by Leslie Chase
At least the crossing was easier this time. I remembered red death spitting at us from the laser banks, our combat suits weaving between beams that would cut us in half. The ornate hull of the Imperial flagship rising like an intricately carved cliff, racing closer until Qursek’s cannon blasted a hole in it, a hole barely wide enough for us to dive through.
We’d have no such problems this time. The hull gaped wide, torn apart by exploding power stores or carved open by enemy fire. No one shot at us as we drifted closer, conserving our precious fuel by drifting. I thought I saw the hole Qursek had carved for us, but perhaps not — out of all the gaps in the golden hull, who could tell one from the others?
Clamping down on my memories, I followed Carrie through the opening she’d chosen. The hull obscured the distant sun, and bitter cold leaked into my suit. Its cheap heater didn’t cope with the sudden change well, and I hoped the humans were better equipped. They weren’t as resilient as a Caibar, and I didn’t want to find out what happened to them if their body temperature approached water’s freezing point.
“There,” Carrie said, voice crackling over the suit comms. “Intact power exchangers, they’re worth a lot. And I think that atmosphere scrubber’s good, for parts if nothing else.”
“This place’ll be good for a dozen trips or more,” Alice’s bright and cheerful voice broke in.
“Until someone follows us out here and takes it from us.” Michaela. I’d come to recognize that flat pessimism, even when the static of the comm made the humans’ voices interchangeable. The human security officer watched over us from the Ladies’ Choice, monitoring the sensors in case trouble found us. The pilot, Lily, also stayed behind in case an emergency arrived while the rest of the crew boarded the Golden Duke.
“She’s not wrong,” Carrie said with a sigh. “This might be our last chance to loot this place alone, so focus on the high value salvage. I don’t want to bet we’ll be able to come back for more. Delkor, where will we find the best loot?”
“Towards the ship’s heart there’s a treasure far greater than anything you’ll find out here,” I said, the static turning my voice into a hiss. The humans turned and looked at me. “This was the Imperial flagship of Duke-Admiral Herrian pe-Voltraic Lonsuise, a scion of the Imperial House. His chambers are filled with jewels and goods worth a fortune. More than that, though, his ship carries a copy of the Imperial Archive.”
Silence. The humans looked at each other, then back at me.
“Yeah, you’re going to have to unpack that for us, big guy,” Carrie said finally. “That sounds like a big deal, but I don’t know what it is.”
I grimaced, glad that my helmet would stop them from seeing my reaction to their ignorance. It wasn’t the humans’ fault that they came from so far away that they knew nothing about the Empire whose bones they picked over.
“The Empire’s rule rested on several pillars,” I said, drawing on the information my instructors had drilled into me. “First, the Pillar of Force, obviously — their military was second to none. Then the Pillar of Faith, where they impose their religion and philosophy on the worlds in their reach. And the Pillar of Knowledge: they kept many secrets so secure that only the Imperial Nobility had access to them. That information was secured in the Archives, keyed to their owners and only accessible to them.”
“So it’s useless to us?” Michaela, always seeing the worst.
“Not at all,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “My tech, Termek, had begun the process of breaking into the Archive when we had to abandon the ship. It can be done — and I don’t doubt that there are plenty of people who will buy it, even encrypted, if we can’t access it.”
That much had to be true. The power players in this sector would be fools to pass up a chance at the secrets locked away in the Archive. I only needed one of those secrets for myself.
A click echoed in my ears and I was alone. The humans locked me out of their conversation as they considered my suggestion, and that was fair. I could have tried to hack in, my implants were far more advanced than their security systems, but I left them their privacy.
Instead, I turned my signals outward. Perhaps there were other Caibar aboard, trapped in stasis like I’d been. If so, and if they were in range, their implants would let me find their location.
But nothing pinged me back. The ship’s network was dead, and the shielding in the walls blocked my signals. Frustrating — another Caibar might be on the far side of the bulkhead and we’d be unable to detect each other.
Another click signaled the end of the humans’ private conference.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this before?” Carrie asked. “There’s more to this than you’re saying.”
“That’s true,” I admitted. “There is one secret that I need from the Archive, the reason that I came aboard the Golden Duke. And I’ll take it as my share of any pay, if you can help me get it. The Archive holds the location of the Caibar homeworld.”
A pause. One of the humans broke the silence with a question. “You don’t know where your home is?”
“None of the Empire’s Caibar warriors did. They took us as children, raised and transformed us into soldiers for the Empire. By the time any of us learned how to navigate in space, it was far too late to trace our origin back.”
Mutterings of distaste filled the comms channel as the humans considered my words. Carrie, who had learned of this secret earlier, watched me with bright, tearful eyes.
“So this is why you were aboard the Golden Duke,” she said, quietly. “You didn’t need to keep it a secret, Delkor. We’d have helped.”
Spacesuits aren’t made for hugging, but Carrie made a valiant attempt. Clumsy in our suits, we held each other while the other three humans looked away.
“Too big a risk,” I said. “If anyone else found out about the Archive, they’d have tried to get here first, and I didn’t know I could trust all of you.”
