Fire Storm

by Chris Ward

  ‘It’s a super-lightweight metal used to construct space stations. Its chemical properties were only found in the Phevius System until the last Expansion, but one of the new systems had a larger—and therefore cheaper—supply. Phevian tungsten is no longer used outside the Phevius System. That’s how long this ship has been here.’

  ‘Fuel reserves? Is there enough to make this trip not a complete waste?’

  Caladan ran a finger down the screen. ‘Oh, yeah. Plenty. We can fill up and then some. Oh … wait a minute.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The cargo. It was jettisoned, all of it.’

  ‘Why? By who?’

  ‘Doesn’t say. Only that the systems were overridden, the cargo was jettisoned, and something was installed in its place.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Doesn’t say that either. This is an automated system. Unless details were logged manually, its records literally only state when the cargo bay doors were last opened and closed.’

  ‘And when was that?’

  Caladan looked up. The usual confidence had faded from his eyes. ‘Six Earth-months ago. Lia, I think we’d better get off this ship. Someone’s hiding something on it, and that generally means trouble.’

  Lia gave a slow nod. ‘Not until we’ve taken a look,’ she said.

  Caladan grimaced. ‘I was afraid you were going to say that.’

  2

  Caladan

  They moved quickly with photon blasters raised to their shoulders, Lia—with her Galactic Military Police experience—in the lead, Caladan bringing up the rear. Auxiliary lights left each corridor mottled with intermingling shadows, and Caladan resisted the urge to hang back, aware that if Lia were taken down, his own life wouldn’t last much longer.

  ‘Okay, next left,’ he whispered. ‘According to the map, the maintenance entrance will be in front of us.’

  Lia nodded but didn’t reply. As quietly as a ghost, she slipped around the corner, dropping low, her blaster ready. Caladan followed. The doors stood open, only darkness visible within. They crept through, and from the change of air, Caladan sensed a vast open space. It smelled both of rock and metal, one fresher than the other.

  ‘Lights,’ Lia said.

  Caladan felt his way to a control panel on the wall. It was switched off, but he removed the casing and inserted a charging battery into a port. The power booster would give them a few seconds at most, but it would be enough to see what they had found. He grimaced as he activated the control, afraid of most possible outcomes, but of a sea of decomposed corpses the most.

  Lights flicked on down the cargo bay’s length, illuminating a space filled floor to roof with stacked robots, war machines, and land-assault artillery, all of it shining with newness, recently rolled off a manufacturer’s conveyor. Caladan, in his years of experience, had come face to face with war hosts on multiple occasions, but what he saw made him take a step back. The freighter’s cargo bay contained an entire invasion force, just waiting to be unloaded.

  Almost immediately, the lights began to flick out as the power booster’s charge ran down. Lia turned to Caladan as darkness enveloped them again.

  ‘I really hope you didn’t have your eyes closed for that.’

  ‘A war host,’ he said. ‘Hidden away. What do we do, Captain? Sell it or blow it?’

  ‘I think—’

  A hiss of grinding metal cut off her words. Along the viewing platform, beyond where Lia stood, lights had flickered on in the chest of a stationary robot now turning toward them. As arms equipped with guns lifted, Caladan dropped to a knee, lifted his own weapon, and shot out the robot’s head.

  It sparked and crackled, then buckled at the knees and slumped over, its internal balancers freezing on deactivation to leave it hung over halfway to the ground like a metallic statue that had begun to melt.

  Farther down the catwalk and behind them, as though part of a chain reaction, other robots were coming to life.

  ‘Remote sentries,’ Lia said. ‘We shouldn’t have turned on the lights. We’ve triggered them, and I’m pretty sure we won’t match the required facial recognition code to return them to hibernation.’

  Caladan flinched as the wall beside him burst apart in an explosion of sparks and shards of flying metal. One piece lodged in his beard, stopped by the thick hairs a finger’s width from his neck.

  ‘Run!’ he shouted, pushing Lia toward the door.

  With a squeal of metal and a whirring of internal mechanics, the robots moved in pursuit. Caladan hit the door control as he passed, but it could have been Earth-decades since its last use, and it got stuck half-closed. As they reached the corner, the first of the sentries smashed its way through the remaining space and rushed in pursuit.

