Solarian Down

“Daroon!?” She yelled as she jumped up from the table and held him in a tight embrace.

“Well this is very nice.” She could hear the sleazy grin but she didn’t care.

She released him and stepped back. “You are alright? How do you feel?”

He ran his hand through his hair. “Uh, sleepy. What’s goin on?”

She sat him down and got him some coffee while they waited for Cailhem to come around. When they heard the large man grumbling his way to sit up they went and helped him stand. Once she had them fed and awake she explained EVERYTHING that happened.

“So our friend is a soldier and this is his post.” Cailhem commented.

“But why?” Asked Daroon. “There is no tactical advantage to this “Planet Ice Hole.” I do like that name, by the way.” He smiled.

Lenaga shrugged. “I keep going over everything he said but I cannot see any hints as to what purpose he would serve here.”

“Perhaps its remoteness IS the reason for his being here.” Cailhem stated.

“Such as?” She asked.

“I am not sure, Low Warden.”

Just then they heard a low moan from Ben. He sat up and opened his eyes with a groan. He looked at Lenaga before saying, “I love you.”

She huffed then, VRRZZZZTT!

Cailhem and Daroon looked at one another without comment.

“We have to assume everything he told me was a lie.”

“You do not believe he loves you?” Daroon stated but quickly threw his hands in the air when she looked like she might attack him. “I was not being facetious!”

She gave her head a small shake. “Whether he does or does not is moot. I have to set that aside until we find out what IS going on.”

“So, once again you shelve your feelings.” Cailhem commented. She looked at him with barely contained rage. Cailhem was nonplussed. “It is a common theme with you, Low Warden. And it is the reason you are so angry with him now.” She shook her head, unsure of what to say. “IF he does indeed love you then that means we are not in danger, just in ignorance.”

“No.” She stated calmly. “I will not put my men in danger just because some human knows how to make me…” She shook her head. “climax.”

Cailhem looked to Daroon. It took him a moment of studying Lenaga but eventually he nodded. “She is right.”

Cailhem nodded and looked back at her. “What are your orders, Low Warden.”

She let out a sigh. “Inventory for me. Cailhem check that helmets communications and see what kind of logs you can find. Daroon, see if there are anymore -hidden- nooks in this place AND be careful of that door. The hall to the left leads to the garage. The hall to the right leads to his polar bear dog’s room.

“What is a polar bear dog!?” Daroon exclaimed.

They went to work but after several minutes she heard Daroon call to her, “Low Warden? The human is waking.”

She had been putting the mess she made back on the shelves and inventorying as she went. Lenaga stood and stretched then walked back to the shuttle before, VRRZZZZTT!

She put the pacifier back on her belt as she gave a contented sigh and headed back to her mess,

“Does that make you feel better?” She heard Daroon yell.

“Yes!” She yelled over her shoulder.

She almost had everything back on the shelf and cataloged when Cailhem approached. “Not good news, I fear.” She nodded for him to proceed. “The helmet’s communications log was scrubbed clean. The only record appears to be your first contact with him.”

“So, he -was- wearing the suit when he sent that message about being marooned here.” She stated more than asked.

“Yes, Low Warden.”

She nodded then pointed to the supplies from their ship. “There are fresh uniforms in there and the shower is behind that door. You have been asleep for five weeks. Go get refreshed and we will continue.”

“Yes, Low Warden.” He nodded before leaving.

Several minutes later she was finishing up the last of the mess when Daroon yelled, “Got it!”

Cailhem was still in the shower. She minimized her Luminesced Floating notes back to her wristband. Before walking into the shuttle. “What did you find?” Daroon stood very pleased with himself. The main control panel to the shuttle was hinged forward revealing itself to be a facade. Behind it were satellite scanners and a military grade communications system. Lenaga was stunned. “VERY well done, Left.”

“I think so too.” He smiled.

She almost returned his smile. “When Cailhem is done with his shower we will have him dig through the logs. You go get a clean uniform and have a celebratory shower once he is done.”

He was crestfallen. “Do I smell bad?”

“Yes.” She nodded. She continued to inventory the rest of the building. It was not long before Cailhem called to her. She walked back to the shuttle. “What did you find?” She asked as she sat in the copilot seat of the fake shuttle bridge.

“Uhhh…

{Snowman this is Sitting Bull.}

{Snowman this is Sitting Bull. Communications check. Over.}

[Sitting Bull this is Snowman. Comms sound good. Over.]

{You sure you’re gonna be OK down there all by your lonesome. Over.}

[I’ll be fine. You just be safe. Over.]

{Will do. Sitting Bull Out.}

“How far back do the logs go?”

“That was the very first log and it was from 63 days ago. So he has only been on this planet foooor two months?”

“When was it?” He looked confused by the question. “I mean, what time of day?”

“07:00 Zulu. Whatever that is.”

Lenaga shrugged, “I am not sure.”

“The logs -do- show a manual diagnostic is run on the device every day just after 07:00.”

“When was the last one?”

“About five hours ago.”

“So early morning. That would make sense. He tended to get up before me. Always had breakfast and coffee ready.” She stopped herself before she could smile at the memory. “Any more logs?”

“No, but it -WAS- transmitting encrypted data up until we crash landed here or there about. I would need more time to be sure.”

“Any chance we can decrypt those transmissions?”

“No, Low Warden.” He shook his head. “Your man purged the memory before running his diagnostics.”

“He is NOT my…” She stopped when she saw Cailhem’s right eyebrow rise. “Alright. I need you to go through that thing and find out all you can. Let me know when you are done.”

“Yes, Low Warden.” He said as she got up to leave. “I would rather be back in a coma.” He said under his breath.

“What was that?” She leaned toward him with a grin.

“I sure am glad I am not alone here, Low Warden.” He delivered with a straight face.

