Metal Boxes - At the Edge Read online

  Stone said, “I’m sure we’ll have an explanation soon, Frank. How did you get suited up so fast?”

  Frank shook his head, “Six of us are on guard duty around the clock, Boss. Shorty said so.”

  Stone was surprised that Frank was still following Shorty’s orders. Both Shorty and Cissy had remained behind at the piglet’s homeworld to return to their old profession. They were pirates harassing the Hyrocanian fleet. “Shorty told you?

  Frank nodded. “I’m one of Shorty’s slaves. He assigned me to protect you at all costs, with my life if necessary.”

  “Thank you, Frank. I don’t think it’s necessary right now.”

  The lieutenant said, “Ensign Stone, you’re keeping slaves? That is a violation of UEN regulations.”

  Stone shook his head, “Not me, sir. I didn’t know Frank was a slave. Frank, I set you free as of right now. How about that, Lieutenant?”

  Frank snorted a light piglet tone of derision. “You can’t set me free, Boss. I work for you, but I’m Shorty’s slave. Only he can set me free, but I wouldn’t go even if he said so. I owe him, just like he owes you.”

  The lieutenant glanced at his dataport readout. He looked from the data to Stone and back again, obviously comparing his information. “You’re Ensign Stone, but I’m required by regulations to ask, are you Ensign Senior Grade Blackmon Perry Stone?” It was more of a statement than a question, no matter how it was worded.

  “I am, sir. And you are?”

  “I’m sure you don’t remember me, but we met on Lazzaroni Station during the UEN Periodontitis trials. I’m assigned to the Legal Advocate Division.”

  Stone did not recognize him. Hundreds of military personnel were involved in that legal mess. One lieutenant here or there would not stand out.

  Stone was aware the man had not given his name. He was about to ask again when the lieutenant pulled up a set of credentials on his dataport and spun the display around for Stone to review. The credentials did not list the officer’s name.

  “Thank you, sir. May I ask why you have a squad of armed combat-suited personnel surrounding my quarters?”

  “No, Ensign Stone.” The lieutenant answered as if the question had no merit. “I have adjudicated orders from the Legal Advocate Division to place you under arrest for a variety of crimes against the emperor and the UEN. Do you wish to comply or resist?”

  Chapter Two

  Stone shook his head. He heard the words, but they made no sense. “What?” was all he managed to say.

  The lieutenant sighed. He repeated as if speaking to a child. “I—am—here—to—place—you—under—arrest. Do you wish to comply or resist?”

  Stone stammered, “There…there must be some mistake.”

  The lieutenant glanced at the CPO on his right.

  The woman shrugged and said, “Told you, sir. They all say that, even the smart ones.” She held out a hand, accepting a credit transfer script from the officer.

  The lieutenant said, “Please let me know if you wish to resist, Ensign Stone.”

  “Of course not. I will gladly go with you to clear up whatever mistake has been made.”

  “No need to proclaim your innocence, Ensign Stone. Per regulations, anything you say to me or my team cannot be used either for or against you in any court. We are simply the LAD recovery agents.”

  Jay shouted, ignoring her TTS, “Mama! We won’t let them take you.”

  Both drascos shifted into a fighting stance, hugging low to the deck, tails over their heads, bone spikes aimed at the lieutenant. The piglets, now reinforced by a couple of dozen more suited piglets, moved into their fighting stance.

  Stone waved his hand at Jay and Peebee. “Take it easy, girls. Everyone just settle down.” He pushed Jay’s tail to the side. “That’s enough, Jay. The lieutenant is just doing his job.”

  The lieutenant did not respond to the drasco’s heightened state of alarm. He looked uncaring, the perfect face for a poker game. Stone noticed that both CPO’s gun arms were tense and their fingers twitched.

  The LAD recovery agent flipped his dataport readout back, thumbed through a few pages, and spun it back around for Stone to read. His voice, as emotionless as his face, said, “I have further orders to impound the drascos known as Jay and Peebee. Will they comply or will they resist?” Without waiting for a response, he pointed behind him, raised his finger in a circle over his head, and pointed at the drascos.

