It was late in the morning and the air in the hall on the second floor of the foreign hotel was muggy and still. The hallway was a narrow wooden corridor with rooms on either side, and the only light came from a window on the far end which overlooked the alley. When the mid-morning sun shone in through the window, it created a golden column of lazily drifting dust.
Shaw, a thin straw-haired boy of seventeen, flicked the silvery stiletto he was holding towards the floor. It stuck point-first with a dull thunk in the seam between the ends of two boards. He pulled out a strip of rough white cotton—a tourniquet—from a pocket on the lining of his leather vest, and used it to daub the sweat on his forehead. His attention perked up at the soft creak of the loose board on the first step of the stairwell at the end of the hall. He had been listening for it all night.
Someone was coming up. He plucked the dagger out of the floor and slid it into a sheath on his belt. The tenor of the footsteps, light as a woman and as decisive as a soldier, echoed up from the narrow spiral staircase. Shaw tensed up slightly. When he finally saw who it was, he practically leapt out of his chair and immediately into a salute.
An extraordinarily tall, dark haired woman rounded the corner and began to walk towards him. She was in her mid thirties perhaps, and wearing a feminine variation on the blue and gold uniform of a Union officer. There were not many women in the Union military. Shaw flitted his eyes momentarily to the steel hammer and dark walnut-handle of revolver peeking out of the leather holster on her belt. Hanging from the opposite hip was a late model straight-bladed cavalry sword.
“Captain Lex.” he said. She approached him quietly, her black booted heels clacking quietly against the floorboards, and looked down at him. At seventeen, Shaw was as tall as he was going to get, which was just an inch or so below average. He found himself staring at her chest. After an age, or perhaps just a moment, Lex returned the salute and Shaw relaxed.
“Nice to see you here, Shaw. Would you mind telling me what happened yesterday?” she said, then bent over at the waist until her deep blue eyes were level with his. Shaw furrowed his brow and looked off to the side, looking somewhat conflicted.
“Yesterday was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the end of the war between the Union and Spain. At that point we received Port Rio as a war prize.” he said.
“I know that. Go on.” she said, straightening her back and glancing off to the side.
“Evan and some of the other men thought it would be a good idea to hold a barbecue in honor of the occasion. They hired a brass band to play patriotic songs. Union flags flying everywhere.” Shaw said, then added after a pause: “There was a lot of liquor involved.”
“Oh was there?” Lex said.
“Yes. Not all the natives of Port Rio, as it happens, agree with their city being handed over to the Union, especially as it pertains to the stationing of our military personnel here. Some of them, you might say, are very passionate about it. A group of these disgruntled citizens decided to crash the party and there ensued a brawl of cosmic proportions. A couple of these nationalists were wielding deadly weapons and, I’m sad to say, are no longer with us. Others were jailed. The rest fled.”
Lex tented her fingers on her forehead, pinching her eyes closed in exasperation.
“And then what happened?” she said.
“Well,” Shaw said, “they went back to celebrating. Most of the men were too drunk as of this morning to stand, and were shipped back to the Union in a cargo net. Your illustrious protege Evan is in this room behind me. I’m standing watch and making sure he isn’t assassinated by a stray nationalist.”
Lex clasped Shaw’s shoulder and then patted it in sympathy.
“Meet us on the street. He’ll be down in a minute. I’ve already paid for the damage.” she said.
“Oh, he hasn’t damaged anything though.” Shaw said.
Lex put the backs of her fingertips on Shaw’s shoulder and quietly urged him away down the hall. She then delivered a sudden kick to the door which broke the deadbolt lock entirely out of the frame. Shaw hurried downstairs.
—
The first to rise from the bed was a mostly naked black-haired girl, one of any number of tanned beauties native to Port Rio. Lex gave the girl a sour look and pointed her thumb at the door behind her.
Evan groggily sat up at the waist as his erstwhile companion gathered her clothes into a ball and hurried out into the hall. Lex stalked over to the cloth curtains and drew her sword, cutting them down in a single stroke with the razor-sharp blade. Evan winced at held up his hand to block the suddenly blinding light. He had short, straight blonde hair and had what might be called a runner’s physique. He was in his early 20s.
“You seem a bit testy this morning.” he said, obviously still drunk. Lex opened up the window, which opened out to the wooden awning over the patio on the first floor. She suddenly turned and jabbed Evan’s naked body with the tip of the sword. He scrambled out of bed, holding the pillow in front of him, and inspected the place where Lex stabbed him. Only the very tip broke skin, leaving a tiny wound that only a child would cry about.
