The Traveller's Song (pt. 4)

And deeper into the Uncharted Territories they went. Meara started getting really nervous after they passed what she thought was probably the last Peacekeeper outpost and she still had no idea what the object of their mission was. Otherwise, everything was going smoothly. Talyn had started appearing in her room at odd times when the other two were on duty or "otherwise occupied" as Talyn explained mysteriously. Marik had yet to cause a problem, although no one seemed to like to spend much time with him. Meara was discovering that she liked Risa very much. She was quietly competent and didn't get in Meara's way. She was also good company and appeared to like Meara's company as well. Broc was just Broc.

With some trepidation Meara decided to take the bull by the horns and try to get information from Rouj. Her inquiries were met with silence, and when she persisted he started complaining about the deplorable curiosity and irreverence to her superior she was showing. Meara knew this was an oblique way of telling her to back off before she was officially reprimanded so she turned to the data stores. She found nothing that indicated their direction or purpose.

About a monen away from the last base, they landed on a planet called Joh in a small and not well-habited system. Joh appeared to have no Peacekeeper presence but also no planetary defense. Although it was a relief to get off the cramped quarters of the ship for a while, Meara was not happy with Captain Rouj's orders to go forth and commandeer the fuel and supplies they needed. She knew perfectly well that the credits were available for spending, and Captain Rouj was choosing to intimidate the populace instead. Luckily the populace was easily intimidated and had no problem with turning over anything that was asked of them.

Risa returned to the ship to supervise the refueling. After they had gathered the rest of the necessities, Meara, Broc, Talyn and Marik were headed back when they passed a small building. The smell of something fermented came from inside. Broc and Marik wanted to try the local equivalent of alcohol, and against her better judgement, Meara agreed.

The inn was full of small Johians. Their normally short stature was ameliorated by the fact that they kept bobbing up and down on their large hind legs. The food served at the tables all appeared to be plant matter, with some of it more rotten than the rest.

"I think that's what was causing that odor," Talyn said, pointing to the fermenting cabbage like mass oozing all over one of the plates. "It might get you drunk, but I don't think I'd like to try it."

Broc and Marik had found this out as well, as the innkeeper served them two heaping plate fulls "on the house". Broc, while wrinkling his nose at it, looked like he found this amusing. Marik, on the other hand, started angrily demanding that he be served the real stuff. The innkeeper, with nose twitching, squeaked, "Go Away!" and bobbed around to the other side of the bar. Meara advanced from the front of the room, where she and Talyn had been sitting, with the intention of pulling them both out and going back to the ship, when Marik pulled a laser pistol on the Innkeeper. The little Johian reached under the bar and came up with something that was clearly a weapon. Without pausing Marik shot him.

By this time Meara had just come up beside him. She grabbed Marik's gun with one hand and elbowed him in the collarbone with her other arm. The blow knocked him sprawling. Amidst little twitters of he's dead, he's dead...she launched herself at Marik again. "Why the hezmana did you do that?!" She couldn't see for the red that the world was turning. Rage had taken her over completely.

Luckily for Marik, she couldn't reach him. Broc was in the way. Marik made a feeble attempt to stand and Broc casually knocked him down again, keeping his eyes on Meara. She felt Talyn's strong arms come around her, pinning her arms to her sides. She relaxed in his grip. She could hear Talyn murmuring in her ear. "It's too late, Meara. You can't save him, love..."

Meara, Talyn and Risa were putting away supplies quickly. The Captain had had nothing to say about their brief report except that they were leaving immediately. Meara wondered if he was picturing, as she was, many bouncing aliens chasing them with pitchforks. She wondered how their weapons would do against a determined assault. Talyn had examined the alien, who was indeed dead, and Broc had escorted Marik back to the ship at gunpoint. He was off somewhere guarding him now.

"He's a danger to all of us," Meara said grimly. "I'm going to talk to Captain Rouj as soon as we get under way....and after I calm down."

Talyn was staying close to Meara and trying to be supportive, but privately he thought it would be a long time before she calmed down. She was stomping around and jamming supplies into cubbyholes and refrigerators, bruising the fruit and vegetables. She climbed on a couple of rungs built into the wall, and was putting away some blankets they had taken for no reason she could discern, when the marauder took off. She lost her balance and fell heavily against Talyn, who picked her up and gave her a quick squeeze around her waist before setting her on her feet. "There you go, love."

Meara froze. "Talyn," she said, in a mortified whisper. They both turned around and looked at Risa, who was watching them with a big grin on her face.

"I already knew," she said smugly. "Meara made her feelings clear to me right away."