  Two combat suits popped into view. Stone saw another pair pacing with their weapons drawn and their fingers on the trigger guards. Each of the first pair guided a clear plasticrete box forward, floating comfortably on antigravity sleds, each was big enough to cage a full-grown drasco twin. Adult drascos twins stood nine feet tall at the shoulders and were twice as long. Jay and Peebee could fit in the cages, but it would be a tight squeeze.

  Stone said, “No one is resisting. Jay and Peebee, get into the cages. Don’t worry we’ll—”

  Jay hissed but gave a human nod of agreement.

  Peebee snorted, wonking quietly. Using her TTS, she said, “I don’t like cages. We can squash them if you want, Mama.”

  Her words caused the CPOs and the armored personnel to take a step back. Stone recognized that Peebee had used her TTS as a warning to everyone present that if she entered into the cage, it would not by force. He was glad their daughters were back on Allie’s World. Not all of them were mature enough to avoid the small impulsive acts that could appear to be resisting arrest and someone would get hurt.

  Stone hesitated. Typically, he could rely on Jay and Peebee to listen to his commands, but their emotions and hormones were running high. Now was not the time to throw extra challenges at his drascos. Against his better judgment, both drascos had taken the opportunity to become pregnant during the Rusty Hinges’s layover at Allie’s World. Drascos could be impulsive and unpredictable in the best of times. Pregnant drascos were more than a little erratic and volatile.

  Jay and Peebee’s daughters remained on Allie’s World with Doctor Wyznewski to get pregnant. Until he could clear this mess up, it might be the best place for them. If they were here, someone would get hurt and it would not be the drascos. Hormones notwithstanding, all eight drascos were combat trained by marines. UEN personnel would not stand a chance.

  Stone said, “Sir, we’re not resisting. Jay and Peebee don’t understand any more than I do, but we will comply.” He nodded as Jay and Peebee allowed themselves to be caged. “Sir, will they be going with us?” The lieutenant waved the caged drascos away without answering.

  “They are an intelligent species, sir. Not pets. They can’t—”

  He was interrupted as Captain Butcher, shouting for answers from everyone he passed, raced into the bay followed by Master Chief Thomas.

  “What in Holy Hannah is going on here?”

  The LAD lieutenant snapped to attention, holding out his credentials and orders for Butcher.

  Butcher read the report and snorted. “Arrested? What the hell for?”

  The lieutenant turned his back on Butcher. “None of your business, Commander Butcher.”

  Butcher said, “Like fun, it’s not. Ensign Stone is under my command and I—”

  The lieutenant shook his head, interrupting. “No, sir, he is not. He has already complied with the arrest warrant and is legally my responsibility. Please step aside or I will be forced to file charges against you for hindering prosecution.”

  Stone said, “I’m sure it’s just some snafu, Captain. I’ll go with the lieutenant and get it straightened out.”

  Butcher said, “Don’t say anything until you have legal counsel.”

  Stone nodded, “Yes, sir.”

  Master Chief Thomas spoke for the first time. “Sirs, has Ensign Stone been apprised of his rights?”

  Stone said, “It’s not necessary. I know my rights, Master Chief.”

  Thomas shook his head. “Yes, sir. I’m sure you do. I know you’ve been arrested before. However, under arrest, you have
the right to know who is filing charges and what those charges are. You may have to go, but that doesn’t mean you have to be ignorant about it.”

  Stone looked at the lieutenant. “Is that right, sir?”

  The lieutenant shrugged. “I don’t have to inform you of your rights, Ensign.”

  Butcher all but shouted, “What is my ensign being arrested for?”

  The lieutenant smiled like he was laying down four aces during a poker game. “That is none of your business, Commander. I’ve already sent an official notification to your dataport that Ensign Stone is no longer under your authority.”

  Stone nodded, “Tell me, in front of Senior Commander Butcher and Master Chief Thomas, what the charges are against me and who filed said charges.” His dataport was recording; he tapped it with a finger alerting the LAD that he was taking notes.

  The lieutenant smiled. “Yes, Ensign Stone. I was just waiting for you to ask.” He reached behind him, smiling at the female CPO. He wiggled his fingers and took back the credit transfer slip. “Told you he would ask.”

  The woman nodded. “The smart ones and the innocent ones always do. We’ll see which Ensign Stone is at the end of his trial.”

