Keltan's Gambit: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 2

by Michael Formichelli

  “We’re just pleased to see you are okay,” Baron Mitsugawa said.

  “This is y’all pleased face?” She rolled her eyes.

  “You had a difficult recovery, even with the nanomeds,” he said.

  “I know, your automadoc told me I was infected with the damn Greeba bug. I’ve seen those who get that before. Trust me, I know I’m lucky t’be alive.” She took a deep breath in through her mouth and let it out through her nose. “I guess I’m lucky I’m still pretty, too, huh?”

  The room was quiet.

  “I’m jokin’. I know that—never mind.”

  “Did the doctor tell you where you are?”

  “Not that it’s hard t’figure out, but yeah. An’ before y’all tell me how sorry y’all are, just void it.”

  “All right.” Baron Mitsugawa nodded. “My offer of employment still stands, if you want to take it.”

  “Well, I guess I can lay here an' make money, or lay here an’ lose it, huh? Guess which I’m gonna do?”

  “I’ll open your payroll account right away. You’ll also be covered for your medical expenses, and back paid to the date we left Elmorus.”

  “I better be. Send that contract on over t’my implant so I can fix what parts you screwed up.” She glanced down at his arm. “Looks like you got gnawed on yourself.”

  “I’m all right. Do you remember anything about the attack?”

  “Not much. Gettin’ turned into an alien chew-toy will do that t’a lady, though.”

  “I suppose so.” He frowned, seeming to think about something. “I’ve got business to attend to. Excuse me.” Baron Mitsugawa bowed and left the room.

  “I am glad you are all right.” Setha turned to follow.

  “How about yourself?” Nero blocked her way. “I haven’t seen you since we came to Taiumikai.”

  “I’m fine. How are you getting along with your watchdog back?”

  “Prospero is more than that. I need him.”

  “It,” she said.

  When did this start? Prospero asked.

  Nero shrugged, not wanting to respond to either of them.

  “I take it you don’t think you’re entirely better off without it, then?”

  “He has his uses. I also could have used Prospero’s help on the comm tower sooner.” He glanced at Armstrong.

  “I suppose. You could have.” Setha stared at her for a moment.

  “What’s your problem with Prospero?” Nero asked.

  “It’s not with it, it’s with what its master did to you.”

  “That’s not Prospero’s fault. He saved our lives, and this isn’t the first time.”

  “Still, it is an extension of Daedalus. You need to remember that.”

  Nero shook his head. This conversation was going to take a while, and Armstrong’s hospital room was not the place. “Hey, what’s between you and the baron?”

  She looked at him for a few seconds with her glowing eyes. “What do you know about the Praetor who is coming?”

  He sighed and licked his lips.

  You’ll have to explain this to me, Nero. Isn’t this the girl from the CSS Zeus’ Thunder? Prospero asked.

  Yes, he thought at his counterpart before answering Setha. “We don’t know much. Prospero informed me she’s one of the High Praetors in Daedalus’ service. There are only a few of those, and they outrank the rest of us.” It was the truth. He’d never heard the name “Athame” before, but that wasn’t unusual. It was rare for Praetors to meet, and since Daedalus’ encryption algorithms made verifying messages easy, there was no reason to really know each others’ names.

  “You may want to try and find out some things soon. It is going to be here in twenty-five days,” Setha said.

  “It?” he asked.

  “It. As far as I know, you are the only living Abyssian.” She said Nero’s title with a hiss.

  “And what if she gets here and you’re wrong?” he asked.

  Setha cocked an eyebrow up. “Then I will call it a she—but I’m not wrong.”

  “Well, ain’t you certain?” Armstrong said.

  “Yes.” Setha didn’t look away from him.

  Armstrong’s mismatched eyes darted to Nero, then back to her. “I wouldn’ be so quick t’judge. He’s got more clout on this matter than you do.”

  “Maybe,” she said, but he could tell she didn’t mean it. She turned for the door.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” he said.

