Ranger’s Sojourn

By Ulysses Namon

Since she was a little girl Tomi Ryan wanted to make a difference in an indifferent world. Her search for the path to that goal led her to the federation service called the federation rangers. Leaving behind her safe but boring life on Earth Tomi set off across the stars on an adventure that will take her from sun- soaked planets to deep space. Along the way her inner fortitude and ability to adapt will be tested as much as her stamina. But the real test will be when she is called to war for a critical mission, a mission if it succeeds will save the lives of thousands.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669810711

Ulysses Namon

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest the author had enjoyed reading science fiction his whole life. Now after so many years of working a regular job he decided to telling science fiction stories of his own. Let the adventure begin.

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Copyright © 2022 by Ulysses Namon.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/23/2022

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CONTENTS

This Is Why We Do This Job

Why Would You Want To Be A Ranger

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

Virgin Territory

Foul Harvest

No Good Deed

Punish The Innocent

Passage From Perdition To Paradise

Lost City Of Lost Souls

Going In Country

Cops In The Woods

Justice For The Serena Dawn

The Big Blue

Nab The Chief To Catch The Bandits

No Way Out

The Enemy Below

A Credit To The Federation

THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS JOB

LOCKING OUT FROM THE Federation Patrol Ship Bass Reeves’s air lock, Tomi and her partner, Ranger Avery Healy, drifted across the empty void separating them from the freighter, Stella Warren. Use of any repulsor thrusters was kept to a minimum just in case there are any active proximity sensors, but so far, all is quiet. Passive sensor sweeps indicated that both the freighter and the pirate ship were powered down, the former caught, and the latter unoccupied.

The other pairs were already on their way to their own infiltration points, patrolmen Payne, Maynard, Scotch, and Leopold were heading to the freighter’s bow while rangers Watry and Zimmerman were heading to the cargo hold located amidship. As they closed in on their destination, Healy and Tomi gave a short burst of braking thrust slowing them, so when their grip boots touched the ship’s hull, their knees barely flexed. Healy came up to Tomi and touched his faceplate to hers, with their radios off, it would be a private conversation.

Perfect, ten-point landing. If you haven’t already, turn your body cam on. Once inside, things could get real messy real fast, so we’ll need good documentation. Now let’s get this hatch open. We’ll have to do it manually so that no power indicators will light up.

They didn’t even use a waldo or any other motorized tool, just a rescue ax hooked into the hydraulic handwheel and turn. Once inside, they resealed the airlock’s exterior hatch and started the airlock cycle. Before opening the inner door, they drew their omniblasters. Be sure to check your targets. I’ll open the hatch you send out the recon probes, Healy affirmed.

Saying that wasn’t necessary, Tomi knew what to do. The probes she pulled out of her pouch easily fit in the palm of her hand and with the push of a button activated each of them. Springing to life, the four probes hovered in place until Tomi instructed to go out and start their sensor sweep. Each probe flew in a different direction conducting full-spectrum observations as well as environmental measurements.

As the data streamed in, Tomi noticed there were two individuals in spacesuits moving . . . no, floating, acting like they were looking for something. Not good, Healy spoke. It’s not too bad. There’s only two of them. Tomi observed. No, look at the environmental readings. Temperature and oxygen are dropping, CO2 is going up; the bastards shut the life support off. Add that to their little search pattern means there are people hiding somewhere on the ship, these bastards are making sure there are no witnesses, Healy pointed out. Tomi was impressed, she had completely overlooked the environmental data.

So what’s the plan? she asked. Simple, get in and take them down, nice and quick. Make sure to set your omniblaster to kill, stun won’t penetrate their spacesuits, we’re only getting one chance. Any questions? Healy was always simple and to the point. But Payne wants our blasters on stun, Tomi reminded Healy. I don’t care what Payne says, if anyone’s gonna die today, it might as well be the bad guys. Healy could be so snarky. He just didn’t have patience for assholes like Payne. All Tomi had left to say was Ready.

