Free Trader Complete Omnibus

by Craig Martelle

  “Good-bye now,” he said in a low and dangerous voice. A commotion from the corridor made him turn. Skirill beat his wings against the doorway as he powered through, flying toward the Professor’s face, talons first. The old man couldn’t raise his weapon in time, but he turned slightly. Skirill crashed against his shoulder as Micah twisted, throwing the ‘cat upward in one smooth motion.

  The Professor pulled the trigger on his weapon, sending a stream of electricity into Micah, the metal bars, and Braden. They both jerked convulsively, but they didn’t pass out. The power was spread too thinly between the two humans and the cage.

  Fea landed on the man’s arm and using her claws prodigiously, she climbed toward his face. Skirill continued to beat his wings, to maintain his purchase on the man’s other arm. The Professor screamed as the two companions continued their relentless attacks. The Professor stumbled in his futile attempts to fight off his attackers. Both Pik and Bounder were on the floor, close to his feet. The man had no room to maneuver, no place to run.

  Braden and Micah collapsed, but they weren’t out of it. Braden yelled as he tried to pull himself upright. All he could think about was getting a handful of the Professor and smashing the man’s smug face against the bars.

  Fea managed to get a claw into the old man’s neck, and with an acrobatic spin, twisted her body around his head, tearing deeply into the Professor’s throat as she flew to the floor. The old man fell to his knees. Skirill was thrown to the side as the man went down. Fea jumped onto his back, reaching around his neck as blood spurted from the already open artery. But she was angry and raked her way almost completely through his neck.

  Micah fought against the effects of the Old Tech weapon, but she was spent, the second time her body was assaulted by the energy weapons that day. She had nothing left to fight with, and now, she was covered in the Professor’s blood, too.

  The old man dropped the rest of the way, dead before he hit the floor. Fea rode him down, standing on his back as he splattered his face on the hard stone. Skirill picked at a couple feathers that had been dislodged during his struggle. He looked at the corpse for a heartbeat or two, then hopped over the bodies strewn across the floor to rub his head on Micah’s hand. He didn’t even say anything. All he wanted was for her to be okay.

  Fea sat and held her bloody paws in front of her, disgusted by the thought of licking the Professor’s blood. She tried wiping her paws on the clothes of the old man, but that didn’t work very well. The quandary continued as she sat on his corpse, thinking what to do, while she waited for someone to free her mate.

  Braden stood at the bars. During his time alone in the cell, he figured out that the gate was controlled by an Old Tech panel next to the door. Someone needed to prop the old man up and put his hand on the pad. G-War’s cage was locked with a physical device, requiring a key that Braden assumed was somewhere on the old man. Whatever prevented them from using the mindlink in the cell was still active, so G-War couldn’t talk with his mate.

  Braden sat down next to the cage and put his fingers between the bars. G-War laid against Braden’s fingers.

  ‘Now we wait, but things are looking better than they were before.’ G-War sounded hopeful.

  “Now we wait. I have no idea how long they’ll be out and there’s nothing we can do until they wake up on their own. Skirill! You and Fea saved us all,” Braden said in a tired voice, before closing his eyes and giving in to sleep.

  Recovering

  Pik was the first to stir. He twitched and his eyes popped open, but he didn’t move. He stayed that way for a long time. Micah was out, having succumbed to the exhaustion from her efforts and being on the wrong end of Old Tech. She was emotionally and physically drained. Skirill had waited, but finally hopped into the corridor and took wing. They expected he was going to find the others, let them know that they found Braden and G-War, but he returned after only a few heartbeats. The door to the cell area was closed and he couldn’t open it.

  So they continued to wait. Braden slept, awkwardly, but with G-War as a comforting presence in his mind. Fea curled up next to Micah, both of them covered in the Professor’s blood, but that didn’t matter. Bounder’s tongue hung from his mouth as he remained unconscious from receiving the full measure of the Professor’s weapon. Skirill stood in the doorway and watched over his friends., unable to do more.

