Free Trader Complete Omnibus

by Craig Martelle

  Pik turned and headed deeper into the heavy woods. A light rain continued to fall. The ‘cats climbed the tree and raced along the branches. None were missing. They were together, blooded as one, with a new confidence.

  Bounder waved for Jocelyn to follow. “Are we going to leave him there?”

  ‘Of course. It’s the law of the rainforest,’ Bounder replied. Strider hopped over a heavy root as she fell in behind Pik before he disappeared. ‘We are following a trail. I think Pik Ha’ar is on familiar ground. We are in good hands.’

  “This is a trail?” Jocelyn asked, rejuvenated even though she hadn’t rested. She found walking to be good therapy following what she had just witnessed. “We are in good hands.”

  ‘Stop and get down,’ Skirill ordered.

  Braden and Micah dove for cover, hitting softly and easing into the water. G-War and Fea dropped to their bellies on the branch where they were. Aadi remained where he was until Braden stood and pulled him down. His back leg had stiffened and he couldn’t swim through the air.

  ‘This remind you of anything?’ Micah asked over the mindlink.

  ‘I will never forget the terror of the Amazon. The never-ending rain. The incessant ambushes. The not knowing. I trusted that Holly was guiding us well, but still. I didn’t know anything for sure.’

  ‘I like this just as much as I liked that. These Lizard Men look like the Overlords, and that gives me the creeps.’

  ‘Pik looks like the Overlords.’

  ‘But we know him. All these others? Not so much.’

  Braden accessed his neural implant and brought up the map showing their position.

  ‘Clear,’ Skirill reported.

  “We should see the village any moment now. We’re almost on top of it.”

  ‘It is up ahead,’ G-War told them. ‘I can see Lizard Men. I can’t tell if they are clones or not.’

  “How will we know?”

  “Pik Ha’ar will know.”

  ‘We are here,’ Micah said over the mindlink. ‘How far are you?’

  ‘We are here,’ Pik replied.

  ‘What do you say we introduce ourselves. You cover that half and we’ll cover this side. Have your weapons ready to fire. The first sign this is going bad and we light them up. No one can escape. We’ll lose them in the rainforest and the Lizard Men of this level are no help.’ Braden pushed Aadi behind him.

  “Hang on, Aadi. I need both my hands for this.” Braden pulled his blasters and checked them. The power hadn’t changed.

  Micah slid her sword free. She held her blaster in her other hand.

  ‘It is time,’ Pik said and walked into the open. The Lizard Men in the small village looked at him, but didn’t see the threat until the Wolfoids and ‘cats appeared. Some moved to run, but Braden and Micah spread out with G-War and Fea filling the gap between. Aadi struggled at Braden’s side.

  ‘We only want to talk,’ Pik said as he walked forward, his trident held in both hands. The other Lizard Men did not respond.

  ‘Close the distance,’ Braden said. ‘Reduce the spacing in between. Bounder, you hold that flank. I’ll keep them from getting past on this side. Watch your lines of fire.’

  Jocelyn nodded to Micah, but the president wasn’t watching. The look on her face said all that needed to be said. She was focused on what she determined was the enemy. Jocelyn checked her blaster and took better care at watching the Lizard Men. Pik Ha’ar was easy to tell from the others as he wore the armor that Holly had made for him.

  The ‘cats spread out and filled the area between the Lizard Men and the companions.

  “No!” Braden shouted. “Get out of there.”

  ‘They say that they can tell their tank brothers from the others. There are eight clones here,’ Treetis stated.

  “Point them out,” Braden said with a hard edge to his voice.

  Treetis walked toward the village and tipped his head eight times. Four other Lizard Men stood to the side.

  “Pik, tell those four they need to go into their homes and stay there.”

  Pik relayed the message, speaking with authority as a Lizard Man commander. The four started to move, but one of the clones stopped them.

  ‘Let them go,’ Pik said, working his way until he was between the two groups. ‘What did the Androids ask you to do for them?’

