[The Lone Gunslinger, Chapter 22, Sacrifice] “You’ve had a busy week, dear.” “Yes, Lady Jackdaw, I’ve spent one day in each grade on Deck 9. Yesterday we built a thermocouple thermometer, and then converted heat into electrical energy.” "What has been your favorite class?" "Building the radio transmitter with the second grade hatchlings," I reply taking another cookie from the tray. "I think we will have to consider a more permanent solution to offer training classes. You may be the first human to partner with a Jackdaw, but you will not be the last." I'm sitting a small round table; Lady Jackdaw invited me to join her for tea and cookies. I've seen her before but haven't had a chance to talk with her yet; she seems very nice "I wish I had more time, I have hardly slept all week studying everything the teachers have been giving me to do." Lady Jackdaw taps a folder on the table. "I have the assessment from your teachers; they are impressed with your potential." "Thank you." I like Lady Jackdaw, she seems nice, and I have to wonder why Jaco has been keeping me away from her. "Your welcome," whispers Jaco. "For what?" I must have spoken softly enough for our personal Com-link to pick it up, and Jaco heard me. "Not you," I whisper. "I'm having tea with your mother." "No, oh crap, stop talking," whispers Jaco. I can hear the panic in his voice. "No matter what she says don't say another word, I'm on the way." I glance up at Lady Jackdaw; she's noticed me whispering to Jaco. "You are speaking with Jaco," says Lady Jackdaw, her eyes boring into mine. I open my mouth to reply and catch myself. I'm not sure what to do, from the tone of Jaco's voice something is wrong. "I see, he has told you not to speak to me," says Lady Jackdaw, "and are you going to obey your partner?" I drop my eyes and nod. "If I had meant you any harm, Dear, I would have shut off your Com-link to Jaco before you arrived." Lady Jackdaw smiles pleasantly. "More tea?" I shake my head. "Would you like to know why Jaco told you not to speak?" Lady Jackdaw asks. I shrug. "I do not particularly like humans, nor do I like you, Dear. I do not believe you are good enough for Jaco, he should find an appropriate female Jackdaw partner." I look up; there is so much I want to say and ask, about that statement. I'm a little shocked she is so blunt with me. "Did you think every Jackdaw was going to welcome you with open arms, Dear?" asks Lady Jackdaw. "You do not have to be afraid. I realize I am stuck with you for now and will continue to support your education in order to reduce the damage having a human among us is causing." "I'll return to my Dart Ship for the rest of the trip, and leave as soon as we arrive at Pyra." "Really? You intend to run away the moment you find someone that doesn't like you? I would have expected Jaco to have taught you better than that, but then, you do have a habit of running away when things get difficult." Lady Jackdaw picks up a book lying on the chair next to us and sets it on the table. The book is old, and the printing on the front is in a language I don't recognize. "This is a history book with a short section on the Silver Rebellion of Raunu, perhaps the only copy left. The Gunslingers have done a good job destroying every book that speaks of the rebellion. The book states that the miners on Raunu were fighting a prohibition against mining an unusually large deposit of silver, and gold." I shrug and keep my expression neutral. I know exactly what the Silver Rebellion was all about. "I already suspect the Gunslingers settled on that mountain because it is the site of the gold and silver. What I don't know is why they are keeping it a secret. I sent a team to question the Renegade Ravens, and they are just as close-mouthed about it as the Gunslingers. And, as far as I have determined, not a single Renegade Raven has picked up so much as a single nugget, and that is very much not a Daraian trait. What could cause a Daraian to ignore such an abundance of wealth lying under their own feet?" I shrug again. "Are you going to torture me, is that what's about to happen, are you going to send me to the Chair?" "If I were Lady Raven, yes, I would peel your skin away very slowly until you tell me what I want to know." I can't help but shudder at that thought, and I think she notices. I've made a mistake and talked. I see a momentary shadow pass across her eyes. I've made two mistakes. I've confirmed her low opinion of humans by