Triumph

The stars outside Arecibo Station disappeared behind another arriving freighter: the Coral Sea. Kiffen’s here, Carlina thought, gazing out the tiny porthole on the rimward side of the station’s lower tower.  She rolled her eyes, already anticipating his boastful swagger after the job he and his crew pulled at the Pices outpost.  Turning back to her datapad, she pulled up the statistics again and shook her head.  The last time someone had made off with that many quid worth of artifacts to auction off, the whole crew retired to their own luxury villa on a tropical core world.  Of course, that is IF the estimates were right, and no one exaggerated quite like Special K. In any case, Kiffen would never retire. He always needed to find a bigger score to beat his last one, eternally in competition with the only being in the greater galaxy he had any respect for.

The door to the cramped office quarter slid open, startling her.  She lifted her head to look over her divider and then immediately ducked back down.  Gareth! What was he doing up here? The party should be kicking off in the main concourse any minute.  He never missed a chance for a drink.

“Carly! Hellooooo… Little Lina, you in here?” he called out.  Carlina winced at her childhood nickname, then stood up, smoothed her shimmering dress down and waved. 

“Oh hi Gareth,” she said, smiling without mirth.  “Don’t you have a starlet to fawn over or a belt buckle to polish?”

Gareth chuckled, pulling his vest up to reveal an already sufficiently shiny metallic glimmer at his waist. “Mission accomplished. And I’m sure there will be plenty of starlets to pick from when Madam Commander rewards me for my success this year.  Have you heard?”

“Heard that you disappeared for six months without a word and have been back for a week without saying hello? Yes, I heard,” she said.

“Ah well, yes, you look ravishing by the way, party ready. Shall we?” he deftly ignored her pointed accusation, holding out an arm.

She shook her head, but found herself taking it anyway. “Was there something else I was supposed to hear about?” she asked as they headed for the lift down.

“Nope,” he said, eyes twinkling. “That is the point. Very hush hush, this one. Kind of why I have been a bit quarantined, sorry bout that and all,” he trailed off. They stood in silence outside the lift and she dropped his arm, crossing hers as she waited.  He checked his watch as the ding of the arriving lift sang out.

“Perfect timing,” he said.  “Should be there right when they begin. I do love this time of year.”

Her anger slipped away for a moment. “Me too,” she said. “The tree took forever to get just right, but all the decorations from the kids of the Delphi colony really made it pop, don’t you think?”

“Well you did a magnificent job,” he said. “Same old metal tree every year, but the decorations really make it unique. Do you remember the year we had a real one?”

“From that mess down on 238? Their timber is tip top. I can’t believe Kiffen managed to snag a shipment through the rebels blockade at all, let alone that it actually turned out to be legit!” she smiled remembering the smell of it, the stickiness of the sap.

“Ol Kiff never misses a trick. Legit is a stretch,” Gareth laughed. “The contract may have been legit, but he won it from a drunk space hauler through somewhat dubious card play, if I remember right. I have never seen that man leave a table that quickly after winning! Poor hauler took too long to figure out he had been cheated and Kiffen was long gone.”

“Worth it,” Carlina whispered. 

The lift arrived at the concourse, opening on a magnificent holiday display.  A tall spindly, slowly rotating tree shone at the center, complete with red wrapped presents, each with a big white bow, and topped by a giant glittering seven pointed star.  Garlands decked every railing, and classic songs hundreds of years old filtered through the station’s speaker system.  Across the room several long tables almost sagged under piles of meat and cheese, vegetable platters, and of course several large bowls of punch.  Just below the lift several people busied themselves setting up a microphone next to a dais on a small stage.

Several party goers turned to look at the new arrivals, and a few waved, but most went back to their conversations. Two young men approached. Carlina and Gareth met them at the bottom of the stairs leading from the lift.

“Captain,” they said in unison, touching their foreheads with their knuckle. One of them handed Gareth a drink, which he swigged half of immediately.