"Meara," Talyn said in mock mortification, and reached out and grabbed her hand, entwining his fingers in hers. Meara was blushing again, she could feel it. Damn this fair skin, she thought.

"You don't have to worry about me," Risa continued. "I know you aren't going to go love-crazy. I know I'm lucky to have both of you as shipmates."

"What about the rest of the crew?" Talyn asked. Meara was still dealing with the idea of the first public display of affection she had ever been a part of. She knew her eyes were begging Risa not to judge them harshly, to accept what they were to each other.

"I don't know," Risa said. "I don't think anyone would care except Broc."

"Meara," Risa continued, "next time pop him one. That whisper was worse than what Talyn did."

"I want you to know that I will never let this stand in the way of my duty to my shipmates," Meara said firmly.

"I know," Risa said, brushing off the whole conversation and returning to sorting through a crate of miscellaneous items that had been brought aboard.

This time Meara had no feelings of trepidation about confronting the Captain. She was doing her level best to convince him that Marik was a time bomb when he tired of her and threatened to put an official reprimand on her record.

"I don't think I'll care about that very much if I'm dead, sir," she said, desperately trying to keep any sarcasm out of her voice.

He looked at her and sighed wearily. "As you wish. I'll talk to him. Good enough?"

"I think I could be a lot more helpful to you if I knew what our mission was, sir."

"We are almost there. We are going to the stronghold of some Travellers." For the first time he was showing a little excitement.

"Why?" Meara asked, bewildered. "Travellers are nothing but a bunch of itinerant workers."

"I believe when we get to their home world that we will find their secret."

"But sir, that's a myth," she said carefully.

"It's not! It's..there is evidence that they were able to take out an entire squadron of Peacekeepers when they were trapped in a battle zone during the Illanic wars."

"If they have a weapon that powerful, then why do they constantly move from planet to planet, leaving whenever someone tires of their presence? Why don't they claim a region of space for their own? Surely they could find a way to use--"

"You are dismissed, Sun," he said with contempt.

Meara's head was spinning. She was not at all sure that there wasn't more than one madman aboard. This was another shock after the mess that Marik had caused on the planet. She was also still trying to assimilate the idea that Risa knew about her and Talyn. Truthfully, it was still a surprise to her that there was something to know about, or anything that somehow *showed*. What difference did it make what was in her heart? What possible business was it of anyone else's? It hadn't been an issue before-who she was or wasn't sharing her bed with. Still, she liked the idea that Risa knew and wasn't pointing fingers. She also liked the idea that Risa knew Talyn was not available for recreation.

Meara decided to call the others together and tell them what she had learned. She knew a private gathering was akin to insubordination and a first step to mutiny, but she felt the crew had a right to know. When she had finished her speech to the small group, there was silence for a microt.

"How did you get this information, Sun? On your back?" Broc sneered at her.

"What the hezmana are you talking about, Broc?" Meara was both outraged and hurt.

Broc didn't back down. "It seems to me that this isn't the kind of information the Captain would want us to know."

Meara gave Talyn a warning look as he leaned across the table towards Broc. "I'm sure he doesn't want you to know," she answered, "but I thought you had a right to know what was going on. Was I wrong?"

"I'm not always told.." Broc muttered as he pushed himself away from the table.

"Don't go, Broc. I need you to stay while we decide what to do." Broc returned grudgingly.

"We aren't talking about mutiny, are we?" Risa sounded frightened.

"Of course not," Meara said sharply. "I just want us to be prepared. I have two suggestions-I want to ration supplies and I want Marik watched."

"I'd be happy to help keep an eye on him," Broc volunteered. Meara was relieved. That was more what she expected of him than his earlier behavior had been.

"I think we should keep an eye on the captain," Risa volunteered. "As far as navigation goes, I mean. Make sure we know where we are and how to get back."

"That's a very good idea, Risa. Meara said approvingly. "Rouj and I are the only navigators. I will keep everyone apprised of our status."

Everyone turned to Talyn. "I'll keep an eye on both of them. Maybe I can get an idea of how farbotz the Captain is. I don't think talking to Marik would do any good, though."

Meara looked around the table. "Thank you all for everything."

When Meara returned to her room Talyn was already there, sitting in her bed. She pulled off her boots and curled up on the bed, putting her head in his lap. He stared undoing her hair.

"What the hezmana is wrong with Broc?" Meara said, as if they were already deep in conversation.

"Maybe he's jealous," Talyn suggested.

"Of the Captain?" she snorted.

"I think he knows about us," Talyn said calmly.