saying I would run away and again by showing that I am afraid of the Chair. I have a mental image of Lady Jackdaw sitting at a table with the other leaders of the House Governments of the Raven Empire discussing affairs of State. I can hear Lady Raven ordering Lady Jackdaw to investigate the rumor of a deposit of silver and gold that might be worth risking galactic war. This was my real mistake, the Jackdaws are better people than the Ravens, but they aren't the Renegade Ravens, no, they are just another part of the main House Raven and can be just as brutal. The teachers and everyone else I've met seem nice, maybe it's just the Daraian leaders that are so vicious and brutal; those capable and willing to use brutality in the rise to power while those of conscience are trampled under their feet. I shrug again, and at that moment, Jaco slides in through the door, panting heavily. "Mother, what are you doing?" shouts Jaco. "You are no longer a hatchling, dear," scolds Lady Jackdaw. "Would you like to go back outside and try that again." Jaco looks back and forth and then steps back to the door. The stern expression on Lady Jackdaw's face leaves no doubt she is very serious. Jaco explained to me that Darai is a Matriarchy but until this moment I didn't fully understand. "My Lady Jackdaw, it's Jaco, may I enter," says Jaco. Lady Jackdaw stands and picks up the history book. "You may enter, Dear, I'm finished here. Keal has told me everything I need to know." Jaco re-enters the room and Lady Jackdaw heads towards the door. Lady Jackdaw stops and looks back at me. "Keal, when your partner tells you something, you should listen. Lady Jackdaw turns away from me in disgust and walks out the door." "You told her?" asks Jaco. "No, she said she didn't like me or humans so I offered to stay on the Dart Ship for the rest of the trip. I didn't say anything about the mountain." "Keal! I told you not to talk, when are you going to start listening?" But I didn't say anything." "You spoke; that was enough for her to get what she wanted." "How?" "I'm sorry, Keal, it's my fault. I'm just not teaching you fast enough." I drop my head. I was so excited to meet Lady Jackdaw and now to find out she's one of the bad ones. "No, it's my fault, I didn't listen, I tried though. Does she read minds or something?" "No, don't be silly, nobody can read minds, but you can project images like I did when I showed you Darai, remember, when we First Bonded." "Yea, I remember, but I thought that was some kind of technology." "No, all living creatures can project, a body gives off the power of a one-hundred watt light bulb, Daraians are more evolved than humans and can use that. Humans can't do it on their own yet, and everyone needs a strong emotional stimulus to be able to do it. Hmm…Mother said she didn't like you, or humans, right?" "Yea." "That made you mad, that was the emotional stimulus," explains Jaco. "Then she probably immediately asked you about the mountain and you projected an image of everything you knew about the mountain. Not all Daraians can read a projection at will like that though, we usually need a stronger emotion than anger, such as the first realization of love. Mother is the best, she's the Raven's Chief Interrogator, you were doomed from the moment she handed you a cookie. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to take cookies from strangers?" "Ha, ha." Jaco starts stuffing the left-over cookies off the tray into his pockets. "Do you want the rest of that one?" Jaco points at my half-eaten cookie. I shake my head, and the cookie disappears into another of Jaco's pockets. "Well, it all worked out okay, I think?" "Did it?" asks Jaco. "She knows there's gold and silver there now, and If you think she won't be trying to pick up every gold nugget that washes out onto the prairie, you're naïve." "Oh sheesh, I really screwed up, if she discovers just how much silver and gold there is, it will collapse the entire economy of the Empire." "I didn't want just to come out and say you can't trust my mother, who would want to say that? I'll talk to father, he's okay, maybe he can work something out, so we don't look like idiots when we get home." "I'm not so sure I want to go home. I did like being a Raptor, and I like being here and learning about communications, and Gunslinger Cyrus has a good business idea that makes huge money. Why do I have to be a Gunslinger just because my father is one? I don't know what I