  Two Hawkoids circled overhead.

  ‘We don’t understand,’ one of them answered.

  ‘The ones who brought you here. The ones in your minds before you knew your own thoughts.’

  ‘We know only Lizard Men. We have found our people and our home.’

  ‘You’re going to have company pretty soon,’ Skirill told them.

  ‘How many?’ Micah asked, letting Braden focus on the clones.

  ‘It looks like all of them.’

  G-War ran forward and found a Lizard Man who would look at him. He stared him down. ‘It’s a ruse. They are holding us to allow us to be crushed by the wave of inbound Lizard Men. Kill them all.’

  Braden hesitated. No one fired. ‘Clear out, my friends. You will not survive the fires,’ G-War told the other Hillcats. They turned and ran from the village. Pik started to back away, but one clone charged him and they started the deadly dance of spear fighters.

  “Keep your eyes on the others. No one can escape.”

  The other seven bunched up around the door on the ramp. Bounder took aim with his lightning spear. One clone grabbed the door to open it, but it didn’t budge. The others ran into his back in expectation of making a quick escape.

  Bounder unleashed a torrent of lightning into the seven bodies. Their escape became their funeral pyre. Two started crawling away, terrible burns covering their backs. Braden fired two narrow beams, putting the Lizard Men out of their misery.

  Pik jabbed and twisted, trying to rip the spear from the other’s hands, but he was too fast. Not a clone, but an improved version. Pik didn’t see it as fear, but a challenge. They jabbed and parried, clubbed and slashed, but neither could get an advantage. The clone’s attacks became more desperate.

  Pik gave him an opening and the clone stabbed at Pik Ha’ar’s chest. His armor stopped the spear. The clone had no protection as Pik’s counterattack drove all three points of his trident deep into his enemy’s body.

  The clone didn’t make a sound. His eyes rolled back, and he died. Pik stood on the Lizard Man’s chest as he pulled his trident free.

  ‘They are almost here,’ Skirill warned.

  “Time to go! Holly, open the ramp door, please,” Braden yelled as he pushed Aadi toward the village. G-War rallied the Hillcats and furry wet bodies flooded toward the door. Braden waved his bracelet at it and pulled. Nothing happened. “HOLLY!” Braden turned and fired at the feet of the first Lizard Man to run from the rainforest.

  Strider fired her lightning spear into the trees. They cracked and burst as the water within superheated instantly.

  ‘Holly, open this door right now or we are going to see a lot of dead bodies, ending in our own,’ Micah pleaded.

  ‘Working on it,’ Holly replied. ‘There.’

  “It’s open,” Micah said and pulled the door open, waving at the others to go through. She fired her blaster repeatedly at the ground in front of the army of Lizard Men. Braden waved the stream from his blaster back and forth to hold the inbound at bay. Two Hawkoids screamed toward the doorway, backwinged to slow down, and then neatly slipped through.

  The last charge trickled from his blaster and the fire ended. Micah’s went out at the same time. A Wolfoid jammed a lightning spear out the door and fired in between Braden and Micah.

  “Watch out!” Micah yelled at the doorway. When Bounder released the lever, the humans jumped through and slammed the door behind them.

  “Holly, seal that door again. We’re going to walk up to the next level.”

  “I’ll open a doorway in between decks and if you don’t mind walking, you can go that way to avoid the Garden Level.”

  “The
y are only Rabbits,” Braden said.

  “And Bees,” Micah added. “Don’t forget that swarm of Bees.”

  A New Day, A New Purpose

  “This is a dangerous place,” Jocelyn said softly.

  “These corridors?” Micah said as they walked.

  “Not here, but the ship as a whole.”

  “Did you know that leaving the ship, going outside into space, can kill you almost instantly? It’s safer in here.”

  “It’s safer in Jefferson City,” Jocelyn replied.

  “Is JC the future?” Braden asked.

  Jocelyn looked at the deck before answering. “No.”

