by Terry Mixon
“Because he richly deserved it. That was too easy, by my way of thinking. Only the fact he gave us something useful made me show mercy, just like you said.”
“I was bluffing!”
“I wasn’t.”
He couldn’t say she was wrong, but he’d yet to kill anyone who hadn’t tried to kill him first. As much as he’d wanted to do exactly that, actually doing it brought him face to face with the monster inside him. He didn’t like what he’d seen.
Her expression softened a little. “I knew you wouldn’t do it, Brad. Not in the end. It’s not your way, so I did what had to be done. He’s not the first pirate or slaver I’ve executed after we captured them. He won’t be the last. Justice is served.
“Also, it’ll make the other prisoners cooperate more completely. They won’t lie or hold things back if they know I’ll space them. Which I will.”
Brad took a deep breath. “We should get back inside. We need to tear this ship apart and get what data we can.”
“You recognized the man from Ganymede.” That hadn’t been a question.
“Fabian Breen,” Brad said. “He wanted to seize my ship. I guess he was behind the break-in and theft of my computer after all. I’m not sure what we can do about it, though. The man is an ass, but he’s a member of the community there. No way they’ll believe he’s a slaver without proof.”
She smiled coldly. “Then we’ll get proof. I’m a really good investigator.”
Chapter Twenty-One
It took them three days to scour the wrecked destroyer—a missing Fleet vessel, it turned out. The slavers had changed her name from Vigilant to Chained Woman. Sickening but hardly unexpected.
Worse, the papers in the safe had been of little practical value and the computers had been blasted into ruin. The only useful data they’d get off the wrecked ship was from the prisoners.
Lieutenant Commander Andre and the other Fleet survivors had moved to the light corvette Striker. Brad headed over to the crowded little ship as soon as they finished going over the derelict.
She met him at the airlock, her right arm still in a cast and sling. Primitive but effective until they got somewhere with more advanced medical care.
The right side of the woman’s face had a spectacular scar and her nose was bandaged. He hadn’t heard, but he expected it was broken just because of the bruises that made her look like a raccoon. The woman was in good condition compared to some of her compatriots.
“Captain Madrid,” she said in a formal tone. “Welcome aboard Striker.”
He smiled and dipped his head. “Thanks. How is everything holding up here? I don’t recall if anyone told me what damage she suffered. If they did, I’ve forgotten.”
“You’ve been busy. Come on in and I’ll show you to our wardroom, such as it is. We can talk freely there.”
Brad fell in behind her and threaded his way past the crewmen still doing repairs. They all gave him warm smiles.
Andre and he squeezed into the cramped wardroom and she closed the hatch. “The damage is relatively minor, all things considered, but more than enough to keep Lieutenant Commander Meriden busy.
“He sends his apologies for not being there to meet you. He and the engineer are trying to salvage one of the drives. It’s bad enough but better than what happened to Sting and Troubadour.” The last came out in a sad sigh.
“I’m sorry you lost so many people,” he said softly. “You got a raw deal.”
“We’re Fleet. We don’t hold back when people need us.”
“In case you hadn’t heard, the destroyer was a Fleet ship once. Vigilant. The bastards renamed her Chained Woman.”
Her expression soured. “I heard. I sent that information back to Mars when I reported. Oh, and I have news of my own. We have reinforcements on the way. They’ll relieve me and escort you the rest of the way to Io. Congratulations, you’re getting a cruiser. Freedom.”
Well, that might be a bit awkward. Particularly if they didn’t know who they were coming to escort. He’d find out soon enough if Commodore Bailey had told them anything. Based on her personality, she probably hadn’t.
“When can we expect them? I’m feeling a little naked out here; no offense.”
“None taken. They’re coming at flank speed, so they’ll be here in another twenty hours.”
“Are you going to get into trouble for going toe to toe with the destroyer?” He couldn’t bring himself to call the ship by the slaver name, but it felt wrong to use her old Fleet identification.
“We’ll see. I lost my ship, so they’ll seat a board of inquiry. Against the forces we faced, I’m surprised any of us made it. They had three heavy corvettes and a destroyer arrayed against your heavy corvette and our three lights. We’re here and they’re not. I suspect my career will survive.”
Her eyes narrowed a little. “I hear you’re holding the surviving slavers. Mind telling me what you have in mind for them?”
How the hell had she heard? He had the slavers locked into Heart’s hold, chained to the very hooks that other slavers had used to move their prisoners.
His people wouldn’t have talked. The commander didn’t know Falcone was on his ship, so she couldn’t have told anyone. Who had leaked the information?
“That’s right,” he finally admitted. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t. Not until right this moment. Your expression gave you away when I put you on the spot. Feel free to tell me why you haven’t turned them over to me yet. This had better be good.”
She was damned smart. It served him right for not planning ahead for something like that.
“I can’t go into specifics, but I have the authority to hold them.” That was true, since Falcone had ordered him to do so. “You don’t have room for them here, anyway.”
“That’s beside the point,” the Fleet officer said harshly. “Those bastards killed half my people and destroyed two Fleet vessels. You will turn them over to me.”