The airlock door slid open and the two rangers burst forth. The two pirates were looking, checking storage lockers along the outside wall of the engineering space. It took them critical seconds to notice the two Federation rangers that entered the compartment.

Do not move! Federation rangers! Tomi and Healy yelled simultaneously over their communicators as well as their helmets’ speakers. The two marauders were not interested in surrendering, raising their weapons instead. The rangers didn’t hesitate, firing their pistols. Healy hit the pirate on the right, the shot hit just below his helmet attachment collar. Enough of the jolt got through to send him into convulsions. Tomi’s shot hit her target right in the center of mass, but Tomi made a mistake. Her omniblaster beam width was set to wide, spreading the beam across the pirate’s entire torso. Instead of blasting a hole through him, the pirate instead was thrown backward, slamming into the bulkhead immediately behind him.

Go check him! Healy ordered while he pushed his way over the engineering console. As he powered up the ship’s life support, Tomi scanned the pirate she had just shot; no vitals, his internal organs had been ruptured by her attack. Informing Healy that the pirate was DOA, he then ordered her to watch the passageway. Using her grip boots, Tomi walked to the other end of the compartment.

Why turn the artificial gravity off? she asked. Didn’t you notice? These guys are spacer parahumans, in freefall, they have the advantage. Healy answered. Looking back at the two pirates, she noticed both of them had gloves instead of boots on their feet. Tomi shook her head, she completely missed that feature. She also didn’t notice the pirate coming down the passageway toward them leveling his carbine’s underslung grenade launcher at Tomi and Healy.

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The pirate fired a concussion grenade between the rangers, no bigger than a man’s fist, but its detonation would be lethal if it were any closer to them. Even with the safety cutouts for her suit’s external microphones, the explosion was loud, but it was the concussion that really hurt. The overpressure pushed her across the compartment, knocking her blaster from her grip. When she came to a stop, she started to get back to her feet. Tomi’s grip boots clamped to the deck, so she started looking around. Healy was pushed in the opposite direction; he was moving, but his blaster was over ten feet away from him. Realizing she didn’t have her sidearm, she started looking for it. When she looked back at the passageway, she locked eyes with the pirate who fired the grenade.

Without thinking, Tomi brought up her left arm and activated her portable defense screen. The screen only covered her upper torso, so she kneeled down for maximum coverage. She could see the pirate level his 10 mm carbine at her. Die, motherfucker! he screamed and pulled the trigger.

The carbine chattered as explosive-tipped bullets streamed toward Tomi. Only about half were hitting her, but the screen held each bullet’s impact fuse that detonated prematurely as they struck the screen’s plasma field. Tomi thought to herself if she wasn’t freaking out at this moment, this would look like a really cool fireworks display.

What seemed like an eternity was only a few seconds, when the gun’s magazine ran out of ammunition, the carbine just made a click and stopped. The pirate had enough time to say, What the . . . when he was hit by Healy’s grapple line. Screaming, the pirate was dragged to meet the ranger with his plasma cutter lit. As the pirate traveled past, Healy bisected him at the waist. There was a little smoke and the criminal fell silent, both halves floating around the compartment.

Get your blaster before more of them show up! Healy yelled at Tomi as he retrieved his. Healy activated his cordless lanyard, he held out his hand, and his blaster flew back to his grip. Tomi had to chase over to the corner of the compartment to get hers. Cordless lanyards are not standard issues; Tomi would have to save up for one. Before she could reach her pistol, another pirate made his way into the engine room.

Seeing his dead comrades, he screamed, Die, pig! and started discharging his slicer at Healy. The slicer, originally a general purpose industrial cutting tool that with modifications on its automatic blade changer, turned it into a machine gun that fires nanofilament-edged circular saw blades. Healy didn’t take any chances, he dove for cover.

As the marauder cut equipment and the compartment’s aft bulkhead to pieces, Tomi had to act fast. She didn’t have time to get her pistol, so she grabbed the first weapon she could think of, her bush knife. Normally used for survival, it was a last-ditch weapon of choice for combat, but it still had its perks. While made from nanotech ceramic alloy, it did not need ammunition, power, or fuel, and its edge could cut through almost anything with enough effort.

