by Isaac Hooke
“Hey, I can’t tell you how happy I am I lost that auction,” Gregory said. “This damn ship is so cramped, I don’t think I could have stood it for more than a few weeks.”
“See what I mean?” Nebb said. “Sour Grapes.”
“So why hire two, again?” Tane asked.
“One of them will jump us to whatever system Sinive is in,” Nebb said. “You three brave morons—Lyra, Jed, and yourself—will take the shuttle while I wait in the Red Grizzly, safe on the system’s outskirts. And if things turn sour, I’ll have a second well-rested specialist ready to jump me out.”
“So you really aren’t coming with us,” Tane said. “I thought you might be joking.”
“Nope,” Nebb replied. “I’m not going to risk my ship again. Didn’t you learn anything the last time? It won’t help you much if I’m not able to jump away because disruptors keep unwinding our distortion tunnel. After our last encounter, I swore I’d never get that close to an enemy again. I’ll stay for as long as I possibly can, but if any vessels get close to the Red Grizzly, I’m bailing.”
“But how are we going to get out of the system when we rescue Sinive?” Tane said. “A starship can easily overtake and outgun a mere shuttle.”
“That’s your problem to figure out, isn’t it?” Nebb said. “My advice would be to head for the nearest human colony. Assuming it hasn’t been destroyed.”
“And assuming there’s actually a human colony in the system at all,” Tane said.
“Wait a second,” Bad Apple chimed in. “You never said anything about jumping to an uncharted system. And what was that about a colony being destroyed?”
“Nothing,” Nebb said. “We’re just having idle talk. I don’t pay you to think, or to listen in on conversations above your pay grade.” The smuggler returned his attention to Tane. “As I was saying, none of that is my problem. It’s up to you to figure out how you’re going to get away from any enemies without drawing them to my position.”
Maybe this hadn’t been the greatest idea after all. And yet Tane couldn’t simply abandon Sinive, especially not now, not when there was still a small chance Lyra could save her. And that chance had to be present, it had to be. Otherwise Lyra would have canceled the mission. Wouldn’t she have? Then again, maybe even she didn’t know how far the infection had progressed. They might arrive only to discover the infection had completely destroyed all that was left of Sinive.
“Look kid,” Nebb continued. “In all honesty, your Volur isn’t paying me enough to do anything more. She originally contracted me to take you to Talendir. I’ve agreed to divert some of the original funds to cover the cost of renting the only shuttle I have aboard. And you know what? I’m essentially giving her the craft, because as I said, I don’t expect any of you to return. Consider it a small token of my appreciation for your attempt to rescue my jump specialist, who you three caused me to lose in the first place. How’s that for smuggler generosity?”
Tane stared at the glass he held, and at the thick liquid of the meal replacement inside it. Then he looked up.
“Sinive told me you were like a father to her,” Tane said.
A pained expression momentarily swept across Nebb’s face, but then vanished as quickly as it came. “Like I said, it’s time for you all to quit hanging onto delusions. I ain’t her father. Never was. I owe her no loyalty. Hell, I should be glad she’s gone. Means I won’t have to dole out her back pay after all.” His eyes darted shiftily toward the two jump specialists, perhaps nervous the words “back pay” would trigger them, but neither man said anything.
“You’re a heartless bastard, you know that?” Tane told him.
Nebb shrugged.
Tane glanced at the other two jump specialists and wondered if she should reveal just how badly Nebb had cheated Sinive in the past year and a half. He decided it wasn’t worth it. Tane needed these jump specialists just as much as Nebb did.
Tane finished his liquid meal replacement and then went directly to the cockpit where Lyra lingered alone. Her eyes were distant, telling him she was inside her chip, but she focused on Tane when he entered.
“Nebb says he’s not going to wait for us,” Tane said. “Or rather, he’ll wait only as long as the Red Grizzly is safe. The moment any enemy ships get close, he’s jumping.”
“I know,” Lyra said.
“Then how are we going to get back once we rescue Sinive?” Tane said. “If we take the shuttle, we’ll be pursued by the dwellers when we escape. Of course we’ll bring any ships they have into range of the Red Grizzly.”
“You should have thought of that before you insisted on coming along,” Lyra said.
“I assumed you had a plan,” Tane said, resisting the urge to throw up his arms in frustration.
“If you want, I can still drop you off at Talendir first,” Lyra said. “And then I’ll attempt the rescue alone with Jed.”
“No,” Tane said quickly. “No.” He paused to consider their options. “I guess, once we grab Sinive, the only way to escape is to completely commandeer the ship. Assuming she’s aboard a ship…”
“That will be impossible,” Lyra said. “Especially if it’s an alien ship. None of us can interface with their technology. Biometric locks encode all access. Personally, I myself always imagined we’d disable one of their engines or something along those lines, and then return to the shuttle and make our way back to the closest human colony in the system. Once there, we hide out until the TSN arrives. The TSN chases the dwellers away, and at that point we hire another ship and complete the journey to Talendir.”
“How do we know the dweller’s won’t shoot us out of the stars before we reach the human colony?” Tane said.
