by R S Penney
Chapter 25
Jack had his eyes closed and the back of his head resting against the wall. Try as he might, he just couldn't sleep. Not while he was stuck in a cell with a man who had tried to kill him only months ago.
He cracked an eye.
Arin was slumped against the opposite wall with his legs stretched out in front of himself, seemingly asleep. At least, that's what you would think if you didn't notice that his breathing was much too rapid. “So,” Jack said. “You can't get any rest either.”
“Not while you're here.”
A grin blossomed on Jack's face, and his head drooped as he chuckled. “It's almost poetic,” he said. “Two men who both want the same thing, and neither one of them can have it because they just won't trust each other.”
Arin grunted and raised his head just long enough to fix tired eyes on Jack. Then he fell back against the wall. “I have no intention of harming you,” he declared. “You have nothing to fear from me.”
“Is that so?”
“What would I gain by killing you?”
Jack scrubbed two hands over his face, then looked up at the ceiling and blinked. “Oh, I don't know,” he answered. “Maybe you're still thinking you can worm your way back into Slade's good graces.”
“I do not wish to rejoin Slade's cause.”
“Then what do you want?”
The silence that followed didn't exactly fill Jack with confidence. He could see the pain in Arin's face when the man realized that he had no answer to that question. Which probably meant that Arin saw no future beyond the walls of this cell. This situation was deteriorating rapidly.
An Arin who had given up on life might be just as dangerous as an Arin who was still loyal to Slade. Maybe even more so. Nihilism had a way of pushing men to do stupid things. “You could come back to Leyria with me,” Jack suggested.
“As your prisoner?”
Jack puffed up his cheeks and then blew air through puckered lips. “I won't lie,” he said. “You'll probably have to stand trial for what you've done. But my friend Ben was in a similar situation, and Larani Tal gave him a chance to pay his debt to society. You could do the same.”
The other man laughed as he stood up, bracing one hand against the wall to steady himself. “You'd have me become a Justice Keeper?” he asked. “Will your superiors really accept the service of a man with a modified symbiont?”
“Just because your symbiont is corrupted doesn't mean you have to use its power for evil,” Jack countered. “You could help people.”
The smile that appeared on Arin's face was cruel. “Yes…I could,” he agreed. “Until the day that Slade kills me. He's going to do it, you know. He'll kill you, Lenai and all of your little friends.”
“We'll see.”
Arin started forward at a quick pace, shaking his head. “Grecken Slade is not just another warrior with a symbiont,” he went on. “His power is unlike anything I have ever seen before. You got a taste of it in New York.”
Thrusting his chin out, Jack squinted at the other man. “Yeah, I did,” he said with a curt nod. “And I also got to see what happened when Anna and I confronted him together. Your powerful warrior was pretty eager to slink away.”
Arin stiffened, turning his face away so that Jack wouldn't see his apprehension. “It doesn't matter. No one stands against the Inzari.” His words had the sound of a catechism, a mantra learned by rote but spoken with very little conviction. Yes, this man was on the verge of losing his faith.
“They're not gods, Arin.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because gods don't leave good people to suffer.” Despite his fatigue, Jack forced himself to stand up and marched forward until he was standing right in front of the other man. “And you are a good person.”
“I killed Glin Karon,” Arin whispered. “Would your precious Justice Keepers truly forgive me, knowing that I took one of their best and brightest?”
Biting his lower lip, Jack regarded the man for an awkward moment, then nodded. “You've done terrible things,” he said. “There's no denying that. But you wanted to be a Justice Keeper, which means, at one point, you wanted to help people.”
Arin stood there with arms folded, his head thrown back as he shook with laughter. “Why do you think the Nassai rejected me, Hunter? I wanted the power and the glory, but I never cared about 'helping people.' ”
Exasperation brought a series of scathing responses to the forefront of Jack's mind, but he suppressed the urge to voice them. Antagonizing this man would get him nowhere. Like it or not, he needed Arin as an ally.
“Okay,” Jack said, turning away and pacing back to the wall. “So, maybe you don't deserve the power. But you have it. So, the way I see it, you've got two options: convince yourself that you're awful and sink deeper into whatever hell you've decided would be an appropriate punishment for your crimes…or try to do better.”
He left the other man to chew on that.
“Approaching Mirab System.”
That update came from Ensign Talian Savari, a young woman with dark-brown skin and black hair that she wore up in a bun. Sitting at the curved console near the front of the bridge, she quickly checked her instruments.
Captain Desarin rose from his chair, stroking his chin as he approached the young woman from behind. “Drop out of warp,” he ordered. “Signal the Adasani and the Vasane to assume a defensive position.”
“Aye, sir!” a young man shouted.
Anna wore black pants and a light armoured vest as she sat in the corner with her hands on her knees. Her mouth felt tight; her brow prickled with sweat, and she had to work to keep her breathing steady.
Cassi was right next to her, dressed in similar attire and staring intently at the main display screen. The other woman seemed just as tense, perhaps more so. Neither one of them wanted to give voice to the fact that there was a very good chance they would leave this system without Jack.