"What makes you think that?"

"He's suddenly gotten rather cold towards me."

"Where is he now?" Meara asked wearily.

"He's on duty . Marik is sleeping."

"That doesn't sound very safe. What if he wakes up?"

"He won't," Talyn assured her.

Meara rolled over and looked at him. "Why not?" she asked suspiciously.

"I gave him something to make him sleep. What did you think?"

"I don't know," she told him, looking relieved. "Sometimes you really scare me. How do you think of such underhanded ideas?"

"I'm just a sneaky guy," he said. She knew he wasn't offended. In fact, he sounded like he found her funny again. She rolled back over and closed her eyes.

"How is it that the captain is the only one who knows where we're going?"

"I'm not privy to his secrets," she said defensively. Talyn had a few ideas about how they should change that, but Meara didn't hear them. She was asleep.

The planet was hardly large enough to be called one, in Meara's opinion. It was more like a large asteroid. There was atmosphere enough to breathe but thin enough to feel that breathing was all you could do. It was rocky and almost barren, with small amounts of vegetation dotting the hillsides. Meara had no idea why anyone would be in such a place, let alone why they were chasing them. At least it was comfortably cool.

Captain Rouj was pleased that they had found just a few signs of civilization. He appeared to be expecting what they had found, and didn't share the other's obvious bewilderment about it. They were preparing to descend upon the small encampment their ships sensors had detected.

Meara was using all her self-control to keep from looking at Talyn. She wasn't at all comfortable with the Captain's plan, which was basically to raid the village, rape and plunder. She didn't want to know what Talyn thought about it. She was also really worried about his going into action.

"Sir," Meara said quietly, "have you considered that it might be easier to meet your objective if you make your demands known before we advance on the enemy?"

"Sun, if I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it," he said, glowering at her. She met his eyes without flinching. "These people have a very powerful weapon that we know little about. Surprise is important."

With that, he informed them that he wanted to capture one weapon of indeterminate appearance and function, and take at least one Traveller alive. Then he directed them to a box with small pieces of foam, and directed them to put them in their ears. Meara had a very strange feeling about this. If we aren't supposed to be able to hear, she thought, why can't we use headsets so we can hear and speak to each other? She decided that she had used up her quota of nosy questions for the moment. She could tell by Talyn's face that he was thinking the same thing.

They were out and on the ground running the moment the marauder landed. Their oxygen masks made it possible for them to run in the thin atmosphere. As they crested the little hill and saw the village, Meara could tell that it was by no means a permanent encampment. There were only a couple of permanent structures, many brightly colored tents, and a few ships about the size and shape of a Leviathan transport pod. It was also completely lifeless.

In a moment she knew why as a straggling line of about ten beings sprang up in front of them. They were covered with gleaming coils and the air shimmered in front of them . She became aware of a low humming sound as she started shooting. The aliens were holding something in front of their faces with one hand and bolts of light were coming out of the other. The others were shooting also. Talyn was close to her and she could tell that his shots weren't going anywhere close to where they were supposed to. It quickly became apparent that the commando's shots were having little or no effect.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Captain go down to the right of her. He had been in front and was in point-blank range of one of the aliens. Meara fired at the alien with the stunguns that had been issued as a side arm. To her great surprise , it went down immediately. Rouj wasn't moving. Talyn was beside her and she could see that his fire was hitting the aliens directly, but still with no visible effect. Quickly assessing the situation, she made the roundup sign and picked up the small alien in a fireman's carry. Broc and Risa ran over to her and she tried to indicate that they should cover her while the Captain and their captive were carried back to the ship.

In frustration she ripped out the earplugs. The air was a cacophony of sound and she realized she wouldn't be heard anyway. Finally they got the idea and a more or less orderly retreat was accomplished.

They reached the ship barely ahead of the enemy. Meara gave Marik the order to fire on them. The marauders weapons knocked back the advancing line but they quickly got back up. Marik's face was slack with shock. "Dren!" Meara exclaimed and climbed into the pilot's seat. Talyn was already examining the wounded as they left the planet.

After they were safely in orbit, Meara started breathing again. She went over to where Talyn was looking at the unconscious bodies of their captain and the alien, still on the floor of Command where they had been laid.

"The Captain's dead," Talyn informed her. "There was nothing I could do for him. The strange thing is that I'm not entirely sure how he died."

"What about him?" Meara asked indicating the other. To her surprise, where a strangely coiled alien had been lying was now a young and very Sebacean looking male. "I took it off of him," Talyn explained. "I think the whole suit was part of the weapon, or at least the defensive armor. Risa's looking it over right now."

