CHAPTER 07


   It was never clear to Vitosk exactly why Saiid called this place his shop. It looked like a house and a rather neat and orderly one at that. Considering Saiid was a well known slob, Vitosk was actually surprised to find the house very well decorated and cared for. This included the almost non-existent yard, white wash on the picket fence, the porch, the flower and shrubbery beds, all maintained with loving care. Vitosk knocked on the door and wondered how much Gina got Saiid to help.

Saiid answered the door. He was both surprised and glad to see Vitosk, "Doc! Hey welcome home man."

The living room was spotless. This seriously impressed Vitosk. Gina came down the stairs holding little Saiid Junior in her arms. The two year old was wrapped in a towel, "Hi Doc, we were just at bath time."

 This struck Vitosk as unusual. "If you don't mind me asking, in the middle of the day?"

Gina set her son down. He immediately tried to run off but she grabbed him with one hand and his clothes with another. "Sure, it's the only time warm enough. Saiid, you going to give the Doc a ride back home?"

"Sure, let me go get my keys."

Once again Vitosk raised an eyebrow. He had not heard that expression in a very long time. "Again, pardon my being intrusive but keys to what Saiid?"

He went into the door next to the staircase. Vitosk took a glimpse of the room through the crack. It looked very much like some kind of repair shop, all except for the home made models of Federation Starships hanging by strings from the ceiling. Saiid came back out shutting the door, "to the club."

Vitosk was confused, "a stick for bashing people in the head to steal their money? Or the American Euphemism for getting people drunk in a room and stealing their money?"

Saiid smiled as he grabbed his coat, "neither, it's an anti theft device. We had one donated to us and I use it on the wagon wheel."

Hiruko came running down the stairs, "Daddy!  Daddy! You no leave me!"

Gina gave Saiid a nasty look, "You promised her."

Saiid stomped his foot, "but honey, I've got some programming to do for the Doc here. I can't watch her too."

Hiruko tossed her arms around Saiid's legs, "Please Daddy. I want to play with Eric, and Aunt Dee, and..."

Gina's eyes narrowed, "Saiid. If you think that you're going to leave me here to baby sit while you ride off down there to be with your other woman, forget it."

Vitosk's eyes opened wide, "excuse me?"

The shirt slid on over Saiid Junior's head and Gina sent him on his way. She stood up and got little Hiruko's jacket and extra shirt from the hat rack, "oh, yeah. That’s the computer out there at the Inn. I think he's been cheating on me with it."

"Now that's not funny," protested Saiid.

"Go," she handed the clothing to Hiruko and slapped her husband on the butt. Saiid jumped almost a foot up.  She then grabbed him around the neck and kissed him long and hard. When they broke he was gasping for air and she just looked him in the eye and said in a sinuous tone, "I'm jealous."

"Uh... I... won't be that long."

"I know," Gina replied with a wink.

Vitosk began whistling while admiring the furniture.


Once back out in front of the house, down on the street, Vitosk stopped for a moment as Saiid finished buttoning Hiruko's jacket. Vitosk took the time and looked around. There was a lot of activity in town today. "Saiid, how is it coming?"

"Well, I'll show you when we get out to the Inn. The counting part is easy. I've already got that part of the program perfected. Only I don't think the outline you gave me is going to work."

They began walking down the street towards the stables. "Why is that exactly?"

"Well, even with the stuff that Pam wrote down it's not enough information. I need some more raw data. I mean just the basic stuff. Now I might be able to get it, at least some of it, I think."

Vitosk was perplexed.  Saiid might be able to work magic on computers but it was going to take some of the real stuff for him to produce a book on Genetics here. "How exactly do you propose to do that?"

"We got some software. A bunch of commercial CD's that came with the basic systems. I never used them. I wiped all the hard drives on those bad boys and wrote my own operating system for each one when we first got them. Since some of that software was written by the company I used to work for, shoot, I even wrote some of the programs myself, it won't be a problem to load them up and make them work."

"I fail to see how this helps us," remarked Vitosk.  At the moment he was more interested in what was transpiring on the street. It was mainly because of the bounty hunters from the train. Vitosk saw them again. They were now with several soldiers and walking down the street in the opposite direction. It was obvious from the looks they were getting that most people here had the same feelings about them as Vitosk. No one wanted them here.  

Saiid was oblivious. He normally was when he was talking about his computers, "Well one of the CD's is an interactive encyclopedia. I wrote the interface for it so by passing it won’t be a problem. I know it's going to have at least one or two tit bits on it that we can use. All I got to do is down load that off the CD and plug it into your sequencer program."