  The lieutenant turned back to Stone and sighed. Opening a dataport file, he read, “Offenses: number one—giving human technology to a non-aligned species. To whit: text-to-speech (TTS) dataports to drascos, ovens to the piglets, piglet access to his navy issued combat suit.

  “Number two—forming a private army: To whit: leading civilian piglets and drascos in an assault on a Hyrocanian installation.

  “Number three—harboring a known criminal from a non-aligned alien race. To whit: the piglet named Shorty, a pirate wanted by the piglet government, was not turned over as soon as his criminal actions were discovered.

  “Number four—looting and plundering. To whit: during the attack on the Hyrocanian base behind enemy lines in the system beyond the piglet’s homeworld, combatants under Ensign Stone’s command did loot and plunder non-military supplies.

  “Number five—trading for technology with a non-aligned species without government oversight. To whit: trading private real estate for piglet repulsar mines.

  “Number six—purchasing UEN equipment with personal funds. To whit: giving repulsar mines to the UEN without a request for remuneration.

  “Number seven—murder of civilian non-combatants and surrendering military personnel. To whit: Ensign Stone failed to verify the military status of any Hyrocanian he killed during the planetary attack. Ensign Stone further failed to establish communications with said creatures to determine whether or not they were surrendering.”

  The lieutenant paused for a moment, then continued. “The initial investigative reports were filed by Lieutenant Commander Missimaya who is assigned to Admiral Missimaya’s staff on Rincon Six.” His face showed displeasure at saying the name as if he had something sick and wrong stuck on his tongue.

  Stone did not know LCDR Missimaya, but the man or woman must be related to Lieutenant Senior Grade Missimaya, Rusty Hinges’s former third watch commander. The man who had threatened to ruin Stone’s career was apparently following up on his threat.

  Butcher said, “Lieutenant Commander? What the hell? I transferred that screw up off my ship as a lieutenant senior grade and he’s been promoted?”

  The LAD lieutenant shrugged, “Family will protect family, sir, and Weasel has a family with connections.”

  Butcher asked, “Weasel?”

  “Pardon me, sir. I don’t mean to disparage a senior officer. Weasel is what we called him at the cadet academy.” He tapped his lieutenant junior grade rank collar tabs. “I graduated ahead of him in our class, yet he already outranks me by two steps. Family is the only way I can explain it, sir.”

  Stone asked, “So, it’s Lieutenant Commander Missimaya’s word against mine at this stage?”

  The lieutenant shook his head. “No, Ensign. I don’t know who you pissed off, but Weasel just filed the initial complaint. The resulting Empire Military Investigative Service probe was done by an agent…” He looked through his dataport readout, found the name, and continued, “EMIS Agent Tammie Ryte. The evidence was forwarded to naval command, vetted by Admiral Missimaya, and approved by Emperor Garza’s staff counselor, Missimaya.”

  Butcher spat, “Family! I see what you mean.”

  Stone was barely listening. His mind was buzzing at the name Tammie Ryte. He thought of her as a friend, but she was a part of this witch hunt.

  The lieutenant said, “Before you think this is all family, the endorsing authorization is from Him.”

  Stone shook his thoughts clear. He could hear the capital H in the lieutenant’s voice when he said Him.

  “I usually just file recovery orders after I’ve picked up the suspects, but with His signature on this, I’m going to keep this one as a souvenir.”

  He spun the document so everyone could read the signature of Emperor Alberto Garza.

  Chapter Three

  Stone was stunned. Both Butcher and Thomas paled and took a step back.

  The LAD recovery lieutenant’s face returned to its unemotional rigidity. He said, “Well, as much fun as this has been, Ensign Stone, restraints are required. Please present your wrists.”

  Stone held out his arms, accepting the thick nanotech braces. Carbon nanites made the cuffs virtually unbreakable, yet light and infinitely flexible. The female CPO pushed the activation button on the restraints. They clamped tight against his thick skin. He felt a small pinch, but it did not hurt. She frowned, pulled a key from a pocket, and unlocked the braces. “Sorry, sir. I don’t know what happened. These cuffs are designed to snug up against bare skin, but they kept squeezing like you had a long sleeve leather jacket on. I apologize for cutting your wrist, sir.”