  When the door at the end of the corridor opened, Skirill let out a screech sufficient to wake the dead. Braden jumped, as did G-War, but the ‘cat only bounced off the top of the cage. Fea was up, hackles raised and back arched. Micah stirred. Pik sat up and looked around as if seeing the room for the first time.

  Skirill hopped into the corridor and disappeared. When he returned, Treetis was with him, who bolted into the room as soon as he saw the carnage. He ran to Fea’s side, joining her with hackles raised and ready to fight.

  “Would you get off me?” Micah mumbled. Fea reached out a paw and with a movement faster than the eye could follow, she slapped Treetis across the head. He jumped to the floor, then danced around to get out of the sticky, half-dried blood.

  Strider slowly entered the room, every step deliberate as she pulled Aadi behind her. The Rabbits were last, their laser pistols held loosely in their hands. Their noses twitched and their ears perked upright, until they saw the mess inside. Strider nuzzled her mate, and he finally lifted his head, smacking his Wolfoid lips as he tried to moisten his dry tongue.

  Micah pulled herself upward until she was standing. “What next?” she asked.

  “Put the Professor’s hand on that panel,” Braden pointed. What she should have been able to easily do by herself now required help. Micah enlisted Pik and Strider’s aid to muscle the man upward and slap his hand against the panel. Green and red buttons flashed. She pushed the green one. After a heartbeat, the lock disengaged and the gate to Braden’s cell opened.

  Braden rushed out, helping the others to put the old Professor down so he could search the man for a key, which turned out to be in his pants pocket. Once G-War was free and the extensive nuzzling between he and Fea was done, they gathered the bunch for their trip out of the underground complex. Braden asked Micah to remove the bandage over his eye.

  He expected to see her wince and gasp. His eye blinked of its own accord, then started watering. She looked carefully, then shrugged.

  “I don’t see anything,” she said. Braden sighed in relief.

  “I want my blasters back,” Braden told Micah as they walked, arm in arm, not as lovers, but as two wounded warriors carrying each other from the field of battle.

  “The Security Bot protected his lab, so I expect they’ll be there and that just so happens to be on our way.” She brightened, although her words were still slurred, just enough so Braden knew that she was exhausted.

  The others shuffled and staggered behind the two humans. Fea and G-War walked in front of them all. G-War was the only one fully recovered and as such, felt responsible to protect the rest. Treetis said that he was ready to fight, but Fea was still angry with him, so he brought up the rear.

  Pik shuffled along, carrying Skirill and pulling Aadi behind him. Aadi looked all of his two hundred cycles. His head drooped and his legs hung limply, but at least he was floating again.

  The Rabbits kept their laser pistols out and ready. The others had been surprised by the second Professor, and they didn’t want to let that happen again. The Wolfoids walked with their spears, but were using them as walking sticks. Bounder continued to improve with each step, but Strider needed to rest and she faded the farther they walked. He wished he could carry her, but Wolfoids weren’t built that way. No one else had enough strength to carry her either. He whimpered like a puppy, unable to contain his angst for his mate’s pain.

  Micah didn’t have the energy to show Braden the other parts of the underground complex. She only wanted to leave.

  So they made a beeline for the Professor’s lab. Micah tried to access her neural implant, but there was n
o connection. She could pull it up to look at other data she’d stored, like maps of the areas they’d traveled. Her implant was intact, at least, just not connected. The Professor had not gotten to it before he was removed from existence by an angry Tortoid. Micah looked back at Aadi floating behind Pik and nodded to him, unsure if he saw or not.

  The Free Trader and his companions reached the corridor of destruction. Scorching marked much of the wall space. Parts and pieces of Bots were strewn across the floor. The smell of singed animal hair still lingered. Braden and Micah walked into the laboratory. G-War went with them while the others waited. No one else was willing to go in there to relive the recent past.

  Braden first went to the young Professor and checked through his pockets. He carried a device that looked like a communicator. Braden pressed the ‘off’ button. Micah checked her neural implant.

  ‘Master President! We’ve been out of contact for so long, I thought we’d lost you!’ Holly pronounced joyously.