Vitosk almost bumped into someone because he was so busy looking over his shoulder. He apologized to the man and started looking where he was going again. "Yes, Saiid. That is very good news. I'm not sure if it will be enough but it, is far better than nothing at all."


Saiid Junior went down for his nap. Gina laid the toddler in his bed and he stayed there finally.  With him asleep and the two older children of the house gone, Gina looked forward to some quiet rest. She pulled the blanket over her son and then sleepily wandered back down the stairs. She stopped halfway, "What are you people doing in my house?"

The six men all exchanged glances. Several of them smiled. There was one who did not look as dusty or sloppy as the rest. He wore a nice suit, had a small set of spectacles on, and carried a leather bound pad of paper in his hand. He stepped forward, "Is your master here? We shall talk with him at once."

Gina suddenly realized that she was not in her house. To them she was in her master’s house. She had spoken to them very rudely. They were not used to a woman doing that. "Uh... he's not here right now."

"Very well, fetch your papers at once. I must see them."

"Papers?"  Gina felt a knot in her stomach.

The man turned and began consulting with his comrades. Gina couldn't understand a word they were saying.  It was Dottish they were speaking, she knew that much, only she had never learned it herself.  

ZeRunden was not at all surprised by the girls revelation, "There are many women here without papers. You know that. Zeats do not register their daughters with exact regularity. I am uncomfortable with this entire thing. Just being in here is border line illegal. We did not have the local authority give us a writ."

Tinzen knew all of this of course. Besides, he didn't need a writ to enter any building if he was looking for a runaway. That was the law even if it was a highly contested one. If push came to shove and someone complained he had enough support to back him, particularly these days.  

As far as the Zeat women not having papers, well, that was what he liked about this region. On a trip such as this one, where he had failed to locate the one he was looking for, he could easily find another that he could get away with taking back to the auction houses in Ninvey. There had been talk of a half-breed living in this town. He had heard of it for some time. He just never had an inclination to bother with it until now. He needed a capture to pay for this trip and so far he had come up empty handed.

"Give me a break Ruden. You can look at her and tell she's a half-breed illegal. She's got the eyes of Raed, the skin tone of a Ginusian."

ZeRuden looked over his shoulder at the woman. She did indeed look like a crossbreed. That didn't change certain facts however, mainly who the administrator was for this sub region. "I think we had best wait and get a seizure permit."

"I don't need a seizure permit. You locals are always buried ass high in paper work. I don't have to bother with that crap."  Tinzen snapped his fingers and nodded to two of his men, "Grevis, Lachtien."

Gina stepped back when the two men came around her couch and towards the stairs. She reached down into her skirt, "What are you two doing? I've had about enough of this. Get the hell out of my house!"

That caused Tinzen to laugh. He mimicked her with a high-pitched exaggeration. “Get the hell out of my house. That's funny. Now don't make us hurt you. We'd both hate it if I had to put a mark on your skin."

ZeRuden bowed his head slightly, "I am sorry, but you will have to go with these men."

"Just how do you plan on making me?" replied Gina as her eyes narrowed on the two at the bottom of the stairs.

That set them all, except for ZeRuden, to laughing. It was the big one called Lachtien who stepped on the bottom stair first. Gina pulled the forty caliber pistol out of her skirt. Lachtien looked up and saw it. "What is that? A toy?"

The slide rocked back and a spent cartridge spun out from the ejection port. Lachtien caught the slug with his forehead. Blood began streaming down the holes in both front and back. Tinzen slung some of the remnants of his former employee's brains from his sleeve. He reached into his belt for his revolver. "You're going to pay for that one bitch."

Before he could even aim, bullets began cracking all around Tinzen. He and his entire party made for a hasty exit. Most of them tried to shove their way out the door causing a bottleneck. Tinzen couldn't get past. He felt a sharp hot slicing pain in his arm. He decided not to wait for the traffic jam to clear and went out the front window. He rolled clear of the broken glass and slid up against the outside wall with his pistol at the ready. What was left of his men had already jumped down to the street taking cover behind the brick wall.  

The soldiers that had been waiting in the street were raising their weapons to fire. Tinzen screamed out, "Hold your fire you damn fools! You'll shoot me! Go around back!"

He breathed a sigh of relief when the soldier’s rifles lowered. Several of them hunched over and ran for the back of the house. Tinzen pulled the hammer back on his pistol. There had been no shooting for a few minutes and he had the wall for cover.

That bitch had fired a hell of a lot of more ammo than any kind of gun Tinzen had ever heard tell of. She had to be out by now, wouldn’t she? A bullet hole appeared in the wood right next to Tinzen’s nose. It had come from inside the house! Tinzen abandoned his position and dove for the cover that the rest of his party had more wisely chosen.  