want to be?" "I always thought I would like to be an antique dealer," says Jaco. "You know how I like to collect things, there's a whole galaxy of stuff to find nobody wants anymore." "That sounds more like a junk store." "Naw, we find interesting things, and then put the right spin on and find buyers that will pay good money for it." "You know, that actually sounds like a lot of fun, and maybe we won't have anymore drama, because we would be on our own." I spend the next several days finishing up in the classrooms, it has been an interesting experience, but we are getting close to Pyra, and it's time to pack up. Despite my run-in with Lady Jackdaw, I'm going to miss being on the Crystal Rain. Jaco helps me put all my school projects in boxes and carry them down to our Dart Ship. I pack the transmitter I built separately; it was my favorite project. I spent the most care on that project and stayed up all night until I had it perfect. The night before we are to arrive at Pyra I get a special surprise. Jaco tricked me and said all the hatchlings wanted to say goodbye to me, so we headed to Deck 9 and found all the teachers and hatchlings assembled. Laenai leads me up front and the little hatchling with the adorable wings from my first class very solemnly walks up and hands me a rolled up parchment with a ribbon neatly tied around it. "Keal, for outstanding scholarly achievement, you are hereby awarded this honorary diploma of graduation from Jackdaw Elementary," announces Laenai. "Congratulations, and we hope that you continue your studies. I believe you have the potential to become a fine Communications Officer." "You're okay, for a human," says the little-winged hatchling. I hiss at the little hatchling, and she hisses back at me, yea, I found out later she was a girl hatchling. The Ravens are a little easier to determine gender because Raven girls usually have longer hair, but the hatchling Jackdaws all have the same wavy tangle of wild black hair. There is a short party after the ceremony and the hatchlings devour mountains of cookies; another thing I have discovered about Jackdaws, they are very fond of cookies. The teachers give the hatchlings a little time to run around and burn off some energy and then call everyone back into the classrooms. I stand at the end of the hall and watch the school deck return to normal. My time on Deck 9 is over--I hate endings and I'm a little sad, I really enjoyed myself here. "Lets go partner," says Jaco. "We have to join with the Shield Guard." Our Dart Ship has been armed and officially named the Keal. The Daraians usually name their smaller ships after the dominant partner, and the larger ships are given more poetic names, like the Crystal Rain. I found out why they named the ship Crystal Rain. If you stand on the control platform in the main communications center inside the ship, you can see the hundreds of Vid-screens all around the Com-Center and covering the walls from ceiling to floor. The raw digital display of Com-coding pouring down the Vids makes the room look like it is raining a crystal rain. Despite the umbilical attached to the Crystal Rain that's supposed to keep the ship warm, it's chilly inside the Dart. I crawl into my navigator's chair behind the pilot chair while Jaco seals the ship up and gets us ready to launch. I can't see anything outside, there is a large inverted scoop that looks like a big bowl attached to the front of our Dart. We will eject the shield after the Crystal Rain completes it's braking maneuver, and then a tug will retrieve the shield to be used again and again. I wouldn't be able to see anything anyway, we are still at light speed, or more accurately we are still trans-dimensional skipping through space. The Daraians don't call it light speed, they call it TDS; light speed is the incorrect term humans use. I'm more familiar my duties in the navigator seat now and start the pre-launch warm-up. I flip the master Com-link on and run through the check-list. Someone in the Com-Center is reminding everyone to get their spacesuits on, and I pass the message back to Jaco. "Way ahead of you," Jaco calls out. "You need to get back here and get yours on now." Jaco is almost finished putting his spacesuit on already. I'll need help with mine; I haven't been trained yet to put mine on. I read in the history books that a long time ago space travel was only for professional astronauts, but now small ships like the Dart can be operated by