Star Raider

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Then, it’s over no matter what we do.”

  “Hold that thought,” he said.

  Tanner typed on the controls, engaging a two-move randomizer. The first would initiate thrusts at random intervals in order to slightly alter their heading and the direction and strength of the change.

  Once finished, Tanner opened a compartment and pulled out a pair of leather gloves. Unbuckling from the seat, slipping the gloves on, he said, “It’s time to talk to Lord Acton.”

  “But, the cruiser—”

  “You let me worry about that. Besides, that’s one of the reasons I need to see Acton. I have a request to make.”

  “We can’t tell Acton about the consul.”

  “My guess is that he already knows,” Tanner said. “The man has a few too many toys not to know. I’m sure he hacked into our transmissions.”

  “How can Acton possibly help us against the cruiser?” Ursa asked.

  “That’s what I want to find out. Come on. If we’re going to survive the next few hours, we’re going to have to start now.”

  -18-

  Acton opened the hatch to his quarters. A powerful odor exuded from the room as well as wisps of dark smoke.

  Tanner’s original question died in his throat, as he had a new one. “What are you doing in there?”

  Acton stepped forward.

  Tanner automatically stepped back, pulling Ursa with him.

  The hatch shut behind Acton as he held onto his cane. His skin tone was different. It had a tinge of blue now. Small strips of cloth were individually wrapped around his fingers although not around his palms.

  “Are you okay?” Tanner asked, bemused.

  “Hush,” Ursa said, as she tugged one of Tanner’s sleeves. “Don’t worry about those things. They don’t matter compared to…”

  The randomizer took that moment to jink the raider. There was a simple clarion call and then the raider abruptly switched heading and velocity causing each of them to stumble.

  Acton bumped against a bulkhead. Tanner bumped against Acton and Ursa crashed against Tanner’s back.

  Without a word, Acton shoved Tanner off him with considerable strength. That caused Ursa to catapult off Tanner against the other bulkhead, hitting the back of her head against it hard enough to make a thumping noise. Her eyelids fluttered and she slumped onto the deck.

  Tanner crouched by her, checking her head and then pulling an eyelid back. She was unconscious.

  “What’s the matter with you?” he shouted at Acton.

  The Earthman straightened, peering down at Tanner. “Don’t ever touch me again,” the man said.

  “I didn’t touch you, you freak. I bumped against you. In case you didn’t notice, you stumbled, too.”

  Acton appeared to consider that. “Yes. You are correct. Still, do not touch my person unless I give you express permission.”

  “Yeah? Well, the same holds for you, buddy.”

  This was the problem with doing anything while at 2 G acceleration. Even a stumble and a bump could cause extra harm. Normally, Tanner would have carried Ursa to her cabin. She would be too heavy for that now, though.

  “She will revive soon enough,” Acton said. “While you are here, we can discuss the present situation.”

  Tanner didn’t like looking up at the Earthman. This was also the second time Acton had shoved him. He knew for sure now, the man was incredibly strong. The centurion stood, letting his gun hand fall onto the gun.

  “Your primitive gestures are noted,” Acton said. “You dislike me and respond with simian actions. Why then should I help you?”

  “I haven’t asked for your help.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “Okay. You have a point. I need your help. But you’re also in the same boat with us.”

  “I thought you preferred to call this a ship.”

  “Never mind,” Tanner snapped. “We have to work together.”

  “I’m sure I could receive reasonable terms from the Coalition people if I spoke to them.”

  “I’m sure you couldn’t,” Tanner said. “They don’t like us. So, they’re not going to like you, especially as you’re supposed to help us find a wonder-weapon to beat back the Coalition from our world.”

  “What did she tell you about me?” Acton asked sharply.

  “I can’t remember.” Tanner said, realizing he wasn’t supposed to have let that slip. “Does it matter?”

  Acton blinked several times. “At present, it does not. Let us engage the situation as you originally suggested. You fear the cruiser’s weaponry, is this not so?”

  “Have they launched any missiles yet?” Tanner asked.

