Caretakers (Stag Privateers Book 2)

by Nathan Jones

  The four remaining fighters took off in hot pursuit, but he had few hopes that they'd be able to bring the sturdy support ship down before it got away. Especially if it already had a rift jump calculated, which was a sensible precaution in any battle.

  Sure enough, less than a minute later it was gone.

  Aiden sagged back in relief, taking his hands off the controls and allowing his ship to continue to coast. That transport might still come back, and with friends, but the fact that they were alive at all was a miracle. One he was happy to take at least a few moments to enjoy.

  “Where you at on that rift jump?” he asked Barix.

  Before the slight man could answer, Elyssa's face popped into view on his main display, scowling fiercely in a way that suggested she was more pissed off than discouraged by how this battle had gone for her.

  Aiden was getting heartily sick of seeing his former crew member. “Ali, I thought you were synced up now,” he snapped. “What's the point of dealing with you as a Caretaker if you can't even keep my ship secure?”

  The beautiful woman gave him a bemused look. “The ship is still secure. She requested to speak with you now that the battle's over.”

  And Ali hadn't bothered to clear it with him first, or even mention what she was doing? If she kept throwing mud on his position of authority on this ship, they were going to have a real problem sooner, rather than later.

  But now wasn't the time to make an issue of it, while the facilitator was an unwanted presence on his bridge. “Elyssa,” he said coolly. “Remember when I talked about picking fights suddenly not seeming like such a good idea, when you find yourself losing?”

  “I don't know what you did to my Pilot AIs, Thorne,” she said through gritted teeth. “But you can be sure, I'm going to find out.”

  Not likely. He somehow had the feeling HAE's resources were far more extensive than whatever Elyssa could throw at this; if she pushed too hard, she might find herself regretting picking that fight, too.

  But given the fact that she'd just tried to kill him, he'd leave her to that unpleasant surprise. “Best of luck. In the meantime, I hope you got the message not to mess with me.”

  “You think beating my ships is the end of this?” the severe woman spat. “Your problems have just begun. How do you think I found you?”

  “I don't know how,” Aiden admitted. “But I'll find out whatever method you used, and prevent you from continuing to do so.”

  Elyssa laughed. “You think I was the one who tracked you?” She sneered at him. “No, I just glommed onto it and took advantage of the opportunity. Someone else has found you, and I'll give you one guess who . . . if my reinforcements don't reach you in time to finish the job, they will.”

  She leaned back in her chair, eyes shining with hate and triumph. “Have fun with that.”

  Her image disappeared from the display.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Vindication

  Aiden's ship had taken serious damage, worse than it had suffered in years. Even so, all things considered it could've been much worse; first and most importantly, the main systems were miraculously mostly intact.

  Working with Ali, Barix was able to calculate a nice, far jump not long after the second transport jumped away, and they all breathed a quick sigh of relief at being at least temporarily out of danger.

  Elyssa might find them again quickly, depending on the means she'd used to find them before, and her cryptic words about the Movement being able to track them had Aiden's skin crawling. But he intended to make the most of this reprieve.

  First off, the Fixes were hard at work repairing the most critical damage to the Last Stand's systems, starting with the shields. For most of the hull breaches they'd have to make do with simple patches for now, as well as decontamination scrubs to clear away the residual radiation. And assuming they survived the next few hours, none of them would be enjoying full immersion dives any time soon.

  While the combat androids were busy with that, Aiden pulled his crew into the bridge for a little chat about the real problem they faced. Something far more serious than a few fried circuits or gaping holes in the ship's hull.

  “There are only a few possibilities for how we could be ambushed out here in the middle of nowhere, in the process of setting up our own ambush,” he began grimly.

  “Magic?” Belix asked, somehow managing to find some sarcasm in spite of their situation.

  He ignored her. “The first would be if the Ishivi deliberately fed the route of their Harvester ship to HAE, setting a trap for the Caretakers, and we're the ones who blundered into it.” He shot a cold look Ali's way. “Or they deliberately sent us into it to spare their own resources.”

