Wishing On A Star

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

It's now the month of Shon here on Falth, or September back on earth, in another relfa we'll be traveling to earth for the harvest. Lately I've been spending a lot of time at the university staying at Drolugi's, shuttling back to Akdor on the weekends to be with Morkai. On a couple of occasions Weeko went along with me to the university when she was scheduled to give a lecture, something she dreaded at first, but now had grown more comfortable with standing up in front of people and speaking, especially when they wanted to hear what you had to say. Hanna was also back in Akdor as well rather than accompany Nargra to Yedor-rus and the miserable conditions there, plus she like the rest of us was five months into her pregnancy and was showing quite a lot.

Right now, we were all concerned about how the impending space trip would affect our babies. Doctor Metana insisted that everything would be fine, based on studies with Nuelian babies. He and his colleagues all felt that it could be far more harmful were we to take them as babies and only a few alyt's old next dorn, but with reasonable precautions there should be no problem this time. For the rest of the relfa our ships were undergoing last taq inspections and provisioning. We were also having to endure the meetings and briefings with not only Sandrick, and Marrack, but now lectures on proper behavior and conduct while on Kagor, thanks to the Dekken's outrages. At the last meeting, Sandrick gave Morkai pouch containing news and instructions for Andy as well as Colin,

"There's a commendation in there for Colin Blessing, as well as ID cards for him, Andy and his wife should they need to return here, but by all means tell them to keep these cards well hidden and not to carry them on their person at any time," said Sandrick,

"Well in that case," I replied, why not just carry them on our ship until such time as they might require them," I replied.

Sandrick shrugged, "I suppose that would work just as well."

For the first time I lifted off from Falth, flew us to the jump gate through it and initiated hyper drive.

Even though I was well along in my pregnancy it didn't affect me, both Hanna and I were able to perform our duties the same as before, but we were now wearing maternity tops with our cargo pants much looser around our waists.

Another uneventful trip, although for me most of it was spent in the pilot's seat, but that's the way I wanted it, Morkai only took over when I needed to sleep. Hanna and I did a lot of reading on the trip, through my efforts she could now read quite well, her medical training with Nargra was wrapping up, she had always worried that she was just a dumb w***e, but we were proving that false, Hanna had been given a second chance, and she was determined to make the most of it.

Our first stop was the Dakota Territory, and our Wort fields. I contacted Colin on the comm, but was almost ready to believe something was wrong, as he didn't answer at first. Finally, his voice came over the com explaining that he couldn't find his radio at first. I alerted him that we would be setting down behind his shack very shortly but to remain inside. Once we were on the ground, and lowering the ramp, he appeared holding a lantern

We all shook hands or greeted him as he invited us inside,

"Welcome folks, please step inside." When we entered Mrs. Benning and little Caleb greeted us as well.

"Colin's sister told me you decided to go with Colin, Hello Caleb, how are you?" I noticed him looking a bit apprehensive at Morkai and Nargra because of their clothing and eyes, but he was met with grins.

"Yes," she replied, "With Henry dead, I didn't know what to do, Colin asked if I would like to stay here for awhile, and since I had Caleb to consider, I said yes. He's certainly been quite the gentleman, Caleb dotes on him."

She then asked, "Tell me Holly, has anything happened with those people who killed my husband and kidnapped us?"

"Oh yes, Mrs. Benning," I replied. "The trial was a couple months ago, Mr. Elcon handled the governments case, Morkai, Gitel and Nargra there were witnesses, Colin and your's testimony went a long way to convict them, especially the pictures Morkai and Mr. Elcon took." Morkai then jumped in and said, "Kith and Juko were tried and convicted, they took then to Comac 4 which is a prison planet, then with a gesture of his hand indicated slitting a throat.

"Oh dear!" gasped Mrs. Benning

"They knew the rules Mrs. Benning," added Morkai. "The Falthian government takes this prime directive very seriously they reminded all of us again before we left home of our responsibilities to the directive. Of course, we all are well aware of our responsibilities, and proper conduct. We were also reminded to tell those we do come in contact that they are to keep their mouths shut as well. This primarily concerns people like Colin, Andy and various parents. Inadvertently this also applies to you and young Caleb there, I'm not trying to sound harsh, but just be aware that our presence her is not a subject for discussion."

"I understand Mr. Draaka," replied Mrs. Benning, I will endeavor to instruct Caleb not to reveal any of this to anyone he meets." "Excellent," replied Morkai. "Now Colin I have some things here for you, mostly from Sandrick, I think there's a commendation from the government there as well." He tossed a large packet on to the table, and as we drank, coffee Colin looked through the packet, pulling out a small pouch of gold discs, correspondence, and a separate flat envelope.

"I think that flat envelope is your commendation of merit," I pointed out. Opening it, he pulled out a beautifully scribed document but I noticed right away it was printed in Falthian.

"Someone forgot to send a translated version, I noted."