  ‘Can’t really talk now, Holly. Both Professors are dead and we’re searching one of the labs now. We need to get back to the ship and rest. Can you bring it into the cove and have it waiting for us, please?’

  ‘Of course, Master President. It’ll be there and we’ll resume our conversation whenever you are up to it.’ Holly closed the link.

  “Holly is bringing the ship in,” she said, barely above a whisper, leaning heavily on a table.

  ‘Brandt, can you meet us at the doorway where we entered the underground complex?’ Micah asked over the mindlink.

  ‘Yes, Zyena will bring us to you. How is everyone?’ he asked with some trepidation.

  ‘Tired. See you soon, my friend.’

  Braden opened cabinets and drawers in a fruitless search for his blasters. Micah was fading fast. He’d already taken one from her and was carrying it because he couldn’t find his belt either.

  “Time to go, lover,” Braden conceded, putting her arm over her shoulder as he supported her to walk out. Through the wreckage outside the lab they shuffled, down the corridor of the older storage area and to the stairs. At the top, Brandt’s big head blocked most of the light. Micah groaned when she saw the steps.

  Braden took the rope from Micah and set her on the bottom step. The others gathered around. “Brandt has suggested that he can pull you up. Take this end and I’ll run the rope to him. When he starts pulling, everyone grab on. You’re all coming together.”

  Braden tried running up the stairs, but slowed quickly and climbed slowly after a short time. At the top, he greeted the King warmly and handed him the rope. The Aurochs clamped his mouth down on it and started walking back toward the compound. The rope slid around the corner of the doorway as the slack was taken up. He kept walking while looking back. Bronwyn and the misfit mob stood in the distance, watching. Zyena was on the branch overhead, waiting to see her mate.

  Micah was first, then Strider with Bounder close by, helping her from behind. Pik carried Skirill. Aadi let go of the rope tied around Pik’s waist, holding onto the rope that Brandt was pulling instead. Ferrer and Brigitte came next, side by side, as they carried Fealona between them. G-War and Treetis hopped up the steps on their own, being the last ones to emerge into the daylight.

  Bronwyn freed herself from the misfits and ran to Micah, hugging her and crying. The misshapen bunch produced a stretcher that they timidly approached with. Braden looked at them harshly, but nodded. Micah climbed onto the stretcher and Strider lay next to her. Fealona found space and curled herself into it. Four misfits grunted as they lifted it.

  Brandt let go of the rope once everyone was outside. Braden closed the door, relieved at leaving the unpleasantness of the underground complex behind. He committed to shooting first and asking questions second from there forward. Some enemies were impossible to negotiate with. He wanted to talk with Holly, but his neural implant was gone.

  They had much to discuss when he returned to the ship.

  “Brandt, Bronwyn, straight to the cove, please. Holly is bringing the ship in,” Braden said. He coiled the rope as he followed the others. The remainder of the mob fell in next to the stretcher and those who could took turns carrying it.

  Braden didn’t remember it being so far to the beach, but he was fresh the other time he’d traveled it. And they’d been with Brandt, who made travel over great distances seem effortless.

  Zyena and Skirill flew ahead, joining their daughter on the highest railing of the ship, a deck above the bridge, from where Old Tech spires rose even higher.

  The others finally made it as Holly expertly slid the ship’s deck as close as possible. Brandt ran and jumped, landing halfway onto the deck where he fought his way aboard. Braden handed him the rope, which he again held in his mouth. Braden dug into the sand with the rope wrapped around his waist, giving the others something to hold onto as they climbed aboard.

  One by one, they worked their way up. Once they had a good grip, Brandt used his strength to easily pull them the rest of the way onto the deck. The misfits made to climb aboard and Bronwyn stopped them before Braden intervened. They put the stretcher on the deck and backed away. Braden delivered Treetis and G-War to the ship before climbing aboard himself. He looked back at the misfits, half of them were crying as Holly maneuvered the tall ship from the cove. Bronwyn threw them kisses and waved. Braden joined her in waving to them and thanking them for being there.

