Renegade Star Origins Box Set

by J. N. Chaney

  “That is not good judgment,” I chided.

  She just rolled her eyes. “Kidding, Alphonse. I know better. Still, bet I win.” With a smirk, she pulled herself into the ducting in a smooth, practiced motion and descended. I composed myself, pulled out a second pair of magsliders, and followed her.

  I stopped abruptly as I ran into Marcella at the access panel to the 33rd floor. She was struggling to situate herself so she could push open the panel and not tumble further down the shaft.

  For a moment, we were twined together with arms and legs impeding our movement no matter what adjustments we tried to make. Finally, I shoved a magslider onto my foot and anchored across, offering her a seat. From that vantage point, she pried the latch open and pushed the panel away to crawl inside the room. I pulled my foot out of the magslide and mirrored her move. Seconds later, we were on the 33rd floor.

  I took a quick survey of the surroundings on the other side of the panel, which seemed to match the blueprints we’d been able to purchase from an illegal merchant on the gal-net. The room was dimly lit and appeared to be someone’s office. A shaded window graced one wall, and Marcella and I moved to it in a low crouch.

  Just outside, an upscale reception lobby was being patrolled by a pair of armed guards that read like mercenaries. As they moved away to finish their rounds, approaching footsteps sounded from the opposite direction. Before either of us could react, the office door swung open and the light flipped on, exposing us.

  Marcella stood behind me staring at an older, distinguished-looking man. I recognized him from the files as Constable Lacroan, though he looked less illustrious than his picture. I estimated that he’d lost some weight, and his clothes hung on his slender frame.

  When the door closed and the Constable noticed us, he jumped. Training kept him silent and he recovered quickly.

  “Don’t alert the guards, Lacroan. We’re here to help.” With Marcella in the room I didn’t reveal either of our identities as Constables. “But first, the lady needs to speak with you.”

  He sat at a work desk, still deigning to say anything. I noticed his gaze cut down to an artifact there, then back up to us. Shrugging, he picked it up and carefully began to clean it. It looked remarkably similar to the gun I had helped steal from Meridian.

  From the silence and pained, confused expression frozen on her face, it was clear that Lacroan was her father, which confirmed my suspicions.

  “Ask your questions,” I told her. “I’ll get what I need after.”

  She tugged at the shield necklace, the one I’d seen her wearing in the lobby of The Prime Lady. “Dad?”

  Lacroan was startled, dropping a tool and nearly bobbling the artifact onto the floor after it. He turned as if stricken. “Marcella? But… how? How are you here? How did you find me?”

  Marcella ran forward and embraced Lacroan. “I used what you taught me. I followed the clues and didn’t ever give up.” Through the embrace, I locked eyes with Lacroan, and his face told an obvious story. He was tired, worn out from doing delicate work with few resources and no support. But there was something else, too much to see in an instant.

  Marcella broke off the hug and turned to me. “This is Alphonse. He helped me a lot in the last few days. I wouldn’t be here without him. He’s going to help get you out of here.”

  Lacroan sighed heavily and sat back down. “I don’t know how. Evelyn has me under constant watch and guard. The only reason they aren’t in here now is because the weapons create an instability with the artifact repairs. I will be expected to check in with them soon, though. I need to put this away in a time lock before they enter.”

  He gestured to a transparent safe nearby. It showed a timer with twelve minutes remaining.

  Marcella patted him on the shoulder. “Just tell Alphonse what’s going on. He’s amazing at solving problems. He also has a team outside. We can do this. We can save you!”

  Lacroan shook his head in defeat. “I don’t know that I can be saved. I’ve done too much for Evelyn now. She has to be stopped before I can go anywhere.”

  That was the second time he’d mentioned her by name. I wondered then if he knew who I really was. It wouldn’t be a stretch for Evelyn to have mentioned me to him.

  “What have you been doing for her?” I asked bluntly. “To stop her, we need to know what she’s planning.”

