Revengers

by Alex Kings

  “Do it.”

  “Ready?” said Olivia.

  “Yes,” said Laodicean.

  Olivia activated the capsule's effector fields and pushed it sideways.

  The capsule pushed itself out of the cliff. In the low gravity, it fell in slow motion, accompanied by a dozen bits of fractured rock. Inside, the team felt the floor lurch to the side, and then everything went weightless.

  The Outsider, with Mero at the helm, was waiting outside. It floated on its side with the cargo bay door open. When the capsule began to drop, the Outsider followed. It positioned itself below the capsule.

  The capsule fell through the open door into the cargo bay, where Mero had turned off the gravity. It bumped lightly against the military-grade shuttle, which easily shrugged off the heat. It briefly touched the floor.

  Mero brought the Outsider to a halt, closed the cargo bay door, and filled it with cold air and water from the volatiles tanks. He brought the gravity back slowly. The Outsider accelerated sharply upwards and away from Object One and away from the belt.

  The shell of the capsule, still shedding heat, raised the temperature in the cargo bay to past boiling point. Mero evacuated the cargo bay, dumping the air into space. He refilled it with more cold air.

  Inside the capsule, now lying on its side, Olivia pulled free of Laodicean's effector fields and scrambled over to the control panel. It was safe to leave.

  “Don't evacuate the cargo bay,” she told Mero. “We're coming out.”

  “No suffocation today,” said Mero. “Got it.”

  With the capsule lying on its side, the hatch opened upwards. As it opened, Olivia saw Dr. Wolff, who had just entered the cargo bay, hurrying down the stairs.

  Beside her, Eloise was crouched over Rurthk's body, muttering, “Shit, shit, shit.” She shouted suddenly, “Quickly! He's stopped breathing.”

  Chapter 37: Warships

  They ran together into the medibay. Laodicean carried Rurthk in effector fields, with Olivia helping. Eloise hurried ahead of them, telling Dr. Wolff what had happened. Rurthk had a few specialised plasters on his body, helping to oxygenate his blood directly through the skin – the best Wolff had been able to offer in his kit – but they give him no more than a minute at best.

  “Press down and hold there, there, and there,” said Wolff. While Olivia, Eloise and Laodicean pressed down in the spots he'd indicated, he went to the far corner of the medibay to obtain a machine and a tangle of transparent pipes. He brought it over on a rolling table alongside a scalpel.

  With the machine at hand, he quickly but carefully slid the knife out of Rurthk. Blood welled up immediately. “Press harder,” he told Olivia.

  Working quickly, he ran a scan, then made an incision by the wound and slid a pair of tubes inside. He activated the smart matter at the end of the tubes, then turned the machine on. It made a soft humming noise.

  “He stepped back, checked a couple of readouts on the machine, then said, “That's oxygenation dealt with. Now we need to get the breathing muscle active again.” He looked at Laodicean's wound. “Then I'll get a chance to see to you. Sorry about the wait.”

  “A matter of priority,” said Laodicean. “I can wait.”

  Wolff went to get another machine. As he was returning, Eloise's comm activated.

  It was Mero. “You might wanna get down here,” he said.

  “I'm a bit busy here, Mero,” Eloise told him.

  “I'll tell that to the warships heading towards us, shall I?” said Mero. “I'm sure they'll understand.”

  Eloise swore softly. “I'm on my way,” she said.

  Laodicean extended more effector fields to put pressure on Rurthk's back so she could let go. “Thanks,” she said shortly.

  She ran out of the medibay and down the corridor to the cockpit.

  She leant forward beside Mero who was sitting in the pilot's seat. “What is it?” Her hands left blood smeared on the console where she touched it.

  Mero glanced at the blood. His nose twitched. No doubt he was repulsed by the smell, but for once, he didn't complain. “Two human cruisers and a few frigates just jumped in.” He pointed at the sensor readouts. “They sent a system-wide broadcast saying they've claimed Bloodspray and we're in lockdown.”

  “How far are they? Can we jump before they get to us?”

  Mero shook his head. “One of the cruisers came out near Object One. They'd reach us before we got to a safe jump distance.”