As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t. Not quite. He’d stared into the abyss and it had stared back at him. He knew what the lieutenant commander wanted—and he wasn’t prepared to let her pay the price that came with it.
“Regretfully, I will not. You want revenge for what they did to your people. I get that, but I can use them to get me closer to the slaver leadership. Freedom gets here soon. We’ll let her captain make the final decision.”
Since Falcone was the ace up his sleeve, he already knew how that would play out, but the chance of getting her way would be a salve to the commander’s pain.
Andre sighed and slumped a little in her seat. “That’s probably for the best. Revenge is exactly what I want. What needs to happen is justice. I’m praying the two are the same in this case, but that’s a better call for someone like Freedom’s captain to make.”
Her words were like an accusation, stripping away the pretense from his hungry rage. He had to be honest with himself. Vengeance was what he craved, but was he willing to pay with his soul to have it? One way or another, he needed to answer that question while it still made a difference.
“What will you do once Freedom arrives?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I’ll take us back to Mars. As I said, Striker took some drive damage, so we’ll need a few weeks to make the trip. There are other ships on the way to escort us home. Then comes telling everyone what happened a few million times.
“Thank the Everlit we managed to recover the data recorders from Sting and Troubadour. That’s going to make things somewhat easier. I appreciate you passing on your sensor readings. All of that will make a good composite of what we saw.”
“Considering what we faced, I think our ambush was a rousing success,” he said. “The price was high, but I’ve already picked up a few leads that might hurt the slavers.”
He probably shouldn’t have said that, but he wanted to give her hope. To make sure she understood their sacrifice really meant something.
“Keep that to yourself,” h
e added hastily. “The slavers and Cadre have ears in Fleet. I doubt there are any on this ship, but if they get wind of what we’re up to, they’ll get away again.”
She shot him a penetrating look. “I hope you aren’t just yanking my chain. Okay, I’ll keep my mouth shut, but you have to promise that I’ll hear what comes of this. The whole story.”
“I swear it. Trust me on this, if we roll the slavers up, everyone will hear about it.”
Brad was back on Heart’s bridge when Freedom arrived. This was the moment of truth. Time to find out if Captain Fields had been read into the whole story.
“Incoming signal from Freedom,” Shelly said.
He took a deep breath. “On screen.”
The stunning view of the Fleet cruiser vanished to be replaced by Captain Fields in his command seat. The one Brad had modeled his own after.
The officer opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes widened and nothing came out.
“Captain Fields,” Brad hurriedly said to cover the awkward gap. “Brad Madrid. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I can’t say how good it makes me feel to have Freedom keeping an eye on us.”
Fields closed his mouth and smiled, though Brad noted it was a tad wry. “Captain Madrid. Fleet lives to serve. I wasn’t sure what I expected to find out here when Commodore Bailey commed me, but this isn’t it. You and the Fleet personnel pulled off an amazing victory.”
“We should talk about that in person.”
“Oh, yes. I think that’s a capital idea. I’ll send a shuttle over to pick you up right away. If you don’t mind, I’d like to meet with you privately before you bring any of your officers over.”
Brad felt the corner of his mouth twitch. “That sounds like an excellent plan. I do have a passenger aboard that needs to be present, though.”
The other man’s eyebrow rose slightly. “Oh? If you think that best. We have a few things to speak about that require some…ah, discretion.”
“My associate is very discreet.”
“Then I look forward to meeting you both in person. Until then.”
The communication ended.
Shelly frowned. “Is it just me or did he sound a little weird?”
“I’m sure it has something to do with what Commodore Bailey told him,” Brad said as nonchalantly as he could. “Or perhaps with what she didn’t tell him. I’ll find out soon enough.”
“Maybe it’s a trap,” Jason said, frowning. “He might be in the pay of the Cadre or slavers.”
“I seriously doubt that. Not after everything I’ve heard about him from Commander Andre. Even if he was, his crew can’t all be bad guys. I’ll be perfectly safe.”
The tactical officer didn’t seem convinced, but he only shrugged. “You’re the captain. A shuttle just came out of the cruiser and is on the way over.”
Brad rose. “Then I’d best go meet it. I’ll be back shortly.”
Falcone was waiting at the lock when he got there. She’d dressed in the same uniform his crew used. He wondered who she’d borrowed it from. The woman was far too tall to have used one of Shelly’s, and any from his male crewmembers would need a bit of tailoring to fit so well.
“Nice uniform,” he ventured.
“I hope so. I stole it from your closet.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t recall giving you the code to get into my quarters.”
“You didn’t.”
“You do get around, Agent Falcone. It looks good on you. Are you going to be able to put it back the way you found it?”
“The alterations I made were fairly minor. You’ll never know.”
Heart shuddered a bit as the shuttle docked. Brad opened the lock and the two of them made their way through and onto the Fleet boat. It didn’t surprise him one bit to find Lieutenant Mackenzie piloting the small craft.
The woman smiled at him politely, as if she’d never met him before. “You must be Captain Madrid. Lieutenant Helen Mackenzie.”
He took her hand. “It’s good to see you again, Lieutenant. My associate already knows I was aboard Freedom at one time.”
