Moncayo

© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  ahro


“Excuse me? Captain d’Estcourt?” Meredith turned to see a kangaroo femme wearing the prevailing fashion on the planet; a short skirt and a cropped top, with a holdall bag slung from one shoulder. Her feet were unshod. It was a definite prevailing fashion, too; the males she’d seen were dressed similarly. “Pardon me for bothering you.”

“It’s no problem,” the mare responded with a smile, and gestured at the directory she had been studying. “Just trying to make sense of this. I’m trying to find a good restaurant.” She chuckled and asked, “May I help you?”

“Mari Athenry,” the doe introduced herself. “I’m with the Colonial Diplomatic Team. Thank you for letting us know about Tempest.”

“Pleased to meet you,” and the mare put out a paw that the doe took. “Are you going to be able to help them, with the war going on?”

“I think we can,” Mari admitted. “We’re neutral in this fight, despite what the core worlds have been saying.”

“What are they saying? I’ve been sort of avoiding the news.”

“I shouldn’t wonder,” and both femmes chuckled. “They’re calling the Colonies traitors; that’s the mildest. The latest reports have the shlani across the border, penetrating a few parsecs into the Sphere – is there anything wrong?” Athenry asked, seeing a faraway, almost stricken look in Meredith’s eyes.

The mare shook her head. “It’s all right. I’m from This Far, so right now my parents and brothers are behind the Imperial lines. I’ll have to talk to them.” She huffed a breath through her nose and glanced at the directory again. “Can you help me with this?”

Mari grinned. “If it’ll make up for me giving you bad news, sure, but why didn’t you ask the AI?”

“We have an AI on This Far, but Salli is the administration for the planet. I didn’t know they can end up doing minor tasks like this.”

“We have a few here on Moncayo. Boris?” the kangaroo asked, addressing the panel.

An icon appeared, looking like a lidless red eye rimmed in golden-yellow flames that danced and flickered. The small black pupil moved around and finally focused on Mari. “Yes, Athenry-jih?”

Meredith blinked. “That’s . . . interesting.”

“Boris is always doing this,” Mari said. “Changes his icon as it suits him. Right now he’s working from ancient Terran literature.” She looked at the icon. “Hello, Boris. Captain d’Estcourt and I are looking for a good restaurant here.”

“Ah. Well, hmm . . . there’s Flik’s, if you like that sort of thing.”

“What do you mean?” Meredith asked.

The pupil moved to face her. “Food, of course. I get by on electrolytes and nutrient solution, thank you very much. Anyway, Flik’s is well-regarded, and the costs are about average.” The directory listing vanished, replaced by a map of the complex. A star showed where they were, and a red line showed the route to get to the restaurant. “There you go. Will that be all?”

“That’ll be all, Boris,” Athenry said. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” and the icon winked before vanishing.

The two fems started walking. “You’re going that way?” Meredith asked.

“I’m hungry too,” she said, “and I wanted to talk to you. Luckily, your ship arrived before the Expedient left, so I have a few hours.” The kangaroo had a friendly smile. “You were in the Navy?”

The palomino mare nodded. “Yes. Getting that transmission surprised me, and I probably didn’t follow Fleet regs about contact – “

“Oh, you did fine,” the doe hastened to reassure her, “and you followed established protocols by forwarding it to us immediately.” She smiled again. “Now it’s up to us.”

Flik’s was exactly as Boris had advertised. The food was tasty, the portions substantial, and the price reasonable. The two sat and chatted amiably over sandwiches and local beer on a number of topics, with career and the news among them. Meredith looked up from her sandwich as a chime sounded from Mari’s holdall. The kangaroo femme took out her padd and held it to her ear without unfolding it even partway. “Athenry. Ah. On my way.” She tucked it back into her bag and said, “My turn to apologize. The Expedient’s leaving sooner than I anticipated.”

“Sorry for distracting you.”

Mari waved the apology away with a paw. “No need. Something’s come up.”

“Oh?”

The doe’s smile faltered. “A Colonial patrol found a Confed ship nosing around two systems spinward from here. They chased it off, but the local flotilla’s mobilizing. You’ll probably have rerouting advisories waiting for you when you get back up to your ship.” She extended a paw. “It’s been good to meet you, Captain.”

Meredith shook the offered paw, wondering if she’d get used to be called that. “Pleasure to meet you, Mari.”

The kangaroo settled her bill, shouldered her bag and left, leaving the mare gazing at the tiny trails of bubbles in her beer.

Meredith started thinking back to her tactical training, from the Rani Anitra and the Kith to the Academy, and her imagination spread a chart of the sector in her mind. There was the border, yes, and the closest battlezone was there . . . Could the Confed be trying to outflank the Empire? She wondered. The mare picked up her beer and took a deep drink before taking another bite of her sandwich and chewing thoughtfully.

After finishing her lunch, she made her way to a public terminal and recorded a letter to be transmitted to her parents on This Far, letting them know that she was all right and asking after them and her infant brothers. Sending it, she decided to head back up to the Kiss Me in the Dark to check for any advisories, and to get caught up on the news.

Meredith stepped out into the bright sunlight and headed for the autojitney stand, wondering how Varan was doing.