  Lacroan glanced furtively at the timer and went to peer out the window. The coast must have been clear, because he came back and started speaking in an urgent whisper. “She has a device. A diffusion pod. She’s going to use the stolen neutronium to power up the pod and transfer energy to the various artifacts she and her buyers have been amassing.”

  It was a heavy statement, but it sounded implausible. “How? I know you are an expert on this ancient tech, but my understanding was no known energy or technique could activate them.”

  Lacroan shook his head. “I found a way. It was partially an accident. I’ve been pretending I didn’t have the right materials to fully complete the process, delaying Evelyn’s final sale, but she told me she would harm something very dear to me if I didn’t stop stalling. I’d assumed Marcella had been kidnapped.”

  Marcella nodded angrily. “I was. They were going to hold me with some other prisoners, people connected to the buyers. Alphonse rescued us both.”

  I felt something hot on the back of my neck as the hairs on it raised. Something wasn’t adding up. I keyed my left comm, then I leaned into the awkward feeling and let it spill into my voice. “It’s more complicated than that. Marcella saved me as much as I saved her. She’s more than resourceful. She’s outright clever.”

  Leon came through on the right earpiece. “We have movement in the downstairs lobby. A lot. You need to get out of there and fast.”

  I looked to Marcella and confirmed that she’d heard the message too. “You go. Don’t try and delay them. I’ll get the information we need to stop Evelyn and be right behind you.”

  Marcella nodded, hugged Lacroan again, and then climbed into the vent. “See you soon, Dad. It will be alright, I promise.”

  I looked to the time lock. We had under five minutes. I turned off both of my comms, pulled out the left earpiece, and placed it in Lacroan’s hand. “You’re not leaving. I assume you have a plan?” I asked.

  Lacroan looked at the comm and nodded. “We don’t have much time. I know you. I saw your file when I got the Evelyn case. If you want to stop her, you will need an artifact. I’ve been telling Evelyn there is a component to the diffusion pod that can be found in a vault outside the city. I’ve sold her on the idea that it not only makes the pod work but can wirelessly empower multiple devices at once.”

  As he spoke, he returned to his work, prepping the artifact weapon for some future task and carefully watching the time lock. “Follow the river to a place where the valley dips and bends. This is where the vault should lie. Get me the contents inside and I can reverse everything the pod does. At the sale, there will be a moment where she will be left powerless and exposed. That will be your chance.”

  Everything about Lacroan’s behavior was off. Off so much that it was perfect. Too perfect, as though he were a robot following commands. He made no sign or gesture to indicate the existence of cameras or bugs. His plan to foil Evelyn was being delivered at an even volume without subtext. Even his acceptance of Marcella as his daughter was carefully presented to enjoin authenticity. This was a trap.

  I nodded, playing along until I could discover his true motivation. “How do I get this artifact to you?”

  Lacroan placed the ancient gun in the timelock. “Give it to Marcella. She will make sure it gets back here. You can trust her. She’s family.”

  Footsteps sounded in the hall, signaling the return of the guards. Lacroan paused, staring at me for a few seconds before finally turning slightly to give me a quick wink. It was barely discernible that I might have missed it, but it was enough to tell me what I needed to know. He had hidden himself from whatever ca
meras there were, showing me just enough to reveal the truth of the situation—to tell me he was on my side.

  I didn’t dare respond to his showing, but instead stepped into the shaft. “See you soon,” I said, simply, and then sealed the access panel as I heard the door open and the guards enter. As far as Evelyn knew, her ruse was working perfectly. I had to trust my instinct that between my own efforts and Lacroan’s, Evelyn would be walking into a trap of her own making.

  17

  Dorian worked the controls, shifting the ship into a low-orbit freefall. He looked at the vectors I had set and dismissed them with a huff. “Kid, you gotta learn to put some finesse in your space flight. If you woo women the way you plot courses, I expect them to call you Alpha Lame.”