  Before the AI could protest, he dashed his own theory. “But that scenario would require the Ishivi to actually know the threat HAE poses, when everyone in the Movement and their allies seem convinced the corporation is about to be wiped out. Sharp as the Ishivi are, that doesn't seem likely. Especially since if they did know about the Caretakers, they'd be throwing everything into tracking down and destroying those planet eaters and giant refineries and shipyards, not setting up small ambushes on comparatively minor assets to whittle down an enemy that can reproduce exponentially.”

  He glanced at the main display, half expecting the facilitator's stern face to magically appear there again. “It also wouldn't explain why it was Elyssa who jumped us, unless the Ishivi knew specifically that we would be the ones springing their trap, and that she wanted us, and sold the information to her to avoid having to risk their own ships. Which just plain doesn't add up.”

  “Please, do continue to waste our time feeding us unlikely options,” Barix muttered. “Not like we've got a bunch of powerful enemies after us and time is of the essence.”

  Aiden ignored him, too. “The second option is that HAE betrayed us to Elyssa. Which again, doesn't add up since we just finished helping them, and they have no reason to want us destroyed. Not to mention that they could've taken us out far more easily when we were at their secret base, in their power.

  “A third option is that Elyssa is so good that not even HAE can keep her out. Considering the companions' vaunted reputation for being unhackable, that doesn't seem likely.” He smiled grimly. “Also, if she is that good, we might as well give up now.”

  Ali cut in, sounding impatient. “She's not. If you don't mind, my love, I'm going to cut to the chase and just suggest the only likely possibility, before you continue to hurl veiled and baseless accusations against the Caretakers on the pretext of theories you yourself are discounting.” She waved around vaguely. “The most likely possibility is we have a mole.”

  Aiden noticed that everyone but Lana stiffened warily. She just stared around in confused caution, and he wondered for an amused moment if, with her memory wipe leaving her only with the definition of words and terms, she thought the Caretaker was talking about the small furry rodent.

  “Hold on!” Barix protested. “You think one of us betrayed the ship to Elyssa? Why, so we could get ourselves blown up?”

  “An electronic mole,” Ali corrected patiently. Aiden noticed Lana relaxing slightly, as if that was enough context for her to figure out what the AI was talking about.

  “Or in other words, it's the Caretakers' fault after all?” Belix asked, giving Ali a chilly smirk. “You said syncing would fix all your deficiencies, which is why you betrayed our illustrious captain in the first place.”

  The Caretaker shrugged, looking chagrined. “It's possible there's a device broadcasting our location, hidden somewhere on this ship. Either I missed it when I swept the ship after Elyssa planted that hacking drone on us at Ceras 2, or it was planted at some later time. Perhaps at the ERI facility by one of their maintenance bots. I assumed the Caretakers would've discovered it when they scanned the ship at the secret base, but if it was well enough concealed it might require more than even a thorough sensor sweep to uncover.”

  “Then let's tear the ship apart an
d find it,” Aiden said grimly. “We can talk about blame once we've stomped this bug and we're safely away from here.” He turned to Ali. “Start with the ship's exterior, since that's the most likely place. Especially the more likely blind spots, like attached to the sensors or comms. Program the combat androids to help you as a top priority.”

  The beautiful woman nodded. “In the meantime, we should continue to jump randomly. It won't keep pursuit away from us forever, if the bug is sophisticated and our enemies are extrapolating patterns from our jumps. But we should at least do our best to delay pursuit for as long as possible, buy us time to find the bug. We should also have another jump prepped, so we can go the moment we get rid of it.”

  Lana cleared her throat. “Just to be thorough, do we have any plans for if it turns out to be some option besides a tracking device?”

