  His
expression hardened a bit.

   "Shelly has suggested that, while we're traveling around, we, maybe, try
and do something good.  Strike at some of the evil in this world we've been
born into.  That we find and take down a slaver ring.  This," he said,
looking over them, "will not be easy.  Some of us will die.  But -- maybe
we die free, and heroes."

   Ken jumped to his feet, dressed in a dapper blue suit, and thrust his
fist into the air.

   "Death to slavers!"

   Half bald Mel next to him was just an instant behind, as were two
strangers, the crowd soon chanting with them.  My god, thought Don -- what
was happening -- this wasn't what he wanted -- was it?

   Off to the side of the room, Amanda slowly rose to her feet.  Kine
wasn't looking, or he would have seen the sad despair in his little
sister's eyes.  Unnoticed, she slipped away.

   "Now," yelled Don, trying to get some control back, "Sean has some ideas
about how we can fund this little adventure of ours --"



   ****



   "Is being a thief better than being in the army?"

   Sirenia kicked her legs again, sending the swing up higher.  She could
see, from this height, over the park lake.  It looked like there was a
larger play area over there, with stuff you could climb on.  She liked the
swings, though.  There was something about the repetition, that moment of
weightlessness at the top...  as well as the naughty thought that she was
flashing everyone in her new black skirt.

   "My mom," Wendi said, swinging up past Sirenia as she moved downward,
"told me stealing was bad." As Sirenia approached her maximum backward arc,
hands pushed back on her butt.

   "MY Mom," Amanda said, moving over behind Wendi as that girl began
moving downward again, "taught me how to field strip a dead body!"

   That was probably bull.  Certainly, Sirenia knew Amanda was no Lessa,
and there was no way her brother would let the girl get into things like
that.  Still, it was generally accepted one should never challenge
exaggerated claims of "My mom told me", especially when engaging in playful
oneupmanship.  That was just rude.

   "At least we're not being whored out." She kicked her legs again.

   "We can be pirate whores!"

   "With a sexy eyepatch!"

   Sirenia laughed.  Life was a joke.

   That, her mom HAD taught her.



   ****



   "Knock knock."

   Lessa's expression, revealing her feelings regarding Ken's verbalization
of his action, was well worth tempting death.  He grinned at the girl,
while instinctively keeping an eye on where her hands were in relation to
her sidearm.  Whether she could take him bare handed was uncertain, but he
would certainly have better odds than if she got a shot off.  He was good,
but not THAT good.  The two stood outside the cabin, waiting.

   "So, have you met them yet?"

   Lessa shook her head.

   "No.  And I'm here because...?"

   "Because you need to get out more, make friends." Her glance again
showed gutting him was beginning to move up her to do list.  She was
beginning to remind him of Mel in that regard.

   The cabin door opened.  One of the twins stood there, surprise on her
face.  Bell, Ken assumed, based on the fact she was standing normally. 
Once that was fixed up he assumed he'd have no idea, unless they did
something with their hair.  Cut their names into the black curls or
something.

   "Ken!  Hi!" She was definitely happy to see him, which pleased Ken.  He
liked being liked.

   "Hello, Bell." Her eyes widened.  He shoots, he scores!  "Can we come
in?"

   "Oh!  Sure!" Bell backed into the room.  Ken motioned Lessa in first. 
She eyed him suspiciously, but with a sigh entered.  He followed, grinning.
Ken was sure she was used to being sent on point, as well as to seeing the
disappointment when that mission didn't get her killed.  Glancing around
the cabin, he saw it was one of the standard smaller two person rooms, with
two small beds and some chairs and desks.  He shared the same thing with
Mel.  Bella was sitting on one of the beds, dressed in the same white
blouse and pink skirt as her sister.  It contrasted nicely with their brown
skin, he thought.  So did the white bandages on her right leg, showing he
had little fashion sense.  He motioned for her to stay.

   "Don't get up.  Sit." He moved over to the bed, dropping down onto one
knee before her.  Her cheeks seemed to redden a bit.  "How's the leg,
Bella? Still OK?"

   "Doesn't hurt that much, Ken." She put a hand on her knee, moving the
leg a bit.  He nodded.

   "Good.  Just to be safe, I've brought our own medical expert." He stood,
motioning to Lessa.  "Bell, Bella, this is Lessa."