  That elicited a light laugh from Marcella.

  I gave the other Constable my sourest face and set in the next vector: rigid, correct, no frills. He gunned the engine, emerging from the freefall and blasting a shockwave into the side of the canyon that shook trees and sent flying creatures skyward.

  “That’s how it’s done!”

  I tried to deepen my look of rancor but found it tiresome to put on the act, so I rolled my eyes instead. “Fine. I’m being surly. Look, we’re not out of the woods. We have to find this place, get the goods, and then deal with Evelyn. Added to that is keeping Marcella’s father safe and retrieving this artifact.”

  Dorian cut the engines again, letting the ship slide into an air pocket laterally before cranking up the force again. Marcella’s face lit up with excitement as Dorian put the ship through several more maneuvers before smoothing out again.

  I expanded the holo display and chose a nearby spot that would work to set us down. “I see an area where we can set down easily. One of us will have to stay with the ship and make sure no one tries anything while we’re gone.”

  Dorian, flying carefully now, headed to the marked landing site. “Leon, you up to the task?”

  Leon, who had been quiet thus far, and now looked a little green, nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. I don’t think I’m up for exploring a cave right now.”

  I looked back to the display. “Alright. The coordinates I found look solid. We’re entering a delta that has been cut into by a second river. This is the place that Lacroan described as ‘where the river dips and bends.’ We should see something subtly artificial along the canyon wall.”

  The ship slowed to a crawl and the four of us stared intently out the screen. I ordered the sensors to look for abnormalities in the composition of the wall but, as I suspected, the scans came back inconclusive. “Keep looking. Anything that seems strange. I’m trying a parallax scan for mathematically implausible flat areas among the sediment layers.”

  The bridge stayed quiet, with only the hum of the thrusters breaking the silence as we searched for any sign of Lacroan’s vault.

  Marcella spoke first. “Stop. I’ve got something.”

  Dorian pulled the ship into a shallow hover. “Where?”

  “Left. On your side. How do I—”

  I unbuckled and joined her to lean over the console, then tapped to indicate a spot. The spot I’d touched lit up and coordinates appeared. “Just highlight what you see.”

  She punched in a few keys and then circled the area she’d seen.

  There was a brown expanse of rock painted onto the red background. It looked the same as every other brown and red outcropping along the cliffside except for one difference. A subtle line of white that stopped for a moment and reappeared on the other side of the brown clump.

  I nodded to Dorian. “It’s worth a look. Bring us in tight and I’ll take another scan. With a specific target, the sensors might pick up something.”

  The MikroTrek did a slow pass of the wall Marcella had indicated, getting close enough to set off the proximity sensors, but Dorian didn’t let the ship hit it. All Tiros were trained to learn tactical procedures, especially those that might occur in the field, but Dorian excelled at piloting. I didn’t think even the A.I. could have performed as well.

  I studied the sensor readings of the wall of the canyon. It was the same combination of minerals as the rest. Even so, there was something puzzling about the brown slab.

  Marcella, ever the relic hunter’s daughter, noticed it first. “It’s not as thick here,” she said, indicating the display. “See, here? The density of the rock on either side is nearly triple this section. But…”

  Her brow furrowed in confusion and I examined the readout again. Her confusion stemmed from the readings beyond the initial discrepancy. “That can’t be right.”

  “Excellent observation, Marcella.” I shot her a smile. “Let’s go find a vault.”

  “Digger,” I said, reaching out a hand.

  Leon handed me the square tool and braced himself against the hatch. He clung on to my harness as I leaned forward and planted the edge of the digger into the slab. It gave way with a crunch and tumbled into the river below. Beneath it, a scintillating metallic substance shone. I placed the digger against the edge of the metal and the surrounding rock and pulled. Another hunk came off and careened downward.

