Liara had the pleasure of seeing the supplies she’d brought with her delivered to the local warehouse at the centre of the dense community of Eagleton. They didn’t record how much went in on the Freeground computer system because they were afraid the food would be taken.
Most of the residents were already receiving less than Liara had ever had to live on, and it was meagre stuff most people called ‘hot mush’ that was just solid enough so you needed a spoon. It still slipped between the tines of a fork, and it was too thick to drink. The supplies she brought were measured immediately and would be used to supplement the rations they already had, nearly doubling each meal for a week. It was super-dense forma, nothing special in terms of food, but using the processing machine and some water, it was amazing how much food that one ton of dry food could become. The fruit was given to the children and their joyful surprise would be a sight she and her companions would never forget.
That evening, after the last meal of the day, Liara and Dotty were surprised to see Karmen join them. She was out of armour, in a civilian vacsuit that was plain in cut and dull green in colour. The woman’s big smile wasn’t. “I’m sorry it took me so long to come see you,” she said. “And that you’re seeing us like this.” Karmen gestured at the courtyard in front of the massive transparent bulkhead and at the worn balconies across from it. “I grew up in this community, it was cleaner, a better place then.”
“We’re happy to be invited in,” Liara said. Her meal bar was almost gone, a chocolate thing that took a long time to chew but was still satisfying enough. All of her people dined on emergency provisions instead of taking a share of whatever was on offer, they didn’t need to add to the already problematic food situation in Eagleton.
“I’m wondering, did you get any messages through to the common communication system?” Karmen asked.
“I was sure I didn’t, everything reported access and restriction errors.”
“Well, one of your messages was forwarded to me,” Karmen said. “Through a command priority address.”
Liara looked to Remmy who was taking his time with his meal bar, a yellow thing that might have been lemon flavour. “Nope, wasn’t me. I tried a few of my old hacks but they closed those doors a long time ago.”
“You might have a friend in the government, then,” Karmen said. “I’d keep your channel open. We wouldn’t have known anything about when and where you were being transported if there wasn’t a leak.”
“That’s encouraging,” Liara said. “How much trouble are you going to be in for that kidnapping caper?”
“There may be a new mark on my record, and Sig has been reprimanded by the Admiralty again, but he’s far from being demoted, and his career aspirations ended once he got his own ship. He’s a good friend to have. I use him too much.”
“I don’t think he sees it that way. I’m impressed with the morale of the people here. Even with the food and sanitation problems everyone seems to be working together.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Dot said. “With all the garbage piling up, why don’t you send some of it through the airlock?”
“It’s not the way we think. Everything can be converted to energy, or recycled into something else. Everything we have is already aboard, if we start throwing things away, we’ll have less. What we have less of doesn’t matter, only that there’s less of it.”
“It makes sense,” Dot said. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of it that way.”
“That’s the real Freeground way,” Karmen said. “We have to believe that we’ll have the opportunity to process all this, that we’ll see some normalcy again. In the meantime we work together. We share our neighbour’s burden, and celebrate each other’s successes. We’re all in a small can, drifting through a big universe, and we have to depend on each other if we are to improve our situation at all. I think that’s been forgotten by a lot of people, but not everyone. We still teach our children, we still work to repair what we can, and make sure that everyone has a chance to eat and rest.”
“That sounds like Haven Shore,” Dot said. “Now I know where Ayan got the idea.”
“I’ve been through the data you sent about Tamber and Haven Shore,” Karmen said. “It seems like an incredible place.”
“It’s still early days,” Liara said. “We don’t help nearly as many people as we’d like to, but we’re expanding. The recruitment bases are becoming cities, and Haven Shore itself grows every month. It’s far from perfect, but I wasn’t there long before I decided it was worth defending.”
“And that’s why you wear a military uniform,” Karmen said with a smile, gingerly touching the Triton Fleet emblem on Liara’s chest. “I know what that kind of service is like. The need to give something back.”
“That brings me to a hard question. My people have looked at the chances Freeground Alpha has at getting through the nebula, and they don’t like the conclusions they’re being led to. Knowing that, they are making contingency plans. They don’t have enough room on their ships to transport everyone on Freeground, but if they could shuttle you to a planet so the station could continue on as a distraction, then move groups of you from there, the chances of everyone getting to Tamber safely would be much higher. It would take less time too, because we could use the Triton. They have new faster than light technology, and room for thousands at a time.”
“We may be more vulnerable if we’re bound on a planet, instead of a moving station. If the Order realizes that the station is just a distraction, they could turn and attack whatever planet we’ve temporarily settled on.”
“That’s true, but still only one of a few plans they’re putting together,” Liara replied. “Another is to simply use our fastest ships to move people off the station right to Tamber, making many runs back and forth, reducing the pressure on Freeground Alpha and getting the most vulnerable people to safety first.”
“That’s a plan I’d support.”
“Would your people be willing to leave?” Liara asked.
“I could convince most of them to go. Some of our military would want to remain behind to see if they could save the station, but the civilians have seen this station at its worst. Last week two hundred and seventeen died because of a life support failure. That’s going to happen again. This part of the station is too old, it was never meant to handle this kind of population.”
“I’ll pass the word on.”
“Good. I’m afraid I have bad news,” Karmen said. “There is a squad of soldiers on their way to rescue you. You would have had time to leave in your shuttle if I warned you earlier, but I wanted to use this time to meet you personally. Now I’m glad I did, Lieutenant Commander.”
“Likewise. Are they here now?”
“Any minute. I’m sorry, you’ll have to go with them. We could fight them off, but keeping you here for long was never my intention, so we’re going to take you to the transit station now, and you’ll have to go with them.”
“They’d actually attack if we didn’t?” Dot asked.
“Definitely,” Remmy said as Karmen nodded.
“Then let’s get to the station. Thank you for your hospitality.” Liara stood and was joined by Remmy then Dotty.
They made it to Eagleton Station just in time to see the doors burst open. A flood of heavily armed Freeground Marines pushed through. “Lieutenant Commander Liara Erron! We’re here to rescue you!” one of them shouted.
“My hero,” Remmy snickered.
“We’re coming, no one here will fight you,” Liara said, walking towards the doors. “We weren’t kidnapped, we were just visiting.”
“Are you sure? You’re not being coerced into saying that?” asked one of the soldiers while the rest of them pointed their weapons at the broad hallway leading to the courtyard.
“Leave these people alone, please,” Liara said firmly. “I’ll go with you.”
“You three, stay here, make sure no one tries to follow,” ordered a Sergeant. “Shoot anyone who comes through these doors.”
Liara, Dotty and Remmy were rushed down the transit station stairs, then pushed into a tube car. “We’re really fine,” Liara said. “It wasn’t a kidnapping. You don’t have to leave anyone behind.”
“I’m sorry, you have no experience with these people, I’m the expert here,” the Sergeant said as his team finished rushing on to the car and he shouted; “Go, go, go!”
“You’re a real man now, rescued us from the big, bad, family neighbourhood,” Remmy scoffed.