  Braden had a hand on one side of Aadi’s shell and Micah had the other side. They carried him between them, although he was light as a feather. The Hawkoids that perched on Braden’s shoulders were not so light.

  ‘I fear that I was no help on this adventure,’ Aadi said.

  “More help than you know, old man. I’m glad you came, despite your reservations.”

  ‘You know why I came,’ Aadi replied.

  Micah smiled. “You wanted to make sure that it was safe for your son. What’s the verdict?”

  ‘Daksha will greatly enjoy being up here and learning about space, being one of the first to return to space as an explorer.’

  “He’ll be the first Tortoid explorer, and the first in a new generation of explorers. That means schools with real mathematics, expanded subjects to include Old Tech.”

  ‘As long as we are around, there is no danger,’ G-War added. The cloned Hillcats formed a circle around him. Treetis walked on the outside snickering. Fea glared at the young orange ‘cat.

  “Are we better than them, better than the ancients?” Braden wondered aloud. “We just killed a bunch of Lizard Men.”

  “Maybe it’s our reasoning that makes us better. They tried to hurt us first. They refused to talk, preferring violence, and most importantly, the ‘cats deemed them incompatible with the civilized world,” Micah answered.

  “I’ll accept that, but I don’t like it. I’m not a fan of wanton killing. Maybe when we return to Vii, I hang up the blasters for good.”

  “If you do, I will too, but I can’t give up the sword. This thing is like magic in my hand.”

  “Of course it is.” Braden shook his head. His thoughts remained troubled. The deaths of the Lizard Men weighed on him.

  ‘If not us, then who?’ Bounder asked. Braden shook his head. He didn’t understand. ‘The Androids would take over if we let them, turning this ship into a death trap and denying humanity’s return to space. Humanity—Wolfoids, Tortoids, Hawkoids, Hillcats, Lizard Men, Rabbits, and humans will not be denied. It is our shared destiny. The Age of the Androids has come and gone. Maybe you don’t think we were fighting a war, but we were and will until the last renegade Android is deposited on the trash heap of history.’

  “Whenever that may be. Holly?”

  “Yes, Master Braden,” the AI replied from speakers somewhere in the passageway.

  “Can you lock out the hostile levels, make them escort only or something, and then start planning to move humanity back up here? We’re moving in, we’re going to train, and then we’re going back into space. What we don’t have is a governor, one to oversee the logistics of such a massive endeavor.”

  Jocelyn looked at him out the corner of her eye. “I don’t even feel the spin anymore. My body adjusts, depending on where the rotation is. I don’t have to think about it.”

  Braden and Micah waited.

  Jocelyn shook her head. “No. I can’t leave Leah alone. I have to go back to her.”

  “Bring her up here,” Micah said nonchalantly.

  “Easy as that?”

  “Holly, can you send a hovercar for Jocelyn’s daughter?”

  “It was dispatched two minutes ago,” Holly replied.

  “Find a replacement as governor and start beating the bushes for candidates for Space School,” Braden suggested.

  “What about your kids?”

  “We’re going home to them. They like having their feet on the ground. They have a special way with the creatures of Vii. We can’t take them away from that, plus their two ‘cats would completely destroy this ship in their first week up here.”

  ‘That’s being a bit harsh, don’t you think?’ G-War asked. ‘Those are my children you’re talking about. It would take them two weeks. Sometimes, you’re such an ass.’

  Braden smiled when he thought of that fateful day in Warren’s Deep, a lifetime ago or maybe only seven years. “Ass.”

  * * *

  This is the end of Free Trader 9 – Return to the Traveler

  If you liked it, please leave a review – buyers look at books with a single digit number of reviews with skepticism, so please, drop a few kind words for the Free Trader:). This is also the end of the Free Trader series, but the world that the Free Trader and his mate have created lives on in the Cygnus Space Opera – humanity searches for a way home, and they’re bringing the sentient species with them.