  Barix gave her a condescending look. “If it's not a bug, we're in the clear the moment we jump a few times.” He paused, then jerked his head towards Ali. “Unless, of course, the Caretakers betrayed us, at which point we're carrying an actual mole aboard.”

  Aiden didn't like the idea that Ali had betrayed him, even though he knew she wasn't the same person she'd been. Or same programming, or whatever. But he had to entertain that possibility for the sake of the rest of his crew. “If they keep finding us and we don't find any device, I'll have to admit there's a chance of that. In the meantime, let's go with the more likely and less potentially devastating option.”

  “Emotionally, or practically?” Belix asked snidely.

  He didn't dignify that with a response. “Everyone, let's get to work.”

  * * * * *

  Ali disappeared to start the sweep of the hull, pulling the androids off repairs to join her. Since there were still some repairs that ideally should be done sooner rather than later, the captain pulled Lana and Belix off their usual duties and sent them to go get started on them.

  Lana was a bit proud that she knew enough about emergency procedures and ship systems to be helpful with the task, even if most of what they were doing was temporary workarounds to fried circuits to keep vital internal systems running to minimal standards.

  Most of those systems were things like powering the emergency blast doors. Those worked opposite to how Lana would've expected, by needing a constant feed of power to keep them open; that way, in a catastrophic situation where the ship lost power, the blast doors would automatically shut via pneumatic pressure to prevent the entire ship from depressurizing in a hull breach.

  For crew that needed to get around the ship in such a situation, hotboxes with modestly sized batteries could be plugged into the doors to open and shut them. Lana was also glad that their uniforms had built-in pressure seals and attachable helmets so they could survive, at least temporarily, in vacuum and null-g. At least until the small batteries ran out and they froze to death, or ran out of the half hour or so of emergency air.

  Space was a shockingly inhospitable place for humans without power. Even things she took for granted, like the artificial gravity technology, dramatically improved quality of life.

  For their work in the damaged rooms, Lana joined Belix in putting on her flimsy helmet. She also carried her own hotbox, which they put to use almost immediately after leaving the bridge, to open one blast door after another in the damaged corridor outside the crew cabins.

  “Looks like you and Dax are going to have an excuse to share a room now,” Belix said, motioning to Dax's cabin.

  The elfin woman wasn't lying; her boyfriend's room was half slagged and filled by quick-expanding foam to seal the hull breach, which stretched across Dax's cabin and into Barix's beside it. There was even a hint that it might've nicked Belix's cabin, although that breach had been sealed with an actual patch.

  Well, looked as if they'd be sleeping in Lana's cabin now. So much for her infrequent retreats back to her bed for some solitary time.

  “How exactly are we going to repair this?” Lana asked, staring in dismay at the foam and twisted metal that filled most of the space where two cabins had been, and even extending slightly into the corridor.

  “We aren't,” Belix said simply. “Unless we get scrap hull plating from somewhere and want to set down on an actual colony world, or do some heinously uncomfortable and lengthy work in deep space. Even then it would take weeks, and the result would be hideous and sub-par.”

  Lana frowned. “We're going to have a fun time finding a space station to make repairs with a Deek task force and Iglis's criminal underworld both on our tail,” she pointed out.

  The Ishivi scowled. “At least we've got five robots aboard to do the dirty, unpleasant stuff.” Her lip twisted contemptuously. “Including everything the sex robot does in the captain's cabin.”

  That didn't seem fair; Lana didn't consider any of what she did with Dax to be anything but enjoyable. “I thought you liked doing that stuff with Aiden, at least until you guys had your falling out.”

  “Shut up.” Belix quickened her step, leading the way to a mangled blast door at the other end of the corridor.

  In order to get past it to make repairs deeper in the ship, the Fixes had cut through the barrier with cauterizers and cutting torches. That was fine for an emergency solution, but now their job was to make some sort of barrier to cover the opening. Ideally, one that they could easily get through when needed without destroying it again.

