Half-Point Station orbited the planet of Juiloen, and was home to over two hundred thousand humans and non-humans. It sat on a major space intersection that more than twenty ‘space routes’ intersect, and due to this fact, various legal and illegal interactions happened on a daily basis. It was the duty of the Stylix Confederation Police Enforcement to keep the thirty thousand permanent occupants and the approximately two hundred thousand ever changing visitors of the eight-kilometer long station safe and secure. Over two hundred Officers patrolled through the station and it’s three adjoining rings that encircled the main portion, making the craft six kilometers wide. 1
Stylix Confederation Police Enforcement Supervisor Franco Brondin smiled gratefully as he nearly fell into the couch in the Half-Point Station security office. He took a small card from his breast pocket and started to read, thankful that he could sit for a few minutes. He knew it wouldn’t last long; his breaks never did. 2
The Stylix Confederation Police Enforcement department on Half-Point Station was broken into three separate divisions: Upper, Middle, and Lower. Since being promoted to Section Head two years ago, Franco had the unenviable task of being in charge of the officers and goings on in the Lower Levels, or the section that consisted of the bottom one hundred levels of the three hundred fifty hundred level Station. 3
The Lower levels housed merchants, traders, wanderers, people looking to lose themselves, and assorted families on lay over while waiting for their connecting ride to their destination. He had no idea exactly how many people resided there, but estimated it to be close to fifty thousand at any given time. People came, people went, while some others stayed for a few weeks before being replaced by another nameless face. 4
The accommodations were cheap, and the entertainment was even cheaper. Franco had lost count of the people he had arrested, the fights he had broken up, or even the times he had been attacked during his eight years on the station. Although it was a tiring job, with even less recognition than one would expect from such a high profile position, he loved every minute of being on the Station.5
6
Dragging his attention back to the book he was reading, the words on the card blurring slightly as he covered a yawn. He heard people enter the office, and glanced up to see who it was. 7
“Whatcha reading?” a voice asked a second before the small card was plucked out of Franco’s hand. 8
“A book,” he answered his counterpart from the Upper Levels. He made a grab for it, missing the corner of the wafer thin book card. 9
“I can see that,” the first man said. “What’s it about?” 10
“Tales From Your Momma’s Bedroom.” 11
Anger crossed the first man’s face. “That’s not funny.” He tossed the card back in the general direction from where he had gotten it. 12
“Then stop asking stupid questions.” Franco shut his eyes in annoyance as his personal communicator sounded, and he touched a small tab on his collar to activate the receiver. “Go ahead.” 13
“Supervisor Brondin, report to Director Klaniet’s office,” the mechanical voice said before closing the connection. 14
Franco sighed as he stood from the couch in the Half-Point Station security office and headed for the door. He paused, then turned and tossed the book card at the other officer who had originally nabbed it from him. “It’s on Uminlon Mythology,” he said. “Doesn’t have many pictures, so you might not like it.” 15
~~~~~~~~~~ 16
The sky above the planet Jharfe flashed with destructive columns of energy that poured through the atmosphere like lightening bolts from some long forgotten Norse god of Earth legend. The warship Vengeance unleashed its terror on indiscriminate targets for five minutes before disappearing back into the asteroid field from whence it came. 17
Untouched from the little wars that normally plagued its universe, the people of Jharfe had minimal defenses, none of which reached the attacking ship before it had departed. The only thing left behind was a small capsule, approximately the size of an average human, which the Jharfe defense pulled to the surface of the planet after it scanned negative for explosives. The capsule was placed in a large fielded area, well away from the recent destruction and chaos, where it would remain until representatives from the Stylix Confederation could come to check it out further. 18
The death count of the once lush, peaceful planet had been remarkably minimal, considering the amount of damage inflicted. Adding to an estimated death toll in the hundreds, was a missing person’s count of more than one thousand. People had fled in terror when the mystery ship suddenly appeared and began shooting random targets, and until those people were counted for, the death toll would remain around its original calculations. 19
Images from the planet were broadcast over the entire Stylix Confederation, along with images of the ship that had inflicted the damage. Less than an hour after the destruction, relief started to pour in from the surrounding planets, with more emergency ships heading out from across the galaxy. In the interim, representatives from the Confederation arrived from Jharfe’s largest cities to view the recovered capsule and its contents. 20
