Ever since leaving Earth I've become something of an expert at being unpopular. Cain't say that I like it much neither. If it weren't for the commander and Charon, I think I wouldn't have a single friend on the station.

I know you're asking yourself, "Why does he care? Didn't Champ spend a lot of time out on the range tracking down criminals? Wasn't he alone then?"

Truth is, I WAS alone, but I always had friends and acquaintances I could have a beer with when I was back in town. Not here.

I was kinda hoping when I officially became a member of the Orion Rangers that would all change. I would be accepted by my fellow Rangers and things would settle down. Ah'm guessing that coulda happened 'cept I took on a pretty unpopular mission that saw a number of Rangers either jailed or kicked out.

It seemed like a good idea at the time; nothing worse than a crooked lawman. For some reason I thought others might feel the same way.

Turns out I was wrong.

On that sobering thought, my door chimed. I pulled out my trusty Colt Peacemaker and called up the video link. Those were both new too. Carrying my Colt had been prohibited when I first arrived on the station. The commander had special stun rounds made for my gun so I could use it again. Pulling it out whenever the door chimed just proved how on edge I was getting.

Using the local tech was also new, also courtesy of the commander. She insisted I know how to use everything or I would be at a disadvantage on the station and little help to the Rangers. Since it was learn or leave, I chose to learn.

The video link showed the commander waiting outside my door. I tucked the Colt into the holster that always rode on my right hip and hit the door activator to let her in. As the door slid open, a blaster bolt almost hit me in the middle of my chest.

Almost. If I had been standing right in the middle of the doorway, it would have. As it is, I am on edge. I tend to take things real careful-like when I'm on edge. The blaster bolt hit me high on my left shoulder. I could smell my own burnt hide. I could not feel anything on that arm except searing pain.

Instinct and adrenaline kicked in and I drew my Colt with my good right hand, firing at my assailant before I had time to properly think about what I was doing. The commander, also now known as my would-be assassin, apparently wasn't quite as on edge as me and was standing square in the middle of the now-open doorway. My stun round hit her square in the chest, knocking her back into the hallway bulkhead. She crumpled to the floor only moments before I did.

***

The first thing I was aware of was a blinding light that penetrated my eyelids. Heaven? Naw, It couldn't be Heaven. I might be a lawman but I knew in my own heart I hadn't done anything to earn myself that particular reward. Hell then? If so, why did I feel so cold?

I opened my eyes as a shadow blocked out some of the light. What met me was a sight that most men would find intoxicating.

"Charon. Dagnabbit! Haven't I asked you before to give a man a little space?"

My friend – my only friend now that the commander had tried to kill me – backed away from the table I was lying on. She was, as always, the perfect figure of a buxom young and very nude woman from the waist up. Below that she was perfectly equine.

"Champ? Why are you speaking to me in English again? Are you angry with me?"

I switched back to Galspeak. "Sorry, Charon. You just surprised me, is all. Where am I?"

"Infirmary," Charon replied. "You got shot up pretty badly. I found you and your attacker both out cold. Good thing for you she used a blaster on you otherwise you might have bled to death by the time I got there. That and her blaster triggered the weapons alarms. That's what made me come by in the first place. The commander will be by in a little while to see how you're doing."

I started at that. "What do you mean? The commander was the one who tried to kill me."

Charon's laugh was a little forced. "No. The assassin was wearing tech to look like the commander so you would open your door. Good thing she was a bad shot."

"Not a bad shot," I said, shaking my head. "If I'd been in the middle of the doorway when the door opened, I'd be dead right now. I wasn't."

"Then it's a good thing you are paranoid," Charon said. "And a good shot yourself. You've talked about your quick draw before but I always wondered how much of it was bluster. I see now you are easily as fast as you say. That speed saved your life."

I had to smile at that. Bragging isn't something I tend to do. "I don't bluster, my friend. Or at least, I try not to." I shrugged. "Left shoulder feels good. The injury mustn't have been too bad."

"Champ..."

I started to sit up, pushing myself with the aforementioned left hand. "In fact, I feel so darn good I might just take myself out on the town to celebrate!"

"Champ!" Charon grabbed me by my right shoulder and shook me.