ZeRuden was still breathing heavy, and shaking. He was doing all of this despite the fact that he had been behind good solid cover longer than anyone else. He looked at Tinzen, "Your arm is bleeding! Are you all right? What kind of gun was that!? What kind of gun shoots eight times or more!"

"Shut up!" He had a point though. Tinzen thought about it. He only saw one pistol. Maybe she really had two? If that were the case she should have exhausted her supply now. It took a while to load caps and balls. She had to run out sometime! He nodded to his fellow bounty hunters, "shoot back you idiots she's got to be empty by now!"

They rose up and aimed their pistols. Before one shot was fired, the grass yard at the top of the wall became clumps of dust and debris. That gun had made some kind of ripping noise this time! Tinzen got a look at what it had done, from an angle of course. It had chewed up the ground all the way across the yard! It had done it almost instantly! He dropped back down right after showing too much of his hat. Another rip of bullets came slamming in all around him.

ZeRuden was shaking violently now, "What kind of gun is that?!"


Gina went ahead and slapped a fresh magazine in her M-16. She slowly rose from her crouched position, by the front window, and looked down the sights, scanning the front walk. She saw the top of a hat. It got a three round burst before it vanished from sight. Gina dropped back down. She heard Saiid Junior crying up in his room. She yelled, "It's all right sweetheart! Mommy's just killing some rats."


The bounty hunters jumped up from their cover. Another hail of bullets filled the air, all coming at them. This time someone was not so lucky. The bounty hunter was rolling in the street screaming in pain. Tinzen had seen men lose arms from shootouts. He had never seen one happen during a shoot out! The bullet had made a wound in the man’s shoulder and then shredded his arm into so much lumpy flesh. All that was left now was only attached by a few slivers of skin!

ZeRuden was still breathing in short hard bursts despite the fact that he was not the one getting shot at here. He had never left the safety of his cover. "There must be twenty of them of them in there! Where did they come from? She's got a small army! It must be a revolt like out East!"

"Shut Up!" said Tinzen. He was not sure about many things at the moment. He was fairly certain of one thing though. There was only one shooter. What she was shooting was beyond him but, the fire was coming from only one window. "She can't be everywhere at once. Grevis come with me."

Grevis was looking at the hole in the top of his hat. "I don't know boss. I kind of like it right here myself."

It was not good enough for Tinzen who growled back, "Grevis! If you don't come with me I'll shoot you myself. We're going round to the side of the house."

The prospect of leaving the wall was not exactly a good one. "How?"

"Crawl you flaming idiot. Crawl!"


The crying grew louder. Gina slid back and looked up the stairs. Saiid Junior was at the edge! "Oh my god!" She darted up the stairway. The boy put his foot over the edge. He had been terrifying her trying to do that for the last two months! Gina grabbed him under her arm with one swift swoop. She kicked the door open to her room and sat him down in the corner. Gina tossed the mattress of the bed on top of him. She pointed at him, "Mommies got a shoot out baby. Can you stay here and play?"

There was no stopping his tears. Gina had no time to do anything about that at the moment. She rushed to the window and raised it open just slightly. She had a better angle on the street from up here on the top floor. She placed her sight on an exposed black shirt hiding behind the wall. At this new angle she had his head plainly in view. She squeezed of a burst and the man fell over screaming. Gina followed up with a several continuous bursts that drove the remaining ones from their cover. They were scattering across the street. Gina began picking them off at her leisure.

ZeRuden screamed when the Sergeant next to him splattered all over his suit. Then he felt a shock run through his body. There was an immense pain in his foot. There was a hole in his shoe and blood was squirting out every few seconds! ZeRuden screamed and tried to run for the other side of the street. He didn't make it.  He fell to the dirt with two holes in his back.

Gina screamed out the window, "You bunch a damn wimps! Don't you want to come back and play with me! I'll show you who's coming with you!" She fired off another burst to answer her own question.

With the opposition disintegrating and running in terror Gina ran back over to the mattress. She picked up her child and held him. He had wet himself. For once Gina figured it was all right because he was probably not the only one this time. As Gina held him she had to take a few deep breaths too. They caused her to cough.  

What was that smell? Gina looked at the door. There was smoke rolling out from under and filtering in from above. She stood cautiously, steadying her child in one hand, and her weapon in another. Gina dropped the M-16 sling over her arm and reached out with her now free hand.  