“I am feeling tense, thank you for noticing. I’ve been thinking about seeing a masseuse.” Lex said. Evan quickly began the process of assembling and putting on his Union uniform.
“Try getting a massage from Shaw. He’s good. No happy endings though. Already asked.”
“We’re leaving in thirty seconds.” Lex said. “You, out the window.”
“The window?” Evan said, with an honest sort of confusion. Lex walked between him and the door, offering the threatening point of the thin sword to him if he tried to get into that half of the room. She steadily walked forward, limiting the area of the room he was allowed to occupy, until just about a half minute later he found himself sandwiched between her sword point and the window. Evan was still putting on the belt with his holster and sword when he was forced to gracelessly tumble through the frame and onto the awning.
Locals on the street stared up in curiosity. Shaw was down there too, wearing a neutral expression. Lex, who was still inside, shut the window and slid the lock into place. Evan’s blue-gray uniform instantly began to bake as soon as it hit the bright sun of Port Rio. After straightening his belt, Evan managed to crawl off of the edge of the awning. In his dazed and groggy state his feet gave out from under him when he hit the ground and he collapsed into the dust.
Lex took the long way. An employee from the hotel delivered the reins of her horse, a black stallion, into her hand. Evan took a deep breath and squinted in the blinding sun. To his surprise, Ranger was there as well. Ranger was about Evan’s size, a brunette with green eyes. She ran a hand down the front of her pressed blue dress uniform, smoothing out any nonexistent wrinkles. Like Evan and Lex, she carried a revolver. Evan winced on seeing her.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Oh it’s you.” Evan said, turning to Ranger. Ranger stepped forward until she was square in front of him.
“Why if it isn’t the man himself.” Ranger said. “I brought a photograph of your pretty face, and it would make my day if you could dedicate it as follows: ‘To My Treasured Friend Ranger, Keep Reaching For The Stars, dash E.’”
Ranger handed Evan a photograph of himself, which she must have gotten from a newspaperman. There had been a lot of coverage of the recent military exercises at Port Rio, and there was no shortage of negatives. Evan grabbed Shaw and used the boy’s back to sign the photograph, and meanwhile Ranger continued her monologue in singsong tones.
“I remembered a certain individual coming into these exercises was put off by his chosen opponent. Shaw, remind me, what did he say?” Ranger said.
“‘Are you a nurse or something?’” Shaw piped up. Evan opened his mouth to say something. Lex pointed at him in warning, which shut him up. Ranger put her hands on her hips in triumph.
“And you even had me outnumbered three to one.” she said, and tapped a finger on her chin contemplatively, “I’m sure it was just a fluke.”
Ranger turned away sharply and handed another black leather booklet to Shaw. It resembled the one she had just had Evan sign.
“Good luck at Pearl.” Ranger said, over her shoulder, before leaving. Evan remained silent as he watched her walk away. Shaw opened up the book and smiled when he saw what was inside it.
“Shaw. I believe that’s for me.” Evan said, holding his hand out towards the boy.
“Who says it isn’t for me?” Shaw said.
“Right, like Ranger is going to give a present to some punk kid.” Evan said, and then swiped at the photograph. Shaw quickly switched it to the other hand, where he held it out of reach. Evan struggled for it ineffectually until he heard Lex clear her throat.
“Boys.” she said. Shaw relaxed and Evan plucked the book out of his hand. On opening it he saw that it was a photograph of all six of the Union gunners. There was Evan, his brother York, Lex, Sara, Ranger, all standing in a line for a publicity photograph. The exercise was the first time they’d all been assembled in one place.
Their small number was owing to the rarity of the substance called Sol. In its native form Sol formed a tiny constituent of every ton of high grade coal. When refined into a pure form, it was a fine, caustic, highly toxic black dust with many valuable properties, few of them well understood. Sol could be alloyed with steel to create the strongest arms and armor known to man. When mixed with other chemicals it could be made into a precious and toxic substance called gunpowder. Succinctly, it was power.
Lex peered, or rather loomed, over Evan’s shoulder and looked at the photograph.
“What a darling. I should apologize—” Evan started.
“That’s going to have to wait. We’re leaving.”
“We’re leaving? To where?”
“To the western frontier, the fortress Pearl.” Lex said, and reached into the leather messenger bag she was carrying with her. “There’s been an incident.”