Meara looked at him blankly.

"He's going to be okay," Talyn explained.

Meara looked at the boy again. He didn't look any older than the dumb recruits she had been teaching to fly prowlers.

"Um, Broc.." she said, "put him in the holding cell, please. I'd better go see what Risa's found out."

Risa had laid out the suit on a workbench. There were coils and wires and tubes. Meara had no idea what they were for. There was a small tube that looked different from the rest. It appeared to be made out of bone, had holes at either end and small holes in the middle. The only part of the whole contraption that Meara recognized was a Chakan oil cartridge feeding into a wire covered box on one side of the suit.

"The Chakan cartridge is feeding some sort of weapon, maybe a laser," Risa explained. "The coils appear to be some sort of resonating chamber, I don't know what for. And that little mouthpiece I don't have the vaguest idea about."

"It's an instrument," Talyn said from behind Meara.

"Well, I know that," Risa said slightly impatiently. "But what does it do?"

"No, I mean a musical instrument," he said. "It plays music."

Both Meara and Risa looked at him for an explanation. "Like this," he said, picking it up and blowing a few notes on it. Even though disconnected from the suit, the resonating chambers picked up and amplified the sound. The workbench began to vibrate. Talyn quickly dropped the mouthpiece.

"It uses sound as a weapon," Meara said. "That's why the captain made us wear earplugs."

"Well, they didn't help him any," Talyn said. "If it was powerful enough, it probably made mint soup out of his insides. It has nothing to do with being able to hear it. I'll have to open him up and look."

Meara looked askance at him but didn't say anything. It probably was a good idea.

"Is there any chance that any of us would know how to use this weapon?"

"No," Risa shook her head. "There's really no way of knowing how it's used by taking it apart. It would be very dangerous to experiment. Think of a laser you couldn't aim. That little mouthpiece probably has to be played exactly right to produce the effect you want."

"A battle march might kill you and a lullaby might take out a squadron."

Meara knitted her finely arched brows. Now she really had no idea what he was talking about. What was clear was that she had to take what was a child by any culture's definition back with them to demonstrate the use of this weapon. She looked over at Talyn who was meeting her eyes with the affection that was always in them when he looked at her. 'I wonder why everyone can't see that all the time. Maybe because it's only for me...' but what she was really thinking about was a hand curled around her ankle and a twelve-cycle old boy who had lost everything in a microt because he hadn't been paying attention. She knew suddenly that she just couldn't do it.

"Risa, I want you to try to find a way to contact those Travellers. There must be some kind of communications that they use. When you do, we're going back."

Meara tried to access the data stores with the captain's ident chip. She was sure that he must have more information on the Travellers than he had revealed, which was just about nothing. She couldn't access anything, even with his chip. She decided that he must have protected his own files with a code.

After Risa contacted the Travellers and set up a rendezvous point, Meara told the crew that they were returning. She wasn't expecting anyone to be thrilled with the idea, but Marik's reaction took her by surprise.

"What are we doing that for? We got what we wanted, let's go!" There was an undercurrent of fear to his anger.

Meara had not expected anyone to directly question her orders. "We are going to parley," she stated firmly. "We need information on how to make and use this weapon."

"Why are you making the decision?" he questioned.

"Lt. Sun is next in line of command," Talyn said.

"But we've already done what the Captain wanted. Broc, shouldn't you be in charge? You're the real leader around here."

Meara said nothing, regarding Broc with her eyes, now gone dark and inscrutable.

"*Captain* Sun is in charge. We are all going to do our best to meet her objectives now, and so are you," Broc said firmly. "Besides, I don't wanna get my ass whupped," he said with an expression so rueful that it immediately relaxed the tension in the room. Talyn grinned and Risa actually laughed. Marik left, muttering under his breath.

"I'm glad I can always count on you," Meara told Broc .

He laid a hand on her shoulder briefly as he went by. "Maybe you should remember that."

The first two out of the ship were taken down quickly by Broc and Meara. Talyn was amazed at the identical means of bringing down the two travellers and frisking them quickly to ascertain that they were unarmed, as had been agreed upon. Broc and Meara worked together like a well-oiled machine, while Risa and Talyn stood by, pulse rifles at the ready. The third one out of the ship had his hands held high and invited them to frisk him. He was an older male with a beard and a lot of shaggy hair the same dirty blonde color as their prisoner's.

"It doesn't seem fair that ye are armed and we are not," the man said.