Carrie thumped me on the arm, the impact barely noticeable through my suit. “You ass, of course you can trust me.”
“You, yes. Your crew? I’d trust them now, but when we left the station I didn’t know them at all,” I said, wishing I could hold her properly. And something else hung between us unspoken. The real reason I’d not wanted to talk to her about this, the question I feared the answer to.
If I found my way Home, would she come with me or would I have to leave her behind?
The humans followed me deeper into the ship, following me through the battle-scarred remains of a once-mighty warship. Bella placed comm beads at regular intervals, letting us stay in communication with the Ladies’ Choice despite the thick walls surrounding us.
More than once we had to double back. Here, the corridor was so twisted that none of us would be able to wiggle our way through. There, a passage ended abruptly, empty space beyond. And sometimes I simply got the direction wrong. With neither gravity nor lights beyond what we’d brought with us, the ship turned into a disorienting maze.
Carrie followed close behind, keeping quiet. She had to know what finding my homeworld would mean to me, and I felt the struggle inside her. My hearts warred, too. Could I take her with me, down to the lethally dangerous world I called Home? How would my clan react to that?
Black holes eat anyone who says a thing against her, I told myself, but their reaction was the least of my worries. The Caibar on Home had no infrastructure, no technology, and dragging a human to our planet would not be fair to her.
But leaving Carrie behind? Impossible. It would kill me, which might be a mercy compared to the pain of being apart from my mate. Separating from Carrie was unimaginable now, taking her with me unfair, and not completing the task I’d set myself — the thing I’d begun a rebellion that ended an Empire for — was unthinkable.
Later for that. I crushed my doubts into a corner of my mind. My training had taught me to focus on the present problem; there was no point in wasting energy on what couldn’t be changed now.
Within, the once-white walls were stained with burn marks. Pieces of insulation drifted weightless in the vacuum, one twisted body amongst them. The humans gasped and turned their lights away.
I didn’t blame them. The effects of vacuum on a corpse aren’t pretty.
Our magnetized boots gripped the deck and I pointed my light at the central column. “There. That’s the core of the Archive, it holds the most important files. The rest are the subsidiary data stores — the more of them we can salvage, the more valuable this will be, but the core is all we need.”
Bella looked at it, made a noncommittal noise, and fished in her toolkit. “It’s not designed to be moved. Might have to cut the decking out from under it. Won’t be quick.”
Carrie nodded. “Best get started then. You and Jen work on that, me, Alice, and Delkor will look for a quicker way back. Grab any portable valuables you see on your way. No point in leaving anything behind.”
The same orders I’d have given in her place. We spread out, searching quickly and efficiently. Even here in the heart of the ship the damage had been severe and paths leading to the outer hull were hard to find. Plenty of holes lead through the wrecked decks, but none safe to travel — small openings with sharp edges risked tearing our fragile suits.
It looked like we’d have to follow the same winding route back as we’d taken in. A slow and arduous path, but one we knew was safe.
“Might want to hurry it up in there,” Michaela said over the radio, breaking the silence and startling me. “Looks like we have company.”
I cursed. The Golden Duke Lyian had gone undiscovered for decades. The odds of someone else finding it now were a million to one. “They followed us.”
“That’s not possible,” Lily protested. “Any ship close enough to see us, Michaela would have spotted too.”
“Yeah,” Michaela replied, and I heard the frown in her voice. “Which means… motherfucker.”
Scrambling noises filled the radio, followed by the crack of a blaster pistol firing. I tensed, ready to charge to the rescue if needed, but Michaela spoke again before I moved.
“I knew that asshole was up to something,” she said. “The Drall Syrcen sent to search for you, Carrie… he planted a beacon in the airlock on his way out.”
A chorus of swearwords greeted that news. Syrcen had played it smart, and we hadn’t gotten away clean.
“It’s not broadcasting anymore,” Michaela added. “But that’s a bit ‘closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.’ They’re here now, and going by the energy signature, their ship is better armed than the Ladies’ Choice.”
More bad news. The only way for our sensors to detect that was if the newcomers had their weapons ready to fire. They weren’t approaching as friendlies — though in their place, I wouldn’t either.
“Do you have an ID on the ship?” I asked, forgetting about my theoretical place in the chain of command. Carrie was the captain of a salvage ship, and a damned good one — but in a fight, I would not risk her life by staying quiet.
Not waiting for a reply, I kicked off the wall and leaped back the way I’d come with reckless speed. Slamming into a bulkhead, I grabbed hold of a broken pipe, pulling myself hand-over-hand along the twisted corridor. Risk meant nothing — I had to get back to Carrie as fast as I could.
“Doha Zadzad,” Michaela answered my question as I scrambled through the ship. “No idea what that means.”
“Beloved of Death,” Alice translated. “Cheerful name, right? A Chrichri ship, or at least a Chrichri name. Syrcen’s hired mercenaries.”
“Get the Archive loose,” I said, the snap of command entering my voice automatically. “No time for the supplementaries, just get the core out.”
The snapping growl of Bella’s cutter filled my ears before the comm filters kicked in and edited it out. “Carrie, Alice, get back to me. We’ll follow the route we took in; it’ll be the fastest way.”
