Free The Helavite War by Theresa Snyder

more lethal, but because I fought
they're being mined for industrial purposes. Everything has a price
and someone that will pay that price to have you fight for it. I
try really hard to be on the side I feel is right."
    Arr looked down and brushed his tears from
the dar-dolf's head. "I understand now Jake."
    Jake gave him a squeeze around the
shoulders. "You think you can go back to sleep?"
    Arr nodded and lay back down on his bed.
Jake pulled the sheet up over him. Kay-o put his head on the edge
of the bunk and that was how Jake found them in the morning.
    *****
    The original crew of the station never went
back to work. A new Super and ship full of workers arrived two
weeks later. The original crew was taken back to The Company
headquarters for a rest.
    The loss of all the children in the small
colony was a devastating blow.
    Jake and Arr took their severance pay, bonus
pay and the heartfelt thanks of all. They loaded the few
possessions they brought down to the planet's surface and headed
toward Arr's home world for a little R&R.

Chapter 29
    The month long rest on the Henu planet did them all
a world of good. Arr was smiling once again. Kay-o's hair grew back
to a decent length. They all recovered from their ordeal at Galnon
Station #41. Jake came back from a trip up to the cruiser one day
to announce that they were on the move again.
    He played back a message picked up by the
communications system from a man he had known almost all his life.
Someone he worked for in the past, Andrew Daily. Andrew was a
friend of Jake's dad.
    "Daily is one of the richest men there is in
the solar system, maybe several solar systems," Jake explained to
Arr, as they shuttled up to the ship in the pod. Arr had confided
in Jake that riding in the small craft was much more bearable if
Jake kept up one of his running commentaries. "He even bought a
planet - named it Madelor after the only woman he ever loved, his
wife Madeline." Jake banked the pod for entry into the bay.
    Arr was clenching the arms of the seat so
tightly that his hands were beginning to ache. He tried to
concentrate on his friend's narrative.
    "She died twenty years ago in the outbreak
of the Naruvian Flu. A lot of good people died the first year
before the doctors developed a serum." The little pod decelerated
coming to a smooth landing in the bay. "Madeline left Andrew with a
three year old daughter named Sarah. The two of them plus servants
and Sarah's menagerie live on Madelor."
    Arr crawled out of the pod. He always felt
like kissing the ground each time he made the trip safely. He
envied the fact that Jake took all space travel in his stride.
Speed and flight excited him rather than frightening him. Arr
wondered if he would ever get used to it.
    "Andrew's spoiled Sarah rotten indulging her
every whim including her collection of animals. Last time I saw the
Daily's was right after I got Kay-o. By the time I left Sarah had
her father convinced she couldn't live without a dar-dolf of her
own." Jake shook his head, turning a droll grimace on Arr. "She's
incorrigible, but I cut her a lot of slack 'cause I like
Andrew."
    They both made for the pilot platform. Jake
gave the computer the coordinates.
    "Daily didn't say what he wanted, only to
come as soon as possible! It was AN EMERGENCY! There's a window at
Outpost #26 that we can use to skip from this galaxy to the next.
We can be there in three days."
    "A window?" Arr cocked his head
questioningly. The windows he was familiar with were in buildings
and ships.
    It was a long time since Jake came up with a
word his young friend didn't know. "It's a tube through space that
gets you there a whole lot faster."
    The look on Arr's face was still one of
puzzlement.
    "Just wait. You'll see." Jake sent a message
to Andrew telling him they were on their way.
    *****
    On arrival at Madelor they were escorted by
a servant to Andrew's study. The building was like nothing Arr had
ever seen before. It exuded wealth. Jake enjoyed watching Arr