by Eric Warren
“Okay,” Tyler said, looking over the device. “Let’s get started.”
29
Evie stood outside the sickbay doors, contemplating. She couldn’t get the image of the bloody sword out of her mind. The sword that had been passed down through her family for at least a hundred generations. The sword she’d heard legends about, how it had stopped an army at Presipico, or how it had saved the Anulli from certain death. In all honesty probably nothing but rumors and hearsay and embellishments…but fun stories nonetheless for her dad to tell at gathering time. At least, that’s the way it used to be. Whenever she’d worn the sword she’d felt the power of her family with her.
But she never thought she’d actually have to use it one day.
It was a good prop, something to scare the locals. It was like an unspoken rule: you just don’t fuck with a woman with a sword. But that was all over now.
She’d wanted to clean the blood off immediately, as if doing so would wipe the event from history; the sword having forgotten it had seen bloodshed under her care. But she hadn’t done it. Partially because she’d been in a hurry to report to the captain. But also because she never wanted to touch it again. She’d taken a life with that sword, and in return she’d given up a small piece of herself she could never get back. She had taken one dark step toward life in the Sargan Commonwealth, or some other equally nefarious organization. The type of organization that recruited killers for even the most basic of jobs. Before she knew it she would be out there slicing people down left and right, all for a small bit of coin. It was inevitable.
Evie shook her head, willing the thoughts to dissipate. She didn’t have time for that nonsense. She needed to find out if the former prisoners knew anything about Veena’s plans and where to find her. Because now there was more at stake than just one lost Coalition ship and her crew. The Achlys could change the balance of power in this region of space for hundreds if not thousands of years.
She took one step forward and the doors slid open for her. Inside only two of the former prisoners remained, still being tended to by the nurses. Evie sought out Xax, finding her in her office as she interfaced with her console; no doubt writing her meticulous reports she’d heard were more boring to read than the serial numbers off a type seven slipshuttle.
“Where did the rest of them go?” Evie asked.
Xax didn’t turn around, only continued typing with her two four-fingered hands while her two three-fingered hands examined a scanning device. “I assigned them quarters and released them there,” Xax said. “They’ve had a taxing few days and need the rest. They were in no immediate danger.”
“And those two?” Evie asked, glancing beyond the doorway back into the main sickbay area.
“Just finishing up with them. They both had slight infections.”
Evie turned back to Xax. “Nothing contagious?”
Xax turned around, her tiny mouth smiling. “Of course not. Just a side-effect of being cooped up in that box for a few days. I’m surprised it hadn’t spread to all of them.”
“Can I speak with them? They might have information about our mission,” Evie said.
“Be my guest. But they’ve been through a traumatic an ordeal. They need rest as soon as they can get it.”
Evie nodded, leaving the doctor to her work. Both former prisoners remained silent as she made her way over to them, not taking their eyes off her. They were the two who had helped find the tracker on Cas’s ship. When the nurses saw her approaching they left to give them privacy.
“I never got the chance to thank you for your help,” Evie said, stopping a few meters away from their beds. The girl’s short legs dangled off the side, swishing back and forth as if she were on a swing.
“Consider it repayment for rescuing us,” the man, Setsemeh, said. “We owe you more than we can repay.”
She held her hands up. “The Coalition doesn’t require repayment. You’re free to stay and become citizens if you like, or we can return you to Paxi. Though, since it is in Sargan space it will take time to return you. Special requisitions will need to be made and a stealth team—”
Setsemeh put his hand up, cutting her off. “I wouldn’t dream of going back,” he said. “I’ve always been curious about the Coalition, just never had the means to get here.”
Evie turned to the girl. “And you?”
“I’ll go back. My parents were captured at the same time I was. I need to try and save them.”
Evie’s heart went out to the girl and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. “Don’t you have any other family members? Anyone else you could stay with?”
The girl shook her head.