“Who put you in charge?” Michaela snapped over the comm. Carrie replied without hesitation.
“Do as he says, he knows more about fighting than any of us,” she said, her voice icy calm. I felt the tension under that, the screaming terror she was suppressing. Did the others know her well enough to hear it too?
I caromed into the space outside the Archive chamber, beating Carrie there by seconds. She flew into me and I grabbed hold, pulling her into an embrace as we spun through the corridor and slammed into the wall.
Through her faceplate, my mate looked terrified. She was keeping a lock on it, but her face was pale and her eyes wide, darting around. I cursed, wishing I hadn’t brought her into danger with me. But it was her ship, and she would not have been safe back on the station.
I hit my comm’s off switch, then did the same for her. Pressing our faceplates together let vibrations travel between us, allowing us to speak without others listening in.
“You will be safe,” I promised, holding her tight. “Do not fear, I will strike down anyone who tries to do you harm.”
“That’s not enough,” she replied, letting her stress through into her voice. “I brought the girls along, and now they’re in danger. Because of us.”
“Beloved, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known this would happen, it’s my—“
“No. No, it’s on me, I’m the captain. This was my plan, and it’s my responsibility. If it gets anyone hurt…”
She trailed off and I breathed deep. “They will not. I will keep your friends safe, I promise. If it costs my life, I will.”
“I don’t want to lose you either!” Carrie’s voice broke, tears welling in her eyes. “Damn it, this wasn’t supposed to be so complicated.”
Movement behind us brought my head around before I replied. Alice bounced into the space too fast, rebounding off a wall and flailing briefly before catching hold of the wall. Her bag was full; she might not have found a way out, but she’d certainly found something worth taking.
While she steadied herself, Bella and Jen carefully maneuvered the Archive’s data core out of the room, looking at us and mouthing words that we couldn’t hear with our comms off. Muttering a curse, I switched mine back on.
“—come on, talk to us, what the hell,” Bella was saying as I tuned back in. I growled something that might be taken as an apology.
“We need to get moving,” I said, forestalling any questions and grabbing the Archive. Bracing myself, I pushed it towards our way out.
The faster we were off this ship the better.
17
Carrie
Dragging my sleeve across my eyes uselessly, my helmet’s faceplate stopping me from drying my tears. I blinked to clear my vision and hoped that no one aside from Delkor would look close enough to see them.
Kind of wish he hadn’t seen them either. But that ship had launched: he’d seen my panic, tried to calm me, and now took command with an ease I envied.
“Let’s go,” I croaked into the comm, waving the others after him. Pretending I still had some control over the situation.
Delkor would keep me safe if he could, that much I was sure of. But he’d led us so deep into the ship that by the time we reached our entry point, the Doha Zadzad would be well in range. If he was right about how valuable the Archive was, we weren’t going to keep it. We’d be lucky to keep anything.
I pulled myself together, tried to emulate Delkor’s calm under fire. Maybe if I faked it, I’d fool myself long enough to get something done.
He’s a combat commander, I reminded myself. He’s better at that than I’ll ever be. But salvage? I know that game.
Trying to forget the fact that I’d all of half a year’s experience, I called up the map on my HUD and traced our path. Keeping a log of my movements was second nature now, and every once in a while it paid off.
/> There. A corridor we’d had to double back from, one that ended in a ragged tear into empty space. Tracing a route from our location to it, I felt a weight lift. Half the distance to the docking bay. That might not buy us enough time, but at least we wouldn’t be in plain view of the new arrivals.
“Lily,” I croaked into my comm. Coughed and tried again, my voice crisper and clearer. “Lily, how’re the maneuvering jets.”
“Um.” A pause, then the pilot answered. “Working fine as far as I can tell, boss. Bella’s taken good care of them. Why?”
Because I have a stupid plan. But I couldn’t say that. “We can’t reach you in time, so you’re going to come to us. Circle around the hull, there’s a big breach clockwise of your position.”
A confused hubbub filled the comm channel, and Delkor turned to face me. For a moment I braced myself for a confrontation, but when his voice cut through the chatter, he didn’t sound angry, just curious.
“What are you planning, beloved?”
Great, now I have to explain myself. “Remember the big hole we found, the one Alice nearly fell through? It ought to be out of sight of the newcomers, right? The Ladies’ Choice flies round to there, we board, and then we slip away. Let the Doha Zadzad loot the rest, we’ve got our prize.”
“The hull is a mess out there,” Delkor pointed out. “Getting close enough to pick us up won’t be easy.”
“I know my crew,” I said, on solid ground at last. “You know war and command, but I know what we can do, and I know this is our best bet.”
Now don’t let me down, Lily. If she crashed the Ladies’ Choice it would strand us here, reliant on the Doha Zadzad to give us a ride home. Even if they obliged, losing the Ladies’ Choice would ruin us. Tension clawed at me and my hands shook.
Delkor grabbed them, leaving the core floating behind him. Our eyes met through our faceplates, and I saw his confidence in me. His belief bolstered my own, though I wished that we could touch properly. That I could hold him and draw strength from him.