  Caladan and Lia backpedaled through the dimly lit corridors, crashing through any door they could find that would open, but the crunch of metallic feet was always close behind. Eventually they found themselves trapped by a locked door, so Lia gave Caladan cover while he tried to open it, but even with Lia dispatching them with trained accuracy, the robots came on, dozens of them now.

  ‘Where did they come from?’

  ‘I’d guess they were all over the ship,’ Lia shouted. ‘We probably walked past a couple of dozen without even realising. Have you opened that stupid door yet?’

  Caladan punched the control panel, and the door ground open. ‘Got it!’

  They rushed through, the robots not far behind, returning fire when in sight. Caladan looked for anything he recognised as they ran, but they were deep in the bowels of the ship, and without time to activate a control panel and pull up a map, they were lost. He tried to recall what he knew of the ship’s model from his years in pilot training school, but there were too many races making too many ships … so few followed general conventions, and uniformity was a concept only human- and human-subspecies-built craft followed.

  ‘Down here … maybe,’ he said, turning a corner and finding a ladder shaft. ‘At least they can’t follow.’

  He headed down, Lia coming after. The lack of a left arm made performing a lot of actions difficult, and one of the hardest things to do was climb down a ladder. He moved with jerky movements, using momentum to avoid falling off while moving his single hand down each rung.

  They were near to an opening below when something hissed above them.

  ‘What’s that?’

  A foul smell filled his nose and eyes, and he found himself losing grip on the ladder. His back bumped against something, then he hit the ground. A numbness overtaking his body swallowed whatever pain he should have felt.

  It felt like years later when he woke. At first the room’s bright lights hurt his eyes, but as they adjusted to take in his surroundings, he let out a long groan.

  A holding cell.

  Beside him, someone jerked away.

  ‘Lia?’

  She sat up. As always, she maintained an aesthetic of alluring beauty, despite dried blood down one side of her face, and a bruise around one eye that could have come from a baton or a human fist.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘They gassed us. That’s all I remember. My leg hurts, so I guess it could be broken. How far did we fall?’

  She smiled. ‘You cushioned me. That’s worth a promotion.’

  ‘To what? I’m already chief doormat. What’s next?’

  ‘I’ll think of something. Now, how can we get out of here?’

  She lifted her hands to reveal electronically fitted cuffs around her wrists. Caladan, with only one wrist, was cuffed to a metal hook that was part of the bench they were sitting on. Both also had cuffs around their ankles.

  ‘I think we’ve got a small problem,’ Caladan said. ‘They’ve taken all my gadgets.’

  ‘And my weapons.’

  Caladan forced a smile. ‘What is it they say? The best weapon is your tongue?’

  Lia scowled. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

  ‘I was talking general “your”, not just you.’ />
  ‘Well, let’s hope you’re right.’

  The door clicked open and a tall human entered, flanked by two spine-backed Rue-Tik-Tan carrying rapid-firing assault blasters. The man’s face was marked with a greenish scar that meandered down one side of his face. He looked vaguely familiar, but Caladan, whose memory wasn’t as good as Lia’s, couldn’t recall where he’d seen the face before. Perhaps on a GMP wanted list, a few places above his own.

  ‘Lianetta Jansen,’ the man said. ‘And … expendable associate.’

  ‘My fame is only system-wide,’ Caladan said. ‘Forgive me?’

  At a flick of the man’s finger, one of the Rue-Tik-Tan guards backhanded Caladan across the face. He shook his head, stunned, yet glad his beard had taken most of the impact from scales sharp enough to remove a layer of skin. He glared at Lia, hoping she would learn from his mistake.

  ‘Solven Snell,’ Lia said, teeth gritted, straining at her bonds. ‘The Snake. I got within a whisper of catching you.’

  ‘You merely nicked my tail. It wasn’t even close.’

  ‘You know I would never have let you go to trial. I would never have taken the risk of letting you go free.’

  ‘One system’s rules don’t apply in another,’ Snell said. ‘But a wanted person is always a wanted person, and I’m afraid there’s a price on your head these days, too.’