Remembering the hand-to-hand techniques taught to her, Tomi came up behind the pirate and wrapped her arm around his helmet. The pirate started flailing his arms, but before he could reach back, Tomi placed the tip of her knife against the weak point underneath the helmet’s connection ring and pushed really hard. The knife’s nanofilament edge slid through the layers of plastic with ease and smoothly into the pirate’s neck. Blood gushed but in freefall. It formed a shiny red sphere instead of spraying all over the floor.

After pulling the blade out, Tomi flicked the blood off and sheathed it. Retrieve your pistol and secure the compartment! Healy snapped at her, he didn’t want any more surprises. Using his drone controller, he checked for other sensor contacts, and there was one unidentified hiding in a locker. Ryan, get over here and cover me! he ordered. Tomi complied and waited for Healy to pull open the storage locker door. Yanking it open, Healy again yelled, Federation rangers! Inside was a man wearing coveralls marked Gallagher Engineering Stella Warren. He opened his eyes and yelled, Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! I surrender!

Pulling the frightened man out of the locker, Healy put restraints on him, then they heard an explosion coming from the center of the ship, Watry and Zimmerman’s assigned objective. Healy ordered the man to stay between the two rangers, and the group proceeded down the passageway to the ship’s main loading bay. There they found even more devastation; one side of the bay was scorched with static discharges still flashing. Healy turned to Watry, What the hell happened?

Crazy bastards tried to throw a plasma grenade, but I hit the guy just as he was winding up. As you can see, the grenade went off on their side of the bay instead of ours, Watry told Healy and the others. As Watry and Healy were conversing, Tomi heard something.

Can anybody hear that? It sounds like somebody is knocking. The others looked at her and then Gallagher. The engineer, said, I can hear it too! It’s coming from the loading lock over there! Zimmerman walked over to an open control panel next to the loading lock door and pushed the open button. The door hummed as it opened, Zimmerman and Watry pointed their guns and looked in. Don’t shoot, damn it!

As the people in the loading lock climbed out, Gallagher exclaimed, Croft! Abelson! You’re still alive! Hearing this, Healy checked the ship’s roster, This looks like the entire crew and ship’s company of the Stella Warden.

Patrolman Payne broke radio silence, The perpetrators have gotten away! Back on the Bass Reeves, Captain Everly reported that the pirate skiff had already departed and was going to pursue. Healy called in, Hold that order, sir, we have survivors here in the loading bay. Then Everly replied that he would be holding position. Payne continued complaining about the pirates getting away until Everly told him to shut up.

He’s both an idiot and an asshole, Watry opined.

Tomi expressed her disappointment with not getting all of the pirates, but Healy stopped her, motioned over to the freighter crew, and told her, They are the reason why we do this job.

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WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE A RANGER

GROWING UP ON EARTH in the days of the Terran Federation wasn’t too bad, even for those with little money. The dystopian future of science fiction had been avoided, at least to most. Some still complained that technology, particularly biotechnology, was an abomination of nature. Still, many of the nightmares that the extremists kept prophesizing hadn’t materialized yet, so they were ignored.

For parents who could afford it, getting genetic upgrades for their children was the new way to give their kids an advantage. Just sending a child to a private school wasn’t good enough anymore, a child’s genetic foundation needed to be top-notch as well.

Ted and Doris Ryan wanted what was best for their children. So while expensive, they invested in genetic upgrades for each child. Even the most basic templates could be like buying a new car, so their choices were limited. The fancier templates could be as expensive as a house, so they opted for an enhanced basic package that resulted in a beautiful, healthy, athletic, and intelligent child. This worked twice, a girl named Tomi and a boy they named Ted Jr.

Even before she was born, Tomi’s parents knew what she would look like as an adult, thanks to a genetic growth extrapolation. 5 foot 9, wavy brown hair, black eyes, and fair skin with a near-flawless complexion. Ted Jr. came along two years later, but he was two inches taller with curly brown hair and green eyes.