“Kate Falcone, Commonwealth Investigative Agency,” the other woman said as she extended her hand. “We’d like to keep the connection as close to the vest as we can.”
“I’ll bet,” the pilot said wryly. “You gave the captain a real shock. Allow me to say that you’ve gone a lot farther in the last few months than I’d have expected, Brad. Well done.”
“I had some help.”
She gave him a penetrating look. “I assume you recovered your memories. Is this who you were all along?”
He shook his head. “No, but it’s who I am now. I wish I could say more, but I’m sure Captain Fields will pass along the details to you and everyone else that knows me.”
“Not so you’d know,” the pilot said as she sat back into her couch. “He’s cleared the boat bay and corridors between it and the wardroom. Only he, the bridge crew, and I know who you are. He plans on keeping it that way for the time being.”
That sounded like an excellent idea to Brad. He really doubted there were spies aboard the cruiser, but it paid to be cautious.
The pilot flew them over to the cruiser in just a few minutes. The boat bay looked exactly as he remembered it, though eerily empty of people. Mackenzie shut the shuttle down and escorted them off.
As she’d indicated, the corridors they passed through were empty. It was like walking through a ghost ship.
The pilot rapped on the hatch to the wardroom and it slid open. “Captain Madrid and his companion are here to see you, Captain.”
Fields stood there, eyeing Brad with a mixture of curiosity and something else for a long moment before he turned to his pilot.
“If you’d keep watch outside the hatch, I’d appreciate it. No one in or out.”
“Aye, sir.”
Brad gestured for Falcone to precede him in, then closed the hatch behind him. “Captain Fields, it’s good to see you again. This is Agent Kate Falcone of the Commonwealth Investigative Agency.”
The older man shook her hand and then turned to him. “And to think I was offering you a midshipman’s tabs two months ago. Let’s just say you’ve wildly exceeded my expectations, Captain.”
Brad grinned. “Well, things have taken a few unexpected turns, I’ll grant you. Agent Falcone and I have quite the story to tell you.”
The officer gestured toward the conference table. “Sit while I get us something to drink. I have to confess that I expect this will be fascinating.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“So, let me see if I have everything straight in my mind,” Captain Fields said once Brad and Falcone had laid everything out, minus Brad’s original identity, of course.
“You’ve got a lead on a slaver on Ganymede, but you don’t want me to report that to my superiors. I can’t begin to tell you how upset that would make them. I have a duty to report this so officials on Ganymede can take action.”
Falcone smiled politely. “We have no proof. Not even decent circumstantial evidence. It’s my job to find out for sure. Then I’ll be the one taking the action.
“And if we tell anyone, word will certainly get out. The Cadre and slavers have every governmental organization in the Outer system penetrated. Almost certainly the Inner System, too. Tell me I’m wrong.”
The Fleet captain shot her a disgruntled look. “You damned well know I can’t say that. They have more than enough money to buy people off. That doesn’t change my duty, though. I’ll get into a lot of trouble if I keep this quiet.”
“Not if I issue an investigative injunction requiring you to cooperate with me,” she said smugly. “Which I’m doing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Can you do that? I mean, am I bound to assist you to that degree?”
“You are if I have enough backing.” She pulled a data chip from her pocket and slid it over to him. “This should cover that nicely.”
Fields picked it up and slid it into a handy reader. After a fe
w moments, he laughed. “I suppose it does, though this sounds like something out of The Three Musketeers.”
Brad felt himself frowning. “Excuse me?”
The officer focused his attention on Brad. “This is an order from Admiral Weber—the man who runs Mars Defense Command—to any and all Fleet personnel to assist the bearer to any degree that is otherwise lawful. I suppose keeping my mouth shut falls inside those parameters.”
“I remember the story now,” Brad said. Bailey, it seemed, wasn’t operating entirely on her own—and Commonwealth Fleet didn’t go any higher than Weber until you reached Earth orbit. “We might need more than that, though. If Fabian Breen really is senior in the slavers’ organization, we might get a lead on where they have major bases. The pirate commander said they kept that information tight, so only trusted pilots knew the specifics, but that could’ve been a lie.”
Captain Fields’s expression became more serious. “If we get a slaver base location, I’m not going to have enough firepower to be certain we take it cleanly. Those bastards kill their prisoners. One thing you can count on slavers having plenty of is slaves. We’ll need more ships and people to do it right.”
“I have a few ideas along those lines,” Brad said with a smile. “And speaking of prisoners, Agent Falcone has the survivors from the slaver destroyer on my ship.
“Commander Andre wants them spaced—and so do I, when it comes right down to it—but Falcone made a deal with them. I told Andre that you would make the final decision, but only because I couldn’t reveal my ally.”
“So, you’re making me the heavy?” Fields asked wryly. “That’s not very nice.”
“If we make a major break in the slavers’ organization, I’ll let you take the official credit, too,” Falcone said. “Look, this is critical. These bastards will wish I’d let the two of you space them by the time this is all done. Trust me on that.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass who claims credit,” Fields said bluntly. “I just want to kill every last one of them. If I can make that happen, you’ll have my complete cooperation. Admiral Weber gave me a fig leaf that I can use to run naked through the town square with, if I need to.