“Uh huh.” She nodded as she left.

Daroon found her after his shower. “Low Warden?” She nodded for him to continue. “It occurred to me in the shower. If he has that radio and communications with his people. Then he does NOT have a distress beacon going like he told you he did.”

She grimaced. “...But we do have the one from our Quindi.”

“He has more than enough power if we set it up.”

She nodded her agreement. “Cailhem is going through the communications data to give us a better idea of what we are dealing with. Once that is done we will get the beacon working. If not by tonight then tomorrow.”

Daroon returned to looking for more hidden nooks. While Lenaga continued with the inventory. Cailhem called her into the shuttle a few times to taze Ben but other than that the hours were pretty quiet.

Cailhem was still working when Daroon finished his sweep of the building. He was confident there was nothing else to find. So Lenaga had him start working with the sensors behind the hidden panel to see if he could make sense of the data.

Lenaga had finished with the inventory, She had saved the shuttle for last because she didn’t want to look at him. Doing the inventory in the shuttle may have forced her to be closer to him. But it also kept her mind on something productive. Now, she didn’t even have that. She had started in the bottom level of the ship. It was the farthest part of the vessel from him.

What she hadn’t thought through was that when she was finished she would be standing right in front of him. Staring at his unconscious form like a heartbroken schoolgirl.

“Low Warden?”

She turned to see Cailhem getting up from his chair and tapping Daroon on the shoulder to follow. He was done. She nodded and motioned for them to convene at the table.

Cailhem began, “My findings are not good.”

“Why so?” She asked.

“The device is set to “Relay. There are some initial logs from the early days but that is all. He -can- communicate with them whenever he wants. But it appears he is just a radio operator here to watch the equipment.”

“What do you have?” She asked.

He shook his head. “We can cut the connection but I would not recommend that right now.”

She nodded knowingly. “Because they might investigate and we do not know how many assets they would send.” Cailhem nodded before she turned her attention to Daroon.

“I am inclined to keep our options open. He is an enemy Marine which means his commander can be negotiated with. However we do not know how that will end. For now, we see if we can get the transponder working. If that does not work then we can talk to his men.”

She refused to correct Daroon on his statement about Ben being a Marine. It upset her that she wanted to. “Agreed.” She said and looked back to Cailhem who nodded.

“I compared the transmission logs with your mission log, Low Warden. From what I can see, four days before our crash two parties were talking for a very short time. Then nothing until two days before our crash. That was another short interaction between those same two parties. Then nothing since then.”

“Anything else you can get from the device?” When he shook his head she continued. “We still have several hours of daylight left.” She looked back to Daroon. “Have you got those sensors figured out yet?”

“Almost.”

“Caulhem and I will start getting our equipment ready to install the beacon. Once you have the sensors handled come join us. Anything else?”

Cailhem motioned with his head toward the shuttle. “Your man is waking.”

“Oh! Thank you.” She nodded and walked into the shuttle.

“Oh, come on!” VRRZZZZTT!

Several hours later, they had pulled the transponder and its wiring out of the salvaged gear. Installed it atop the building and run the cabling to the sensor array inside.

Daroon stated. “It is late and It is going to take some time to get this connected. Why do not the two of you get some sleep and I will take the first watch.”

Cailhem stated, “It is early, but it has been a long day.”

When Lenaga nodded her agreement Daroon interrupted. “BUT!!! Show me how to make that coffee first.”

She showed him where the supplies were before turning to see Benjamin laying there. She could hear his slight snore. She had zapped him so much that his brain needed to rest. She watched as Cailhem took off his armor and got into bed. She should go to her bunk but instead she found herself climbing down the ladder to Benjamin’s. She removed her armor, climbed under the furs, pulled a pillow over her face and cried.

Benjamin slept like shit. He could hear Lenny crying herself to sleep. That did not help. Even if she had spent her free time giving him a heart murmur due to electric trauma. During the night he had taken the time to slip his legs through the loop of his arms. He finally had his hands in front of him. That’s when his heart sank.

Lenny had used one of those damned Silwan plastic straps. Unlike the cheap Solarian flexcuffs. You couldn’t burn through these with a length of paracord. Paracord being what he used for his bootlaces, FOR THIS VERY REASON! But the Silwan straps were practically indestructible. A secret held close by the Silwan family in the Luthiel territories. Thereby proving not all elves were out hugging trees. Some of them ‘liked’ sitting on vast piles of money.

Ben looked to the ceiling of the shuttle. “Lord, if I get out of this one…”

This is the part where people usually tried to bribe God.

“...I’m gonna set up a trade route to exchange these straps for coffee!” He nodded.

Well, at least he could get better sleep in this position.

It hadn’t helped. He felt a foot nudging him. He looked up to see Lenny and her men standing in their armor. She looked exhausted.

“You alright?” He asked as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

“I need to know how long we have before your people show up.”

“Lenny…”

“Will - you - tell me!”

He sighed. “No.”

“Why?”

“If we somehow get picked up by -your- people then they can sit in wait for mine.”

“Fine. Then you can stay there.” She smiled.

“I have to pee.” He smiled.

It took her a moment to consider just letting him wet himself but eventually she gave Daroon the nod.

Daroon knelt down and used the tool issued to Wardens to cut the bands. Knowing the bands could be cut with a specific harmonic tone was not a secret. Finding out how they made the things? That was the trick.

Ben rubbed his wrists before getting to his feet.

“You already broke her heart. Try not to make it worse by doing something stupid.” Daroon whispered.

“Nothing to be gained by doing something stupid, Daroon.”

“I prefer “Left.”

Ben shrugged. “I’d prefer a chicken fried steak in Laredo but you see how that’s turnin out.” He said as he walked to the bathroom.