So where's the nest?

I've been spending a fair amount of time on the Orbital of late. Not that I'm trying to avoid folk, but it seems I get more done up there than I do in my office at Town Hall. Genni already handles most of the mundane day to day chores of running the Colony, leaving the more pressing matters for me to take on in an official capacity. It works. And some of the work I do on the Orbital can't be done on the surface. Too many interruptions.

Not that I could really talk much about the work I was doing on the Orbital, or anywhere else I was keeping myself busy. The nature of the beast. Left some folk wondering sometimes what I did with my time, but that was how things were. Tried to be around when it mattered, and always at least keep a finger on the pulse of the colony.

The recent series of Reaver attacks, coming on top of the strange body dumps Gallagher was working on has started to get folks a bit riled up. Don't blame them really. Seen more Reavers in the last week than we have in months.

They've been coming in low and cool, showing less of the typical Reaver broken shielding profile we're used to, making it harder for Navtrak to tag them as hostile and not just sneaky. Sneaky, we could live with. Problem was, the recent frequency led to one main conclusion: there was a new nest close by.

We'd already done a run through Beetle's Baily looking for anything new with no result. There were other rock fields in Shuttle range of Hale's, and we'd have to start looking at those too. The real worry was they had another big freighter or something to use as a mobile base. There'd been records of the Reavers capturing some awful big boats over the years and using them to stage raids.

Still amazed me that they were able to work together. Almost as much as the fact we were still seeing them amazed me.

Tied into Mindo's being dragged off? Might be. There'd been some really toppyoushimonai happenings involving that family and the Reavers. Some connection here wouldn't surprise me. But the priority was finding the new nest, and getting them off our collective backs.

Aren't they dead yet?

I should have known the calm wouldn't last. With recent reports of more Reaver activity coming in from half a dozen worlds across the Rim and Border worlds, it was only a matter of time before they hit us again. You'd think we wouldn't be that inviting a target. We've got a low population, which doesn't give them a lot to snack on. And we've got a well armed, well drilled, militia, which makes us a hard snack to chew on.

Of course, no one ever said Reavers were, as a group, especially bright. But you'd think they'd learn by now that attacking Hale's Moon was usually more trouble that it was worth. Though, on the other hand, Hale's Moon had ties to Mindo and Mindo had ties to the Reavers. Maybe it wasn't such a surprise they kept coming back here. Like those little fish that always come back to the same bay to spawn generation after generation. It was what they did.

I was on the Orbital when we caught the tell tale signs of a Reaver boat on a hot final. With the ongoing upgrades to the Navtrak systems, it had gotten pretty hard for them to approach undetected. Unless they started deploying ELINT equipment on par with an Alliance recon ship, their chances of sneaking up on us had reached close to nil. Not that they were ever very sneaky. They were more of an "in your face" sort of antagonist. But they did tend to come in hot and, on some approaches, it didn't give us a lot of warning.

All I could really do was put the word out and get Genni to start assembling the Militia. Fortunately, some of our more experienced locals, like Nack and General, were already awake and ready to lay down some fire. Fortunate, really. They were two of our best.

It was hard to tell whether this attack was related to the last incursion. That last one was very uncharacteristic of them. Coming in and recovering Mindo's body, rather than going on a screaming rampage through town. This was more to their usual style. Come screaming in, try and eat people, then fall back only when the Militia managed to bring enough firepower to bare to drive them off.

We were fortunate. Fortunate, not lucky. The men and women on the ground fought back like they've trained to and kept the casualty count low. And, if nothing else, we got another vector to work from. Given some more attacks and some decent Navtrak data, we might be able to find where they're basing from now.

Another nut to crack.

Children of the Black
Reason has long escaped you
Victims, one and all

Sine waves

There are patterns to be found in almost everything if you look: from the changes of the seasons to the interactions with other people. Even combat tends to fall into discernible patterns because human beings simply aren't chaotic enough to generate true randomness.