The door almost scalded her hand! The house was on fire! She remembered what they had said about fire here. It spread quickly with more oxygen in the air! Gina looked toward the window. She ran to it. The glass shattered as a bullet whizzed by. She dropped down with her child. Gina set him right behind her and looked out on the deserted street. Another bullet came crashing through shattering even more glass. She couldn't see the sniper. They were trapped!

"Oh god Saiid please hurry back."


_____________________


Hurandan was busy warming himself by the fire barrel. It was turning cold which was something that seldom happened along the south coast. It would have to do it now of all times! The militia, for reasons that made no sense, had been called up and placed at various points around the city. Hurandan and Juskat got the most unenviable position of watching the wall gates. In days past, it was an important post. Blekshatten, like most cities in the region, had long since outgrown its walls. There were just as many, if not more, buildings outside the wall as inside. Part of the wall no longer even stood! It had been knocked down for the rail line over two hundred years before.

"So why in the hell are we freezing our butts off up here?" asked Hurandan. "I mean it makes no sense to keep a damn gate locked when all you got to do is walk three blocks yonder, and come right in the rail line. Who they trying to kid?"

Juskat rubbed his hands over the fire and then looked down on the street bellow. The street outside the wall looked no different from the one inside it. There was a curfew going on right now anyway and Juskat wished somebody would come and tell him not to be outside right now. It was an un-natural sort of quiet out tonight, no movement at all, and it gave him the creeps. Blekshatten was always such a lively town. "I tell you Hurandan, I wish they'd curfew me. Wouldn't mind being in one of those beds myself. Hey.... what's that down there?”

A very large party of Bothi had left town, earlier in the day, supposedly to take care of an extra large group of runaways. That was what all the fuss was supposed to be about but, some how, Hurandan could just not see it as true. This group had to be at least some of the Bothi, which Hurandan had seen leaving with his own eyes. At least that much of it was not rumor.

The fact that some of them were back so early told him all he needed to know about the runaways, that it was like most such news, a rumor of hot air which sure would feel nice right about now. The closer they got to some of the torches, down by the gate, the more Hurandan could make out details. Several of the mounted Bothi were leading lines of women in neck chains! Well maybe there was some truth to all of it. Even so, Hurandan could not imagine it. He called out, "Got you the lot of them did you?"

The voice called back, "Sure did. Game was a plentiful. Can you open the gates? I need to take these over to that warehouse."

Juskat walked down off the wall and pushed the small crossbeam from its cradle. The real gate lock, the giant metal rod that was supposed to slide through the O-rings was rusted to its resting place. Three elephants had tried to pull it out earlier but all they managed was to break part of the wall so everyone gave up. Some carpenters came out and installed the crossbeam only a few hours before dark. Once again, Juskat could only see it as a waste of tax money. They were paying a carpenter to fix a gate, to a wall with a giant hole in it, that did not defend most of the city anyway! Politicians needed to be shot sometimes just to keep them honest.

Juskat pulled hard on the right side gate. It swung open and he was tackled by a mass of women. Another group ignored him and charged the top of the wall. They secured the second guard before he had even realized there was trouble. Then they drug him back down the stairs to join his companion.

Hurandan screamed as they wrapped him in ropes. "They'll impale the lot of you for this! I bet you think you're a smart bunch of bitches don't you!"

Julia knelt down and pulled his head back by the hair, "smart enough to catch you."

Hurandan laughed, "Not smart enough to just walk in down there at the rail line. Nice big hole down there. Dumb bitch!"

Julia stood up and looked at ZePure, "Well, he's got me there.”  She knelt back down and patted the man on the head like if he were her pet dog,  “Thanks for the information though. Want a doggie biscuit for that?"

Juskat understood the biscuit part, “you did all this just so you can feed us?”

Gurcia came running up out of the darkness, "We bagged the whole garrison! They were all asleep! Didn't have to fire a shot!"

ZePure laughed, "Well we lucked out there. How long you think it's going to hold Julia?"

Julia had been going round and round in circles with ZePure since they left the grove. If she had listened to him they wouldn't have gotten anywhere near this town, let alone have taken it. They wouldn't have ambushed all of those Bothi ten miles back either.

Julia had set the trap. They spotted about twenty girls by a creek and without even thinking the majority of them gave chase. They ran right down into a depression full of heavy brush. They got more than thorns trying to get out. The waiting rifles along edges of the depression stung them a lot harder.

The Bothi and their henchmen barely got a shot off. They were too stunned by the fact that their prey was now hunting them. Indeed a good number of them had their weapons packed in saddlebags, carrying only whips, nets, and pole nooses.

Chree came out of the darkness of the city streets and pointed something out for Julia, "Look at that building there. You see the signs. They had a city ordinance here that all women had to wear shackles on the street. Had a damn store right there at the train station."