“We don’t,” Lyra said. “But I believe this is the faction that wants you alive.”
“So I’ll be the bait in all of this?” Tane said.
Lyra nodded. “You’re going to have to be. Why do you think I agreed to let you come in the first place? You’ll get us aboard their ship, or planet-side base, or wherever they reside. That’s the easy part. Getting out will be the tricky bit.”
Tane returned to his quarters to rest. He intended to get in some more practice with Essence Missile that evening before going to sleep.
But then Lyra pinged him. He accepted her call.
“Sinive’s signal finally reached this part of the Galnet,” Lyra said. “We have her location. We’re leaving shortly.”
27
Tane had been putting off answering his parents. Well, if he wanted to send them a message, now was the time. He might not get another chance ever again.
He pulled up the message interface on his HUD and activated the record button.
“Mom, Dad,” Tane said. “I’m not sure when this message will reach you. We never made it to our destination. I’m not sure now if we ever will. We lost a crew member. We’re going to try to get her back. I hope… I hope I’ll see you again. I’ll be in touch.”
Tane focused on the send button, but hesitated. There were so many things he had left unsaid. How thankful he was for everything his parents had done. How much he loved them.
They knew. They had to. He didn’t have to spell it out.
Tane sent the message and hurried toward the cockpit. He was able to move quickly because Grizz hadn’t yet closed the breach seals.
When he was halfway there, he lurched to the side before the inertial dampeners kicked in.
“What’s going on?” Tane said into the empty corridor.
“We’ve launched,” Grizz said. “The Red Grizzly is streaming across the moon’s surface in preparation for entering orbit.”
“What about the TSN?” Tane said. “Will we have to deal with them?”
“There are currently two TSN battleships in orbit, yes,” Grizz said. “All ships are supposed to report in with those battleships before leaving. We’ll enter orbit on the far side of the moon, away from the TSN ships, as well as the moon’s orbital defense platforms, and then jump before
anyone can intercept us.”
“Sneaky,” Tane said.
“We are smugglers,” Grizz said. “Sneaky is what we do best.”
Tane arrived at the cockpit to find Lyra seated next to Positron and Nebb. Jed had once more assumed his customary standing position near the entrance, and Tane took his place opposite the Bander.
“So what do we know about the source system?” Tane said.
Lyra glanced upward, as if signaling the AI to answer. Sure enough:
“It’s called Iridium because of the abundance of the namesake element in the system,” Grizz said over the intercom. “It’s located in the Outrim, so I’m sure you’ll love it.” Tane pulled up the respective system on his HUD. “Three stars. Iridium I and II are binaries, while Iridium III orbits the center of mass of the other two. There are two planetary systems, Iridium System A and Iridium System B. IS-A is composed of a few small rock planets in orbit about the third star, while IS-B is made up of more rock planets, gas giants, and an asteroid belt orbiting the combined center of mass of all three stars.
“There’s a research outpost on the dark side of a tidally locked Mercury-type planet in IS-B. Several mining companies own mineral rights for the deposits in the asteroid belt. Other than that, the system is otherwise empty: there is one postal node near the outskirts of the system, and no military presence.”
“So much for catching a ride on another ship,” Tane said.
“I’m sure one of the mining companies will be happy to give paying customers a ride out on the next freighter,” Lyra said.
“Well sure,” Tane said. “Once the alien threat is gone. Assuming they didn’t all flee the system when the aliens arrived.”
“They likely don’t know aliens are there,” Lyra said. “Remember, the dwellers escaped this moon in a human vessel. Or at least, we believe so.”
“So they haven’t alerted the TSN, you’re saying?” Tane asked her.
“I have people listening in on TSN chatter,” Lyra said. “So far, there have been no alerts issued in that system. But when we arrive, if any dweller ships appear, you can bet that a bunch of research ships and mining vessels are going to be making jumps. And TSN vessels will be dropping in shortly.”
“So that solves the problem of chasing away the dwellers once we’ve rescued Sinive,” Tane said. “Though it does give us another problem: we’ll have to avoid the TSN.”
“I may have to temporarily hand you over into their custody…” Lyra said.
“Temporarily,” Tane said. “Not sure I like the sound of that.” Tane focused on the layout of the Iridium system he had displayed on his HUD. “So where is Sinive in the system?”
“Her position at the time of transmission was approximately a hundred thousand kilometers out from an uninhabitable rock planet in IS-A known as IS-A-2, or Romulus, in orbit around Iridium III,” Grizz said.
“So she’s still aboard the human starship the dwellers hijacked…” Tane said.
“Possibly,” Lyra said. “But we can’t know for sure. The transmission is two days old.”
“Point taken,” Tane said. She could be anywhere. “So where are we going to jump in?”
“I’ve instructed Nebb to take us to a spot between Iridium III and the first planet of the secondary system,” Lyra said. “We’ll be jumping within the next twenty minutes.”
“You might as well head down to the shuttle bay and wait there,” Nebb said. “I want you ready to depart the instant we arrive. Just in case I need to get the hell out of there.”
“It’s too bad we don’t have a more loyal captain…” Tane said.