  Acton reached into his coat, pulling out the blue-glowing slate. He tapped it several times, studying it. “That’s a well-reasoned question, Captain. The cruiser indeed launched a missile one point eight minutes ago.”

  Tanner cursed under his breath. “Listen, we have even less time than I thought. That missile will begin hard acceleration soon, making our progress look as if we’re standing still.”

  “Explain.”

  “The missile will likely jump to fifty or sixty gravities of acceleration,” Tanner said.

  Acton stared at Tanner, becoming motionless. Suddenly, he twisted around, opened the hatch and disappeared into the smoke-hazy quarters. The door shut behind him.

  Tanner crouched beside Ursa, feeling the back of the patrician’s head. A lump had begun to rise. How bad was she? If he went to Marcus—

  The hatch opened. Acton stepped out minus his cane. He held onto a brown unit. “Meet me at Cargo Hold Two in…” The Earthman blinked rapidly. “Meet me there in eleven minutes.”

  “Sure.”

  Acton used one hand against the bulkhead to help steady him. Then, he started down the corridor.

  ***

  Marcus helped Tanner carry his sister. The heir kept telling Tanner to tell him what happened.

  “I know you’re angry,” Tanner said.

  “Acton hurt my sister, didn’t he?”

  “Why’s the Earthman so strong?”

  Marcus looked across at Tanner. Each of them had one of Ursa’s arms over his shoulder as her feet dragged on the deck.

  “He’s strong?” Marcus asked.

  “A whole lot stronger than me,” Tanner said. “Are Earthmen normally stronger than others?”

  “I’ve never heard that.”

  “It must be something else then.”

  “He doesn’t look stronger than average,” Marcus said.

  “Looks can be deceiving.”

  “Don’t seek to lecture me! I’m sorry,” Marcus said a few moments later. “The circumstances have left me disoriented. Consul Maximus a Coalition prisoner and then committing suicide to save us…the possibility the enemy knows what we’re after.”

  “What exactly are we after?” Tanner asked.

  Marcus stared down the corridor as he breathed heavily. “I want to tell you, believe me I do, but I don’t dare. That’s up to Ursa.”

  “She’s in charge of the mission?”

  Marcus glanced at Tanner. “She’s smarter than me, and she keeps her cool better. Yes, she’s in charge as much as any of us can be.”

  “You’re suggesting that Acton is in charge?”

  “How can we think otherwise?” Marcus said. “He has the Lithians and Lacy.”

  “Lacy is strong like him,” Tanner said, remembering how she’d effortlessly pulled him off the corridor floor in Calisto Grandee.

  “That’s strange,” Marcus said, seeming to ponder this for a moment. “As I was saying, Lord Acton has the secret knowledge and abilities that have continuously baffled my sister and me. He’s dangerous, Tanner. I don’t trust him. But it is beyond doubt that we need him.”

  “That’s always a dangerous position to be in,” Tanner said, “to need them more than they need us. We could use a few cards of our own.”

  “We do have a little leverage, your vessel for one thing, an
d I’m beginning to believe your wits and courage are two other key ingredients toward the success of our mission.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Lord. I appreciate it. But don’t sing my praises too soon. The only things that I count are victory points.”

  Marcus frowned, perplexed. “Whatever does that mean?”

  “In the space-strike teams,” Tanner said, “we used to play all sorts of war-games. Land combat games, space games and even naval games.”

  “Oh, the kind with plastic pieces and a board?” Marcus asked.

  “That’s it. One of the things I quickly learned is that a player can do all sorts of things on the board and still lose. The secret to winning was reading the rules and studying exactly how to win. Each game was different. Once I knew the victory points to a game, I worked to achieve those alone. Nothing else helped me to win, so nothing else mattered.”

  “Did you win more games after that?”

  “You bet I did.”

  Marcus nodded shrewdly. “What are the victory points this trip?”

  “Getting our hands on this secret, dangerous weapon or weapons and using them to destroy the Coalition and free Remus,” Tanner said. “Besides that, nothing else matters.”