  Again, I set and pulled and then switched off with Leon. We worked at the wall for an hour until it was clear. The clumps of stone came free too easily, as though the sediment had packed and solidified in unnatural ways. None of us had noticed, but Leon had pointed it out, recognizing it easily from his time working with the ores in the area. My own experience and training lacked in that area, so I had no frame of reference to compare it to.

  The cliff wall didn’t offer any ledges that could be used as a natural pathway, but we’d come prepared. With the entrance to the vault finally exposed, we set a series of climbing anchors along the side and top, then began constructing a kind of temporary scaffold and ladder.

  I opened my comms. “Dorian, we’ve got everything set for egress. Coming up now.”

  Leon and I ascended the wall face and pulled ourselves over the top to where the ship and our small crew waited.

  Marcella emerged from the MikroTrek in an outfit more fitted for exploration. An array of sensible pockets with tools and equipment adorned her clothing and an explorer’s belt was secured around her torso and waist. She moved nimbly, even under all the gear, telling me she wore it frequently. Dorian came out behind her in tactical clothes, carrying a pistol in one hand and another on his hip.

  With the anchors placed, I attached ropes and tested the lines, then stood ready to go over the edge with a medkit on my back. Leon retreated to the cockpit, ready to react if needed. Marcella and Dorian joined me on the platform below. After acknowledging we were all ready, the other constable gave the signal and we rappelled down to the platform.

  The doorway gleamed dully and didn’t totally reflect with the light. I theorized the metal had been treated with something to avoid detection in case the facade failed due to weather or those like us who were looking for it. Depending on how I turned my head, the metal took on a deep blue color or a faint purple with glyphs etched into it. Marcella traced her fingers along several of the markings.

  “Does any of this seem familiar?” I asked. “Did your father teach you anything about this?”

  She shook her head. “I saw some books he had, but I was young. This is beyond casual knowledge.”

  Dorian finished his own scans with a handheld scanner. “I’m getting readings all over the place. None of it holds steady from one scan to the next. Based on what I’m seeing, it’s an unknown cloaking tech or something inside is jamming the signal from going beyond this point. I’m betting on the former.”

  I examined every centimeter of the door but didn’t see anything obvious. The edges we had uncovered melded with the surrounding rock until they appeared to become one, then turned into the denser stone.

  After we had exhausted our ideas and scans, Marcella sat on the platform with a frustrated sigh and tilted her head back and forth. “Why does it mess with the light like that?” She squinted at the door. />
  Though I knew what she was referring to, I sat next to her and matched her head motions to gain another perspective. But it looked the same.

  “Light is nothing more than visible radiation,” I said, offhandedly, remembering a science class I’d actually enjoyed at Quintell Academy. “What it’s doing is absorbing some of that radiation but not all and not all at once. It reflects and redistributes the light purposely. Like a vid screen would do.”

  “What, Al, you got something?” asked Dorian when I sat up abruptly.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” I said. My seemingly innocuous explanation had sparked an idea. They seemed to be asking for a specific band of radiation. I fished an infrared light out of the tool bag.

  I focused the invisible heat radiation on the wall. Nothing changed at first. I swept the light down to the bottom and then to the top. The pattern of absorption was changing. After a moment, I was able to determine there was a reset time of about five seconds.

  Dorian watched with interest. “Is it a code or a key?”

  I frowned as I focused the beam for another pass. “I think both miss the real purpose. I think it’s more like an itch. It needs to be scratched until it feels comfortable.”

  Dorian took a swig of water and laughed. “If you don’t get this thing open, I’m going to make jokes about that for a long time.”

  I concentrated on moving the light, building in speed as the etchings grew in intensity and then slowing again as they spread out. There was a rumble from behind the door, a click, then the metal depressed inward and created a large circle just taller than Dorian. It irised open from the center outward. Beyond, a lit passage extended down into the cliffside.

  While the walls of the chamber were sleek and covered in the same kind of etchings as the door, they didn’t have the same scintillating quality. Light passed over them with common reflection.