When my teeth stopped rattling I shrugged off her hand. "What are you doing? You almost rattled my brains out my ears."

"Champ. I've been trying to tell you. The injury WAS bad. Really bad. In fact, you lost your left arm and part of your shoulder."

I laughed. "What are you talking about? Have you been in the low-oxygen part of the station again? Can't you see I'm leaning on my left arm?" I held up my arm. "See..." Then I saw my hand for the first time. Where flesh should have been, cold metal gleamed in the lights of the Infirmary.

***

"Hello Champ, how are you feeling?"

I had to resist the impulse to run. My right hand kept reaching for the Colt that wasn't currently strapped to my hip.

"Champ? Are you okay?"

I looked up at the commander and forced a smile. "I guess so. I'm just having a bit of trouble looking at the person who tried to kill me earlier today."

Commander Xxyshen blanched at that. At least, I think she did. Her normal skin colour dropped a few shades of purple. "Champ, about that...the would-be assassin was impersonating me. It was wearing technology that gave it my appearance."

"Aw, I know that, Commander," I said. "That doesn't make it any easier though. It still looked like you with the blaster. Even worse, I had to draw my Colt on you."

"You think shooting me was worse than me shooting you?" I could see the disbelief in her eyes.

"Absolutely. I don't have too many friends on this station. Shooting the ones I have isn't my first choice."

The commander sat down beside me then and was quiet for several minutes. I could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. When she finally spoke again, her voice was very quiet. "This is all my fault. I never should have put you into this position."

"What are you talking about Commander? It was because of my hardheadedness that I came to the station. There was no way you could have prevented or even known about that."

The commander shook her head. "No, you are right about that. You came as a complete surprise to me."

"Then, what?" I asked. "I suppose you could have sent me back instead of letting me stay."

"No, Champ. I couldn't have done that either. The laws around that are pretty clear. Uninitiated species are not to be allowed back to their home worlds where they might contaminate their cultures. I actually had to stretch the rules a great deal to let you live. Ordinarily, someone like you would be terminated on arrival."

"Is that why the assassin tried to kill me?"

Xxyshen's lips barely curved into a smile then. She turned her chair to face me directly. "Champ, the assassin is my fault as surely as if I had hired it myself. It came because of the last mission I sent you on and that's what I never should have done."

"Commander, you had some crooked Rangers in the organization before I came, didn't you?"

"I thought so."

"Did you have any way to expose them?"

"No. Not without tipping off any of the others who might be involved. I didn't know who I could trust."

I nodded. "Do you remember that fight we had with them Rigellians a while back?"

The Commander laughed then. "You mean, the one where you were swinging them by their dronglars?"

I smiled. "Yup, that's the one."

"I remember that fight well. What about it?"

"We were outnumbered eight to two. We had to use what was available to win the fight." I grimaced then. "That included their dronglars."

The Commander laughed again. "That's true. But what's your point?"

"When I came along, you finally had something to use to fight the corruption. You had to send me."

A tear glistened in the Commander's right eye. "Champ, you are no dronglar."

"Maybe not, but I was an unknown. Your men, both the good and the bad, didn't know me or what I was capable of. They only saw some backward primate from a backward world. I was no threat as far as they were concerned."

"And?"

"And they let their guard down so I could expose them for who they really were."

"And now you are being targeted by them," the Commander said. "Now you are in danger and have been badly hurt."

I shrugged, marveling briefly at how natural the new shoulder felt. "I've been hurt before and for less important reasons. I'm okay now and I know to watch my back in the future. You were just doing what you had to."

"Was I? Or was I just taking the easy, safe path?" She shook her head. "You were a definite unknown. You're right about that. Those men misjudged you. I didn't even know for sure what you would do."

"But you trusted me to do the right thing," I said. "That means a lot to me."

"I'm not sure I had much to lose."

"So it was a calculated risk. I've had to make those myself. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. This time you did."

"And you lost."

I lifted my new left hand and flexed the fingers. "Naw. I still have a working arm...a better one than the old arm, if I were truthful about it."

"But not the old one." The Commander sighed. "Okay, Champ. I get it. You're relieving me of my guilt. That isn't the same as me not feeling guilty, but that's my burden to bear. So, my next problem is, what do I do with you now?"

