The Dead Zone
Orbiting DZ199,181-2
Aboard ISS Belfast Windfall

Ux was as disappointed as anyone. Most of the command officers were huddled around Commander Hilsfar's desk figuring on a plan. Ux was in his quarters working at his personal console--there was still work to be done, routine checks to be made. For the third time in less than an hour, Ux looked out the window at an odd twinkling star. Something about it grated at his primitive nerves. Of course it wasn't actually a star, it was the system's lone gas giant.

The typical Veloxi was not a brain trust. Every so often a high intellect emerged, but not with any frequency. The great strength of the Veloxi was their understanding of the physical world. They had an intuitive grasp of mechanical logic. Moreover, they had a keen sense of spatial relationships and balance. That's why, for a fourth time, Ux looked out the window. He turned back to his console and called up the telescopic option on the sensor array. A few seconds' wait was rewarded by a picture of the planet. It was a swirling mass of golden clouds surrounded by silverish rings. The planet was like Uranus. It didn't spin on an axis perpendicular to its plane of orbit. Instead, it "rolled" along the orbital path. So did the rings. From where Ux was, it looked like a bull's eye circled by two rings. The odd twinkling was caused by a fractional irregularity in the planet's rotation. In simple terms, it was warbling. To a human, it would have been imperceptible. To a Veloxi it was mildly annoying.

Ux zoomed out a bit and keyed a command into the computer. "Nope." There were no moons around the planet. A very small moonlet would have accounted for the warbling, but there was none. Maybe the rings. Ux ran a computer scan of the rings. They exerted considerable gravity, but it was evenly distributed. No cause for warbling there. Ux was perturbed at this point. Something was exerting a very small, unbalanced gravitational pull on the gas giant. He zoomed in again, but the resolution was lousy. No matter, it was worth a look. Ux turned off the console and walked up to the bridge.

Biggs and the other officers were still trying to hammer out what had gone wrong when the chief engineer walked onto the bridge. "There's a stranger," said the Commander. Ux avoided the bridge. "What can we do for you today, Mr. Ux?"

"Something's orbiting the third planet," was the reply. "I can't locate it on the telescopic equipment, but I know it's there." Mack shot Arella a knowing look. Biggs was notoriously cheap on equipment. His desk was over a thousand years old. He looked around at the officers. They were all nodding. It was the best thing anyone had thought of.

"All right, great. We'll leave orbit when the trajectory lines up. Should be what? Fifteen minutes?" Grx'bzzgah started working the numbers. That's when the first missile crashed into the port bow.

The Elowan Frontier, Thrynn Space
Expeditionary Dock Hssths

General Hoss'Vnn sat in his chair in the muggy heat of his study. The broken old warlord was in nearly constant pain. He ached for the warm swamps on Thoss, but clung to his command, knowing the mission was nearly complete. The Eshbullr Colony was certainly a sizable colony. If Kryssthoggr managed to occupy it, the Thrynn would have a legitimate possession behind the Arth-Heaven-Staff-Earth arc. Even if the Humans had their early warning buoys along the frontier, Thrynn ships could still pass through them at will, and with legitimate cause. No matter where the Elowan hid their precious headfruit, they would not be able to hide behind the Humans if the Thrynn had a foothold in that region of space.

But it was critical for the Kryssthoggr to seize the Eshbullr Colony. The treaty required a large, permanent settlement in order for a star system to be claimed as a colonial possession. Hoss'Vnn had wanted to send a full transport and blatantly plant a Thrynn flag somewhere in the Dead Zone. But there were cracks in the old regime, resistance to Hoss'Vnn's plan. A heresy was afoot, Hoss'Vnn knew. But he was too old and too weak to fight it. Kryssthoggr had been the only way, and a risky way, but it was a subtle, precise answer: land a few Thrynn in a pre-existing colony and stake a claim. History would laud Hoss'Vnn's resourceful genius. The Elowan would not escape.

----------
Next: "Volley"

In the quiet reaches of the Dead Zone, around an ancient star hanging in the endless cosmos, enemies will meet. In a lonely corner of a forlorn backwater, on the rising tide of history, fates will collide. Get your cheap seats and free buffalo wings at the Nebula Lounge! Be there--or you won't be.

"Hilsfar & Company: Because Admiral Needa Got His"