  Caladan looked from one to the other. ‘Am I missing something here?’

  ‘The Snake orchestrated a genocide on Boldor Nine in the Candar System,’ Lia said. ‘When I was GMP, one of my tasks was to hunt him down.’

  ‘You should know a snake is always the predator,’ Snell said. ‘And now you’ve become the prey.’

  ‘Who are you working for? Whose operation is this? You don’t have the power or money, so who’s holding your leash?’

  ‘That would be telling, wouldn’t it? I’m sure my master would like to meet you. Pray for it, maybe. However ….’ He frowned, then nodded. ‘Bring them to the docking bay.’

  The guards manhandled Lia and Caladan through the freighter’s corridors. When they arrived in the hangar, they found the Matilda surrounded by robot guards.

  ‘You should have stayed away,’ Snell said. ‘That distress signal was not for you.’

  ‘It was a disguise, wasn’t it?’ Lia snapped. ‘A code for whoever you’re hiding these weapons for.’

  Snell glared at her. ‘Your tongue is sharper than mine. Be quiet or I might cut it out.’

  The robots loaded Lia and Caladan onto the ship, but when Caladan began to entertain thoughts that they might be set free, they were dragged into a holding cell and restrained in braces designed for transporting passengers through stasis-ultraspace.

  ‘I’ve taken the liberty of setting a course for you,’ Snell said from the doorway. ‘It’ll take you far from here, far enough that you’ll never find this freighter again. And when you reach your destination, an associate of mine will be waiting for you. Have a nice flight, won’t you? I wish our meeting could have been a little longer, but I’m afraid I’m not one for sentiment.’

  Lia scowled at Caladan as the door closed. ‘Where’s Harlan? Is there some way we can contact him?’

  ‘If he can connect with the ship’s systems, he’ll know we’re in here,’ Caladan said, ‘but we left him on level two. He’s as stuck there as we are here.’

  The holding cell shuddered as the ship began to move. Caladan glanced at Lia, then before either could speak, they were slammed back against the wall as the ship departed the dock, roaring into space.

  ‘Quite a different experience from down here, isn’t it?’ Caladan said through gritted teeth, as the launch Gs felt set to rip out his ribcage and use it to paint a mural with his innards on the metal wall behind.

  ‘There’s nothing to stop him setting us a course right into the nearest star,’ Lia said. ‘We have to stop doing this. We have to be more careful.’

  ‘At least we’re on our own ship.’

  Lia gave an awkward shrug, the straps preventing her from moving much. ‘There is that.’

  Unable to free themselves, and unable to call on Harlan5 for help, they had no choice but to wait the trip out. Several Earth-hours later, both were dozing when the engines abruptly cut out.

  ‘Perhaps he’s just burned up our fuel and set us to drift,’ Caladan said. ‘Leaving us to die in here of starvation is eloquently barbaric.’ He grinned. ‘At least I get to die looking at a pretty face. I feel sorry for you.’

  ‘I get to spend my last hours listening to your wit,’ Lia said. ‘What girl wouldn’t find that a pleasing way to die?’

  ‘You’d be better swallowing your own tongue.’

  Lia grinned. ‘I’ve been trying for the last half an hour.’

  The Matilda shuddered around them. ‘We’re moving,’ Caladan said. ‘No engines. Must be a gravitational field.’

  ‘I guess Snell was true to his word,’ Lia said. ‘Want to put a wager on what walks through that door?’

  ‘You know I’m a gambling man,’ Caladan said. ‘Two thousand Trill System checks says it’s Barelaon mercs. You’ll get passed around the human-subspecies members of the crew until you’re suitable only for the ovens, while I’ll be beheaded and left to rot in the trash, ignored even by dogs. A shame I’ll never get to cash in my winnings.’

  ‘Kalistini blood traders,’ Lia said. ‘They’ll take us through one of the wormholes from the last Expansion into some exotic universe where our blood will be used to paint their palaces.’ She grinned. ‘Although, if we’re keeping to type, they’ll use mine for the bedchamber, and yours for the cellar.’

  Caladan sighed. ‘I guess you won’t be able to cash your winnings in either.’