almost anyone. Space travel is now as common as riding a horse into town. The spacesuit is simple too, but I've never put one on, and Jaco shows me how to slip into it. The Com-link up in the cockpit chirps, someone is calling us. I feel a little awkward in the spacesuit, but manage to crawl back into my chair. "Crystal Rain, this the Keal, over," I respond to the insistent chirping. "Keal, this is Crystal Rain, you need to get your engines started, we are dropping out of TDS in four minutes." "I got it," says Jaco, and then I can feel the slight vibration of the engines starting up. "Understood, Crystal Rain, engines coming online now," I reply. I flip a switch on my control panel, and the armored canopy deploys over the glass canopy, it's not really glass but some kind of see-through Demonian metal. We have to fly by instruments for Shield Guard, but we have cameras and can see almost as well. Jaco retracts the wings, and I finish by deploying the side armor. "Crystal Rain, this is the Keal, we are ready for launch." "Acknowledged Keal, one minute to normal space, all Shield Ships prepare to launch." I have to admit to being a little scared. The other Dart crews said this is the most dangerous duty a Daraian Dart Crew will ever have to do; there is a very real risk of our ship being destroyed. "Normal space in 5...4...3...2...1...launch launch launch," orders the Crystal Rain Com-Center. I'm pressed back in my seat as Jaco throttles our Dart Ship forward at full speed and rushes to the antenna array we are assigned to protect. Other Dart Ships are leaping forward to other satellite dishes, antennas, and weak spots on the Crystal Rain. There is an entire Squadron of Dart Ships rushing forward to take a shield-line position in front of the Crystal Rain. We are no more than in our assigned position when the first piece of space junk hits the scoop shield attached to the front of our Dart. The ship shutters violently, and I don't think I breathe for ten seconds while I watch the sensors to see if the shield is holding. "That was a small impact," shouts Jaco trying to hold the Dart in place. "Probably just a bolt or something." The Crystal Rain isn't a combat ship and not as heavily armored as a Battle Carrier. The Dart Ships are providing a shield to protect not only the ship, but also the delicate communications equipment she carries. And Pyra is one of the worst places to brake out of TDS at. The Pyrans haven't keep their space cleaned up from all the various junk dropped by ships; bolts, screws, tools, and even larger pieces like bulk head plates that were replaced on ships in orbit and left to float away. "This is Tonea," shouts a voice over the Com. "We've lost half our Shield." "Yarai, move forward to fill the gap," orders the Com-Center. "This is Yarai, moving forward." "Tonea falling back to cover Yarai's position." "Yarai in position." Yarai is now in the front Shield position and has the very most dangerous position. I check the sensors, the Crystal Rain is bleeding off speed, but it will be another six hours and many very wide loops around the planet before we can take up a synchronous orbit around Pyra. The Crystal Rain is a lot of mass, and that takes time to stop. The Shields are made from Demonian metal, and to think that we are going fast enough for a stray screw driver to break a shield in half is amazing. I can see why the Daraians keep most ships small and less mass, it's just not practical for most purposes to have ships that can't stop quickly. To get an idea of how big the Crystal Rain is, take four of the biggest skyscrapers you've ever seen, push them next to each other, then lay the whole thing horizontal, and you have the Crystal Rain. And Battle Carriers are even bigger. "Keal, this is Crystal Rain," the Com-link chirps. "Move to the secondary antenna array, Goea's shield just cracked and won't take another hit." "Jaco." "Yea, I'm on it." "Crystal Rain, this is Keal, moving now." Jaco maneuvers our Dart to just in front the secondary antenna array and Goea's Dart falls back behind us as a backup shield. I can see the rest of the Fleet on the cameras. Most of them will stay close to us, but I can see some Dart Squadrons heading for the planet. We take a few more impacts, but for the most part we get lucky, or maybe someone just plotted a decent course to avoid most of the space junk. Then our luck runs out and at the four-hour mark we lose the shields on four of the Darts up front