Gremil & Company

[Chirakis 1]

Gremil & Company
Chirakis Kirel

For the last few days, work on the station had run smoothly.  Then came the stench: a  rancid smell that seemed to grow exponentially, filling the station with the odor of our little gremlin friend, now known as Gremil.  

The more frightened he became, the more odor he produced.  The more relaxed he became, the less odor he produced.  A few days ago Dr. Pavilion’s gentle hand—augmented by chocolate—had relaxed him enough to attempt communication.  She sat with him for several hours and made exceptional progress not only in communication but in his desire to learn.  He was inquisitive by nature.  For the most part, his stench had subsided.  But now?

The stench had become unbearable and the atmospheric scrubber had reached its limit. The captain would have opened the windows if possible, but that’s not exactly a good thing to do in space. Instead she stood by the window, arms crossed, and allowed her mind to wander.

Aegis’s fighters shot from the bay in combat formation—some to relieve the watch, and some for maneuvers.  In the distance, USS Toronto orbited, ready to defend if necessary. Soon USS Calgary would take her place, giving Kirel the opportunity to visit Captain DeVoll and Commander Wexler for a while. However, she doubted that they would enjoy visiting the station without gas masks.  After all, station personnel had resorted to gas masks, and anyone who was due for liberty decided to take it—off station.  

And that thought broke her mood.  She sighed as she returned to her desk, settling in to pull up and page through the latest reports—at least those that mattered.

“Captain Chirakis, ma’am?”

The voice of Ltjg Brody calling from the brig broke her train of thought—not that it mattered since she hated dealing with reports.  Putting aside her tablet to engage the viewscreen, she noticed that he seemed flustered.  No, he was flustered.

“Yes, Mr Brody?”

“We’ve… uh…  figured out where the smell is coming from.”

There was a long pause.  “And?”

“It’s coming from down here, ma’am.” 

Which is what she expected, since no other creature or concoction would produce such a smell.  At least, she hoped it wouldn’t.  “Is Gremil excited or anxious?”

“I’d say so ma’am. Not as much anxious as excited.”

Not as much anxious as excited.  “Is Doctor Pavilion visiting, or Doctor Davis?”

“No ma’am.  They haven’t been here for a while.”

After a moment of thought accompanied by finger-drumming on her desk, she replied, “Very well,” with a casual gesture. “Lieutenant Garand has a stash of chocolate energy bars in pantry five.  That should settle him down.”

“Oh, I would, ma’am, except that the lieutenant is dealing with a situation, and we don’t have the code.”

The code.  Of course. And we coded the stash because it seems to disappear very quickly. 

Noting the pile of reports that had come across her desk in the last 24 hours, she wondered if leaving them undone would be appropriate, or passing them on to her executive officer.  Then she remembered the more pressing issues that Commander Coleridge was dealing with at the moment and decided otherwise.

“Give me a few minutes to sort a few things out up here and I’ll be down”

“Yes, ma’am.  We’ll try to keep them occupied.”

 And that caught her attention.  “Them, Mr Brody?”

After a slight pause, he took a deep breath and replied, “Yes, ma’am.” 

“Just how many are we talking about, Mr Brody?  And how in Sto'Vo'Kor did they get in?” She growled, pressing the security alert button on her desk.  Brody winced when the alarm sounded and the security complex became a combat zone. 

“So far we have three, ma’am.  And we’re tracking down their entrance, but we...”

“I’ll be right down.”

*   *   *  *   *   *   *

The Ghost Squad was back in business.  Jake and Billy—who skipped school today because ‘they didn’t feel good’—were on the hunt, their faces and arms streaked awkwardly with camouflage colors, determined to “save Aegis from the gremlins”.  And it was exciting.  

“Gees, Jake. We shoulda gotten some of those masks, like… you know… gas masks.”

Jake tossed Billy a determined look.  His eyes narrowed while he listened for any sound in the crawl way  below decks. “We’re on a mission, Billy,” he whispered.  “We need to find out how they get into the station.  I mean... if they can get in to the station, anyone and anything can get in, right?”

Billy’s face scrunched and he nodded.  “Yeah, I know that.  But just the… what is it…?”

“Kefiya,” Jake replied with an eyeroll.  “I got a larger one called a shemagh, but couldn’t find it in the closet. I think my mom might have thrown it out. She said it smelled.”

“Yeah.  Okay.  Kefiya. Like they use in the desert on underdeveloped planets, right?”  Billy’s eyes brightened. “Or when Special Operations needs to look like the natives?”

“Yeah,” grinned Jake.  “SpecOps, like what we’re doing.  Anyway, we’re using 'em ‘cause if we get gas masks, they’ll know we’re not really sick.”

“But we aren’t sick, Jake.  We coulda grabbed a mask on the way out.”

Another eye-roll and Jake continued his crawl.  “And deal with El Tee Garand. Right.” 

Billy sighed and followed along, turning corners and climbing into hatchways toward the storeroom that was once their clubhouse.  The closer they got to the storeroom, the more potent the smell, making it almost unbearable.  But they pushed on until Jake froze and flung his arm back, pinning Billy to the wall.  He put a finger to his lips.

They listened.

Not far away and around a corner they heard scratches, then mumbling.  Inching forward as quietly as they could—which wasn’t very quiet at all—they came to a corner and stopped… just in time for a gremlin to turn it, meet them eye to eye, and give a high-pitched screech and a powerful skunk-like spray that coated the two boys head to toe. 

The gremlin scampered one way. Jake and Billy scrambled the other way, to the closest hatch, flew it open, and dived through it to the next level, and then the next level, finally coming to a stop they thought would be safe. 

Jake wiped the sweat from his forehead, smearing his camouflage face paint.  Billy wiped it off with the sleeves of his camo uniform. They both leaned against the wall to catch their breath.  And of course, since the gremlin sprayed them, they couldn’t smell it… but everyone else definitely would.

“Gees, Jake. We gotta tell the El Tee,” said Billy as soon as he could breathe.

“Forget the El Tee, Billy. We gotta tell the captain.”