"I don't think there is such a thing," replied Morkai.

"I've got one up on my wall at home," said Nargra, "I think that's the way they all are."

"Want me to translate it for you Colin," I replied.

"Be nice," he said.

I took it from him and held it up like a proclamation,

"This commendation of merit is awarded to Colin Blessing, Kagorian. Who on Valo, that's the Falthian equivalent of May Colin. Anyway, between the dates of the twelfth and fifteenth of Valo 2525, Colin Blessing assisted in the capture of Falthian renegades who had murdered and kidnapped Kagorian citizens. Together with a fellow Kagorian, Mr. Blessing assisted Falthian marines in said capture resulting in the saving of innocent lives. The Falthian government wishes to extend it's most sincere appreciation to Mr. Blessing for his assistance in this effort, signed Kemri Elcon, Department of governmental security and investigations.

Smiling, I said, "Wow Colin that's pretty impressive, if you have some paper, I'll be glad to translate it for you so you'll always know what it says."

"I'd appreciate that ma'am," said Colin

"You know Colin," added Nargra, "that may not seem like much, but that's the equivalent of being mentioned in dispatches if you're in the Falthian military, and I wouldn't doubt you may be the first "off-Worlder" ever to receive that award, I'd certainly keep it someplace safe."

The importance of this was starting to sink in with him,

"Well I certainly appreciate this; did Weeko by chance receive one?"

"I believe she did," replied Morkai, "But since she's a Falthian citizen it's more like a medal, I know Gitel told be she got one."

"She sure is one tough lady," said Colin, "She jumped on that horse I bought for her and rode it with barely a saddle, she really knew the area, by the way I wonder if her brother got the message she left with the hunting party we ran into?"

"I'm not sure," I replied, "She told us that if her people found him he was supposed to meet her somewhere."

"There's a small meadow near Lost Pass in the Beaverhead Mountains," replied Colin, "pretty rugged country up there, but it's where the Nez Perce have their traditional hunting grounds, if he's on the reservation, he'll have to slip by the army, but she told me if he gets her note he'll come."

"We had better get going so we can get a couple fields done before it get's light out," said Morkai.

"We were all going down to the new field in the morning," replied Colin "Guess we'll see you there."

I took the controls again, and sat over the Wort field as we checked for indications if animal or human life below. Since there didn't appear to be any (or at least what the scanner could pick up) I set the ship down near a small stream. Morkai chuckled, and reminded Hanna and I.

"Kind of ironic don't you think, this is the same field you two stumbled into only last dorn, incredible, look how far both of you have come since then."

He was right, the things we as women had accomplished was truly amazing. I thought of that night, stumbling along, following the stream off and on, being helped along by Hanna cajoling me to keep moving as we staggered along crashing through the brush. I smiled at the woman next to me who I owed everything to, hard to believe that we had gone from adversaries to the closest of friends.

We all knew the drill, Hanna and I assisted Morkai and Nargra with the picker and seeding machines. Then as they drove them down the ramp, we prepared crates to receive the harvested Wort. Both of us also armed ourselves, I kept my Spencer handy at the base of the ramp, and holstering my Colt double action pistol. Hanna carried a Colt as well, along with her "Greener," a short double-barreled shotgun. When Morkai returned with a full picker, I helped position a crate so that he could eject his load of picked Wort right into it. The same for the seeder, when Nargra ran out, Hanna and I would assist in filling it's hopper with more seed. Therefore, it went, both machines were equipped with lights that aided the operator who wore night vision goggles so they could see where they were going, and not have to trust to lights that could give away their presence. Hanna and I also wore night vision goggles, a device that of all the wondrous gadgetry we had been introduced to, these goggles probably were near the top of our lists.

Even though the landscape was cast in a greening hue, you could see several kat's in distance as though it was broad daylight.

We finished shortly before dawn, taking off for the big field Colin had purchased for the Shai Alyt. I set us down into the small clearing Colin had told us he had cleared especially for our spacecraft allowing us to remain more or less hidden from general view, allowing us a few shon's to sleep. We woke shortly before noon, grabbing a quick breakfast along with the required cup of coffee. Since introducing Morkai and Nargra to this beverage, both had become confirmed "addicts." It didn't take long for the other men to "discover" the wonders of this drink, coffee beans being one of the few staples everyone stocked up on before returning to Falth. My Cousin Andy was well aware of this, and always made sure he had purchased enough for all of us, A&P being the favorite.

When we finally emerged from our ship, Colin and Mrs. Benning were already busy working on his new house. Morkai and Nargra quickly became quite interested in the construction methods and it wasn't long before they were right in the thick of things helping Colin build his house. Hanna and I helped Mrs. Benning set up a walled tent the family was planning on using to spend the night in.

We also assisted her in erecting a sunshade, which we sat under and chatted. Mrs. Benning commented on our pregnancies an it wasn't long before talk shifted to babies, and raising children. During this time, I asked her, "So do you and Colin have any plans?"