Julia nodded, "good way to drum up business." She yelled to a group near the building, "BURN IT TO THE GROUND!"

Tish and her group lead a bound, kicking and screaming, man in his nightshirt through the streets. She had a collar on him and was dragging him almost faster than he could walk. Julia stopped her,
"Who's this guy?"

Tish proudly proclaimed, "I found him at the Blek house. He owns the restraint works. I thought he might like to sample his products."

Julia had an idea, "Well are they more comfortable than the leading name brand?"

He spit. Julia grabbed the chain and drug him down too his own factory. She took a torch and shoved it into his hand and just pointed, "Throw the torch."

"What if I don't," he said defiantly.

ZePure replied, "I was thinking about cutting your pecker off and making you eat it. Now do what the lady says!"

He tossed the torch.  


_____________________


The raging inferno rose high into the night. Saiid jumped down from the wagon and ran towards it. Lang was already there and grabbed Saiid as he tried to run by. Saiid struggled to keep going but soon after Pete and Vitosk helped pull him back away from what used to be his home. Saiid cried out for his wife and son. There were fits of rage and sorrow. He kept calling their names over and over. Vitosk took him back to the wagon as he broke down into tears. Pete stood next to Lang and watched it burn, "Did anybody get out?"

Lang bowed his head, "We don't think so. By the time the fire brigade got here it was already completely engulfed. They said a group of bounty hunters had been shooting at it with some of my soldier's from across the street. They all left on horses and headed north. Those miserable bastards know what is going to happen to them if they ever come back here! The Fire Captain was barely able to keep it from spreading to the other houses after the shooting stopped. They almost burned down the entire city!”  

Lang yanked his hat off and crushed it in his hand as he tried to compose himself. He grew up here. He had been born on this very street. As a child he used to play in that very house with some friends who used to live there. It took him a few minutes to remember his job, “Do you know exactly who was in there?"

Pete's hairs were standing on edge. "Yeah, a mother and her son. Are you going after the bastards?"

Lang responded, "According to witnesses they went to the Imperial Inspectors office at the rail station. An inspector named ZeRuden went with them. They entered the house and were apparently ambushed by a small army. The townsmen said they had never heard such shooting. I figured the bounty hunters are headed for the next station up the line. They'll probably try and catch the first train to Ninvey. I sent a posse after them. They entered a private dwelling without authority. Only Joe, or I in his absence, can grant that. So yes Pete, we are looking for them."

Pete realized something about what Lang had just told him. The guy’s heart was in the right place but, there was one little detail he had not bothered to mention. Lang was like all of us in that he was a creature of his environment and, as such, he could not see it. He never mentioned the crime of murder. They had just killed a woman and a two-year-old boy and they were going to be arrested for a technical violation of some sort. There was no justice in that. Pete turned and went back to his horse. He unlashed his M-16 from the saddle, inserted a magazine, and mounted.  

Vitosk grabbed the reigns, "What do you think you're doing?"

"They're killing our children now Vitosk. What do you think I'm going to do? What am I supposed to do?"

"Well," said Vitosk, "The sensible thing comes to mind. Now get down and let's do what we can here and then go back to the Inn.”

Vitosk could see the Marine was not convinced. There was blood in his eyes. Yurgani became very solemn and put it to him as it was, “If you go out there Pete, you'll either kill them, or they you. Either way it will only complicate matters here."

Pete pulled the reigns. Vitosk wouldn't let go.  "They just killed Gina and little Saiid and you want to just let them get away with it?"

"Think about it for a second Peter. Do you even bloody well know who it is you're trying to wreak vengeance on? Think man! Think!"

There was a swelling of anger inside of Pete. That could have been Pam. That could have been Eric or Julie in that house. Vitosk was right as much as Pete didn't want to admit. He didn't even know who, or how many, he was planning on killing. He eased up on the horse and then got down. Vitosk put his hands on his shoulder, "You are doing the right thing."

Saiid jumped up from the wagon and began running back towards the house. Vitosk tried to catch him but, then realized that the house was not where he was going at all. Vitosk stopped dead cold with Pete beside him. In the light of the flames, on the side street next to the inferno, a lone figure came stumbling out of the dark. Gina had her son in her arms. She held him tightly to her chest. Tears were streaming down from her eyes. A weapon was slung diagonally across her back. Her face was blackened with suit.

Vitosk and Pete stayed clear for a moment. They let the couple wring their own emotions out. There was a sense of relief. Then the two men gave each other a deep look of concern when they heard a very distraught Gina screaming in pain, "THEY KILLED MY BABY!"

"Dear God," was all Vitosk could think to say.