Hard Luck Hank Screw the Galaxy(91)

“So why use it all here?” I asked.

“Because the Boranjame won’t ever land. They won’t set foot on our soil. Whether we have mutants or not is irrelevant to them. They can destroy our worlds from space and absorb them. Knowing we can’t resist, they’ll just feed on us. They won’t ever stop.”

“We would not be the first empire they destroyed,” the General said, “merely the largest.”

Holy crap. I stood there trying to process.

“We need your help, Hank,” he said.

I laughed. Though with somewhat of a hysterical shade.

I’ve been in over my head before, seemingly a whole lot recently. But what in the Prison Planet’s Pleasure Dome could I possibly do to change this situation?

“We need you to get this resistance under control.”

“Aren’t they kind of insignificant?” I asked.

“We’re going to be using this station to refuel and refit and repair. As well as for logistics support,” the General stated. “The telescopes need to be under our full control. They are vital.”

“The communications systems here are some of the most advanced in the Confederation, believe it or not. Also, I understand there’s some other robot down there? Do you know anything about this?” the Wardian asked.

Perspective. It’s a weird thing. A ferocious Dredel Led was “some robot” to him.

“Yeah,” I admitted.

“Can you handle that as well?”

My eyes darted around as I thought.

“I don’t see how. Not without a lot of help.”

“It is a priority that it be neutralized,” the General said.

“There’s some demands I have,” I said.

Both men exchanged looks.

“Excuse me?” the Wardian asked.

“Nothing crazy. Just, maybe we could work out a deal.”

“We can discuss these matters afterwards,” the Wardian said.

“I’ll need something in writing,” I added. If he’s the tip of the spear, he’s going to die first and won’t be able to sign anything.

They were staring at me, not sure if they’d heard correctly. This wasn’t going well. I decided to throw down my cards.

“Without some guarantees I won’t be able to budge the resistance. And they were just about ready to attack those telescopes last I heard.”

The Wardian flinched slightly.

“I think we can work something out,” he said, with a weak smile.





CHAPTER 39


I stayed a bit longer with the Wardian working out details. I got the sense that for every minute he talked to me, millions of credits worth of “real” decisions weren’t being made.

After a shuttle back to Belvaille, a military car dropped me off at my house, without the fuss of tying me up or anyone smacking me on the noodle. In fact, I was shown quite a deal of respect.

Inside my apartment, Jyen and Jyonal were waiting in my kitchen.

“Come in,” I said, somewhat annoyed. “No one bothers knocking nowadays anyhow.”

“Your door doesn’t close,” Jyen explained. “We saw the soldiers take you away. Are you okay?”

I had to be somewhat careful how I broached this subject. I looked at Jyonal, who seemed perfectly normal, which made me nervous.

“Well…,” I began, uneasily. Then I smiled brightly and clapped my hands together. “It seems this was all a big misunderstanding between everyone and the Navy. They’re nice guys.”

“Do they know about us?” Jyonal asked.

I thought if there was some way I could linguistically deny that question.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to limit my responses.

Jyonal caught what I was doing and his voice grew serious.

“Hank, just tell us what’s going on.”

Before I could answer, a soldier stepped inside carrying a box.

“Where should I put this, sir?” he asked, as Jyen and Jyonal looked at him, startled.

“Anywhere is fine.”

He walked into my kitchen, past the dumbstruck siblings, and put it on the table next to my delfiblinium. He then turned and walked out without so much as looking at anyone.

“What was that about?” Jyen asked.

“Right. So the Navy knows about you guys and they’re going to likely need your help,” I confessed.

“Did you tell them?” Jyonal asked. Was it my imagination or was there an ominous light behind his eyes when he asked that?

“Not so much tell, but I confirmed,” I said weakly.

“Hank. We trusted you.” Jyen looked honestly hurt, but I was more concerned with Jyonal, whose jaw was gritted.

“Look, you can kill me if you want,” I said, regretting that intro immediately, “but the Navy is the least of your worries.”