Even if the Ragnosians had come here, there was a very good chance that they had departed days ago. Anna was betting everything on the faint hope that they were using this system as a listening post.
On the screen, she saw a field of distant stars with two bright yellow dots right in the middle, both larger than all the others. This was a binary system only half a lightyear from the border of Leyrian Space.
“Have we detected anything?” Desarin asked.
“No, sir.”
The captain stood with his chin clasped in one hand, squinting as he watched the display. “Well, that doesn't mean much,” he grumbled. “The system is too big for us to scan all of it.”
That last bit was a serious contender for understatement of the year. Using standard electromagnetic signals – which was the only option if you wanted to detect something in normal space – they would only be able to reliably scan anything within a radius of about five lightseconds. Beyond that, the time lag was just too great to get a clear picture. Five lightseconds was nothing when you were talking about stellar distances.
If the Ragnosians were here, they would know that three Leyrian ships had arrived. A ship at warp made a ripple in SlipSpace that traveled millions of times faster than the Speed of Light. It was impossible to approach a solar system without letting everyone in the area know that you were coming. But if the Ragnosians were careful, they could hide in plain sight.
High-res telescopes might catch a glimpse of sunlight that had bounced off a ship's hull several hours ago, but that ship would be long gone by the time you showed up to investigate. Finding a ship at sub-light speeds required good fortune that bordered on a miracle. Except the Ragnosians had done just that when they detected Jack's shuttle from several lightminutes away. “Captain,” she said.
Desarin looked at her.
Anna shut her eyes, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest. Damn it, she was so stressed right now. “They don't know what we don't know,” she said. “They have every reason to think that we can find their ships the same
way they found Jack's shuttle.”
“Good thinking, Operative Lenai,” the captain said. “All right…We'll bluff our way through this. Broadcast a message through SlipSpace. That should make it detectable to anyone within a lightyear.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Desarin began to pace with hands clasped behind himself, moving back and forth in front of the screen. “Ragnosian fleet,” he began in a voice that exuded authority. “This is Captain Morris Desarin of the LMS Endeavour. Respond please.”
Silence.
The captain spun to face the screen with fists balled at his sides, his chest puffing up as he took a breath. “We know your location, and we know that you have been using this system as a listening post to monitor our territory.” He gave them a second to let that sink in. “These acts of aggression will not be tolerated. Respond now, or we will interpret your silence as a declaration of hostile intent.”
One of the bridge consoles started beeping. “Captain…” the young comm officer said. “They're responding.”
“Let's hear it.”
The screen lit up with the image of a woman who glared into the camera. She was short and tanned with a bob of brown hair and red epaulettes on the shoulders of her gray uniform. “I am Admiral Telixa Ethran of the Ragnosian fleet,” she drawled. “What can I do for you, Captain?”
Anna let out a breath of relief. Her instincts had been correct. The Ragnosians were here. Relief turned into firm resolve as she considered what they might have to do to get Jack back.
Desarin faced the screen with arms crossed, lifted his chin and met her frosty stare with one of his own. “You've got one of our people aboard your ship, Admiral,” he said. “We'd like him back.”
“You are mistaken, Captain.”
“Is that so?”
“We have no one.”
Desarin's knowing smile was accompanied by soft laughter as he gestured to the comm officer. “Lieutenant,” he said. “Why don't you show the good admiral that video that we all like so much?”
A small window appeared in the lower-left corner of the screen, depicting footage of the Ragnosian battlecruiser gobbling up Jack's shuttle. Admiral Ethran's face hardened as she watched it.
The woman began speaking in Vanasku, one of the primary Ragnosian languages. Sadly, Anna didn't know that one. She had learned Tareli, English, French and Raen in addition to her native Leyrian, but she had never bothered with the Ragnosian languages. Why would she? Ragnos was on the other side of the galaxy.
It was all gibberish to Anna, but you didn't have to know the language to get the gist of the admiral's message. They weren't going to return Jack. Finally, Telixa Ethran calmed herself. “The Justice Keeper is ours.”
Desarin sat down in his chair with hands on the armrests, a predatory smile on his face. “I'm not going to argue with you, Admiral,” he said. “Either return Jack Hunter to us, or my ships will converge on your position and open fire. I'll give you ten minutes to think it over.”
The screen went dark.
Whirling around in his chair, Desarin frowned at the comm officer. “We have their position, right?” he asked. It seemed Anna Lenai wasn't the only one who was prone to impulsive decisions. “Tell me you were able to track their signal.”
The young man turned away from his console and faced his captain with fear in his eyes. Anna didn't blame him. Officers in the Space Corps were used to sorting out minor conflicts along the Antauran border, but a full-on battle against an opponent with unknown defensive capabilities? That was something else. “We have their position, sir,” the comm officer said. “But I would point out that we have no way of knowing their number. There could be a dozen ships in the admiral's fleet.”
“What's the matter, Al?” Desarin replied. “You don't like to live dangerously?”
It was a tense ten minutes as they waited for the admiral's response. At least the Ragnosians had decided not to run; the Endeavour's sensors would have picked up their warp trails if they tried that. However, their decision to stand their ground could mean any number of things.