~~~~~~~~~~ 21
The image of a man floated slightly above the open capsule in the field on Jharfe. Intelligent eyes stared out at the Stylix Confederation representatives as the recorded image awaited an inputted order to start. Once it was ascertained that there it was indeed safe to commence, a button was pushed, and the image with short blonde hair trimmed with a shock of black at the nape of his neck started to speak. 22
“I am Captain Ron Haligan of the warship Vengeance.” The image paused slightly. “Our peoples are related through a common ancestor, but that is as far as the relationship goes. Whereas my people flourished in what was know as the Brahins Realm, weathering the hardships such a place can provide, your so called Stylix Confederation has flourished throughout the rest of the galaxy. We are to let you know that it is not a symbiotic relationship that we pursue. Two thousand years of conflict has provided us with vast advances in technological warfare.” 23
The small group of representatives started to talk among themselves while those close enough in the surrounding crowd started to tell those behind what the image had said. Voices started to rise in alarm, with demands being voiced for the Confederation to do something. All quieted as the image started to talk again. 24
“This is your warning, your wake up call, your notice that we will be back.” The smile he gave was charming, but held a cold cruelty that was anything but friendly. “And we will not be alone. We will have what our people deserve.” 25
~~~~~~~~~~ 26
Franco walked into his temporary quarters as the door opened and stopped as he saw more people than usual in there. He stared at his roommate until he noticed. “Ever wonder about life?” the man asked from his perch on the corner of his bed. 27
“You’re waxing philosophically again,” Franco said. “I’ll come back.” Ever since he discovered that Franco was half Uminlon, he constantly tried to drag him into discussions on philosophy, a topic which Uminlon's were noted for. 28
“Wait.” His roommate stood and motioned to the two women with him. “This is Mariska and Jiane. They, uh, want to meet someone who has been to the Earth Graveyard.” 29
Franco nodded a polite hello to both women. “Gillian has been there a few time, she would be the best one to talk to.” 30
Hank approached. “They don’t want to talk to a woman,” he said in a hushed tone. “Ya know…” 31
“Damn it, Hank…I’m not going to mess up what I’ve got just so you can get laid.” Franco stared at him, then looked back at the women. “I’m in a relationship, sorry.” 32
“I don’t mind,” one of the women, Jiane, said. 33
“I do.” Franco walked past Hank and headed for his bed. He sat on the corner, wishing he could do nothing but fall back onto it and sleep for a week. 34
He couldn’t wait until he would be able to move back into his own room. He had been sharing a room with Hank for the past month, ever since a faulty connection in the heating system on his floor made the fifty rooms there a sweltering, sticky, mildewed mess. Everyone had to ‘bunk’ with someone else on the upper or lower adjacent floors until the problem was tracked down and fixed. Parts had to be shipped in, and then all furnishings and possessions were to be sanitized in bulk along with the rest of the floor. The time frame placed it within the next five days, but to Franco it seemed like an impossible goal that would never arrive. 35
Compounding the problem was the fact that Hank seemed to take things one of two ways, either far too seriously, or treat everything as if it were irrelevant. Newly promoted to Supervisor of the Upper Levels, he walked around like a person who wielded more power than he actually had. 36
“Franc!” 37
Franco blinked and looked up at the others. “What?’ 38
“You been smokin’ sumptin’,” Hank asked. “You’re going cosmic on us.” 39
Franco rolled his eyes as the women giggled. “I’m just tired,” he replied, clamping down on the insult he wanted to toss out. “What did you want?” 40
“Jiane asked what Earth is like.” 41
“Like a big ball with a huge chunk missing.” He moved back on his bunk until his back was against the wall, and brought a leg up so he could rest his elbow on it. “Basically the same as any picture you’ve seen.” 42
“What did you leave as an offering for an ancestor’s spirit?” 43
“I didn’t go for that,” Franco told her. “I don’t believe in the Earth Pilgrimage to reincarnate the spirit of ancestors. I went because I found it interesting.” 44
“That is so intriguing,” Jiane purred as she sat on the corner of his bed and leaned slightly towards him. “Tell me more.” 45
Franco arched an eyebrow at her forwardness. “Look, you’re very pretty, and most likely a wonderful la…dy. But I’m going to have to ask you to get off my bed.” 46
She shrugged, then stood up. “Your loss.” 47
“I’ll survive,” Franco said. 48
~~~~~~~~~~ 49
Captain Ron Haligan glanced from the report in front of him to the man standing at attention by the door, then went back to a certain section he had highlighted. The words sprang from the desk to float in a three dimensional form about six inches off the desk. The Captain pushed a key and the words flipped around so the other person could read them. 50