  They neared Ursa’s room. At the hatch, Marcus glanced at Tanner. “That kind of thinking helps clears the mind, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  Marcus slapped the switch. They carried Ursa into the cabin and carefully laid her on the bed.

  “Thanks again, Centurion.”

  “Yes, Lord,” Tanner said.

  “No, call me Marcus. In this adventure we’re comrades, not patrician and plebian.”

  “I would stay, Lord…Marcus, but I have to meet Lord Acton at Cargo Hold Two. An enemy missile is heading our way fast. Unless the Earthman has an antidote, our mission may be short lived.”

  -19-

  Tanner’s step slowed as he saw the two Lithians waiting by the cargo hatch. They hulked even bigger in the narrowness of the corridors. For the first time, he noticed a musky odor emanating from them.

  Acton stood behind the Lithians, with a brown control unit in his hands.

  “We must move quickly, Centurion,” Acton said. “The missile has begun accelerating. It is coming at us at seventy gravities.”

  “Right,” Tanner said. He tapped in the code, wondering if Acton could have broken it and already entered the hold.

  The Lithians lumbered into the large, cold chamber. At Acton’s direction, they began to unload metal crates.

  “There,” Acton said.

  The bigger Lithian set a huge crate on the deck and pried off the lid. Afterward, he reached in, pulling out a short tube. The second Lithian pulled out an even bigger tube. At the Earthman’s directions, the giants put the tubes together to make a small torpedo.

  Acton faced Tanner. “How many missiles will the Coalition fire?”

  “The one for sure,” Tanner said. “If this one misses us maybe they’ll fire one more.”

  Acton eyed the boxes. Finally, decisively, he nodded. He began tapping the control unit. The Lithians took down more boxes and began to build a second torpedo.

  Tanner eyed the weapons. “What kind of munitions do those torpedoes have?”

  “Ah,” Acton said, “I’ve triggered your simian curiosity. These are not counter-missiles as you surmise. They are decoys. Now, cease your chatter while I calibrate them.”

  The Earthman sat cross-legged beside the first decoy. He opened a small hatch. With tiny, glowing-tipped tools, he reached inside, making adjustments. From time to time, he checked his slate.

  When the Lithians finished putting together the second decoy, they crouched around Acton like massive gorillas, watching him.

  “There,” Acton said. He put the hatch back onto the decoy and welded it into place with one of his tiny tools.

  Tanner couldn’t fathom how that little tool generated the needed energy to do what it was doing. Maybe Acton really was a Shand. That was fine with the centurion, as long as they could survive the approaching missile.

  Acton chattered gibberish words to the biggest Lithian. The male grunted, climbed to his feet and picked up the first decoy, cradling it in his giant arms.

  “He will follow you and place it in the firing tube,” Acton said.

  “Right,” Tanner said. “This way,” he told the Lithian.

  “You do not need to speak to him,” Acton said. “The beast will know what to do. I have instructed him.”

  Beast? Did Acton think of the Lithian as an animal?

  ***

  Halfway to the torpedo tubes, with the giant trailing him, Tanner looked back. “Is it hard working for Lord Acton?” he asked the Lithian.

  The giant man-creature focused dull eyes on him. They were gray-colored with black, pin-dot pupils.

  “Do you even understand me?” Tanner asked.

  The Lithian pursed his lips, nodding his giant head up and down.

  “Does that mean yes?”

  The Lithian did the same thing as before.

  Tanner didn’t get the idea the Lithian knew what it was doing. “I guess your nods really mean for me to hurry up, that you want to do whatever the master has told you to do.”

  Tanner continued guiding the giant. What would cause—wait a minute! Acton had used a control unit on the creatures. What exactly did the control unit signal?

  The centurion stopped and approached the giant. The musky odor grew stronger the closer he came. The Lithian eyed him, making nervous sounds. Tanner reached up as if to touch the decoy. The giant bent lower, maybe understanding that he was supposed to let Tanner do that. Instead of touching metal, Tanner reached past the missile and brushed some of the shaggy hair from the Lithian’s neck.