Maybe Ethran really did have a dozen ships at her command, and in threatening a superior force, Captain Desarin had exposed his ignorance. Or maybe they were aware of how difficult it would be to flee the system when they were much closer to the stars and therefore forced to move at slower velocities.
When the deadline passed with no response, Captain Desarin drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Set course for the Ragnosians' last known position,” he said. “Raise shields as soon as we drop out of warp.”
“Aye, sir.”
From the corner of her eye, Anna noticed Cassi sitting hunched over with her hands folded in her lap. The other woman's breathing had quickened. It would be imperceptible to almost anyone else – even someone sitting right next to her – but Anna had good ears.
She placed a hand over Cassi's.
The other woman smiled, a touch of scarlet in her face. “Thanks,” Cassi whispered. “I guess this will all be over soon.”
“Soon enough,” Anna agreed.
She could understand Cassi's apprehension. Keepers were the very definition of badassery when they were facing men with guns in close quarters, but there wasn't very much that she and Cassi could do in ship-to-ship combat. Give her a shuttle to pilot, and she might be able to lend a hand, but for now, all she could really do was sit and wait.
Anna wasn't fond of waiting.
“Dropping out of warp,” Ensign Savari called out. “I'm detecting one Ragnosian battlecruiser at a distance of 1500 kilometers.”
“Let's see it.”
A few taps of the ensign's deft fingers made the screen display a ship that looked like a thin, pointed blade, its tip oriented downward from Anna's perspective. “Enemy is scrambling fighters,” one officer yelled. Anna barely noticed. Her attention was focused on the green particle weapons that erupted from the other ship's dorsal hull.
“Shields!” Desarin called out.
A plasma bolt slammed into a flickering force-field that popped up to protect the Endeavour, but the impact sent a jolt that jostled them. “All right,” the captain said. “We are faster and more maneuverable. Let's make use of that, shall we? Have the Vasane and the Adasani attack from multiple vectors.”
“Sir!” a young woman shouted from the back of the room. “I'm detecting an open SlipGate on the enemy ship.”
Anna stood up.
“How is that possible?” the captain bellowed.
Wheezing as she trembled with laughter, Anna grinned and shook her head. “Jack,” she said, stepping forward. “The SlipGate on his shuttle…He must have programmed it to accept incoming travelers. It's not connected to the Ragnosians' systems. They might not have noticed.”
Desarin swiveled to face her with an expression as hard as stone. “Or maybe it's a trap,” he countered. “You could Slip in and find thirty men pointing guns at you.”
“Can we determine the Gate's location?” Anna shouted.
More incoming fire jostled the Endeavour, making it feel very much as if she were in a boat on choppy waters. The lights flickered momentarily, but the crew was unfazed by the commotion. The young woman who had spoken earlier tapped commands into her console. “It appears to be located on the battlecruiser's lowest deck.”
“In the hangar bay,” Anna said.
“You don't know that,” Desarin insisted. “This could be a trap.”
“I'll take that risk, Captain,” Anna said. “Please.”
Desarin seemed to ponder it for a few seconds, then nodded once in agreement. “Go,” he said. “Take a team of security officers with you. I want you to have backup.”
Anna didn't argue; backup sounded like a very good idea when you were raiding a ship with hundreds of enemy troops. Before she even realized it, she was halfway to the door at the back of the bridge, Cassi falling in at her side. “Lenai!” The captain shouted in his gruff voice.
She looked back to find him watching her
with a small smile. “Bring him home.”
The entire cell shook, lights flickering, and Jack was thrown off balance. He went face-first into the wall, catching himself by bracing two hands against it. “Not fun,” he muttered under his breath.
“What's happening?” Arin shouted.
Tilting his head back, Jack blinked a few times. “My guess,” he said. “Some of my very good friends are here to politely request that I be allowed to go home, and the good admiral is unwilling to comply.”
Arin was on his knees with fingers laced over the back of his head, groaning from vertigo. “They're pounding this ship,” he croaked. “Don't they realize they could kill us in their attempts to free us?”
Once again, the room shook as if they were caught in the grip of a very powerful earthquake. It lasted only a second, but Jack nearly fell flat on his face. Though he hated to admit it, the other man had a point. If whoever was out there did enough damage, life support might go out, and he very much doubted that the Ragnosians would prioritize the lives of their prisoners in that case.
Jack was bent over, rubbing tired eyes with the back of one fist. “We've got to get out of here.” It took some effort, but he managed to stand up straight and make his voice cordial. “Arin, I need you to work with me. Can you do that?”
“I can.”
Jack offered his hand and pulled the other man to his feet. A nod of thanks was all he got, and then Arin was pacing across the length of the cell. “The first question is how we get out of this-”
The heavy door slid open with a whooshing sound, allowing a man in full tactical armour to step into the cell. This guy carried an assault rifle, but he had it pointed at the floor, which probably meant that he didn't intend them harm. Of course, Arin failed to catch that little detail and immediately charged the other man.
“Wait!” Jack shouted.
Arin slid to a stop three feet shy of the door.
The newcomer removed his helmet, and Jack recognized him right away. “Novol?” he said. “What is it?”