Ceremony

by Joseph H. Ficor

After leaving the elevator, Stotter and Shouhei went to the Governor’s quarters.

The Governor listened to the story told by Stotter—with Shouhei’s attempted execution omitted. After Stotter finished, the bulk of the Governor lifted from behind his desk. He smiled. “Fiko, my boy. You are a credit to the Corps—and especially to me. Now go and see the medics for your shoulder and get some rest. The Major and I have some business to discuss.”

Shouhei got his shoulder fixed and returned to his room and collapsed on his bed. He slept for twelve hours.

He was awakened by a knock on his door. He straightened his uniform as best as he could. Enforcer Second Class Yuri Jao stood at the door.

He was scowling more than usual. This scared Shouhei because Jao was one of the most vocal in his contempt for Shouhei.

“Come on,” Jao shouted. “We need to hurry. You don’t want to miss the ceremony.”

“Excuse me?” Shouhei was still half-asleep and bewildered by Jao’s sudden appearance. “What ceremony?”

Jao sneered. “Your award ceremony.”

#

Shouhei and Jao entered the large auditorium on the fifteenth level. The auditorium was large—three hundred seats. It was usually for live entertainment like plays or—as in this case—pomp and ceremony.

The seats were full of the elites of Carleston’s Cove and Sheba. The Governor’s entire security attachment had been assembled also. The Peacekeepers and Enforcers stood in two neat lines down the aisle leading to the main stage.

Shouhei stood confused and dumbfounded. Jao indicated for Shouhei to go to the main stage by jabbing him in the back.

As Shouhei walked down the aisle, the Enforcers and Peacekeepers saluted him as he passed. The young Enforcer searched for signs of genuine respect in the faces of his comrades, uncertain if he saw any. Peacekeeper Second Level Stalinsky—one of the Peacekeepers who had been standing in the front of the Governor’s office when he first reported for duty—smiled as he passed.

On the main stage were the Governor and Major Stotter.

Shouhei stepped onto the main stage and stood before them.

The Governor grinned, showing all of his teeth. Stotter remained utterly stoic and unreadable. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the hero who not only stopped the piracy of Artimus Rawlings, but also the assassin Jing Laforsé. We are greatly indebted to you Enforcer Fiko.”

Applause thundered in the auditorium. Apparently genuine.

Governor Bokkasa waited for a few minutes before putting his hand up as a signal for the applause to stop so that he could continue. “So it is with great honor that I bestow upon you the silver Avenir for bravery. Congratulations.”

Applause broke forth again as the silver award, in the shape of Avenir Station, was pinned just above Shouhei’s left breast pocket. Shouhei felt his pulse pound at the honor of getting the award. But he couldn’t help but wonder if this was another of the Governor’s little games.

After the applause died down, Bokkasa broke into a long and dry speech entailing duty and honor. Shouhei hardly heard a word. Fear gripped him as he looked at the icy cold face of Stotter. The Major’s words in the docking bay resounded in his mind: “…on Carlston’s Cove: Your life span is equal to your usefulness.”

Shouhei silently—and desperately—prayed for future courage and divine protection. 

Saved

by Joseph H. Ficor

Stotter stood shocked. Shouhei’s shot came close, but missed. Stotter fired his own weapon. He hit Fiko in the left shoulder. His sudden surprise at the Governor’s prize puppy suddenly turning aggressive ruined his aim.

Shouhei had collapsed on the ground. He was holding his bleeding shoulder.

An eternity passed before Stotter heard the thud behind him.

Stotter turned to see who had been Shouhei’s true target.

There was not much left of the face, but the slim body and the curved, saw toothed knife in the corpse’s right hand was enough to identify him. Jing Laforsé. Even more wanted than the smuggler. He was a professional hitman who favored stealth and his knife to any sort of firearm. He sometimes traveled with Rawlings on runs.

Stotter’s hard exterior returned. He kicked at Shouhei. He held his pistol at the young Enforcer’s head. But he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. He lowered his weapon.

“Get up Fiko!”

Shouhei obeyed and the two walked past the corpses to the elevator.

The only speech in the elevator was Stotter using his communicator to request a clean-up crew to come and collect the bodies.

Sudden Turn

by Joseph H. Ficor

Shouhei turned to see the muzzle of Stotter’s pistol only a few centimeters away from his face.

“Sir,” Shouhei fought to keep a professional composure, “why are you threatening me with your firearm?”

Stotter tilted his head to the right in mild surprise and smiled. “Are you so naïve? I thought that your short time with us would have wizened you up to real life.”

Shouhei maintained his composure despite the fear that flooded his mind like a tsunami torrent. “No sir, I’m not naïve anymore. I guess the Governor is tired of his prize puppy?”

Stotter nodded his head in acknowledgment. “You got it. Not bad for a piece of dust.” His smiled broadened. “You see, here’s how life works on Carlston’s Cove: Your life span is equal to your usefulness. Your’s just hasn’t been very long.”

“How are you going to explain my death to my family?”

“Any spacing way that we want,” Stotter shouted. Then he relaxed and calmly resumed. “I guess we can just say you died in the gunfight. You’ll get a nice medal—posthumously, of course. And maybe a nice funeral. Maybe your parents will get a nice… What are you doing?”

Stotter stopped as Shouhei eyes widened. The young enforcer raised the pistol in his hand and aimed it at Stotter.