  The giant hooted with fear or anger. It lurched away, making the upper back of its head slam against the ceiling. The jerking motion almost caused one of the massively muscled arms to knock against Tanner. The centurion darted back just in time, stumbled and slammed his shoulders against a bulkhead. That hurt. If the creature had knocked him with an arm—the force of the blow might have killed Tanner in the heavy Gs.

  The Lithian groaned, sagging to its knees. Tanner noticed a dent in the ceiling. The thing must have a skull several centimeters thick to have withstood that.

  The heavy eyelids blinked and it groaned again. Then, it slumped forward, releasing the decoy as it crumpled onto the floor. The decoy must have been heavy. It hit hard, rolled and slammed against a bulkhead.

  Tanner went to the decoy and tried to lift it. No, that wasn’t going to happen. Had dropping the decoy damaged it? Oh, this was a fine fix.

  While debating what to do next, Tanner approached the snoring Lithian. He swept back the hair, feeling on the head. Finally, he found a hard nodule on the back of the skull. Tanner pressed it. The nodule didn’t strike him as skin or bone, but a piece of embedded metal. He had no doubt this is what received Acton’s transmissions from the control unit.

  How deep did whatever Acton had put in the Lithian’s skull or brain, go?

  I don’t have time for this now.

  He went to the decoy and tried to roll it. No. It would take far too long to reach the torpedo room this way.

  The answer came to him a second later. Tanner had to do this as fast as he could, but he couldn’t risk walking too fast in the two gravities or he’d pull something for sure.

  ***

  Tanner reached the control cabin, informing the passengers that he was going to turn off the thruster for a few minutes. As soon as weightlessness returned to the Dark Star, Tanner floated back to the snoring Lithian.

  Now, he could move the decoy, but he’d have to do so carefully. It might not weigh anything at the moment, but it still had plenty of mass. If he tried to stop it too fast, and got in the way of it and a bulkhead, the decoy would pulp his skin and crush his bones.

  By careful maneuvering, Tanner finally brought the decoy to the torpedo room. He maneu
vered the thing into a tube, shutting the hatch.

  As he floated back to the control room, Tanner wiped sweat from his brow. It was harder working in zero G than a person would believe.

  Tanner strapped himself into a seat, pressing the blinking intra-ship comm unit.

  “Where have you been?” Acton demanded.

  “Getting the decoy in place,” Tanner said.

  “I’ve been trying to hail you for some time.”

  “Everything is ready.”

  “My Lithian is unconscious in the hall. I want to know what you did to cause that.”

  “Me?” Tanner said. “He’s the one that bumped his head.”

  “Will you force me to play back his memories?”

  “You can do that?” Tanner asked.

  “I can do many things.”

  Tanner believed that. Yet, he also had a stubborn streak. He would let this one ride.

  “I’d love to chat, chief,” Tanner said, “but I have a decoy to set.”

  There was a pause. Then, Acton said, “Yes. I have one quick question then.”

  As Tanner spoke, he readied the torpedo decoy for firing. “I’m listening.”

  “How did you know the cruiser would fire a laser?”

  The cruiser fired at us? Tanner played back images from camera one. He started from his seat as a streak of coherent, dangerous light flashed several kilometers past the raider. The Coalition people had decided to play deadly, firing their main laser. Luckily, he had turned off acceleration in order to move the decoy. That lack of acceleration had changed their position—of where the raider would have been if they had still been accelerating at 2 G’s.

  “I’ve been in the Remus AirSpace Service a long time, Lord. I was highly rated then and still am now.”

  “Are you claiming instinctive intuition?” Acton asked.

  “I don’t like to brag about my special knacks,” Tanner said, “especially when we’re still under fire.”

  “I suppose it is possible that this is a positive and useful display of your primitive senses.”

  “Yes,” Tanner said. “My senses are very primitive. But they worked this time, didn’t they?”

  “I cannot refute that. Perhaps we shall survive the cruiser after all. I am sending the second decoy to the torpedo chamber.”