World Builders Tales of the New Federation 6 Snippet 1

 Sitrep: So, I've been plugging away at Multiverse 8, yeah, I'm that far ahead on the schedule and finished the 5th story this morning. I thought about it and well, I decided to bump the rest of the stories to the next book.

So, on to the cover. Which I just started to acquire stuff for. :) This is my last book of the year most likely. Just in time for another heat wave to drive us bonkers. Sigh.

Book 6 of Tales of the New Federation (World Builders) is in the hands of Rea as of last week. I guess I should start posting snippets? lol So, here you go.

The following is a story reminiscent of Shawshank Redemption. It takes place in a new corner of the Federation universe and will play a part in things later...

UR13DPG3-71, ‘Le Institution’, Upsilon Sector

 

The space station known as‘Le Institution’ was a long spindle that slowly spun in space. Some called it aBabylon style station for unknown reasons.

The station was in abinary cul-de-sac star system. The station itself floated in orbit of thelargest Jovian in the G class sub star system. It was 2 kilometers long andhoused thousands of people.

Most of those people werethe prisoners and slaves.

The station had less thana hundred guards to keep order in the facility. It was in an out of the waycorner of the sector but it was visited regularly by passing ships.

The prison station’shabitat areas were divided into cell blocks. General population was for thebasic offenders. Minimum was for those who were not a threat and had highlyvalued skills or were valued by someone on the outside and in need ofprotection.

High security was forthose who had proven a danger to the guards but were too valuable to be killed.The Cathouse was the female wing, a place where many of the men wanted tovisit. Beyond the habitat were the industrial areas, and then the modules usedfor life support, fuel, greenhouses, and so on.

A massive fusion reactorpowered the station. Solar panels dotted the outer hull and were on tetheredplatforms around the station. Radiators and antenna were along her flanks.

Le Institution was amemorable stop for anyone who visited. For some, it was their last stop.

>>><><<< 

“Shuttle arriving,” Caseysaid with a nod to the Fixer and his team at the mess hall.

“How you figure?” Franco‘The Fixer’ Redding asked as his 2 helpers looked up in surprise. Franco cockedhis head to Casey as the other man took a seat next to them.

Sid the Squid blinkedowlishly and then puckered his lips.

“Saw it coming up when wewere outside,” Casey said mildly. “They are probably sorting any girls out now.I was outside to fix a sticky servo in an antenna. They were having problemskeeping in contact with the ship,” he amplified as he picked at his meal.

The Fixer nodded. Caseyworked on the outside of the station. He had EVA skills and could hack theblack. He was prized by the guards who hated going out to do repairs on thestation. He was in gen-pop because he had friends there. He’d made it clearthat he didn’t like the lilies in the minimum security wing and he would iceone or more if they didn’t put him back in gen-pop.

The guards had agreed.

Each time Casey wentoutside he was supposed to get time off his sentence. The Fixer wasn’t certainit was actually happening, though he knew Casey was certainly keeping score.What happened when Casey came close to his time to be pardoned was anyone’sguess. A long term bet was held behind Casey’s back on how it would go down.

Whatever did go down heknew it would either end in a whimper or a big blow up. They didn’t call Casey‘Space Case’ for nothing.

“Spread the word. Getready for the bets,” the Fixer ordered his team. They nodded and moved out tospread the word.

The prisoners arrived froma ship on a shuttle once a month or 2. It was an event that everyone on thestation looked forward to. In very rare cases someone left, but again, it wasextremely rare.

Generally when you gotsucked into the station you didn’t escape. Anyone who died on the station endedup in the recycling center.

Sure enough the guardsordered them to their cells right after mess. There was some grumbling but theyknew what was coming. Once they were locked down The cell hatches opened up anda line of prisoners shuffled along in chains. The Fixer had one of his peoplecheck the roll call. “Twenty,” came the soft reply back before the cat callsfrom prisoners in their cells began.

Hand signs began to motionto place bets. A few were motioning to others to look for recruits.

“Fresh meat!” was thecommon yell. That and wolf whistles and howling. More than one prisonerflinched at that.

Bets began on who wouldbreak first. The prisoners took as much delight in seeing the misery on theirfellow prisoners as the guards did. The sooner they broke the sooner they wouldaccept the situation and realize that they had to remake themselves in order tosurvive.

Some would not be able tomake the transition. One of the fat guys whimpered. That was like throwing meatinto a tank of sharks. The cat calls intensified, as did the gloating laughter.The man shivered and began to sob until a guard pummeled him with a nightstick.

The calls ended abruptlyas the guy whimpered and begged for mercy. Only when he was knocked unconsciousand dragged off to the infirmary did they continue the walk.

The Fixer and his 2helpers took the bets. They were immune from the gangs and everyone knew thatthe 3 of them were hands off. Too many people needed them and the consequencesof hurting one of them was dire.

Franco was one of 3 fixersin the station. They traded for information, services, or goods. He was thebest and they all knew it. He could get almost anything in the station. If hecouldn’t it ain’t worth getting was his motto. Everything had a price ofcourse, and the harder it was to get the higher the price. You could pay in avariety of ways. You paid up front for goods or services.

Loose a bet and you paidup or else. No one crossed a fixer. They would be disciplined by their own gangbrutally if they tried to stiff one of them.

The Fixer shook his headand then checked his notes. It seemed like a nice day for profit.

>>><><<<