Star Raider

by Vaughn Heppner

  Ursa stepped up. “Do your higher goals have anything to do with reviving the cyborgs?”

  “By no means,” Acton said.

  “I wish I could believe you,” she said.

  Acton turned to Tanner. “Do you believe me yet?”

  “I want to,” Tanner said. “But you’re so different. That makes you hard to trust.”

  “Yes. It has always been so.” Acton glanced at each of them in turn. “It is not in my nature to disclose my secrets.” He focused on Ursa. “As well should I expect to watch you rut with the centurion on the deck before an audience.”

  Marcus reddened, stepping closer.

  “See,” Acton said. “Even mentioning the sex act makes your brother froth at the gills. Can you imagine how I feel when asked such barbarous questions? Yet, I maintain my decorum. Truly, that makes me more rational than you.”

  Brother and sister Varus glanced at each other.

  “Let’s call a timeout,” Tanner said. “I have this gun. Acton bought it for me. I saw him purchase it with three triton bars. I can only imagine what they’re going to do to the Dark Star.

  “You do not have to imagine,” Acton said. “Your retraining will begin in an hour as you learn the new functions.”

  “What retraining is this?” Tanner asked.

  ***

  The next few days were exhausting and mind numbing. Each of them used stimulants to stay awake the entire time.

  Tanner and Greco learned the new systems put into the Dark Star. Notable Magnus Shelly’s people attached special, nonferrous, sensor resistant material to the entire outer hull. Several holds lost their cargo. Tanner suggested they try to sell the goods on the open market. Acton said they lacked the time. Into these holds went stealth equipment, jamming gear and battery power sources.

  Technicians installed entirely new computer equipment. Greco oversaw the transfer of data from the old into the new.

  “We sure could have used Jordan,” Tanner said.

  Greco could only nod. His eyes were thoroughly bloodshot.

  The techs installed various torpedoes. They upgraded the emitter and added a thruster multiplier to give the raider greater speed. Two more holds lost their cargo. Gravity dampeners took their place. That meant more training for Tanner and Greco. One of them used a hypnotic-trainer while the other watched. The watcher listened in from time to time to make sure the techs weren’t slipping something unwanted into their minds.

  Tanner’s hands shook constantly. His eyeballs felt gritty. He ate so much that his gut ached most of the time.

  “When is this going to end?” Greco complained.

  “Soon,” Acton told him. “We must remain alert until we’re safely away from the hideaway.”

  “I know, I know,” Greco said. “Vigilance is the price of freedom.”

  “It has always been so,” Acton said.

  “I’d agree to that,” Tanner said.

  Ursa wanted more data on the cyborg in Lacy’s room. Acton wouldn’t comply with her wish.

  The raider’s transformation took five days of constant work to complete.

  “Money is the true magic,” Acton told them toward the end of the ordeal. “It can do more than my tricks have ever been able to achieve.”

  “Where did you get all that triton?” Ursa asked.

  Acton stared at her.

  She turned away, blushing.

  The notable’s people worked fast even as Acton pushed them. Tanner’s mind hurt, he’d learned so much in such a short time.

  “Acton is hiding something from us,” Ursa said on the fifth day.

  Tanner and she sat before a window overlooking the repair yard. The centurion leaned back in a chair, having just removed a hypnotic-band from his head. It felt as if his eyes were swollen.

  “Did you hear me?” Ursa asked.

  Tanner knew they had all become irritable. Vulpus watched him closely, the underman never far from his mistress.

  “I heard you,” Tanner forced himself to say. He’d found that the longer he took the stimulants, the less he liked to talk.

  “The Shand is too secretive,” Ursa said. “The—”

  Marcus barged into the room short of breath. “Go,” he panted. “Get your things…We’re leaving.”

  “You’re not making sense,” Ursa said.

  Marcus shook his head violently. “Go!” he shouted. “Get your things! The Coalition…” He put his hands on his knees, wheezing for air. He must have sprinted for a ways.

  “Yes, yes,” Ursa said. “The Coalition is doing what? Why are you out of breath?”

  Marcus shoved off his knees, straightening, with his eyes wide. “A Coalition fleet has just dropped out of hyperspace. We have to get out of here before the hideaway explodes with panic and turns on us.”

  -34-

  Tanner led the way onto the repair yard with the barrel of the Third Period Innoo Flaam glowing with an evil red color. The gun vibrated with an audible hum. It felt dangerous—

  Shots rang out. Greco hooted with fear. And the air sizzled before Centurion Tanner. As it did, the Innoo Flaam vibrated worse than ever in his hand.

  “Fire back,” Acton said. “Show them the folly of shooting at you.”

  Tanner saw two riflemen rise from their locations. Each of them wore body armor and cradled a heavy assault rifle with smoke trickling from each barrel. The guards seemed surprised.

  The guards stood before the main repair yard building. The two men spoke to each other. One nodded, aimed the rifle at Tanner—

  The centurion aimed the ancient blaster and began to pull the trigger.

  “Level two!” Acton shouted. “Switch it to level two, or you’ll take out our ship with them.”

  The words penetrated Tanner’s thinking even as the air sizzled before him again. A force field devoured the slugs the two guards shot at him. The blaster was vibrating wildly now, so he clutched it with two hands. Before he pulled the trigger, he switched its setting to two. Then, he aimed and fired.