Stotter grinned at the sudden turn of events. “If you intend to shoot me…”

Shouhei cut him off. “I don’t intend to.” And fired.

Standdown

by Joseph H. Ficor

The trio stepped off the elevator and looked at the motley array of ships. It was a collection of all shapes and sizes.

Shouhei’s heart leapt in joy at the sight of so many spacefaring beauties. How he greatly desired to step aboard one and fly among the blackness. He made sure that his emotion did not show on his face.

“Look for a ship that looks like a long, gray needle.” Major Stotter added, “Deadly force is authorized if you deem it necessary.”

Everyone unholstered his pistol. Shouhei fought to suppress a smile at the sight of sweat beading on Hicks’s brow. He never thought that he would see the day when Hicks would be silent.

The ship in question was found within a few minutes. Stotter motioned Hicks and Shouhei to take up positions around the ship while he covered the main hatch.

“Artimus Rawlings,” Stotter called out. “Come out and surrender peacefully. You are under arrest for delinquent docking fee payments and suspicion of ore smuggling. If you just come with us quietly, I assure you that this matter will be cleared up very easily.”

A bullet narrowly missed Stotter’s head. Stotter dived behind a stack of nearby ore containers before Rawlings fired another shot.

Shouhei followed his superior’s example. He took up a position behind the control panel of a loading crane.

More shots were fired.

Hicks was not so fast. He was lying on the deck, his head surrounded by a steadily growing crimson puddle.

Stotter feigned rage. “Rawlings! I’m going to deep space you for that!”

“Shut up Stotter,” Rawlings screamed back. “You have as much feeling for your men as a whale has for its dung.”

Stotter and Rawlings exchanged verbal barbs—and occasionally shots.

Shouhei caught sight of the suspect. He was sheltered behind a landing strut of another ship. The strut’s cover provided excellent protection against Stotter’s pistol.

Shouhei fired some rounds that startled Rawlings more than anything else.

He returned fire.

Shouhei ducked as the rounds sounded on the control panel in front of him.

Shouhei got back up to return fire, but he could not see Rawlings.

The hot barrel touching his temple alerted him to Rawling’s new location.

“I’m going to send you into early retirement, Enforcer.”

“Rawlings,” Stotter shouting as he pointed the pistol at Rawlings. “Stand down!”

Rawlings turned his head. “Or wha…”

Shouhei took quick action and shot Rawlings in the left knee. Then he hit Rawlings in the jaw with his pistol. Rawlings fell to the deck. He was out cold.

Stotter rushed over. “Are you okay, boy?”

“Yessir,” Shouhei responded.

“Why didn’t you kill him?” Stotter demanded.

“I don’t know, Sir.” Shouhei responded as he looked down at Hick’s dead body. “It just didn’t seem right. I know that he had killed one of our own, but I couldn’t do it, Sir. I’m sorry.”

Stotter pointed his pistol at the back of Shouhei’s head. “Me too.”

Governor’s Decree

by Joseph H. Ficor -

Peacekeeper Major Stotter, head of Governor Bokkasa’s personal security detachment, stood at parade rest before the great black desk of the Governor.

“Thank you for coming as such a late hour, Major. I know that you had just finished your duty shift about an hour ago—around two am?”

“Yessir, I did,” replied Stotter. “You said that you wanted to discuss your pet, Enforcer Fiko.”

“Yes.” Governor Bokkasa leaned back in his chair. “I’m bored with him. The excitement of my charity is waning. I want you to take him and have him do some real work.”

“Forgive my bluntness sir, but wouldn’t it look bad for you to throw him away so easily after only one month? I’ve heard of officials planning to visit Eclectia to find even lower scum than Fiko. They want to outdo you.”

“Let them.” Bokassa waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll always be remembered as the first to have lifted a coffee ground to the level of cream.”

Stotter’s face remained expressionless. The Governor’s attempts at creative witticisms always fell short of their mark. “What do you have in mind, sir?”

The Governor immediately brought himself back to the main topic. “I want you to take Enforcer Fiko and some other expendable on a collection run to Docking Bay Five. Dear Artimus hasn’t paid his station tax in four months.”

Stotter’s expression cracked. A smirked formed across his lips. “Artimus Rawlings is a difficult man to find. He usually manages to avoid our Enforcers. We can only collect when he is overpowered and his cargo confiscated. And he said that the next time we came…”

Bokassa finished the sentence: “…to collect, he’d kill our Enforcers. I know. I know. My sources have confirmed that he is now at a Docking Bay Five. He won’t leave until tomorrow afternoon. Besides, this run will be an excellent opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“Easy. Rawlings has outlived his usefulness. He never realized that the ore that he has been smuggling out of here was my way of making a little extra profit without concerning the aristocrats on Avenir. They have enough wealth. I thought that it was time for them to share a bit more of it with us. Now Artimus needs to be eliminated.”

“And Fiko is the second bird?”

“Exactly. He has outlived his usefulness. It is time for him to go out in a blaze of glory. I’ve proven my charity. He can serve as some kind of example of hope for the dustbugs on Eclectia.”

“I’ll see to it, sir.”

“Thank you, Major. Please send Enforcer Second Class Hicks as the second expendable. He’s annoying me.”

“Yes sir. Good night, sir.”

“Yes, yes. Good night, Major.”

Stotter thought to himself after he left the Governor’s quarters. “A very unusual execution decree. And a triple besides. Very original.”

Stotter went to his quarters for a good night’s sleep.