“Explain this to me.” 51
First Officer Gerald Quinn quickly read the words in front of him. “I take it you are referring to the section about my not firing on a certain area.” He paused while the Captain of the Vengeance nodded once. “Primarily speaking, sir, the target held no viable resource worth destroying.” 52
“Explain.” 53
This isn’t going to be good. Gerald paused for a fraction of a second as he worked through various excuses in his mind. All were plausible, but he knew none would be believed by the sheer nature of not going with his military and personal records. “Image scanners gave me an excellent view of targets, and I saw no need to eliminate an area that showed to be teaming with children.” 54
Captain Haligan stared at him for a few moments. Their people had been raised to believe that there were no innocents in wartime, even if they had nothing to do with the combat. However, children were held on a different level, and no one took pleasure in the killing of those that could be considered ‘nearly innocent’, regardless of which side they belonged to. 55
“However,” Gerald continued, “had there been a viable military or industrial target in the direct area, I would not have hesitated to obliterate it.” 56
“Accepted.” The captain leaned back slightly. “Dismissed.” He returned the salute, then went back to the report on front of him. 57
Gerald sharply spun towards the door, keeping his back straight as it closed behind him and continued as he walked down the hall towards the crew quarters. He stopped outside of a nondescript door and knocked lightly, stepping back as the door almost immediately opened. The woman inside smiled slightly, then moved aside as she beckoned him in. 58
~~~~~~~~~~ 59
Franco opened his eyes as a sound made it through to his subconscious and tried to blink his eyes to clear his sleep fogged brain. He rolled over with a moan when he recognized the sound as coming from the personal communications console on the wall above the room’s only desk. His eye cracked open and he looked at Hank’s bed, wondering why his roommate wasn’t being his usual neurotic self by scurrying to answer it, and blinked when he noticed the bed was empty. 60
Sighing, Franco rolled out of bed and stumbled to the desk, banging into the chair before pulling it out and literally falling into it. He blindly reached out and punched in the general direction of the accept button. “Yeah?” he mumbled, not bothering to pretend to be more awake than he was. He smiled as he recognized the person on the other end of the call. “Hi,” he said gently. 61
“Did I wake you?” 62
“No,” he lied. “I had to get up to answer the console anyway.” He covered a yawn with the back of his left hand. “Sorry…double shifts, training new officers, neurotic roommate…” he trailed off, his heart lifting as the woman smiled. 63
“Sorry that I couldn’t drop in lately,” she said. “Had to pick some people up on Jharfe, and we’re not even going to be near Half-Point for more than a week.” 64
He nodded wearily, too use to their long periods of separation. He had his position, she had hers, and neither one wanted the other to give up what they loved. 65
She watched as he stared tiredly at her image, and smiled. “Are you still booking your time off for next month?" 66
Franco ran a hand though his brown hair. “Already booked. Nothing is going to stop me from spending that entire month driving you to distraction.” 67
“Good. Now go back to sleep, and I’ll talk to you in a few days.” 68
He nodded. “You take care.” He smiled. “I miss you.” 69
“I miss you, too.” 70
“Love you,” he mouthed, then reached out and disconnected the call on her shocked face. 71
Through three years together, he had never told her in words that he had loved her, but somehow felt that this was the right moment to admit it to her. She had said it to him a few times, but never expected him to say it back in return. To him, ‘I love you’ was nothing but three words if it was uttered in automatic response to someone saying the exact same words. She had told him that she understood and that she knew he loved her by the way her treated her. 72
He went to stand up to go back to bed, but changed his mind and stared at the communication console as he started to count. He got to nine before it started to buzz again, and he smiled as he reached out to accept the message. 73
“Yes, I said it,” he told her before she had a chance to say anything. 74
“Just checking,” she said with a smile just before she reached out and disconnected the call. 75
Franco smiled at the blank screen before getting back up and lying down on his bed once more. His eyes slowly closed as he held the image of Terra Baptiste in his mind. He had noticed that her smile had been brighter than any that she usually wore, and if this was how his admission could make her feel, he wondered why he hadn’t said those words before tonight.76
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Author notes
by Barbara on Jul 06, 2004
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