  “The hell?” said Eloise. “This is miles away from the front.”

  “Looks like they want to end this war as quickly as possible,” said Mero.

  Eloise looked over the sensor readouts. The cruiser sat, big and ugly, in orbit around Object One. If few other ships in the system tried to escape, dividing its attention, they might have a chance. Perhaps there was a way –

  The console chimed.

  “We've got another jump-in,” Mero said, his fingers moving lightning-fast as he called up sensor data. “Make that a whole bunch of jump-ins. It's the Glaber. I'm counting twenty Hunters, and five of those monopole cannon ships they just unveiled.” He grimaced. “Things are going to get ugly.”

  “Move!” said Eloise. “This is our chance to get out of here.”

  The console said they had just received a broadcast from the Glaber. Eloise gestured at the console to play the message.

  “All ships are forbidden to leave,” growled a Glaber voice. “We will destroy any ships attempting to jump.”

  Mero looked up at her. “You sure about that?”

  “Hold on.” Eloise checked the sensor readout. There were three Hunters and one Glaber monopole cannon ship in the vicinity. All of them were bearing down on Object One. The Cruiser was moving to engage. They were occupied with each other. Everything was chaotic.

  “Do it,” she said. “This trajectory here. It should keep away from them.”

  Mero took a deep breath and closed his eyes. All right,” he said at last, and put his fingers to the console.

  The Outsider began to accelerate sharply, heading out of the belt and towards the red giant at the heart of the system.

  One of the Hunters changed course and began to give chase. Another, further away, changed course.

  “Can we make it?” Eloise asked.

  “I really, really doubt it,” said Mero.

  *

  The ugly, ragged Glaber Hunter ship bore down on the Outsider. It was bigger, faster, stronger. It had more than double the acceleration, and was catching up quickly.

  “How long till it's in weapons range?” asked Eloise.

  “Thirty seconds, perhaps?”

  Eloise scanned the console. “Just before we have to jump?”

  “Yeah they'll be in prime position to shoot us down at our most vulnerable.”

  “The stealth shuttle,” said Eloise.

  “What about it?”

  “A decoy? No, that wouldn't work. It can fly autonomously. We might be able to get it close enough without them seeing to crash it into them.”

  “You only just destroyed the first one!” Mero said.

  “Yeah, well, they came in handy,” said Eloise. “What more do you want. Come on, we need to get down there.”

  A massive boom echoed through the Outsider.

  The hunter was using diffuse lasers to extend its weapons range. They were missing most of their shots, but enough were getting through. Boom. The Outsider shook again. Alarms said one of the sublight engines was out.

  They had no chance, Eloise realised. Even with the shuttle. They were damaged, and even if they stopped their pursuer, there as another Hunter almost on top of them.

  “Kill the engines,” she said.

  While Mero did that, she gestured at the console to transmit a message: “This is the small cargo ship to the Glaber Hunter. We surrender. You may board our ship.”

  Eloise and Mero looked at each other weakly.

  Chapter 38: If We Explode

  The two Glaber sh
ips approached the Outsider. Eloise waited, watching the console carefully, trying to think of one more way they might wriggle out of this.

  Boom. The Outsider shuddered again.

  Unbelievable. The bastards weren't even going to let them surrender.

  “The second Glaber ship is firing missiles,” said Mero.

  “Well … looks like this is it,” Eloise said. She turned to Mero. “Sorry.”

  Mero shrugged and gave her a weak grin. “You couldn't have known.” Suddenly his gaze snapped down. “It's attacking the first Hunter!”

  The hull of the first hunter flared into life suddenly in a crackle of superheated vapour from lasers and kinetic impacts, all swallowed for a moment in nuclear flashes as missiles hit their targets.

  The response came moments later, and the second ship's hull lit up too. Thousands of tiny flares lit up between them as kinetics and missiles were shot down by lasers. The second Glaber ship flew past the Outsider, interposing itself between them. Amid the decorate spines and ragged edges, a small cavity opened up, just about big enough to fit the Outsider.

  It hailed them. Eloise accepted the call.