“Good evening gents,” Gareth replied. “Have you met Carlina? She handles the finances around here, and is most of the reason why you get paid on time, so look sharp,” he said.  They greeted her politely, then turned back to Gareth.  One of them eyed the doorway leading to the star port itself.  The other one leaned in to Gareth and whispered something to him.

“Oh yeah? Just in time to see our triumph,” Gareth replied, then leaned to Carlita and said “Kiffen made it in time.”

“I saw him come in,” she said. “You really think whatever you did this year is going to best that haul he got from Pices? You’ve seen the estimates, I’m sure.” Gareth just smiled and shrugged.

She eyed him, then glanced over his shoulder. “Speak of the devil,” she said.

A tall blond man strode into the room, flanked by half a dozen men and women, all in pressed suits or shining, cut to make you blush dresses.  The entire room broke into applause as he stopped and bowed, before shaking hands with everyone close to him.  In the midst of the pressing crowd, he made eye contact with Carlita and Gareth, smirked, then returned to his adoring fans.

“Oh this is going to feel better than even I expected,” Gareth whispered gleefully.

The holiday music began to die down, and an elegant dark haired beauty stepped up to the microphone, tapping on it twice to be sure it worked.  The loud thumping caused everyone in the room to flinch somewhat and those closer to the speakers winced as some feedback squealed through. The woman disregarded the commotion and began speaking.

“Warm holiday greetings to all of you, beloved denizens of Arecibo! For those who may be new to our station, I am Madam Commander Jazmina Faroe and I am honored to welcome and greet you, friends and family from all the far flung fairways of the fathoms!” The gathered crowd hooted and hollered, raised glasses, and whistled. 

She continued, “It has been…. a splendid year for us.” Kiffen glanced back at his crew and raised an eyebrow as they chuckled.  Gareth merely leaned back against the wall behind them.  Carlina smoothed her dress again, crossing and uncrossing her arms. 

The woman waited until the applause died down, then said, “We work hard here. YOU work hard! All year! Some in more, let’s say, galactically acceptable trades.” The crowd chuckled. “But whether you smuggle it, haul it, kill it, or catch it, our starships span the galaxy completing their contracts, and without us, many systems across the frontier wouldn’t make it!” Applause erupted and even Carlina and Gareth felt the glow, each appreciating what it took to do what they did, and how rare and valuable it often was for those less fortunate.  And sometimes, for those more fortunate, how costly.

Faroe held up her hands and the applause died away. “I appreciate you,” she said. “Without you and what you risk every year, we wouldn’t keep this station running.  You put bread on our plates and all we can do is support you as best we can, providing you with a safe haven, a warm meal, and a loving community.  And some cold drinks,” she smiled and gestured to the punch bowls as the crowd laughed and raised their cups to her.

“Dozens of captains call this station home, captains of freighters, of deep space salvagers, of transport ships, and even a few frigates of war.  And every year we gather to celebrate our accomplishments. To celebrate them! And you, their crews, and all you risk!  And to reward the best of you!”

“She is really spinning this one up this year,” Gareth muttered, amidst the clamor of the crowd.

“But enough from me,” she said. “It is time to honor you. And this year, well, this year we have much to honor.” She paused for effect, feeling the excited tension in the crowd grow palpable. “Some of you may have heard that one among us journeyed to a far away frozen planet, and during its once a decade thaw, uncovered priceless artifacts for our auction! An entire civilization, locked beneath the ice, revealed to the galaxy once more!” The crowd cheered and Kiffen began to approach the stage being clapped on the back on the way up.

But she held up her hand to him.  He stopped, puzzled, and looked around. She gestured to someone behind the stage, and a hoverflat emerged with several covered crates. The operator glided them up onto the stage next to Jazmina.  

“But that is not all,” she said. “Another accomplishment has been kept under wraps, due to its sensitive nature.  We weren’t sure until this morning that we had what we thought we did.  But another of your captains has done something incredible.” With a flourish she pulled the covering off the crates and the entire crowd gasped. Those in front pulled back, terror dancing across their faces.

“Fear not! They are contained.  Not only contained, but harvested!!” She held up a vial of swirling purple liquid.