  Cygnus Space Opera – Book 1

  * * *

  A Tale from the Free Trader Universe takes place over 100 years after Braden & Micah’s adventures

  One

  Fire!

  Flames shot through the open hatch. Cain yelled, “Engineering’s on fire!” as the klaxons continued to scream, echoing down the corridor away from him. He sensed, more than heard the anguished cry.

  The hatch was open. The automated fire suppression system had failed.

  He ripped open the damage control panel and pulled the tank out. He threw it hastily over his shoulder, reached behind him with a well-practiced maneuver to start the flow of air, and wrapped the dangling mask across his face. He draped the fire hood over his head as he ran. He didn’t have time to put on the whole outfit. People he knew were dying.

  He hit the flames of the doorway at a dead run. The intense heat scorched his bare forearms as he passed. He yelled into his mask as he slid to a stop in the middle of the space, looking for survivors. A Rabbit lay under a terminal, an ugly scorch mark cut across his white fur, leaving blackened hair around burned pink flesh underneath. The Rabbit moved – Briz was alive.

  Cain slid him from under the melting terminal. The Rabbit was dense and blocky, half Cain’s height, but the same weight. Cain pulled an equipment cover off the back of a chair. He took it and wrapped it around the Rabbit’s head and over as much of his body as he could, then hefted him, trying not to touch the injury. Cain lumbered toward the hatch, ducked his head, held his breath, and jumped through the flames. He deposited the Rabbit in the passageway and raced back into Engineering. Ellie was in there somewhere.

  He should have been alarmed that the flames didn’t seem to hurt as much this time. The next victim was a Wolfoid, horribly torn apart from the force of an exploded containment vessel. He saw something odd about the way the Wolfoid’s body, bigger than a human’s was laying on the floor.

  A pink-fleshed hand snaked out from underneath the heavy gray fur. Without remorse, Cain heaved the Wolfoid’s shattered body to the side. Ellie was dazed, but seemed to be okay. The Wolfoid must have taken the full force of the rupture, protecting her. Cain’s breath caught as he looked at her silken black hair, the ends curled and brittle from the heat that had passed over her.

  He pulled her to him as blue lights started to flash within Engineering, signaling the imminent flooding of argon gas into the compartment. He kneeled, rolling her from a sitting position over his shoulder. He stood without much effort. She wasn’t heavy and laid easily over his shoulder as he hurried for the hatch. The flames had died down somewhat, but he still ran through, hoping speed would keep them safe. Once through, he stopped, took off his hood and breathed deeply of the better air in the corridor. The hatch to engineering closed.

  The klaxons stopped as someone helped Ellie from his shoulder. He looked at the closed hatch. Anyone still in the space would be denied oxygen, just like the fire. The a
rgon gas was supposed to be flushed in a matter of seconds, but it would be too late. He was surprised that he didn’t know how many people worked in the space. Three? Four?

  “Holy Rising Star, Cain! You shouldn’t have gone in there. Why the hell would you do something like that?” the Captain’s words were harsh, but his eyes were grateful. As the older man looked at the two survivors in the corridor, he added, “but I’m glad you did, son. Looks like you saved two lives, irreplaceable lives.”

  The two Hillcats waiting for Cain and Ellie in the corridor couldn’t have agreed more. Carnesto yowled in pain as Ellie came back to her senses. The burns on her lower body attacked her with waves of agony. He put a furry paw on her head to help her through the worst of it.

  Why had Cain risked knowing what his death would do to his ‘cat, to his family? He had no choice. It’s who he’d always wanted to be. It’s who he was. He’d spent his short life trying to live up to one man, the Space Exploration Service Captain who showed him how a hero acts.

  Postscript

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  Thank you for reading the Free Trader. This book fulfilled a dream that I’ve had nearly forty years and that was to take my love of Brian Aldiss’ Starship and Robert Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky and create an adventure on an interstellar ship that has been abandoned, yet teems with life. The Free Trader’s world has expanded to the skies!