  Stone shook his head and looked at his wrist. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just a little scrape, it’s not bleeding. Just put them on again.”

  “I’ll do it manually so they won’t set too tight, sir.” Once on, she kept a hand on the center crossbar between his wrists. The other CPO patted every pocket of Stone’s clothing and gave Stone’s civilian personal assistant and military grade dataport to the lieutenant. Her hand still on the crossbar of his wrist restraints, the CPO escorted Stone step-by-step from the hydroponics bay.

  Stone’s fingers began tingling as they reached the hangar bay. He wondered if his thickened skin had caused the restraints to over tighten initially. Now they felt looser than when the CPO first applied them to his wrists. The CPO tightened her grasp on the cross bar. He stumbled as he stepped up onto the shuttle ramp. The restraints dissolved in the CPO’s hand, turning to dust. Stone stared at his wrists. Crumpled pieces of the brace were forming a gray sludge-like rim around the small cut on his wrist. The gray was difficult to see, but he spotted the darker dust as his skin absorbed the carbon nanites that formed the restraints. Swarming through his body, the malfunctioning military nanites and drasco DNA often acted weird mixing with his human DNA, but he had never seen his body suck up external nanites. The tingling in his fingers stopped once the nanites disappeared into the cut. Wiggling his fingers, he looked up and froze.

  Three sidearms were pointed at him, two weapons at center mass. The handcuff escort’s handgun muzzle was pointed at a spot equidistant between his eyes. Her aim didn’t waver. Her voice shook as she shouted, “What’d you do to my restraints?”

  The lieutenant said, “Easy, Chief.” He looked at Stone’s wrists and asked, “Ensign Stone, are you trying to escape?”

  “No, sir. I’m trying to comply.” Stone suspected that his nanites had co-opted the restraint’s nanites through the cut on his wrist. The cut itself had almost healed.

  He watched the chief snap another pair of restraints on him. Would the nanites continue absorbing the material through the cut until it was completely healed?

  Stone sat in a seat bolted to the shuttle floor. The seat was surrounded by a two-meter space. Facing his seat wa
s a semi-circle of four seats, with enough clear area to cover the arrestee without causing weapons crossfire. One armed guard, a bored looking woman whose gun muzzle never wavered from Stone’s center mass, occupied one seat.

  After buckling Stone into his five-point seat restraints, the LAD lieutenant and escorts took the remaining seats. Their guns never shifted a fraction of a hair’s width from Stone. A pair of security guards stood behind clear shields at the end of the shuttle deck. The muzzles of their guns poked through gun ports, but they were not aimed.

  Stone felt his fingers tingling again and looked down at his lap. The cut on his wrist had not completely closed; apparently the nanites were holding it open to suck up the restraint’s nanotech. He looked at the five-point seat belt, fortunately, it was made of typical webbing with metal buckles and rivets. His seat did not appear to be nanotech, but if his nanites were vacuuming up local nanites, they might harvest the wrong stuff at the wrong time. This shuttle was not the place to experiment.

  He watched with a macabre fascination as his body drew the nanotech from the handcuffs. The tiny cut finally closed as the last nanite was harvested from the restraints. The tingling in his fingers faded away.

  The shuttle shivered and with a quick bump it settled on a hangar deck. The bump was too much for the restraints. With no nanotech bonds holding them together, the cuffs fluttered into Stone’s lap, a useless pile of gray dirt.

  He heard the clack and whine of safeties being released on six weapons. Moving as slow as possible, he raised his arms in submission.

  The lieutenant spat, “Stand! About face. Hands behind your head. Freeze or die.”

  Stone complied and felt hands grab his wrists and shoulders. Something hit the back of his knees and he crumpled to the deck.

  “Charges of resisting arrest will be added to your offenses. Hostile apprehension protocol is now in effect.”

  Hard hands yanked his arms behind him, binding them to the small of his back. The binding felt cold and unyielding. A thick collar was wrapped around his neck and tightened by a small crank under his chin. The handle to the crank jabbed upward, forcing his chin up, keeping his eyes focused on the ceiling. Long chains were locked onto the collar. The ends were handed to two guards who clamped them to their waists, leaving their hands free to keep weapons trained on him. Security officers slapped heavy metal restraints between his ankles.