Evie dropped her gaze for a moment. “I’ll see what I can do. But first, I need to know if you have any information about Veena’s plans or capabilities. Maybe you overheard something while you were in the container. Maybe something Rasp or one of the others said. You may not even think it is important.”
Setsemeh furrowed his brow. “Like I told your crewmate, I was scheduled to be shipped to Cassiopeia. We were with a much larger group from Paxi and a few other worlds I think. But then they pulled five of us to the side and stuffed us in that container. I heard Rasp say we were an emergency payment.”
“Where were you being held?” Evie asked.
“Before the container? Devil’s Gate, in the lower levels,” Setsemeh replied.
Damn. They’d been right under her the whole time and she hadn’t even known.
“When you were…packed…did you notice anything? Hear anything?”
“She was there,” Yance said as Setsemeh opened his mouth to respond.
Evie turned to her. “Who?”
“Veena. I recognized her voice. She was on Paxi too, helping to round us up. That’s where I first heard her voice. I heard it again when they were separating us from the main group, but I never saw her.”
“Could it have been a comm?” Evie asked.
“I don’t think so. She said she wanted to deal with this one personally.” Yance continued to swing her feet back and forth. Cas had been right, Veena was close.
“Is there anything else?” she asked.
“She has at least two ships,” Setsemeh said.
“How could you know that?”
“Back on the ship, when we were trying to find the tracker, I overheard you say we were being pursued by four class two gunners,” Setsemeh said. “I’m assuming they were Sargan Steelravens.” Evie nodded. “Those are typically only launched from a battleship. Either a Vortex or Darkness class vessel. But those types of ships are small, built for maneuvering in a planet’s atmosphere. They can only carry three Steelravens per ship. So if we were being pursued by four, she had a second ship somewhere.”
Evie eyed him. “You know a lot about Sargan starships,” she said.
Setsemeh gave her a sheepish grin. “I…I lied to your crewmate about being an architect. But I was afraid if I told you what I really did he’d throw me out of an airlock.” He paused but Evie indicated for him to go on. “I used to be a ship designer for the Sargans. Before my gambling and…entertainment…debts grew too large. I became more valuable as salable goods than as an employee.”
Evie turned to Yance. “And you? Anything you want to reveal?”
The girl shook her head.
Evie returned her attention to Setsemeh. “Technically you’re a criminal,” she said. “So I’ll have to confine you to quarters. But your help won’t be without merit. It may just take you longer to earn your freedom.”
“I’m no stranger to the inside of a cell,” he replied, beaming with anticipation. “I’ll gladly pay off my debt as required by the great Coalition.”
Finally, Evie thought. Someone who gets it.
***
Evie returned to the bridge, her body humming with activity. She’d returned to her quarters to change her uniform and gather her thoughts but had seen the sword again and thought better of it.
As she walked on
the bridge she caught a nasty look from Lieutenant Page, but dismissed it. It was no secret he didn’t like Cas and now his ambivalence had seeped over to Evie, just as she suspected it eventually would if she continued to interact with “the criminal”. But that didn’t matter anymore. She knew the truth and so she ignored Page as she made her way to her station. Greene was in his command room.
“Zaal,” she said, taking her chair. The alien glanced up from his console. “Scan the system for twin undercurrent trails, Sargan signatures. We’re looking for two or more close together. Possibly a small fleet.” They were still hidden behind the third planet of Car’pr, but their sensors should be able to pick up residual undercurrent trails if anyone had jumped from the system.
“Yes, Commander,” Zaal said, going about his work with efficient speed.
“Lieutenant,” she said, indicating Page. “I want full weapons readiness. Make sure everything is operating at top efficiency,” she said.
“Is this because of what that traitor told you?” Page asked. “You have to know he’s lying to us. He killed twenty-four Coalition crewmembers, we can’t trust—”
“Lieutenant,” Evie growled. “Follow your orders or I’ll have you relieved.”