  “About the baron and I? No.” She took another step, then stopped and sighed. “I’m sorry, Nero, you deserve better from me. I don’t like to share things with Daedalus that I don’t have to.” She paused for a breath. “Ichiro’s aunt and cousins are not what I was expecting, and I think his position in this House is somewhat less stable than he thinks it is. It has been,” she paused again, “—stressful. The baron and I are lovers. Does that answer your question?”

  His mouth dropped open. He had expected her to say—what? What did I expect? He wasn’t sure now that he thought about it. The revelation made him feel a bit awkward, and something like jealousy, but more like a strong urge to protect her from whatever harm might come. As ridiculous as it sounded, even in his own head, he was sure that was it. He hadn’t been able to save her on Savorcha, not entirely, but now he was able and—he stopped himself. He was still unsure of who he was and about to face an unknown situation. Was he really any more able to protect her now than he had been then? He felt sick thinking about it.

  She stepped forward and put her hand on his cheek. “I don’t need protecting now, but thank you for the thought. Here is one for you. You didn’t fail me; you never did. You saved me and Tengu, and I will always, always be grateful for that.” She set a kiss on his cheek.

  For a moment he saw her through the glass of the Zeus’ medical bay nanomachine submersion tube. He could hear her voice as it had been, young, not quite innocent having witnessed what she did, but still young. He realized then why he’d heard of Zov before. It was where her father had taken her after Savorcha.

  “I know you’re going there,” her voice said in his head.

  His eyes grew wide. Her implant didn’t prompt Prospero for a connection. It shouldn’t have been possible.

  “Zov is a bad place. I know you must go, but what awaits you—“ she shook her head as though unable to continue, then left the room. He stood with his mouth gaping and a deep chill running down his spine.

  Nero, are you all right?

  Not now, he thought at Prospero.

  “What was that about?” Armstrong said.

  “They have known each other a long time,” Khepria said.

  “But not as intimates, huh?”

  “No,” Khepria’s response was acidic.

  He turned around towards them. “No, of course not. She was a girl when I met her—I mean young.” His tongue felt like it was made of rubber. “Um, I mean—”

  “You’re like her big brother,” Armstrong said. “I had one o’ those once. I think I can guess how you feel now. No need t’say more.”

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Khepria patted him on the arm.

  “Look, let’s just get this out o’ the way before anything else gets said. I remember enough to know you had my back on that roof. I won’ forget that.”

  “You’re welcome, but there’s no need to thank me.”

  “Yes, there is. An' I won’ hear more about it. Okay?” Armstrong gave him a firm look.

  He sighed. “I’m too tired to argue.”

  “Good. I’ll take that.” She nodded. “That’s better. Now, let me know what’s goin’ on, will yah?”

  “We managed to escape Elmorus and the Broghite blockade through a form of instant travel that Setha can somehow operate. We are here on Taiumikai, as you know, and we have the evidence from the Siren lab,” Khepria answered.

  “Okay, but what about my people?”

  Nero frowned.

  “I am sorry. We do not know,” Khep
ria said. “There was no real time to check, both you and the baron were injured.”

  Armstrong took a deep breath and pressed herself back against the pillows. “Ah guess they’ll be all right. They might think I'm dead. I ‘spose Kasca’ll take command, then.”

  “Couldn’t say.” Nero had no idea who she was talking about, and it didn’t matter. He didn’t think it likely he’d see her company again.

  “We can try to get a message to them, but with the Broghite blockade—” Khepria began.

  “No, none o’ that. It’ll be all right in the end. Things’ll just be confusin’ for a while an’ it’s not like I have much of a choice now. What about the rest o’ it? Has the good baron said anythin’ about what he’s hirin’ me for?”

  Nero shrugged.

  “No,” Khepria said.

  “Well, then I guess my only job for now is t’get well. Hey, if y’all need my gun for this Athame-whatever, I should be able t’hold one again by the time she gets here.”