  The solution there was two thick polymer patches that could be opened and closed, put on either side of the blast door to make a sort of rudimentary airlock.

  Halfway done with the job, it finally happened.

  Warning klaxons suddenly filled the air with deafening noise, blood-red lights blinking down the corridor. With them came Ali's voice over the comms, sharp and urgent. “Combat stations, Movement ship just rifted in.”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Belix groaned. “Are we ever going to catch a break?”

  About time, the Dormant thought, even while the Blank Slate began began pressing back at her sudden resolve in alarm. Ruthlessly pushing down the other part of her consciousness, she shoved past Belix without a word and picked her way swiftly and surely over the debris in the ruined corridor.

  Towards the shields, and completion of her mission.

  * * * * *

  Jian Dalar stood at his station, tense with eager anticipation.

  Granted, there was a lot to be bitter about. First and foremost, of course, being that his vengeance against the Last Stand and the hated Thorne would come from inside the shields room, about as far removed from action on the bridge as possible. Aside from the engines, that is; while he was sure Bresac would have gladly put him in that dirty and ignominious posting, he wasn't qualified for it.

  Although she'd certainly used it as an opportunity to lambast his lack of skills.

  But on shields and repairs or even manning a security detail to repel boarders, it didn't matter to him. What was important was that he'd be here to help destroy the task force's target, washing away at least a little of his humiliation and giving him a chance to earn back what he'd lost.

  This was his moment. Time to show that miserable pirate ship what a light combat cruiser staffed by an elite Decon crew could do.

  * * * * *

  “It's the Vindicator,” Ali announced grimly, even as the enemy light cruiser maneuvered out of its rift jump into an attack posture. “Ordering the combat androids back inside.”

  Probably a good idea; finding the bug, and the arrival of the Deek ship seemed like pretty strong confirmation that there was one, took a backseat to the coming battle. Not to mention extreme maneuvers would either shake the Fixes off and send them flying into space, or cause them to rip gaping holes in the hull trying to hold on.

  And there was going to be a battle. In fact, Aiden was already moving to engage the other ship.

  Maybe it was hubris, with his ship as damaged as it was, but he couldn't imagine a single vessel of this size manned by Deek knuckle draggers beating
the Last Stand. Void, his ship had come close to taking out another light cruiser while being chased by this very enemy vessel. And would have, if they'd had a bit more time and more ships hadn't been breathing down their necks.

  “Take them out quick, before more arrive,” he told the gunner. The young man didn't even bother to reply, just leaned over his weapons.

  “The Vindicator is hailing us,” Ali said.

  Aiden couldn't help but snort. That Deek captain from before, back to gloat in spite of the humiliating outcome of their last encounter? Well, the man deserved a word before being blown out of space. “Put them through.” He raised his voice slightly, giving it a taunting edge. “Captain Dalar, wasn't it?”

  To his surprise, instead of the sneering voice from before a clipped, no-nonsense woman's voice replied. “Sadly, Jian Dalar has been reassigned to the important task of scrubbing toilets. You have the pleasure of speaking to his replacement, Captain Ralin Bresac.”

  Hardly a surprise; the Movement wasn't any more happy about screwups than any other oppressive, genocidal regime. “Sad to hear it. I enjoyed our previous encounter, especially the part where I got away. I was hoping it could become a habit . . . Dalar shaking his fist and uttering dire threats as I slipped through his fingers again and again. Unless of course he was stupid enough to come at me alone.”

  Bresac didn't sound amused by the jab. “Believe me, Captain. My predecessor may no longer be adding a personal touch to this fight, but the Vindicator is very much looking forward to blowing you out of the sky for your crimes.”

  Aiden laughed easily. “Well, I hope you're shaking your fist in futile rage as we blow you to the void.”

  The other captain's voice also conveyed amusement. “I suppose we'll see. For now, perhaps this will set the mood of the battle.”

  Before he could wonder what the blazes she was talking about, a deafening atonal screech came through the speakers.