“Hey, you don’t want me, feel free to find someone else,” Nebb said. “Oh wait, I’m all you’ve got. Never mind!”
Lyra stood. “Let’s go.”
He and Jed followed Lyra into the cramped passageway outside. The Bander’s armor shrunk slightly as Jed entered; that was the first time Tane had seen it change size before his eyes, which only confirmed his earlier suspicions about the gear.
Tane addressed Lyra: “Maybe we should seriously consider hiring another ship?”
Lyra shook her head. “I have no more credits. And I can’t ask Talendir for any more at the moment.”
“Why not?” Tane pressed.
“The High Command expects me to bring you to the homeworld straightway,” Lyra said.
“So you’re going against your own leadership by doing this…” Tane said.
“Essentially,” Lyra said.
“Why?”
Lyra paused to glance askance. “Because some things are more important than obeying commands.”
Tane and the others entered the airlock at the hangar bay, and inside Tane got to glimpse the shuttle first hand. It looked essentially like a big ladybug, replete with half-dome hull and eight small landing gears “legs.” He ran an ID:
Ship: Grizzly Cub.
Class: Ladybug I Shuttle.
Offensive Weapons: None.
Point Defense Weapons: None.
Shielding system: None.
Passenger capacity (current/maximum): 0/4.
“Um,” Tane said. “Those specs aren’t very impressive. Without weapons or shields, we’ll be sitting ducks in that thing.”
“As I mentioned, the plan hinges entirely on the aliens’ desire to capture you,” Lyra said.
“Assuming we have the right faction,” Tane said.
“We do,” Lyra said.
The hangar itself looked like a crowded garage, with crates and lockers and other stuff Nebb stored in the place. There wasn’t very much room to move around at all, especially considering the shuttle used up most of the remaining available real estate.
“I get the feeling he doesn’t use this shuttle very often,” Tane said.
“Evidently not,” Lyra said. “All of this gear should really be secured to the bulkheads. He might lose some of it when we depart.”
“Too bad for Nebb,” Tane said.
“I want you to suit up,” Lyra told him. “It’s standard protocol when boarding a deep space shuttle.”
“All right,” Tane said, turning. “I’ll head back to the spacesuit closet. There should be a few left.”
“Forget those suits.” Lyra produced a small pouch from a hidden pocket of her dress—the pouch was a personal storage device, no doubt. Perhaps the dress pocket was, too. From the pouch she retrieved a spacesuit whose individual assemblies were bound together in a carbon fiber net.“I’d give you better armor, but this is all I have.”
As Tane unwrapped it, he ID’d the full suit and discovered it had twice the armor rating of his last spacesuit, and had double the oxygen capacity.
Armor: Spacesuit II.
Model: Excursion II-23 Rev b.
Item type: Uncommon.
Weight: 60 kg.
Armor rating: 10.
Armor effects: Protection from the void. Limited protection against weaker plasma and laser impacts. No protection against Essence attacks.
Spacesuit specific:
Oxygen tank: 100% (sixteen hours remaining)
Spare tank: 100% (thirty minutes remaining)
Extra features: IR and visual light headlamps. Cargo pockets containing medical and suit repair kits. Utility belt comes standard with a spool of carbon fiber safety cord, accessible via a release button.
Tane removed his shield generator, set aside his storage pouch, and prepared to don the spacesuit.
“If you don’t mind?” Lyra nodded toward Tane’s hands.
“Oh. Sorry.” Tane returned the Endurance rings he had borrowed from Lyra for his training.
“I’ll be needing them for the coming conflict,” she told him as she slid each ring onto her fingers one at a time.
Tane had no doubt she would.
He donned the spacesuit. When he was finished, the pressurized atmosphere kicked in with a sonic injection to his hand. He reattached the shield generator and storage pouch to the external utility belt, then removed his grenad
e harness from the storage device, fastening it atop his chest assembly. He fetched his D18 from the pouch, and the grip enlarged to fit his bulky gloves as he slid the rifle over his shoulder assembly. Finally he retrieved the Essence Energy Sword, securing it to his utility belt as well. Like the D18, the hilt enlarged slightly to fit his outfit.
“Will I still receive the usual bonuses if I grip the Essence Energy Sword through a spacesuit glove?” Tane asked.
“You will,” Lyra replied.
The Volur similarly donned a spacesuit retrieved from her personal storage device. When she was done, she reattached the small pouch to her utility belt, like Tane. But unlike Tane, she carried no obvious external weapons.
“You’re not going to arm yourself?”
“Jed is my weapon,” Lyra said. She reached into her pouch. “I want you to carry a spare spacesuit in your personal storage device for Sinive. Just in case Jed or I don’t make it to her.”
“What do you mean?” Tane said. “Of course you’ll make it to her.”
“Yes, but just in case,” Lyra said. She lowered her voice. “I don’t want to die for nothing.”
“You’re not going to die,” Tane said.
“Even so, it would set me at ease, knowing you have a spare suit for her,” Lyra said.
“But who’s going to heal her, if not you?” Tane said.
“You’ll find someone,” Lyra said. “But trust me when I say this, I fully intend to survive.”