Page sneered but returned to his station, beginning his preparations for weapons drills.
Evie took a deep breath and sunk back into her chair. Stubborn ass. Despite her short time on the ship she hadn’t seen Page this agitated before. In fact, before Cas had come on board he’d seemed like one of the most level-headed officers on the ship. Smart, capable and professional. Was this how everyone felt about Cas? Yamashita hadn’t been too happy with him down on D’jattan, but she hadn’t been as overtly hostile as Page. What if they all knew the truth? Could she even risk revealing what really happened without risking a court-martial herself? What if the same thing happened and the crew banded together against her? Greene wouldn’t allow it, though. Not if what she knew about the man was accurate. He wasn’t someone who could be bullied into silence.
She couldn’t focus on that right now. She had a job to do. If what Setsemeh and Yance told her was true then Veena had been close to or on D’jattan after all. And her goal had been to re-capture Cas. And since she hadn’t gotten him she might be even more desperate to find the Achlys now. This had just turned from a search and rescue into a race to the finish line.
“Commander,” Zaal said. “I may have something, but it’s faint. We’ll have to move out from behind Car’pr III to get a better lock.”
“Captain to the bridge,” she announced, the autocomm would notify Greene without her needing to make a specific request.
The doors to the hypervator opened to reveal Cas at the same time Greene’s command doors opened. “Somebody call me,” Cas said with a smile.
30
“You insolent—” Page said, stepping out from behind his station.
“Stand down, Lieutenant,” Greene said, making his way into the center of the room. He glanced over at Evie. “Commander?”
Evie glanced from Cas to Greene and back again. “Sir, we may have a lock on the Sargans.” She motioned to Zaal.
Cas turned his attention to Zaal who was working his controls while his “body” remained rigid. The hard-light projection didn’t do much as far as realism was concerned. It only looked human, it didn’t move like a human.
“We need to move the ship to confirm the undercurrent trail,” Zaal reported to the captain.
Cas spoke up. “Where is it?” he asked. “Where does it lead?”
“It’s hard to tell from here, but I would extrapolate Quadros Sigma,” Zaal said.
Cas shook his head. “It’s a false trail. She’s got no reason to head in that direction, that’s off toward Sil space; the wrong direction. By now she has to know we’re looking for her. She’ll have set up decoys. Anything to delay us.” He turned to Evie. “What did you find out?”
She stood. “You were right. Veena is close…or she was. She has more than one ship searching.”
Cas nodded. “She probably brought a small fleet. She won’t give up easily.”
“So now we’re getting dragged into a war with the Sargans? How much trouble is this guy worth?” Page asked.
“That’s enough, Lieutenant,” Greene said. “Mr. Robeaux, I assume there’s a reason you’re on my bridge.”
Cas held up the tracker. “With some help from your very capable chief engineer we figured out how to track her. We managed to rig it to ping the original signal back to its source.” Cas caught the eye of Blohm at the bridge engineering station. Her face was impassive but her eyes showed interest.
“We can use it without her knowing our position?” Greene asked.
Cas nodded.
“I thought we were supposed to be looking for one of our ships, not tracking some Sargan scum,” Page said.
Greene furrowed his brow. “Zaal, integrate the device into our systems, I want to find out which way they went,” he said. Zaal nodded then seemed to float over to Cas, taking the tracker from him. Cas caught the touch of one of his hard-light fingers, it was freezing to the touch. “Commander, your thoughts.” Greene took the captain’s chair as Zaal returned to his station.
“If we find the Achlys and try to tow it back to Coalition space we leave ourselves vulnerable to the Sargans. We need to find them first and throw them off the trail, get them to waste their time searching elsewhere. Then we can bring it back without a fight,” Evie said.
Cas stood in front of the specialist’s station, which was still dark. “Like I said, she won’t give up easily,” Cas said. “I agree we need to bring the fight to her, if for no other reason than to make sure she doesn’t already have the ship. We should be able to tell by her heading; if she’s on her way back to Sargan space then we’ll know. She’ll already have her prize.”