That was a question I had been running through my own mind ever since Charon had filled me in on the assassin. "You still don't know who hired the killer, do you?"

"No, and that's the problem. No matter what I do with you, until we figure that out, you'll always be in danger."

"Then get rid of me. Kick me out."

Xxyshen jumped to her feet. "What? No!"

"Hold on now and hear me out."

"It's out of the question, Champ. I'm not abandoning you."

I held up a hand. "With all due respect, ma'am, have a seat and listen. I'm not suggesting you really get rid of me."

Xxyshen stood and stared at me for several moments before she sat. "I'm listening. But make it good!"

"There's something you're missing here," I began.

"And that is?"

"The assassin came for me, not you."

"Obviously. But why is that important?"

"It's important because it means, whoever tried to get me killed doesn't suspect you had anything to do with my exposing the crooked Rangers during the mission. They believe I was acting on my own and are trying to get revenge. If they thought you had planned it, they would most likely have tried to kill you too."

"I suppose that could be," Xxyshen said.

"If I'm right, I doubt they would believe you have any kind of investment in my well-being. They wouldn't be surprised if you threw me out of the Rangers. That might draw them out into the open."

"I've already said I won't abandon you..."

"And you won't be. It will just look that way."

"So, your plan is to do what? Go out on your own and try to draw out the would-be killers?" Xxyshen shook her head. "I can't do it, Champ. You were already almost killed once. I can't allow it to happen again."

I smiled. "It wouldn't be the first time I was almost killed. Happened dozens of times back in Texas and I'm still not dead."

***

"Champ?"

"Whaddaya want?" I snarled looking over at Charon, who had just sidled up to the bar next to me. As per usual, her feminine assets were prominently on display.

"I was worried about you. I came to see how you were doing."

I raised my voice even louder. "I was kicked out of the Orion Rangers. Left to hang. Everyone abandoned me...including you. How do you think I'm doing?"

"Why are you acting this way?" Charon asked, the pain in her voice almost making me stop my charade. "I've never abandoned you. You are my friend. I care about you."

I kept my voice loud. "Sure you do. Why don't you get outta here and go tell your buddy, Commander Xxyshen to go to hell!"

Charon didn't bother answering. She reared up on her hind legs, spun around and galloped out of the bar.

I didn't have to see her face to know she was crying.

I so wished I could have let her in on the plan.

I tossed back the shot of the liquor I'd been nursing, taking some solace in the burning sensation as it slid down my throat. "Bartender. Give me another."

The bartender, a seven-foot tall being who resembled a mountain lion in pants, looked over at me. "Don't you think you've had enough?"

I slid my eighteen inch Bowie out of its sheath and laid it on the bar top. "Do I have to repeat myself?"

The bartender shrugged and shook his head. "Whatever you say." He refilled my empty glass with the amber liquor.

Hurting Charon had never been part of the plan, but my anger at the commander had to look genuine or I'd never flush out my would-be killers. If they stayed hidden, Charon was in danger too. I had to take care of them.

I just hoped they would move soon. Sitting in a saloon, alone, all day wasn't my idea of a good time.

***

"McKay, come outside. A few of us want to have a word with you." The speaker was a goon named Cadg'r.

About time.

That it was Cadg'r wasn't a big surprise. He was part of the same gang as another former Ranger, Q'sling. Both had been kicked out of the Rangers after I exposed them.

I looked at the bartender and pointed at my drink. "Save that for me, would ya? I'll be right back for it." I grabbed my Bowie off the bar and slid it back into its sheath.

The bartender nodded and watched me get up from the bar. I had no doubt Cadg'r knew I was there because of the bartender. I was pretty sure the price on my head included any information on where that head was currently located.

I stepped out of the bar watching cautiously against ambush. If my plan were to work at all, I couldn't be surprised. The door opened into an alley. Cadger and five others, including Q'sling, were standing and waiting for me.

I moved away from the door and put my back against a wall. "So, boys. What happens now."

Q'sling took a step toward me. His face had an expression of hatred. "Now we kill you for what you did to us."