I've gotten used to seeing patterns develop. Hale's Moon being a typical case. Excitement tends to come in waves, with peaks and valleys like waves at sea. The kind of waves Hale's will probably never have enough surface water to see. The last peak was spread out between Gallagher's departure and x0x0 extracting Ardra's personality matrix from Lily.

This current calm valley was a blessing in a way. With Gallagher off the job and no replacement in sight, except perhaps promoting Cody, the town was back to folk policing themselves. Not that they hadn't managed that for years before. With only 600 or so people total, spread across the surface of our little slice of Heaven, there wasn't much need for formal law enforcement. Folk could pretty much handle that on their own. If they needed a Magistrate, they'd come to me. Mayor. Magistrate. Same first letter. Must be the same job.

There's been noises about holding an election for Sheriff, as it's supposedly an elected position. Except, we've never had elections for Sheriff. Imrhien was the first. Appointed to the job after Genni shot me. There've been a series since, since no one seems to last too long in the job. But none of them were elected. Townsfolk want to hold an election for Sheriff, they're welcome to. Just can't imagine anyone running for the office.

Maybe we should change the title to Constable or something. Not like we're in need of a whole police department. Gallagher as Sheriff was using militia members for backup when he needed them, so it's not like there's not a precedent for regular folk doing the job.

For the time being, I'll have Genni put together a volunteer patrol. A bit of training and they should be able to handle whatever crops up. Except for that little Body Dump problem. That'd be a different matter.

Lily was a different issue. After this most recent reset she'd gone feral. Again. Reese had spoken to her and was concerned that she didn't recognize him. That wasn't a surprise. Her memories fragmented after a reset, and Reese, while a decent guy, didn't have that much exposure to her. I'd have been surprised if she had remembered him.

There was no real way to pin her down. A lot like her cub in that respect, really. Which meant Huey, Dewy, and Louie were going to have their work cut out for them. The little drones weren't especially bright as far as that went, but they'd done a good job of keeping an eye on AuroraBlue down in the mines. I'd probably have to add a couple more drones to the mix, but we had some to spare.

They really weren't much more than modified rescue-remotes. I'd upgraded the software to give them a bit more autonomy, patched in a better camera, and added some extra hardening to keep out undesirable elements. Like, say, Motherbot and her kin.

It would take a while for Lily to recover to her old self. In the meantime, I'd find a productive way to use this valley before the next crest comes along.

And then the Sheriff quit. . .

Was wir hier haben ist ein failyre zu kommunizieren. Isn't that how the old phrase goes? Something like that. Not like Gallagher and I haven't had our differences before, but I'd have thought the stress of one major case wouldn't have been enough to make him quit.

c'est la vie

Hale's Moon didn't have a Sheriff for a long time. Not until after Genni shot me and Imrhien took on the job. Unfortunately, the job seems to be right rough on the folk who take it. Gallagher's only the latest in surprisingly long line of LEO's who walked away from the position. Gallagher's the only Sheriff I've ever had difficulty working with and even that was never particularly great.

I'm no princess, but I'm not that hard to work with. Hell, if I was, the townsfolk would have asked me stop down a long time ago. But I admit, there's just some folk who shouldn't be stationed to the same bunker. Might have been a bit of that with Gallagher. He was a good investigator, but a bit temperamental for dealing with folk on what might be the worst day of their life.

Just left us back where we had been. Casting about for a new Sheriff during a period where we decidedly needed one. Cody'd actually not be bad for the role, once he got everything in his own house sorted out. With his mind focused on Lily and Anna, he'd never have the focus he'd need to be Sheriff full time. I'd ask General, but he's got his Captains to keep in line and his transports to keep flying. There were a few promising folk in the Militia, but they all had a life already.

Timing could have been worse, I suppose. Could have happened when I was off world and didn't have the cycles to pick up the slack. But with the investigation into the bodies half finished, even with a primary suspect, it meant more time on the ground than I wanted to spend right now.

Can just see the want ad now:

Wanted: Sheriff

Small mining colony seeks Law Enforcement professional to take on Sheriff's duties on a low population outer moon with law abiding citizens subject to Reaver attacks, random raids, Alliance Hardliner incursions, and unexpected attacks by automated combat robots. Experience preferred, but not required. Medical benefits and all the ammo you might need included.