  “Thank you,” he nodded. “I appreciate it very much.”

  “Not too many friends ‘round here I think, but I'm one.”

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Nero said, feeling awkward.

  “Right back at you, cowboy.” She clicked her tongue and closed her eyes.

  Khepria twitched an ear in the direction of the door after a few minutes of silence. He followed her through it into the hallway.

  “Do you think she is right?” she asked as they walked to the lift.

  “About what?”

  “About Praetor Athame. Should we not trust her?”

  He frowned. “That’s a surprise.”

  “What is?”

  “Doubt about the Abyssians coming from you.”

  Is this your fault, Nero? This is hardly the time or place to be forcing your own misgivings on Agent Khepria, Prospero said.

  Shut up, he thought back.

  Her lips curled downward and her ears flopped to the sides. “You are right, I should not.”

  It was his turn to frown. “I didn’t mean that. I just meant it’s unusual for you. If you want to know the truth, I’m a bit nervous about this Praetor coming for me.”

  “You are?”

  “Yeah, I am. Between the memory, Setha, and what you said about Abyssians, I don’t think this Athame is coming to help us. I think she’s coming to bring broken equipment back to the shop.”

  Khepria’s ears twitched.

  I don’t think— Prospero began, but Nero cut him off with a thought.

  “Whatever happens, I’m with you.” She put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Don’t feel you have to be. This isn’t your job, and no one has seen Daedalus’ hardware for decades. No one knows the location of Deep Hydra, and we can’t know what to expect when I tell Athame, ‘no.’”

  “Nero—”

  “Just know, you don’t have to,” he said.

  “Just know that I will.” She fixed him in her amber stare, sticking her chin out and stiffening her ears in a show of Relaen determination. He smiled and his arms twitched towards her. She moved closer to him. “We are together in this.”

  “We are.” He gave up trying to present her with a way out. She wasn’t taking it, and he was glad for it.

  The lift arrived and they boarded it in silence. Nero listened to it hum as the deck pushed on their soles, propelling them upward a floor to where their rooms were. They exited the lift walking shoulder-to-shoulder and stopped before the paper doors separating the hallway from Khepria’s suite. She looked about to say something, but refused to meet his gaze for nearly a minute. He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, but she headed him off.

  “We need to go to Zov. Even without what we now know, the evidence as it is does not link Baron Revenant directly to Siren or the war. The serial number trace only turned up shell companies and low-level suppliers of parts.” Her ears twitched in fits. Nero had a feeling this wasn’t what she wanted to talk about, but he wasn’t sure he wanted that conversation right now either, so he let it go.

  “Captain Faen is the link. He’s the only one who can put us on the direct path to Revenant,” Nero nodded. “I just hope he’s still on Zov, though what he could be doing there is beyond me. It’s possible they—“ he cut himself off, thinking that the VoQuana could have spent the last few years reconditioning him, destroying Faen’s memories, or something else that would make Faen into a dead end for both their investigation and his own personal mission. He didn’t want to believe that, though. He needed this lead to work out, so he gritted his teeth against the possibility of it going wrong.

  “The odds are low that he paid Captain Faen directly,” Khepria said after a deep breath. She was back in business mode.

  “But the money had to come from somewhere, and that is traceable. Once we have that path, the rest will follow,” he said. The conversation seemed to end there, but he couldn’t leave quite yet. “Thank you, for looking into Sergeant Faen. It means a lot.”

  “You are welcome, Nero.” She gave his arm a squeeze. “For you I do it gladly.”

  Nero, Prospero said after his long silence. I am with you in this, too. I must know the truth of what we are. Captain Faen is the only being, other than Daedalus, that can tell us if what you remembered is real or not. I, too, choose to believe this will work out.

  Khepria studied his face. “Prospero?”

  He nodded. What if Athame objects?