A flick of Meara's eyes and Broc was patting the stranger down. "We are well aware of the fact that your fighters are surrounding us," he said, as he stood back, satisfied that the man was carrying no weapons.

"What do ye want from us? What is your demand before ye return our fighter?"

Meara scowled at him. "We are warriors, Peacekeepers," she said. "What are you doing sending children to fight us?"

"We are a small group. We have to use all the able bodies we can." His voice was slow and sibilant, but understandable. He looked a little confused but willing to try to communicate.

Meara gave Broc a curt nod and he returned to the marauder. "We do want something from you, but I am sure there is another way to get it."

Their captive came running out of the marauder and launched himself into the blonde man's arms. The man hugged him mightily and looked him over quickly for signs of injury. He looked at Meara with unwilling gratitude but her face revealed nothing of what she felt.

"We want to discuss the weapon you used against us," Meara said. "I'm certain that we can..."

Meara stopped as she realized that the traveller ship had moved to the right of her. This surprised her as she knew from their sensors that there was no one else aboard.

"Your ship is eating the grass," she said. She looked more closely. "No. It's eating the ground." She shouldered her pulse rifle and moved closer to the ship. Three Peacekeepers moved nervously and redirected their pulse rifles to cover her.

Meara's face transformed with wonder. "It's alive, isn't it?" she said, reaching out to touch it. The large larvae-like head moved closer to her. "Like a Leviathan?"

The blonde man moved closer and nodded assent. "It's more of an animal. Leviathans are intelligent. Stumbles are stupid, but they're faithful and they get ye where ye goin."

Her crew came closer and looked even more nervous. Broc looked as if he were convinced Meara had lost her mind. Talyn was just shaking his head and trying not to grin. Her next question surprised even Talyn.

"Can I fly it?"

"No." The man shook his head. He quickly explained, "I mean, they get bonded to their families. I can take ye up in one sometime."

Meara looked up at him from where she was stroking the stumble and examining its antennae. She smiled brilliantly. Talyn grinned and shouldered his rifle. It was all up now, he thought. That was the smile that always worked on him.

The blonde man smiled back. "Are you the leader?"

"I am now," Meara said matter of fatly.

"I think we can talk."

Meara sat across from the blonde man under a brightly colored canopy that blocked the sun but not the gentle breeze that made it's stripes ripple. She was slightly distracted by the old woman at the man's left elbow. She was old in a way that Meara had never seen before. The few older Peacekeepers she had met looked a lot like the younger ones, hale and hardy. This woman was old in a broken way, her teeth missing and her body hunched over with time.

The blonde man introduced himself as Eldric, the chief of their clan.

"We want to know everything you can tell us about your weapon," Meara stated directly.

"Why do ye wish to know this?" the blonde man asked, as if the why of the question was as important as the question itself.

"Our mission was to come here and acquire one of these weapons. It is apparent that just possessing one is not enough to unlock its secrets. I do not wish for my crew to suffer demotion or worse as a consequence of failure." Behind her, Meara could hear a small gasp. She thought it was probably Broc, but she did not turn to see what their reactions were.

"You feel you have a lot to protect," the old woman said, leaning forward suddenly and fixing Meara with her rheumy eyes.

Meara found it difficult to meet those eyes, but she did briefly and gave a small nod, returning her attention to Eldric.

"Why should we give you our secrets? We have had this weapon for many, many cycles knowing that its use was always a surprise."

"You also wish to keep this planet secret. Our former Captain knew of this place, but kept that information very confidential. If you help us we will erase the maps that led us here," Meara said in her most definitive voice. The clanleader looked at her for a moment and then leaned down to whisper to the old lady. She whispered something in his ear. he nodded and straightened .

"We will teach you. *But* it will take time, and we do not guarantee a successful learning. Some of our own people do not succeed in this."

"Is it something only your people can learn? Does it require something Sebaceans don't have?"

The blonde man looked at her very seriously. "We are Sebacean. No different from you. You will have no more trouble learning than we do."

The old woman spoke up. "We will teach ye and ye and ye," she said, indicating Meara, Talyn and Risa. "We will try to teach ye," she said, indicating Broc. "But we will no teach the one ye left on your ship."

Meara was thoroughly startled and off-balance now. She was also furious at Captain Rouj, thinking of all the ways she would like to kill him if he weren't dead already. She did not like being deliberately kept ignorant of what they needed to complete their mission. Just as she was trying to convince herself that it didn't matter because the final outcome was good, she was thoroughly startled again.

"Ye will sup with us," the woman said in terms that were not an invitation.

"And then I'll take ye for that ride I promised ye," Eldric said.