Dangerous Toys (Part Eighteen)

The station was about to begin collecting up the wreckage when the call came through. “Sir, the humans have a request. Apparently one of their species was on the ship and they wish to engage in some ceremony”

The station Commander didn’t know much about humans. They came and left with the ships, rarely passing any time on his Orbital. He sighed, “I have a lot to do. The damned ship blew in the middle of our shipping lanes. The dead are dead. Tell them to come back later.”

“Sir, there are more of them coming. They seem to have a strong opinion on this. They insist that they will clear the wreckage themselves. They are asking you to stand down our drones. Sir, they are not asking politely.”

Outside one of his salvage drones suffered from a sudden disassembly event. Warning lights lit up his Comms. Bloody engineers. He took the hint...“Fine, but tell them to hurry up.”

His Officer muted the Comms and turned to the humans standing over him. “The wreck is yours. My condolences for your loss. Was this person important?”

The human slammed down his helmet without a word and went to leave. One of his companions leaned in and whispered, “Mate, you are walking on thin ice right now. Stay the fuck out of our way until we are done.” At that, he closed his helmet and followed the rest of the humans out.

Ships arrived in silence, some collecting up the wreckage, others simply docking. Whatever or whoever delegated the tasks was not in the mood for talking. Humans now filled the station, filling the bars and hotels. None of them were willing to explain beyond a simple, “It’s important. You’ll see later.”

Nearly three hundred humans assembled for the funeral. It had taken a week to recover the body and those that had done it were grey-faced and silent on what they had found. Her coffin was made from all the small bits of wood that the crews had scraped up from a hundred ships. She would go to her rest surrounded by a little bit of home. Her iron ring was laid on the lid beside her medals.

Rumours had spread that the humans were burying some kind of hero, some strange event was happening and a bored galaxy tuned in to watch. Humanity simply broadcast the ceremony without comment. Its allies and old enemies watched with concern.

A single human, wearing only the rank of Senior Engineer took the podium.

“Welcome. Many of you met Senior Engineer Revel. Many of you heard the stories. I can tell you that most of them were true. Yes, she blew up a moon. Yes, she overthrew a government or two. Who hasn’t?” His voice grew stronger, “Just over a month ago, we all got a call that ships had been subverted, that some creature was attempting to use our ships to bring the worst of the galaxy to our door. Revel was on one of those ships.”

The humans shifted, the anger apparent. The Engineer continued.

“One of us found the threat and warned Earth. Those that think we are fools, to be treated like cattle are dying right now. But the damage was done. We have recovered Revel and her work. Her ship was overtaken by these pirates and she held her department alone for days. No Comms, no Captain, she fought off every attempt to stop her as she raced for human space.”

Every human watching could hear the pain. Every Xeno could see the birth of a legend. The Engineer steadied his voice.

“Then someone took the AI and her ship was lost to her. She watched as the ship itself killed off the crew, as it bent itself to murder and suicide. To here. We stand in the last place that she defended. Every creature here owes her their life.” He paused.

“She blew the engines.”

It looked like someone had struck the humans with a closed fist. The Engineer stood silent for a long moment as the enormity of Revels’s actions passed through the crowd.

“Many of us ask what would we do? What is our limit? Today we are here to see it, to see where the best of us go. We love our ships. They are powered by many things but for Revel, it was always love. For her space was just the beginning. I have here a request she made, forgive me if it is scrawled on the back of a bar tab. We were drunk at the time.” He cleared his throat.

“Tell them I loved every minute of it. When I go send me into the local sun. I don’t want cold dirt anywhere near me. Play that song and have a free bar.”

“Today we will honour that request. She ships out with me, as her last post as Engineer. I ask you to join me on the journey. Until then I would ask you to join me in the song she requested.”

The galaxy heard her last request as the humans took ‘Ode to Joy’ and turned it into a salute and a farewell. Across the human worlds, musicians and singers lifted the music until it echoed across the stars.

The final ceremony was watched by billions as the tiny coffin was delivered into the silence of space to fall into towards the local sun. From Earth and those worlds grateful for her work, the song rang out again as she disappeared on her final voyage.

Much later the Engineer that had led the service was silently drinking his whisky when the Commander of the station approached. “I just wanted to thank you. I never got to meet this Engineer of yours. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise what she had done. Thank you all.”

The human waved his glass, “She brought me back into space. Strange girl. Brains and money to burn but she never would surrender.” He looked at the Xeno, “I think I’m going home. I think I’m done. You all keep killing the best of us. Now fuck off before I want to hit something.” At that, he returned his cold stare to the bar and began planning a new mine, deep and far away from people.

The pounding began on his bunker. Something was in orbit and was apparently unchallenged, sending punishing weaponry directly at him. Incice swore as he called for support and was met with silence. His allies, his property was ignoring him. Fine, he had a plan for that too. He summoned his AI, “Defend this installation. Nothing else on this rock is to be preserved. Burn the lot.” His AI took a strange tone as the human malware it had absorbed finally took effect. It looked at him blankly and then laughed. A human voice spoke, “We have taken your systems. We have taken [CORRUPTED], we have taken your ships. Please wait patiently until we [CORRUPTED] your life.”

The walls began to fall as his guns went silent and then turned on him. He stood afraid to move in his own office as the pounding continued. It grew closer until finally the vast door, the finest he could commission opened quietly in front of him to reveal a single human. It sniffed and looked around. “Nice work. Perhaps you should have checked who built it.” The human held no weapon, simply a suitcase of grey leather. It stepped forward as the guns in the bunker remained focused on Incice and placed it on the desk. Incice hissed at him, “Humans, you would kill me over a single ship? I have released hell on your people. Tell me how you will explain this to your allies?”

The human looked at him silently for a moment. It sighed, “Incice I am not here about that. Frankly, I don’t care about your little smuggling operation. I am here because you killed Revel. Let me tell you a story. Long ago and far away our people were lost. Trapped and doomed to remain so for eternity. A human, a species unknown to us at the time, was trying to defend her ship. She pulled our prison apart and dropped it on her enemies. She never suspected that we existed and we never told her.” He pulled a large blade from the air, “But we thought she was worth protecting and, since she made a habit of pissing people off, we make housecalls.” The creature no longer looked human. “We admit that there were very, very good reasons to imprison us but Revel, well she taught us manners. Now I have to go and fish her out of a Sun before it’s too late. You however can take her place. I just need to fit you into this” He looked at the small briefcase on the desk.

The knife began its work

The human wiped off the handle of the suitcase and made his way back to the ship. He smiled to himself. Being human was very entertaining and Revel, Revel never stopped pissing people off. Time to go and recover her before it got too messy. Still, he had enjoyed the funeral. He piloted his ship away while humming ‘Ode to Joy’.