  Then I will deal with her myself, Prospero said. And one way or another, we will have answers.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Calemni System

  41:2:41 (J2400:3172)

  The Fukuro-maru emerged from the corridor of warped space-time like a dark sea creature from the depths of the void. Spherical ripples spread out from the distortion, shimmering in a ghostly-blue pulse of Cherenkov radiation around the narrow, diamond-shaped body of the vessel. Behind the black craft, the space-time distortion collapsed in on itself and vanished in a micro-burst of cerulean light.

  Cylus and Lina met Captain Fukui and Ben on the bridge shortly after the ship emerged from the Einstein-Rosen bridge. They passed most of the last twenty days in the ship’s Cyberweb node rather than deal with the weeks of boredom inside the wormhole. The node kept his mind off what happened in his solar and what the consequences back at the capital might be. He couldn’t afford to let them weigh him down, not when he was on the verge of being equal to the task of avenging his family.

  Unlike Sophi, who had a love of virtual beaches, Lina wanted to spend their time in an ancient Earth city. The Fukuro-maru did not had any such programs pre-loaded, but undaunted, she set the node to “dreamer mode,” which allowed her mind to make up the world around them as they went along. The place she constructed was called “Eighteenth Century Vienna.” With the help of the node’s tachypsychia function, they spent a glorious week taking in classical music concerts and spending quite a great deal of their time in a palace reenacting their behavior from his solar.

  “Welcome back, was your node experience a pleasant one?” Captain Fukui swiveled her egg-chair around as they entered. Her tail curved out from the chair’s opening holding a drink-sphere filled with a translucent yellow-green liquid that sent steam up through the protruding straw. Her hands played in the air above her armrests, interacting with holographic controls only she could see. Her fingers had shimmering rainbow polish on them that reminded him of oil on water.

  “Yes, thank you.” He arrested his forward drift with a hand on the bridge’s circular door frame. His other one held Lina’s and used the connection to halt her motion beside him. Both of them were wearing gray overalls with the Mitsugawa family crest displayed on their shoulders they found in the crew lockers beside their sleeping niches.

  “Our arrival in the Calemni System is without incident so far. I put us as close to the planet as I dared like you wanted, Baron. Currently, I have the ship scanning the system for hostiles,” Fukui said between sips.
/>
  Her words brought the image of a Confederate FTL ship bearing the name “Laocoon” to mind.

  “Is there a ship out there?” Lina looked over the glowing virtual terminals around them.

  “I am still scanning. There are a lot of radiation sources in this system, and I don’t want to announce our presence any more than we already have with our ERB. It will take a few minutes for the computer to finish cataloging and identifying all of the signals in the area. The only thing I can tell you right now is that the refueling station that is supposed to be here is silent. Their beacon is not active. This is very strange.”

  Cylus looked up at the windows as if he could see the planet without mechanical aid at this distance. “Which one is it?”

  Captain Fukui flashed one of the windows in his vision using his cerebral computer’s link to the ship. His eyes were drawn to a pinprick of steady light among the stars. As he gazed at the bright, blue-white dot it appeared to split into spinning shards in a widening circle. He yanked his eyes away from the window, doing his best to control his breathing. When he looked up the pinpoint of light was back to normal.

  “If there was another FTL ship in the area, wouldn’t we be able to pick up its reactor’s neutrino signature?” Lina asked.

  “Or its IFF signal if it were to broadcast one.” Captain Fukui nodded. “The exit zone for this system is at thirty-five AU, so if a ship has been here more than four and three-quarter hours, given our current position, we will pick up on its emissions. The neutrinos, along with other types of radiation ships give off, would give it away.”

  “Neutronium-antimatter reactors of the kind that power FTL ships radiate quantum radiation with a fairly unique signature,” Ben explained to Cylus.

  “We have to wait for the computer to parse it out from the background radiation,” Captain Fukui added.

  “Should we wait? I mean, we’re here. We as might as well head in. This ship has stealth capabilities, and I don’t think we’ll be here that long, right?” Cylus looked to Lina.

  “I agree, the sooner we are done with this the better,” she said.