  “Rurthk, my fascinating hero. Hello again,” said a growling female voice in Glaber. Eloise could understand it; Mero read the computer's Isk translation. “We've got a way out for you.”

  “Rurthk's not here at the moment,” said Eloise. “But I'm happy to be your rescuee today. Also … you're alive?”

  “Ah, his human friend! Yes, it seems that way. Now come on.”

  Mero didn't need any further prompting. He accelerated towards the queen's hunter.

  The hunters were still locked in combat. The queen's hunter had struck first, and had the advantage, but the fight was pulling them both down. The enemy hunter's allies were occupied elsewhere in the system, chasing or chasing after the Alliance ships.

  Behind them, around Object One, a Glaber monopole cannon ship fire. A silvery thread leapt from its nose to the human cruiser. The cruiser burst open. At the same moment, another silvery thread, this time coming from a frigate, cut through the Glaber cannon ship.

  The Outsider slowed to a relative stop inside the hunter's cavity. The cavity closed around it, with strands of smart matter extending across to hold it in place. Then the Hunter pulled back from the battle and began to accelerate away.

  “They tell me the next bit will be difficult,” said the queen over the comms. “So you had best hold on.”

  The queen's Hunter hurtled through the belt, with the other hunter in pursuit. They traded fire back and forth. The queen's hunter moved in towards Object One. Ahead of them, another Glaber ship burst apart into a shower of white-hot fragments and boiling metal vapour under the touch of a monopole cannon.

  “I apologise in advance if we explode,” said the queen.

  Her hunter pulled close enough to attract the attention of a human frigate. It moved to intercept them.

  The Glaber hunter chasing them seemed to pause, undecided whether to pursue this mysterious intruder posing as an ally, or go after the ships it had come here to fight.

  The choice was made for it, as the frigate unleashed a volley of kinetics across its hull. The enemy hunter dropped back to focus its attention on the frigate. Space between them lit up with burning kinetics.

  The queen's hunter, now free, accelerated away, and at last jumped out of the system.

  Chapter 39: Breathing

  “You'll have to excuse me,” Dr. Wolff said. “While I have studied Tethyan anatomy, and practiced on simulated models, I've very rarely had a chance to work with a live patient.”

  Laodicean lay partially supported by a table. His globe was off to one side, with half his body inside the water, and his injured side exposed for Dr. Wolff. “You need not worry, Doctor,” he said. “Your ministrations are not especially painful. Indeed, not so long ago, I received far worse injuries.” After a moment he added, “Although we do have more advanced medical technology.”

  Wolff snorted. “One of my many regrets in life is not having the chance to work at a Tethyan hospital. Now hold still.” He carefully extracted the knife from Laodicean's shell and laid it on a tray nearby. A collection of three Zino had left in the crew in a little over a second.

  He worked from the inside out. First the beak muscles, temporarily paralysed so Laodicean couldn't damage them further, and stitched together with smart matter. Second, the optics nerve – same treated. Finally, the siphon. All swamped in Tethyan-specific medical gel, then covered with shell-healing resin.

  “You should be able to eat in twelve hours,” said Wolff. “And your siphon will heal fine. I'm less sure about the optic nerve … you might remain blind in that eye. At least until you get proper Tethyan medicine to regrow it.”

  “I have five others,” Laodicean said. His tentacles shifted uncomfortably. “May I?”

  Wolff nodded.

  Laodicean floated back into the centre of his water bubble.

  The door opened and Eloise came striding back in to the medical bay. She went to the sink to hurriedly wash her hands. Upon an invitation to visit the hunter, she had told the Glaber queen there were a few things she needed to attend to first.

  “From the jump, I take it we escaped?” Wolff said.

  “We were rescued,” said Eloise. She grabbed a sterile towel. “How is he?”

  “Alive,” said Wolff.

  Rurthk lay face down on the bed, the humming machine still breathing for him through pipes connected to his back. There was another machine with several thinner wires also connected to the wound.

  “I've tried stimulating the breathing muscle. No luck so far,” Wolff went on.

  They both walked over to the bed, with Rurthk between them.

  “If it doesn't work?” Eloise asked.

