Outermost
Page 14
“That was a misdirection,” Captain Valentinian said. “A bluff I did not expect anyone would call. And if they did, to cause them to become even more lost. Athanasia will not, as I understand it, take long to find out about Longshot Hypothesis being on this planet. We may have left a trail of angry men and burning buildings in our path. Someone will direct her to Meeredge.”
“So she does not find us at the South Pole,” Glaxu stated, still off-balance that these utterly dangerous humans were suddenly spooked.
“She will take off and start looking for us elsewhere,” Dave Hall said simply. “That ship will have good-enough sensors to find us on the ground, unless we spent several days disturbing the local desert enough to hide. That would, in turn, most likely reveal us to the natives, and draw their attention to the location we believe is the treasure. And we do not have enough supplies to outwait her patience.”
“Ah,” he finally understood. “Dominion-427 would have the high watch as you attempted to climb out, and thus the ability to successfully interdict us.”
“I doubt she would interdict, Glaxu,” Captain Valentinian replied. “Based on stories Dave has told me, I expect her first choice would be to simply annihilate this ship with weapons fire and let the shattered remains fall back to the surface. Longshot Hypothesis is extremely fast in warp, and not that bad in atmosphere, but I have no weapons or armor. Outermost might be able to engage her with a chance of survival, but I cannot.”
Glaxu paused, trying to find a delicate, polite way to ask these people if they were all cowards and morons, but his vocabulary eluded him.
Bayjy saved him, perhaps.
“And if we run right now, we can lead her off,” the purple woman said in a dark, heavy tone. “And then come back later and dig where you found something. I’d rather not have to worry about attacks from overhead and the ground as I worked.”
“But you do intend to return?” Glaxu asked her, and then turned his attention on Captain Valentinian.
“Come too far to give up that easily, Glaxu,” the man said with a harsh smile that Glaxu associated with anger.
Human body language was sometimes difficult to translate, especially the way the mouth and jaw moved, since the flesh was so much more flexible than a beak.
“And flight?” he asked. “Where would we turn to?”
“Chatosig,” Bayjy said before anyone could interrupt her. “It’s not all that far, and I maybe have some old connections I could call on. That gets us fresh consumables and puts us out of system for a few weeks or a month while she snoops around and realizes we’re gone.”
“What does she do when she truly loses your trail, not-Dave-Hall?” Glaxu asked.
“Hopefully, return home,” Dave Hall said with a human grimace. “At some point her crew will run up against the edge of their orders. I would have expected that already, since we are now on the far side of Wildspace from Laurentia, but she must have talked to someone at Bohrne Station to know we’ve come here.”
“Will she give you up?” Glaxu pressed.
He had never mated, so he could not judge the pair-bond between humans. But rage seemed to be a motivating spirit that transcended species. That much appeared real.
“Probably not,” Dave Hall admitted. “But without a warship, she becomes much less of a threat to us, so we can perhaps find the treasure and then reassess our future.”
“I understand,” Glaxu said. “Although I am sad that strafing the ship on the ground would most likely not be sufficient to destroy it before I was unacceptably damaged in turn. Captain Valentinian, I would like to cast my lot with you in flight. Take Outermost and form a new Southern Chain that will take you to Chatosig quickly, so that we can plan a return. As with the rest of you, I yearn to know what secret the desert may yet conceal, and would not share the benefit with the natives or the hunters. How may I serve?”
Glaxu found it enlightening and heartening that Leader still consulted each of the other team members with a silent look before he spoke. This truly was a group effort.
A nest he could look forward to joining.
“The truck is already in the cargo bay,” Captain Valentinian said. “We will spend the next few hours watching for signs of trouble, but they should simply decide to land at one of the larger settlements and look for our tracks. Once darkness falls locally, and they are below the sensor horizon, we will take off quietly and head whichever direction takes us the farthest distance from their orbital path or landing zone. Then we’ll test the Southern Chain as part of a human convoy.”
“It is good, Captain,” Glaxu decided. “I will return to Outermost and prepare. I look forward to seeing how we could combine our technology and skills to do something entirely new in the galaxy.”
He rose from his squat and bowed serenely to each of them, starting with not-Dave-Hall and ending with Captain Valentinian.
Outside, the fierce sun was starting that long, amiable slide into reds and darkness, before the desert itself cooled off. He entered Outermost with a spring to his stride that had been missing for so long he had nearly forgotten it.
Preflight was rapid, as he had been expecting the possibility of discovery by ground-bound natives that he could perhaps engage with his forward guns as part of a larger fracas.
He had never visited the planetary system called Chatosig. Looking it up in his navigational gazetteer, it was a primarily-primary-export economy, at least on the planetary surface. Foodstuffs and raw materials transported to a vast ring of orbital stations that then processed things secondarily and tertiarily for transport to other worlds. A good place for a cargo transport like Longshot Hypothesis to visit, then.
The combined population there also represented so many shards of humanity that it took his breath away. Moreso when he might run into several species that were truly alien, and not just the genetically-engineered outcome of Urlan design laboratories.
He could find a place there later, if he chose.
But he had a nest now, hopefully. Dominion-427 be damned.
Read More!
Be sure to read all of the Shadow of the Dominion books!
Longshot Hypothesis
Hard Bargain
Outermost
Dominion-427
Phoenix
Princess Rualoh
About the Author
Blaze Ward writes science fiction in the Alexandria Station universe (Jessica Keller, The Science Officer, The Story Road, etc.) as well as several other science fiction universes, such as Star Dragon, the Collective, and more. He also writes odd bits of high fantasy with swords and orcs. In addition, he is the Editor and Publisher of Boundary Shock Quarterly Magazine. You can find out more at his website www.blazeward.com, as well as Facebook, Goodreads, and other places.
Blaze's works are available as ebooks, paper, and audio, and can be found at a variety of online vendors. His newsletter comes out monthly, and you can also follow his blog on his website. He really enjoys interacting with fans, and looks forward to any and all questions—even ones about his books!
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Also by Blaze Ward
Shadow of the Dominion
Longshot Hypothesis
Hard Bargain
Outermost
Dominion-427
Phoenix
Princess Rualoh
* * *
The Jessica Keller Chronicles
Auberon
Queen of the Pirates
Last of the Immortals
Go
ddess of War
Flight of the Blackbird
The Red Admiral
St. Legier
Winterhome
* * *
CS-405
Queen Anne’s Revenge
Packmule
Persephone
* * *
Additional Alexandria Station Stories
The Story Road
Siren
Two Bottles of Wine with a War God
* * *
The Science Officer Series
The Science Officer
The Mind Field
The Gilded Cage
The Pleasure Dome
The Doomsday Vault
The Last Flagship
The Hammerfield Gambit
The Hammerfield Payoff
* * *
Earth Force Sky Patrol
Birth of the Star Dragon
Flight of the Star Dragon
Call of the Star Dragon
Shadow of the Star Dragon
Trial of the Star Dragon
* * *
Other Science Fiction Stories
Myrmidons
Moonshot
Menelaus
* * *
Earthquake Gun
Moscow Gold
* * *
Fairchild
* * *
White Crane
* * *
The Collective Universe
The Shipwrecked Mermaid
Imposters
About Knotted Road Press
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Outermost
Shadow of the Dominion: Book 3
Blaze Ward
Copyright © 2019 Blaze Ward
All rights reserved
Published by Knotted Road Press
www.KnottedRoadPress.com
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ISBN: 978-1-64470-082-2
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Cover art:
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Cover and interior design copyright © 2019 Knotted Road Press
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This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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