Apply in person.

Yeah. That'll just bring the applications rolling in.

Genius. Madman. Drag Queen. Corpse.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder . . .

Cody'd contacted me while I was still on the Orbital to tell me he'd gotten everything ready to try and extract Ardra from Lily. Given my technical abilities and personal stake in Lily being whole, I was a natural choice to do the dive and extract. Only, by the time I could get everything together and down to the surface, Lily's left.

Lily taking off was nothing new. There were days it seemed the only way to get here to stay put was to power staple her boots to the floor and adhesive weld the buckles so she couldn't take them off. She had more energy than half the yunguns on Hale's Moon put together. Ijo ni kappatsu na. My hyperactive Imoto.

I managed to track her to Genni's, where she'd picked up AuroraBlue. Against her better judgement she'd given "Anna" over to her Mother. Who promptly dropped off the grid with her. Again, not a surprise, and nothing I could hold against Genni. AuroraBlue was Lily's cub. At least on any level that counted. We weren't keeping Tiny Dragon prisoner. Just keeping her safe.

Unfortunately, I'd heard a rumor that Mindo was back on-world, and I did not want him and AuroraBlue in the same space at the same time. Worse, I couldn't contact x0x0 anywhere. That made this something of a trifecta of bad combinations. Lily, AuroraBlue and x0x0 off the grid, and Mindo on the grid. Not good.

I couldn't deal with all of it immediately though, much as it pained me to have other responsibilities at that moment. The townsfolk were spooked by the rumored serial killer loose on Hale's Moon and I had to take care of that duty before I could personally start tracking down x0, her psychotic brother, and my little girls.

I was starting to cast the net further afield when Navtrak caught x0x0's skiff landing out by the Church. I really wasn't prepared for what I saw when i got there though, and only a long practiced Zen calm kept me from outright rejecting it.

AuroraBlue, with a bomb vest locked around her small frame. And Mindo. With his hair died red. Dressed like x0x0. In fact, if I recognized the skirt, he was literally wearing his sister's clothes. Which made sense in an odd sort of way when he started talking and acting like her.

Doesn't get much weirder.

I got them both back to the office and got Mindo talking. Which was a bit disconcerting. He was talking and acting like x0 so well it was eerie. Stranger still was how he was insisting we "stop her brother" and talking about 'his' affection for Lily and Aurora. How AuroraBlue was the key, and several other things that would have seemed completely mad out of context.

It was completely mad, of course. I wasn't a psychologist, but I recognized a phychotic break when I saw one. Mindo had come completely unhinged, and all I could do was go with it and try to get him to reveal the locations of Lily and x0x0 before his condition deteriorated or he turned violent.

But first, I had to deal with the bomb vest someone, Mindo probably, had strapped to AuroraBlue. Oddly, AuroraBlue had the key too it. She just lacked the finger dexterity to remove it herself. Something I took care of quickly once I'd had a moment to confirm it wasn't wired to detonate when it was removed.

The conversation was disjointed, as it so often was when dealing with the clinically insane. The best I could get was actually from AuroraBlue. Piecing together "sandbox" and "Misser Reo" to be Leo Twine's old shop in the Wastelands on Blackburne. As far as I knew, he'd abandoned it when most of the colony evacuated.

Of course, Cody's arrival complicated the situation. Fortunately he picked up my "suggestion" to play along, rather than confront Mindo, as Mindo, in his fragile mental state. There was no telling what would happen if he came out of the break in my office. Though I suspected it would involve a large handgun and Genni putting in an expense report for "One round, .45 caliber: expended."

Between AuroraBlue and coaxing Mindo, though mostly from Tiny Dragon, we pieced together where we'd have to look to find x0x0 and Lily. Them as strangely as it began, the conversations ended. Mindo, with Cody in tow, carrying AuroraBlue, set out across town for whatever errand he thought he needed to do. With Cody holding AuroraBlue, I figured she was safe. Especially with Genni watching the security feeds.