guarding the ship. "Roae, Sena, Cai, and Keal, quickly, move to the forward position and fill those gaps," shouts the Com-Center. "Jaco, go!" I shout. Jaco punches the thrusters, and we leap forward, Goea's Dart is just going to have to risk their cracked shield to protect the secondary array alone. Almost immediately as we pull into position the impacts start against our shield and the ship shakes violently. We must have hit a debris field from something. The next hour is a nightmare of impacts and then something big hits our shield. The shield rips backwards and tears away from it's mounts and spins off into space. "Crystal Rain, this is Keal, we've lost our shield," I shout into the Com-Link. "Keal, this is Crystal Rain, pull back and tuck in behind another Dart." "Crystal Rain, who is taking our place?" I shout. Another piece of space junk hits our canopy and rips half of it away. I can see open space now. "This is Crystal Rain, we have no more Shield Darts left, Keal." "Then I'm not pulling out, we will stay in position as long as we can," I shout. There is a short pause, and a new voice comes over the Com-Link. "This is Lord Jackdaw, Jaco, pull your ship back now." "Negative!" I scream into the Com-link. "Jaco, your first loyalty is to me, you will keep the ship in position. I get it now, the individual is not as important as the whole, if we pull out Deck 9 will be exposed, and the hatchlings could die." "Sorry, father," Jaco replies on the Com-link. "In this I must obey Keal. I am but his to command." "Very well, son," replies Lord Jackdaw. "The armor is thickest on the belly of a Dart, pitch up to fifteen degrees and hold there, it should be enough to deflect debris away from the Crystal Rain." I thought the last hour was a nightmare, but now it's pure terror. Debris punches through the Dart, and we lose atmosphere. I get out of my chair and try to patch the first couple holes, but there are too many, and I give up. When I return to my seat there is a small hole in the back of my chair. I check Jaco but whatever came through missed his shoulder by less than an inch. The last hour passes and then the Crystal Rain is moving slow enough that debris is no longer a danger. All the Darts receive the recall order and Jaco limps us back towards the Crystal Rain. I think one of our engines is on fire. "This is The Keal, we need medics in the landing bay," says Jaco over the Com-link. "Jaco?" I ask. "Are you hurt." "Hang on, my love," says Jaco. "We're almost there." "Jaco, I told you to stop calling me that," I reply. Jaco continues to talk on the Com-link, but I'm too busy trying to get the landing gear down to listen. We can't dock at a docking-tube and have to come into one of the landing bays. Jaco gets us inside, and we touch down and the ship spins and rolls on the deck until it stops. Emergency crews use plasma torches and cuts a hole in the side of the cockpit and then we are being pulled out. I can see our beautiful new Dart Ship now, it is a shredded twisted mass of metal that barely resembles something that once flew gracefully through the sky. More emergency crews are trying to put out the fire that has now burst into visible flames in the oxygen filled atmosphere of the landing bay. For some reason, I'm on the ground, and Jaco is kneeling next to me. I try to stand up, but the emergency crews won't let me get up. Instead, they lift me and put me on a stretcher. "I can walk just fine," I insist. Then one of the emergency medics elevates my leg and is cutting my spacesuit away. There is blood covering the leg of my spacesuit. Was I hit? I never felt anything. The medics are pushing the stretcher towards a door where other pilots and crew are standing. One of the medics is yelling. "Make a hole, make hole, injured Jackdaw coming through," shouts the Medic. I hear the pilots and crews talking as we roll past them. "That's him..." "Saved the ship..." "A true Jackdaw..." "A hero..." We pass through brightly lit corridors, and them I'm being pushed into a room. I turn my head to the side, and I think I see Lady Jackdaw talking with someone. "You save that leg, Doctor," says Lady Jackdaw. "Or I'll take yours." "My Lady, I'm sorry, it's just too mangled," says the person she's talking to. "The best I can do is stabilize him and transfer him down to a Pyran hospital." Lady Jackdaw turns to someone else. "Get me the Marshal General on the Com-link, now!" And then I'm dizzy, and everything goes black.