Carlina whirled to look at Gareth her mouth agape, who winked at her.  The crowd, stunned into silence, could only stare.  

Three crates lay revealed, each containing one massive scorpion like creature, almost three feet long, with double barbed stingers and clashing serrated claws.

“He and his crew embedded themselves with the prospectors and transients of Kanna 5, learning their customs, and earning their trust.  Catching these creatures has always been easy -well, somewhat easy for someone with the right armor and a ranged rifle - but keeping them alive for interstellar transport has NEVER BEEN ACCOMPLISHED!” Murmurs and whispers spread through the crowd. “And we have three!  Beyond that, he learned over the past few days how to safely collect their deadly neurotoxins, while leaving them, and more importantly him, still alive! The medicinal properties of these beauties have only been theorized, but our lab is hard at work extracting ground breaking new products every day since.”

“The look on Kiffen’s face right now, is worth more than a hundred vials of that sludge,” Gareth chuckled. “What do you think my reward will be?” Carlina continued watching the Commander.

“Like I said,” she continued. “We had a splendid year. And I haven’t even told you about this year’s winner yet.”

The crowd exploded.  Gareth almost choked on his punch.  Either of those accomplishments would have won the annual holiday prize any other year in the previous century that the station had been in operation. Buzzing excitement rang through the hall. Everyone talked to their neighbor, babbling about what could possibly be better.

“Kiffen, our dashing hero, brought us priceless artifacts from a history we never knew.  Gareth, for it was indeed your beloved home grown boy himself, braved the deserts of a faraway death trap of a planet to return with an unparalleled medical achievement… but it was our dearest Carlina who deserves the prize this year of years.”

Gareth stared.  Kiffen stared.  The entire gathered assembly of captains, pilots, space haulers, warriors, and crew members stared. Carlina smoothed her dress, swallowed hard, and approached the stage, picking her hem up as she stepped up the few stairs. Madam Commander kissed her on both cheeks and put her arm around her as she continued her speech.

“Never let anyone tell you that details don’t matter, that a fastidious curious mind, paying attention to spreadsheets and running the numbers never got you higher than middle management.  Our dearest Carlina, crunching numbers while everyone else gallivanted across the galaxy, discovered our most valuable asset of all from her cubicle on Arecibo itself. Her analysis of the hidden clues in the manifests of unsung cargo ships trading their wares, and the timing of galaxy spanning wide beam messages of an innocuous nature gathered the intel that we needed to identify what we have long sought.

“Everyone knows the Cosmic Marines want to shut us down. And not just us, but every free station in the Independent Union of stars, to crush us under their yoke, and send our children to their mining colonies!  Our support from the other stations and planets of the IU is the only thing that has been protecting us, and the Cosmics are just waiting for an excuse to thermonuke the lot of us.  They haven’t hidden it.  In fact, they have boldly stated that they have deployed an entire station of warheads and soldiers, known only as The Base, ready to, and capable of! annihilating every single one of us at the first order from their leaders.  

“The Base has been our boogeyman for decades.  Its very existence has denied us peace of mind, and driven us to accept unfair terms on countless contracts with their leaders! If only, if only we ever knew where it was.  If only we had that information, we could be assured of our own safety, of our continued operation, and of our future successes.

“And Carlina has done it!! Not only does she know where it is, but she knows how to find it when they move it again! Now I can’t give away her specific technique of course, but safe to say, we now have it in our power to launch a preemptive strike if need be. We now know we can protect ourselves, and we never need to fear their missiles AGAIN!” With that last shout, she thrust Carlina’s hand into the air, and the entire room, with one voice, shouted their acclamation.

The scorpionoids fretted in their cages at the cacophony.  Carlina grinned and shrugged at Gareth, who merely shook his head and smiled back.  Even Kiffen caught her eye, pressed his hands together, and bowed slightly.

The holiday party at Arecibo station that year was like no other before or since.  For the next ten years, real trees decorated the concourse for the event, but still the celebrations paled in comparison to the joy and cheer brought about by the accomplishments lauded in what since has become known as the Year of the Triple Triumph.