What I hadn't expected, was Mindo ending himself.

One shot to the head, from his own gun, and it was over. First inkling anything was wrong was Cody's frantic call. AuroraBlue'd witnessed it too from what he said. An image I wished I could gently pull from my little girl's mind. But fact was, Mindo was dead.

Other fact was that not more than a couple minutes after I asked Fire and Rescue to go collect the body to take to the Infirmary for safe keeping, that Navtrak lit up with the tell tale signature of a Reaver boat on hot final.

Just what we needed.

Cody brought AuroraBlue back up to the office where I could lock the doors while the Militia mustered to do what they'd learned to do so well. Only the Reavers didn't play their usual game. A lot of running and screaming, but not so much the usual loosely coordinated mobs like they usually used. This one was different. Getting the Militia going every which way and evacuating before the sappers could get to their boat. Diversionary tactics. Not their usual fair.

When Fire and Rescue finally got to stand down, we found out why they'd been scattering and moved off so fast. Mindo's body was gone. Not a surprise to a lot of folk who'd heard what'd happened, but not for the reason I suspect most of them thought.

The raid and Mindo's body being snatched couldn't be coincidence. The Reavers came in and recovered him. Creepy thing was how soon after he shot himself that it happened. Almost like it was planned. A Reaver boat couldn't have gotten in that fast unless it had come in quiet in the first place. And how'd they know it'd happened?

Questions for later.

Disturbing ones. But they'd wait.

We'd have to recover Lily and x0x0 from Blackburne, and that meant Cody on the ground and my tapping into some of the remaining birds in the air. Just hoped they were both still OK. If not, I wouldn't even have Mindo's corpse to kick around.

Breakfast of champions

The folks of Hale's Moon are a hardy lot. They've put up with an environment that wasn't especially hospitable, and still isn't, even with the extra moisture in the air. They've worked in hard rock mines, often with mechanicals who sometimes got it into their collective heads to try and kill everyone. They've been attacked by Raiders and Reavers. They've been attacked by the Alliance, who was supposed to be there to protect them from the aforementioned Raiders and Reavers. They've fought self replicating killer robots. And through it all they've managed to act civilized and be caring, friendly, folk.

There were some things though that could rattle even these hardy folk. Like serial killers. Now, finding dead bodies after a firefight wasn't especially surprising to anyone who'd lived on Hale's Moon for more than a few months. It was the nature of life on any of the Rim's smaller colonies. But there was usually a reason for finding a body. Something you could tie the incident to. A Reaver attack or a Raid happened, and you knew you'd find some poor soul who'd caught a bullet or a blade and not made it to the Infirmary in time.

It happened. You moved on.

But this was different. The trail of bodies Gallagher and Cody were trying to deal with kept getting longer and longer. There'd been a lot of supposition about the first few. Maybe Reavers, though more likely body dumps by some outsider. Thing was, none of the victims were locals. They might have been passengers or crew from transient boats, but even that seemed unlikely as no one had been reported missing.

That all changed with the last incident though. If it was in fact an incident. While I was making the run to Ariel, they found the first evidence of a local victim. Sort of. Unlike all the previous cases, this time there was no body. Just a blood spattered apartment that looked like someone'd had an unfortunate encounter with a ripsaw. The girl who lived there was a newcomer and no one seemed to know here whereabouts.

Had the hopped a boat? Was she a victim herself? Was she the one doing it and had gone to ground? No one knew, and the Sheriff's department wasn't coming up with any answers.

It was the kind of thing that got folk spooked.

Reavers and the rest, they knew how to deal with. But this was pushing a whole different set of buttons and the townsfolk were looking for answers. Problem was, I didn't have any. Worse, if this kept up too long, folk might lose faith in Gallagher and Cody and start taking matters into their own hands. Not like a small town like ours had a lot of secrets at that level. At least not that I wasn't keeping myself.

I could give them some more time, but who knew how much. The bodies didn't stop turning up I'd be forced to bring in help from outside to keep folk happy, and that wasn't something I wanted to do.

Teach me to go away for a couple days. . .