Lex pulled out a folded-up newspaper and handed it off to Evan. He unfurled it and looked at the front page. The headline screamed out: Diplomatic Mission Attacked! Taking up most of the space above the fold was a large and graphic black-and-white photograph of the moment Kagami opened fire on Penny, a representative of the Columbian military.
“Hot damn,” Evan said, “What are they, nuts?”
“They’re maintaining it was an accident, and that our mission was mistaken for looters.” Lex said.
“Jesus. They must think we’re idiots.” Evan said as he scanned the article for details.
“We’ve managed to suppress the publication of other photographs which make it clear it was no accident.” Lex said.
“Oh, so we are idiots.”
“You want to go to war?”
“Why not? Looks like it’s already on.” Evan said, and rapped twice on the newsprint with his knuckles. Lex lifted it out of his hands gingerly and folded it back up. She put a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s more complicated than that. There’s a lot of factions in the Imperial government. Most of the people don’t support this action. We aren’t even ready to go in guns blazing. If we rattled sabers or declared war, the militarists would only be assured of solidifying control. That response could be exactly what they were looking for.” Lex said. Evan sucked in air through his teeth.
“Yeah well, if we’re laying down why do you and I have to hoof it to Pearl. Should have just let me sleep.” he said.
“Consider this,” Lex said with a smile, and put her hands on her hips, “Stop whining, or I’ll kick your ass.”
“Yes’m. If it comes down to kabuki, though, I think they’ve got the advantage.” Evan said.
“Noted. We’ll travel light to Panama and prepare for the journey across the Eastern Pacific highlands there. Saddle up.”
After an hour’s ride underneath the sweltering jungle canopy, Evan trotted his horse up alongside Lex’s.
“If we’re making a show of force, why isn’t Ranger coming?” he said.
“Ranger? She’s a teacher.” she said. “Still useful for training and milk runs, but not the big stage. She knows that.”
“Didn’t seem to stop her from getting the upper hand on me.”
Lex smiled like a Cheshire cat.
“I may have had a hand in that.” she said. Evan snapped his fingers.
“I knew it! How’d you do it?”
“She still got you, not me. I simply arranged for her to have something extra to even the odds a bit. Even I didn’t know what it was. I do now, though.” Lex said, and pulled a card out of her jacket.
It was slightly longer than a playing card, but about the same width. It had an intricate pattern inscribed on it in black ink, with a little area at the bottom edge left blank with a circle for the placement of a thumb. As Lex held it, a few red-hot points ran through the maze of dark lines like fuses, leaving behind a trail of fading light.
“This is cutting edge. If someone is passing long-distance messages with tech, this will give you their general direction. You like running your mouth, so it was a good match.”
“So she knew where I was.” Evan said.
“She knew what direction you were in. Because you were sloppy. The rest was due to her resourcefulness, so assiduously cultivated in the shadow of weakness.” Lex said, and tucked the card back into her vest. “You’ve never been weak, so I don’t expect you understand that. The enemy will sometimes have advantages you aren’t aware of. Consider it a little lesson from Ranger to you.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.” Evan said. “Clever thing you got there. Good thing Imperial tech is years behind ours.”
“You haven’t learned anything.” Lex sighed, “Your older brother is so smart and yet you’re so dumb. Are you the milkman’s kid?”
Evan puffed up his chest up in mock offense.
“Hey, my younger brother is almost as dumb as I am. So ask the milkman about my older brother, why don’tcha.”
They trotted along in silence for a while. Lex might have been quiet forever, like that, but as always it was Evan who butted in.
“So you’ve been weak?” he said.
“We all had to make adjustments in the days after the Treaty.” Lex said. “I was forced to give up on my dreams. Yes, I felt weak then.”
Evan dropped back to ride with Shaw. Further up the trail they were joined by another party which included a couple knights and their own entourages. Later that afternoon they stopped to rest. Lex folded her arms as she watched Evan sweat out his hangover and upset stomach while he held onto the trunk of a nearby tree. Shaw was at his side with a white towel and a glass of water. One of the knights, a large man with a lined, angular face named Cali, walked up to her and looked upon the scene with a vague sort of disgust. Evan let out a groan and Shaw daubed off his forehead with the towel, urging the water to his lips.
“Good afternoon, Lady Lex.” he said. “He’s green. I understand you’re hoping to address that, but with tensions as they are I’d feel better if we brought York or Sara.”
“Cali, he’s not a kitten. I brought him for our benefit.”