She gave me a coy smile, "We might, When he initially offered me a place to stay, my thoughts didn't run any farther than that, but since then I've begun to look at him in a different light. He's kind, gentle, most of all Caleb dotes on him. Perhaps I'm rushing things a bit too soon after the loss of my husband, but out here a woman can't go for long strictly on her own."

She didn't say anything for a few moments studying the horizon, then softly added.

"Colin has already asked me to marry him, but not pressed the issue, he's giving me time to think about it, I like that in a man, I've pretty much decided to accept, but I'm going to hold out just a bit longer," she said with a grin on her face. Then looking over to where the men were working, even Caleb was helping, Mrs. Benning continued.

"Caleb needs a father, Henry was a fine man I do miss him, soon Caleb will forget him, Colin, for all tends and purposes is his father now, look at the way Caleb laughs and smiles when he's helping Colin.

Mrs. Benning continued to stare out over the meadow, "When I came west with Henry, I wasn't sure I was going to like it but now…You couldn't get me to live anywhere else, I love it out here, Colin says that once your people are done harvesting this St Johns Wort they will turn all of this over to him. Colin tells me he wants to raise cattle and horses, I think that's a fine idea, and apparently these people you work for want him to grow certain herbs and variations of this St Johns Wort as well, I've already planned on a large vegetable garden right over there they would certainly fit right in."

The men then drifted over taking a break under our sunshade. Both Morkai and Nargra were quite taken with the concept of building a house with one or two men erecting the framing then adding rooms. Colin then mentioned that he was going to have to dig a well, and hated the thought of it. Nargra then offered a suggestion, "How far down do you think the water is located?" Colin thought a moment, then replied.

"Oh I don't know, twenty, thirty feet I guess." Nargra then said.

"I've got an idea, where were you going to put your well?"

Colin pointed, "Right over there, when the house is finished it will sit out in back."

"If water were to start flowing now, would there be a problem?" asked Nargra.

"Why?" replied Colin, "Gonna dig it right now?"

"Maybe," answered Nargra, "Let me go get a couple of things first."

While Nargra went to the ship, he asked Colin to move his wagon over to where he wanted the well.

Shortly he returned with a long length of conduit pipe and his plasma rifle.

"This is conduit piping, we've had it on the ship for ages, and I'd just as soon get rid of it, it won't rust and will probably still be here long after your dead and gone, this plasma rifle will make a nice hole as you will shortly see, now everybody stay back."

Nargra climbed into the wagon and positioned himself so that he was well above the ground, aimed his rifle downward and pulled the trigger.

Firing is short bursts the plasma beam blasted away a hole on top of the ground, but then melted straight down. Morkai explained to Colin and Mrs. Benning what was happening.

"That's a plasma weapon, it's basically doing what the Dekkens heavier shipboard weapons did, it's literally melting down through the earth."

Nargra took his time stopping every few taq's to let the rifle cool. After about fifteen taq's and two cylinder changes, water started coming up out of the ground indicated by the steam from the super heated ground water. Nargra and Morkai then forced the conduit down into the hole.

"That soil is completely fused like glass, if you connect one of those hand pumps on this conduit you'll have a sealed system that won't contaminate."

"How did you know how to do this?" asked Morkai.

Nargra grinned, "That survival course I took in the navy, part of it delt with long term survival like being stranded on a deserted planet for dorns. They showed us how to dig an emergency well using conduit as sheathing." Colin and Mrs. Blessing just stood there looking at water bubbling out of the pipe in the ground, not believing what they had just seen. Colin then reached out and shook Nargra's hand.

"Sir, you just saved me weeks of damn hard work I can't thank you enough.

"Colin," replied Nargra, "You're a good man people like you are the reason we like you Kagorians so much, but I do have to admit, all these dorns since I was taught that, I've never had a chance to actually test it out, obviously it works." Everyone laughed with backslapping all around, "You might want to pack some sort of sealant around the base of that conduit to prevent water seepage," said Nargra.

While the men continued to admire the new well and talk about improvements Caleb approached me and asked. "Could I go inside?" Pointing to the Na'Vas.

I grinned, "Why sure Caleb, would you like a tour?" He indicated that he did, so he and his mother followed Hanna and I up the ramp where I pointed out various features of the cargo bay. We wandered around the ship, ending up on the bridge where he examined everything, of course, he didn't understand anything he was looking at, pretty much like me a dorn ago, in fact I said as much to her.

"I know how he feels, it all looks so amazing, I was just as he was a year ago, I was frightened, of everything, yet one year later, I have the ability to fly this craft millions of light years to another planet, pretty amazing isn't it?" Of course what I didn't tell her was that I had undergone intelligence enhancement bringing me up to speed on an alien culture and scientific knowledge, had I not done that, I'd still be mired in slowly learning the basics.