Greene nodded. “Lieutenant Ronde, move us out from behind Car’pr three. Blackburn, plot a course along the trail indicated from Zaal’s station. Zaal, activate the reverse tracker and take us in.”
Zaal nodded, working the controls and bringing up his information on the primary display in the middle of the room. It also appeared on the 2-D master systems display on the far wall. A blinking dot less than a light-year away highlighted the screen.
“There she is,” Cas said. As best he could tell her course indicated she was moving away from Car’pr back to Sargan space. “She must have just left Car’pr. She hasn’t gotten very far.”
“Ensign Blackburn, set pursuit course, nearest undercurrent,” Greene ordered.
“Aye,” Blackburn responded, building the navigation plan on the display before them as Ronde re-oriented the ship. Cas took a seat in the specialist’s chair, preparing to enter the undercurrent.
“ETA is less than thirty minutes,” Blackburn announced once the route was complete.
“How is that possible?” Cas exclaimed, standing back up. Assuming Veena left D’jattan as soon as her last crippled fighter made its way back to her main ship meant she should have at least an hour on them. Was the Tempest really that fast?
Greene smiled. “You should ask Commander Sesster,” he said, keeping his attention on the primary display. “It’s his engine.”
“Security to the bridge,” Page said.
“Lieutenant?” Evie asked, standing as well.
“Just an escort for our…guest,” Page said. “He doesn’t need to be on the bridge if we’re going into battle.”
Cas glanced at Greene. “I’m afraid I have to concur with our tactical officer. Civilians aren’t allowed on the bridge during war times.”
“Neither are criminals,” Page added, smirking with satisfaction.
The main hypervator doors opened behind Cas, revealing two security officers.
“I might be able to help, give you some insight about the Sargan systems,” Cas said as the officers came over and stood behind his station.
“We’ll take it from here, thank you for your help, Mr. Rob
eaux,” Greene said.
Cas shot a look at Evie, but she only gave a light shrug. He supposed he should have been grateful for as much access as he’d been given. He was sure they could handle the Sargans; he might as well return to Bay One and help Box finish the repairs.
Cas nodded and allowed himself to be escorted back to the hypervator. The doors slid open and the security officers followed him in and he watched the bridge disappear. Why was he feeling such an ache to remain up there? Did he just want to be part of the action? Or was it something more? Box would probably call it a sense of duty; but that couldn’t be it. Any sense of duty he’d had died long ago.
“Bay One,” Cas announced, as he realized no one in the hypervator had specified a destination. However the computer didn’t provide its normal chime, instead blaring the command rejected chime. This hadn’t been a problem before, had they revoked all of his autonomy?
He turned to one of the security officers. “Would you mind? Looks like I’ve been grounded.”
The officer grinned. “You could put it that way,” he said. The hypervator stopped and the officers escorted him out.
Something was wrong. This wasn’t the way to Bay One. “Fellas, I think there’s been a mistake here,” he said.
“No mistake,” the other one responded. “Lieutenant Page instructed us to detain you, and that’s what we’re doing.”
“You’re putting me in the brig?” Cas shouted. “I don’t believe this. Check with the captain. Or Commander Diazal. Neither of them approved this order.”
“The lieutenant is head of security,” one of them said. “He doesn’t need their approval. It’s his call.”
“Oh, you have to be shitting me,” Cas said as they led him down the hallway toward the brig.
As the possibilities ran through this mind, throwing him deeper and deeper into panic as they came closer to the brig doors the ship shook, throwing them all off balance. Cas hit the back wall hard, the wind knocked from his lungs. Lights in the hallway flashed and the general alert sounded. Cas took advantage of the momentary confusion to run back down the hallway to the hypervator, leaving the two security officers still managing to regain their footing.