To avoid the irrational hostility that some people felt toward people who received genetic upgrades, the Ryans avoided telling anyone the truth about their children’s genetic upgrades. Even as Tomi and Ted grew older, their parents waited on telling them the truth, at least until they would understand. It seemed unfair, but the rhetoric they heard on the news feeds, and even worse the public protests, didn’t just concern them, it terrified them.

As the children grew older, their parents tried to treat them equally, both had to share in both traditionally masculine and feminine chores. But when it came to letting them do typical teenage activities, Tomi noticed her brother didn’t have to plead with Mom and Dad to go to a concert or go out with friends. They had their excuses lined up: you’re too young, concerts are dangerous, what if you get stalked, blah blah blah.

Even her boyfriend Olin could be condescending. One afternoon after making love, she was sitting on top of him while he massaged her C-cup size breasts, he commented, Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. It’s a dangerous world out there. Olin must be getting his advice on how to talk to girls from some men’s magazine, some women may want a knight in shining armor to swoop in and rescue them, but Tomi was insulted.

Olin was trying to be complimentary, but he realized now she was pissed. This is bullshit! I can take care of myself, thank you very much. And what am I supposed to do if you’re not around, curl up into a ball and cry? she retorted. Olin really stepped in it, all he could do now was try to smooth things over, or he wouldn’t be getting any for at least a couple of days.

I’m sorry, baby, of course, you can do anything you set your mind to. You’re beautiful, you’re smart, you could be a model . . . he started to say, but that set Tomi off. What! You think that’s what all girls want to do, become models! Oops, he stepped in it again. Olin forgot that Tomi wants to do things other than sit around and let people take pictures of her.

Tomi jumped out of bed, growling as she hunted around the room for her clothes. Olin tried again to smooth things over, but by this time, Tomi had reached a full boil. Finally spotting her panties, she bent over to pick them up giving Olin a perfect view of her ass. Looking back at him, she realized what he was looking at, Is that what I am to you? A piece of ass?

As she walked to the bathroom to take a shower, Olin watched as her butt cheeks moved up and down as she walked. He laid back in bed, Shit, he was still horny and now he wasn’t going to get laid again for at least a week.

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Sometimes, it is said that some people are too smart for their own good. Tomi was sure what they really meant was that she or whomever they were bitching about wasn’t doing what they wanted them to do. There were so many times when her parents or a teacher tried to use some lame excuse to say no to what she wanted to do or just as bad get her to do what they thought was best.

Guidance my ass, she would say to her brother and her friends. Tomi heard once that humans should enjoy the unknown, What we know is a drop, what we don’t know is an ocean. Newton was certainly a lot smarter than any of these grownups. They were always trying to steer her toward what they knew or what they thought they knew. Whenever she had an opportunity to talk to adults other than her parents or teachers, she got some unexpected answers.

My job? I had no idea that it existed before I applied for it. I had to ask the interviewer what his company did. One man told her when she asked about his occupation. Another told her about how he started out running a laundry business that later led to him becoming a senior manager at a casino. Not only was Isaac Newton right, but so was Edward Lorentz; not only is there so much to know, but seemingly unrelated events can come together to take a person through life.

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From listening to current events, Tomi learned the need to be free and the need for law and order. Throughout history and up to her time, there always seemed to be some pompous, self-righteous buffoon who thought they knew how to run everyone else’s life. Then the political winds would change and some other pompous buffoon would decide that everyone not only had rights they already had but were oppressed and needed even more.

As Tomi grew up and heard this, at first she was confused, it was when she heard from one teacher who laid out how things were supposed to work did she get some clarity.

The truth is the government is doing what it’s supposed to be doing, very little. Government gridlock is a good thing, if the government isn’t doing anything then it can’t screw anything up. If they actually do something, it means it’s really necessary or people really want it, Mr. Malkamus would tell his students.

When a student would counter from the point of view of control, Malkamus would counter that history has shown that systems with too many rules and too much control eventually strangled themselves politically, economically, and socially. If a student sided with the other side, it was pointed out that to have rights means the government can’t arbitrarily take something from someone, it doesn’t mean the government