  The door control clicked.

  ‘Moment of truth,’ Caladan said.

  The door slid open and two figures in shining silver body armour stepped into the cell. Helmets with chrome visors and blue stripes on either side covered their heads, while at their waists hung a pair of twin-barreled photo pistols.

  ‘I don’t believe it,’ Lia said, groaning and throwing her head back against the restraining seat with a soft, padded bump. ‘He’s only gone and shipped us to the Galactic Military Police.’

  3

  Lia

  ‘So, after all this time, you come back to me. How long has it been, Lia? Thirteen Earth-years? I’ve almost lost count. It’s such a pity it had to be in bonds.’

  Lia glared at the silver-haired man in the dark blue GMP officer’s uniform. Kyle Jansen had risen far in the organisation since their last meeting. As he turned, she caught sight of a green double-headed dragon emblem on his right shoulder, the mark of a lieutenant commander. Once, she had proudly worn the same.

  Lia smiled. ‘It’s good to see you again, Kyle. If you release my cuffs, I’ll give you a hug.’

  ‘All in good time.’ He turned to the guards standing sentry duty beside the only door into the private audience chamber. ‘You may wait outside.’

  The door hissed open, then closed, leaving Lia and Kyle alone.

  ‘I miss Stephen, too,’ Kyle said, abruptly turning away from her and walking to a monitor screen set into one wall that displayed an image of star-dotted, drifting space. ‘He was my brother as well as your husband. I just reacted to his death … differently.’

  ‘I was blamed, court-marshaled, and then outlawed,’ Lia said. ‘What was I supposed to do? Open a restaurant on Areola One? The moment anyone got a sniff that I was former GMP, every bounty hunter in the Seven Systems would have wanted a piece of me. I just put what skills I had back to use, that’s all.’

  ‘There are more than thirty individual bounties on your head,’ Kyle said. ‘Do you think you were successful?’

  Lia shrugged. ‘I’m still alive.’

  ‘Not only did you disgrace yourself, but you disgraced the memory of your family. Our family.’ Kyle turned to face her. Lia studied his features, but there was little resemblance to her husband. Kyle h
ad been a teenager when Stephen was born, and the boys had grown up apart. The height, maybe, the broadness of the shoulders … Kyle was cold where Stephen had been warm, rigid and strict where Stephen had been dedicated and compassionate. The GMP had been the wrong profession for her husband, and after the birth of their son, Andrew, Lia had wanted to get out, raise their family somewhere safe away from space, a place they could call home.

  But once you were GMP, you were always GMP. With the prestige and the fame came the enemies.

  And in the end, Stephen and Andrew had paid the ultimate price.

  Lia squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could block out memories that could bring her to the point of madness, and when she opened them, Kyle was frowning.

  ‘What’s the matter, Lia? You look sad. Are you recalling the hundreds—maybe thousands—who have died as a result of your “new profession”?’

  ‘What do you want from me, Kyle?’

  ‘It might be better if you call me Commander Jansen. After you disappeared, leaving our family reputation in tatters, I removed you from my thoughts and feelings. And you know what I want. You’ve been on our wanted list for nearly ten Earth-years. There are warlords less dangerous than you. At best you can look forward to an extended lifespan lived out somewhere like the Vantar prison moon in Phevius System, while at worst you could be executed for your crimes within an Earth-month. You are aware that former police are given the harshest possible penalties?’

  Lia nodded. ‘I used that line on occasion myself.’

  ‘There is only one course of action that could see you set free. You know what it is, don’t you?’

  Lia nodded. ‘I turn informant. Names, information, background, of everyone I’ve ever worked for.’

  ‘You’re a clever girl.’

  ‘And you’re a patronising—’

  Kyle lifted a hand. ‘Hold the insults. You know I’d do what I can for you. We’re family, after all.’

  Lia was masked and returned to her cell. Neither guard would respond to her questions, but she guessed she was imprisoned on one of the outpost GMP stations that sometimes hovered near wormholes, looking for smugglers coming out of stasis-ultraspace, but it was impossible to know for sure. Caladan, however, had been taken somewhere else, leaving Lia alone in the coldly sanitized cell.