I scratched my head, making a conspicuous show of using my metal left arm. "Seems to me we should be pretty much square. It's cause of y'all that I have this metal arm just like you can take credit for my removal from the Orion Rangers."

"Payback," hissed a diminutive, hooded figure I didn't recognize. "We had a good thing going before you showed up and ruined it all. You only got what you deserved."

"I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that," I said. I looked at each of the beings, trying to gauge just who was the biggest threat first. "But I am feeling a mite bit generous today. I'll let you boys go without a fight. But only if you all leave now."

Q'sling shook his head, looking grim. "No. I don't think we will be leaving, Earthman. I'm NOT feeling generous. We are going to make an example of you and then, I think, we're going to make an example of the Orion Rangers."

"I see. In that case, I guess we should stop jawing and get on with it. I've got more drinking to do before this day is over." I reached down and pulled my Bowie out of its sheath with my metal hand.

"Look at the stupid mammal, bringing a knife to a blaster fight," the hooded figure hissed.

That hissing stopped a moment later as my Bowie thunked into its mouth.

The five remaining, former Rangers stood in stunned silence for a heartbeat as the creature collapsed to the ground.

Then all hell broke loose.

The first of the five began drawing his gun. I drew mine faster than I ever had before, shooting him down where he stood. I followed that shot with four more, using my left hand to pull the trigger on my colt as I cut the men down. The last man to go down hadn't even pulled his blaster out when he was shot.

I gave the Colt a quick spin as I holstered it - more flash than I usually bothered with - and stared down at my six would-be assailants. None were moving and the hooded figure had an ever expanding pool of greenish blood spreading out from his head.

I looked around quickly to see if any lurkers were hiding to take me out after the fight. I was the only one left standing in the alley.

***

"Impressive, Champ," Commander Xxyshen said as the last of the five former Rangers was led off in restraints. "I had no idea you were that fast on the draw with your archaic projectile weapon."

"Truth to tell, Commander, I wasn't completely sure either. But I was sure enough."

Xxyshen looked over at the figure that still lay on the ground, covered by a sheet. "Not to question your motives, but why kill that one and only stun the other five? We could have gotten some good information about the gang from that one."

"It was something you taught me when I first got here. Things away from Earth are different. What's normal there may not be here. I knew the five I stunned. I knew my rounds would take them down."

"Okay...and?"

"And I didn't know who or even what the sixth was. Coulda been it wouldn't be affected by my shots at all." I patted my Bowie, which had been taken from the body. "I couldn't take that chance so I used my knife. Seems to me, even if the knife hadn't killed it, creature would have been a mite inconvenienced. Sides, all that hissing was starting to annoy me."

The commander nodded. "Sound thinking." She tapped on her wrist and activated the computer strapped to her forearm. "That means the only thing left to do is reinstate you into the Rangers."

"There's that, but I also have one other thing to do."

"What's that?"

"I've got to make things right with Charon. I said some things I know hurt her. I couldn't tell her what I was doing. She left pretty suddenly."

The expression of horror on the commander's face was one I hadn't expected. "What's wrong?"

"Charon's gone. Said she had to go home to her people. I didn't argue because she seemed so determined."

That hit me...hard. "Is there any way we can stop her? Can I get a message to her?"

The commander tapped at her computer for a moment. "Her ship has already left the station." She shook her head. "There's nothing we can do."

My legs suddenly felt weak and I collapsed to the ground. Charon...gone. My only real friend was gone and it was my fault. I couldn't even apologize to her.

I felt a hand shaking my good shoulder.

I looked up in a daze. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were alright, Champ," Xxyshen said. She waved at a couple of her men. "Help Champ back up and take him back to headquarters. I want medical to take a look at him."

"No need," I said, climbing back to my feet. "I'm fine."

Commander Xxyshen stared at me for several moments. "All the same Champ. You get back to headquarters and get checked out. Then get some rest. You've earned it."

I nodded and started walking. Not directly back to the Orion Ranger Headquarters but a much longer route. Charon was gone. Every time that thought crossed my mind, I had to shake off tears. I hadn't even realized how important she was to me and now she was gone.

It was like some of the colour had just left the universe.

***

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