   The brown haired girl cast him an annoyed glance, gave a sigh, and
actually smiled a bit as she moved to kneel down before the girl.

   "I'm not an expert, just the only one of these idiots who knows bleeding
is a bad thing." Her hands took Bella's leg.  She was actually being
gentle. Ken hadn't realized that was possible.

   A hand touched Ken's arm.  Turning, he saw Bell at his side, a bit
nervous.  He smiled, which seemed to make it worse.  Ken put his own hand
on her arm, making sure to keep it up on the sleeve of her her blouse and
off her bare skin.

   "Everything OK with you?"

   She nodded.

   "Yes.  And, thank you for sending the others with us when we went back
to get our stuff.  Nobody was there, but..."

   "But better safe than sorry." Glancing around the cabin, he saw they
hadn't had to carry much back.  Two cloth bags lay on the floor, crumpled
clothing coming out of them.  He nodded.  "We've all been where you are, so
don't hesitate to talk to us.  And feel free to leave if you realize this
isn't going to work.  Before we leave the planet, preferably, but naturally
you can leave at any time."

   "Who bandaged you?"

   At Lessa's comment Ken looked over.  She was holding Bella's leg out,
examining the wrapping critically.  Bell went over and knelt down next to
her.

   "I did.  Did I do it OK?" She sounded worried, running her own hand over
it.

   "It's great!  You actually have some training?"

   "We both do.  I was living with some adults for awhile who ran a
clinic..."

   Ken smiled.  His work was done.



   ****



   "Is it a good or bad thing that there are so many choices of who and
where to rob on this peaceful world?"

   Sean glanced over the conference room table at Don.  The kid's
expression was disgusted as he read over the list Sean had provided.  He
just leaned back in his chair, enjoying the moment.  If the fourteen year
old couldn't cut it...

   Don let out a sigh.  Bringing a pen over, he began ticking off items.

   "No, no...  hell no.  Not worth it, a bit too risky to start with..." He
paused, blinking.  "OK, at this price they're not telling us something." He
looked up at Sean.  "This everything?"

   "That's what I received from my contacts, yes.  Obviously, they're as
uncertain about us as we are about them.  We're going to have to pick one,
or go elsewhere and start over there."

   "And word, among some people, will have gone before us." He tossed the
paper back across the table at Sean.  "I assume you have your preference?"

   "Yup."

   Don nodded, surprising Sean a bit by not even asking what it was. 
Looking down, Sean saw his own choice circled by Don.  The kid met his
gaze, smiling slightly.

   "Yeah, I figured that's the one you would go for if it was your call. 
It's easy, with what we have, and I think even if all we get is the cash
payment the experience will be worth it."

   Sean sat up.

   "So, when are we doing this?"



   ****



   Smoke rose from the wooden structure, although luckily it hadn't caught
fire yet.  There was no need to draw more attention to themselves just now,
although there shouldn't be anyone else in the area.  Kine looked around at
the results of their first -- well, second bout of piracy, and was
satisfied.

   They had hit the smugglers at noon, because who the hell attacks at
noon. Their two shuttles, wings attached for atmospheric use, had dropped
out of the sun onto the small landing field carved out of the forest
valley. A couple blasts next to the men working outside, and at their only
shelter, had caused an immediate surrender.  Ten of them were currently
tied up and blindfolded, and Kine figured he'd just leave them here. 
Either they get free and make their way home, or -- they don't.  No blood
on their hands this time.

   He looked up as the first shuttle took off again, loaded to the gills
with electronics.  The buyer in Seneca had thought the markup being charged
by this group of importers was a bit high, so had asked the crew of the
Liberty to bring it down.  They got paid hard cash, and were free to take
anything else they found.  That extra booty was now being loaded into the
second shuttle.  Well, most of it.  The shuttle the smugglers had been
using wouldn't fit.  As chance would have it, it would fit in one of the
Liberty's two empty landing bays.

   They now had money, and the means to get more.  They had a new ship. 
They even had two new crew members, thanks to Mel getting involved in that
brawl.  So long as they were careful, and as Don suggested they only hit
one or two places per world and leave immediately -- they could do this.

   Kine smiled, walking to the new shuttle.  Their new life was off to a
great start.



   ****



   To be continued...



   Edited by SciFi Nut

   Comments more than welcome.

   invidfan@localnet.com
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