Ishari - chapter 2: Endgame - part 2 of 4
#2 of Ishari
Helen sat on her front porch reading. More accurately, her eyes traced a path across the words as her mind wandered. She had read the book so many times there really was no point to it. She took in each word, each sentence in order, but had no idea where in the story she was. Her mind just wasn't into it.
And she was bored. The days were painfully endless. She sighed and looked out across the fields off to the side of her house. She lived on the outskirts of town with few neighbors around.
She was simply too young for retirement. That had to be it.
No one would ever claim she hadn't earned it though. She had lived her entire life in Lion's Heart, the capital city of Wren. And in her fifty-seven years here, she had given more to her community than any other person. Between her career and her volunteer work, her days had always been full. But now they were empty. And they stretched on forever.
If only something interesting would happen. She let out another sigh, then picked up her book and pretended to continue reading.
A few moments later she saw a figure running up the pathway to the house. It was Michelle, her granddaughter. Not her real granddaughter of course. Michelle had no family and Helen had taken her in when she was young.
Helen watched the girl race up the walkway, but soon realized that something wasn't right. She stood up and dropped the book on the chair behind her.
When Michelle reached the steps of the porch she was out of breath. She leaned against the railing and launched into an explanation. She was so exhausted and exited though, she was stumbling over her words.
Helen reached out and placed her hands on the girls shoulders. No, not a girl anymore Helen reminded herself for the hundredth time. She was nearly the same age Helen was when... But no need to dredge up those memories now. She turned her focus back to Michelle.
"Slow down, girl," she said, "Just tell me what happened."
Michelle took a deep breath and tried again, "The military is here," she blurted out. "They're down in the town hall. They say the Ishari are coming."
Helen tried to follow what her granddaughter was saying. "Calm down now," she said, "So the military is here, and they claim the Ishari are coming to the Confederacy?"
Michelle shook her head, still trying to catch her breath, "No. They're coming here! To Wren!"
"What?" Helen was having a hard time digesting what she was hearing. Why would the Ishari come here? That made no sense at all.
Michelle grabbed her hand and pulled on it, urging her to follow. "Come on. You need to come now."
Mayor Lewis studied the soldier addressing him. He had a great deal of respect for the uniform he wore, but also felt sorry for him. From the sounds of it, the Confederacy was facing a very nasty war. And this young lieutenant looked as if he had just been handed his gold bar on the way out the door.
On top of that, The mayor was having a hard time digesting what the lieutenant was telling him. The Ishari? Here?
As he and the lieutenant were discussing the situation there was a commotion at the door. The mayor looked up to see someone trying to get past the two soldiers there.
"Great. Just what I needed," The mayor mumbled so only the lieutenant could hear, then to the two soldiers, "Let her through, please, gentlemen."
Helen pushed her way past the soldiers, her granddaughter right behind her, and stormed into the room.
"Thomas!" she said, loudly and sternly, "Just what the hells is going on?"
Mayor Lewis kept his composure. "Lieutenant Fox," he said calmly, "this is Helen Sterling, a bit of a community leader." In a lower voice he said to the lieutenant, "And if you expect any help from the folks here, you'll want to stay on her good side."
Helen scowled at the mayor with her arms crossed, as Fox extended his hand.
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Sterling," he said.
Helen kept her arms crossed and her stare fixed on the mayor.
"It's 'miss' if you don't mind, young man," she said, "And I still haven't gotten an answer."
Fox awkwardly lowered his hand. Frankly, this Helen already scared the crap out of him, and he was dreading spending any time with her. But it seemed he had no choice. She was a community leader, and had been for some time by the looks of her. She probably had valuable information.
He turned his attention to the two soldiers by the door.
"Sergeant," he said, "I want you and Corporal Higgs to escort the mayor to the archives while I have a word with Miss Sterling. See what you can dig up there."
"Yes sir," the soldier said and motioned for the mayor to join them.
He turned his attention back to Helen.
"So, Miss Sterling, you have questions?"
"Damn right I do!"
"Good," he said, "So do I."
Sergeant Simons sat at a table in the archives, newspaper clippings and files spread out in front of him. He seemed to be getting nowhere. They were instructed to find what ever they could from forty years ago, if the archives went back that far. If there were any clue in the pages scattered about the table, Simons was missing it.
He was startled when Corporal Higgs dropped a box in front of him and leaned against it.
"Anything, Sarge?"
"No," the sergeant sighed, "This is quite possibly the most boring town in the galaxy." He indicated some of the files on the table, "A few petty thefts, and a missing person."
"Ooh, a missing person!" Higgs said, snatching up the file, "How scandalous."
Simons allowed himself a slight smile at the corporal's antics.
"Hmm," the corporal continued, reading the file, "Johnathan Dowls, age seventeen."
"Oh, look at this," he said, turning the file to the sergeant, "The poor kid didn't even get to enjoy his summer."
"You're heartless, Corporal"
The corporal flipped through the pages of the file, then his face suddenly became serious.
"Now this is interesting," he said, handing the file to the sergeant, "Guess who was last to be seem with him."
The sergeant took the file and looked over the indicated page. His eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Helen Sterling?"
"Coincidence?"
"I don't like coincidence, corporal, we'll have to show this to the lieutenant. What's in the box?"
"Well," the corporal said, removing the lid with a dramatic flourish, "The town may have been boring, but the skies weren't. Seems this planet had itself some pirates."
"Pirates?"
"Yeah. It was quite a problem for a few years, until the attacks stopped."
The sergeant looked at the box full of files.
"What, Did they retire with all the loot they stole?"
"Or someone decided to fight back."
Simons absent mindedly flipped through some of the files.
"Or they found what they were looking for," he said quietly.
"Sergeant?"
"Just thinking out loud, Corporal. OK, let's start with the last attack and work back from there."
"Fair enough," the corporal said and pulled out a file.
"Let's see. A medium freighter, attacked three hours after leaving port, oh..."
Simons looked up at Higgs to see what had shocked him.
"Hey, Sarge, you know how you don't like coincidences?"
"Yes?"
"Well, you're going to hate this," he said and passed the file over, "The last attack was on the same day Johny Boy over there vanished."
Simons spent some time looking between the file he'd been handed and the missing person report on the table.
"What do you think, Corporal," he finally said, "Was our boy on that freighter?"
"No idea, Sarge. But I bet I know who does know."
Simons nodded. Yes. The most respected person in town. This wasn't going to be pretty.