  “You can tell them that we’ll be back. Soon, we’ll return and we’ll need their help,” Braden said, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. When she told the mob, their mood brightened immensely and they ran around in circles on the beach, before dashing away to get ready for Bronwyn’s return.

  Rest at Sea

  “How long were we gone, Holly?” Braden yelled from the deck.

  “The sun still has not set from when you departed the Warden earlier today. You have been gone a total of eleven hours,” Holly replied through the ship’s speaker system.

  “What?” Braden was confused. “Not even one whole daylight?” Brandt, Zyena, and Bronwyn were the only ones who were certain that such a short time had passed since they’d departed. Everyone who’d gone underground had their internal clocks messed with. Micah couldn’t believe how tired she was from less than a daylight’s worth of activity.

  “Let’s get you checked out,” Braden said, insisting that Strider, Fea, and Micah go to the small Med Lab to let the Bot examine them. Reluctantly, they went. There was room for three in the elevators, so Braden went with them. It was the fourth level below the main deck, nearly in the bottom of the ship’s great keel where the scientists and research laboratories found their home. First one was checked, then the other. Holly had uploaded the specifics for Wolfoid physiology to make the examination go smoothly. Both of the patients were heavily bruised, but no other damage.

  The cuts on Strider’s chest and abdomen did not require stitches, which was good news since they’d scabbed over. She would not have liked getting them ripped open just to sew them back up. Fea’s incision required stitches. The Med Bot took great care working on her, but the ‘cat still struggled and yowled. G-War showed up outside the Med Lab and made his displeasure known to all.

  Besides giving each a shot of something, the Bot recommended all three patients ingest significant amounts of water.

  Braden and Bronwyn went to the galley and started ordering food, running it to the main deck as soon as it was ready. The Rabbits disappeared downstairs to the garden. Pik used the water hose to douse himself and take water to the others. He stripped out of his skin suit between trips, standing under the shower until a glass was emptied, and then he refilled it.

  They ate and they drank. They were quiet. None of them were ready to talk about the events of the day, until Strider spoke. ‘We found a wide tunnel, well-used, that descended into the big hill. It had a gate. I think that’s what you’re looking for.’

  Zeeka glided off the top deck and turned into the wind to land gracefully on the
second deck railing. ‘Yes. It is something worth taking a better look at,’ Zeeka added, sharing the image from her mind’s eye over the mindlink. ‘Just watch out for the monkeys as you travel the path toward it.’

  Micah perked up. “Thank you to the women’s team, Strider, Zeeka, and Brigitte. We’ll start there, at the tunnel. I didn’t want to search through anything else of the Professor’s, and I didn’t want to go into that complex again. I don’t know if my legs would carry me down those stairs. I’m sorry, did you say monkeys?” Micah said.

  Bounder bristled. Strider lifted her head from a deck chair where she rested. Braden sat on the deck next to Micah, who was also reclined in a deck chair. He perked up with interest, not having heard anything about the plan to rescue him.

  ‘What did you boys find on your way to the compound? I know you can hear me, Ferrer. Come on, out with it,’ Strider taunted the Rabbit as she didn’t expect her mate to come clean with details that might not have portrayed him favorably.

  ‘He ran first!’ Ferrer blurted. Bounder closed his eyes and turned from Strider, then opened and looked philosophically at the open ocean.

  ‘And…’ Strider prompted.

  ‘And we ran into a trap and Bounder smelled like a wet dog and he was piled on top of me until Skirill freed us!’ Ferrer finished by praising the Hawkoid.

  “Did you just say that you two ran into a trap?” Micah asked.

  ‘It was cleverly hidden,’ Ferrer tried to make an excuse.

  ‘What’s your distorted version of events?’ Strider asked her mate, sipping more water.

  ‘I believe enough has been said on the issue,’ Bounder said, looking at Strider wearing a big, Wolfoid smile. He didn’t need to mention how the Rabbit panicked or how he was afraid for the companions. It all turned out well, and that was what mattered most. ‘Have you noticed how the ocean’s waves sparkle, like the gleam in your eyes when you look at me?’