  “We may have to give him a cultivated one,” said Wolff. “I don't have the facilities for it here.”

  “We have the money,” said Eloise.

  “Although, in the current climate of war …” said Wolff.

  “Not many people are going to be interested in selling Glaber organs,” said Eloise. “Not without some serious questions.”

  Wolff nodded and looked down at Rurthk. “For now, all we can do is wait and hope for the best.”

  Between them, Rurthk gasped suddenly.

  “Or maybe not,” said Wolff.

  Rurthk gave a few ragged breaths. Eloise sat so their heads were level and put a hand on his shoulder. “You alright there?”

  Rurthk croaked a few times, while Wolff took a scanner and held it against his back.

  “Not … not the most comfortable I've ever been,” Rurthk managed in a weak whisper.

  “Hold on,” said Dr. Wolff. “Don't talk. This will just take a moment.” He took the pipes from the breathing machine out of Rurthk's back, closed up the wound with a plaster, and put on medical gel.

  “You're damn lucky you didn't die,” Eloise told Rurthk. “I've got a present for you. You remember that queen from Hive Bellicose? Apparently she didn't die.”

  Rurthk stared at her. His eyes widened slightly. When he spoke again, his voice was clearer. “I don't think she'll fit in the medical bay.”

  “No. So you'd better get up and moving about as fast as you can.”

  *

  Olivia and Mero stood side-by-side at the top of the stairs in the cargo bay, looking down on the odd collection inside.

  “So this is your replacement for that top-of-the-line military-grade stealth shuttle I bought, huh?” said Mero.

  The mining capsule, a windowless, matte black cylinder, tapering into a cone on the top and bottom, lay on its side. It sat beside the other military shuttle, and behind that was Olivia's father's shuttle.

  “Yeah. I thought it would add a bit of variety,” said Olivia. “I mean, sure it can't hide from sensors, fire weapons, or actually fly through space at all. But, y'know.”

  Mero snorted with laughter. “Well, at least it's got a microfusion reactor insi
de. Maybe we could make it explode well.”

  “Yeah …” said Olivia.

  “Seriously, you'd better not go and destroy my other shuttle too,” growled Mero.

  “No promises,” said Olivia.

  The door behind them opened. In the corridor outside stood Eloise. “He's ready,” she said.

  Rurthk sat in a small wheelchair that still took up the entire width of the main corridor.

  The wheelchair was something Dr. Wolff had managed to find in the back of the medibay supply cabinet, a smart matter structure packed into a box ten centimetres on a side. He didn't have any with effector fields, so wheels it was.

  Olivia rushed forward, her arms open, then hesitated. “Can I hug you?” she said. “Or will that hurt.”

  Rurthk smiled faintly and offered her his hand to shake. “Let's wait until I can stand.”

  “Hey, Cap,” said Mero. “I knew it would take more than a knife-wielding, professionally-evil bastard to take you down.”

  “Yeah, that would be disappointing,” said Rurthk. “But now, at least, we have three of Zino's knives. And yes,” he assured them, “I do intend to return them in the same spirit they were given. Now, let's go and meet our saviours.”

  Chapter 40: A Counter-Offer

  The Hunter's clamp, holding the Outsider, was built around smart matter. Its architecture was shiftable to accommodate different ships, either willing passengers or struggling prey. A small chamber had shifted to sit directly in front of the Outsider's airlock.

  When the airlock opened, Rurthk caught a wave of familiar scents. Behind him, his team surreptitiously activated their olfactory inhibitors, apart from Laodicean, who seemed appropriately insulated in his globe of water. They were all there save from Dr. Wolff.

  Eloise helped Rurthk through the airlock into the chamber, where a number of Glaber were waiting to meet them. At the lead was the unpleasant individual Rurthk had met when they first snuck into Hive Bellicose.

  He looked down at Rurthk with a predatory smile. It was not, generally, advisable to turn up in another Hive injured like this. Easy prey. Even if the unpleasant Glaber's orders were to treat him as an honoured guest, his instincts would still be inviting him to sink his teeth into the injured creature who had just appeared in front of him.