  The blaster hummed louder than ever before discharging a red ray. It beamed the two guards. They flashed and disappeared in wisps of smoke, along with part of their guard booth.

  “You’ll lack the full force field until the blaster fully recharges,” Acton said. “That doesn’t mean you can’t threaten with it. Threaten, man, threaten.”

  Tanner was both elated and appalled at the gun’s power. This thing was amazing. It had a force field, it seemed. That’s why the air had sizzled. The force field had stopped the bullets from killing him and killing those inside his protective sphere.

  No wonder the Shand had moved closer to him when they’d been talking to Magnus Shelly five days ago. The ancient weapon didn’t make him invincible, but it was incredibly powerful when loaded for war.

  The other guards scattered after witnessing the death of the first two, some of them pitching their rifles onto the floor in order to run faster. The next few minutes were a blur of shouts, running and charging onto the raider.

  “We’ll have to wait for the lifter to take us to the hangar bay,” Marcus said. “Until then, we’re trapped in the repair yard. How does getting aboard the raider help us anyway?”

  “Go to your quarters,” Acton said to the Lithians. The giants lumbered down the corridor to their room.

  “You haven’t answered my question,” Marcus said. “How does it help us being here? After our gunfight, I doubt Magnus Shelly is going to order a lifter to the yard.”

  “Must I answer every dull-witted question when the fate of the universe hangs in the balance?” Acton asked.

  Marcus scowled thunderously.

  “No,” Ursa said, tugging one of her brother’s arms. “We’re all tired. We’re in danger. Let the Shand produce his miracle.”

  “But the lifter…” Marcus said querulously, while allowing Ursa to drag him down a corridor.

  “The tribune is right,” Tanner said. “Until the lifter arrives—”

  “You blin
d dolt,” Acton said. “This is it. The Coalition has cornered us at last. Do you want to end your days with a re-trainer jolting your mind for wrong answers?”

  “Of course not,” Tanner said.

  “Then you must do exactly as I say,” Acton told him.

  “Okay. What’s the plan?”

  Acton pointed at Greco. “Go. Start the fusion engine. Make sure it is running at full capacity.”

  The apeman didn’t argue. He dashed down the corridor leading to the engine room.

  “Have you already called Magnus Shelly?” Tanner asked. “Are they bringing the lifter after all?”

  “To the control room,” Acton said.

  Tanner hurried there, propelled even faster by a shoving Lord Acton. “How do you know the Coalition entered the star system?”

  “They haven’t,” Acton said.

  “But Marcus said they did. He burst into our hotel room to announce it.”

  “He did not say any such thing. The tribune said they dropped out of hyperspace. That is just outside the star system, not inside it.”

  “You’re arguing over semantics,” Tanner said.

  “On the contrary, it is all the difference.”

  “Whatever,” Tanner said. “Just tell me how you know they showed up. How about that?”

  “I have a running order with Ottokar’s people. They still serve on the asteroid belt’s perimeter. They were to inform me regarding any vessels dropping out of hyperspace.”

  “Why would they do anything for you? We killed their leader, remember?”

  “They are not doing so knowingly.”

  “Oh. Okay. That makes sense, I guess.” Tanner slid into his seat buckling in out of force of habit.

  Acton sat down beside him.

  “I don’t see a lifter,” Tanner said, leaning forward, looking outside the window into the repair yard.

  “We’re not going to employ a lifter.”

  “Then how are we getting out of the repair yard and to the hangar bay?” Tanner asked.

  “The most direct way possible,” Acton said, “through the raider’s propulsion.”

  Tanner turned toward the Shand. “Hey, buddy, I have some news for you. We’re inside an inhabitable area. We can’t just use fusion power to blast out of here. It would kill hundreds, maybe thousands of people.”

  “A regrettable loss, I realize,” Acton said. “Still, that is better than being captured and tortured, which is what will happen to us once the Coalition’s demands are made known.”

  “What demands?”

  “The ones that are coming through even now,” Acton said.” He withdrew the slate from his suit and shoved it in front of Tanner’s face. With a tap of his thumb, the Shand turned it on.

  Tanner listened to an ugly woman. After the officer made her demands, a different group appeared. This group sat at a long table. Among them was Notable Magnus Shelly. She spoke for the others.

  “And if we hand them over to you?” Magnus Shelly asked.

  When no reply was forthcoming, Tanner looked at the Shand. “Well, what did the Coalition officer say after that?”

  “Everyone is waiting for the return transmission,” Acton said.

  “How many ships are in the fleet?” the centurion asked.

  “Enough to defeat the hideaway given a prolonged siege,” Acton said. “Before that happens, I’d imagine the Petrus notables would see it in their hearts to capture us for profit. That would surely be superior in their thinking to protecting us for destruction and loss of their asteroid port.”

  “Yeah,” Tanner said dryly. “I can see that.”

  “Hence, the need for speed,” Acton said.

  “Indeed,” Tanner agreed.

  “Ah. Look. The fusion engine is ready,” Acton said, while indicting a green light. “We must leave.”

  Tanner stared at Acton.

  “Come now, Captain. It should be an easy decision.”

  “Easy for you maybe,” Tanner said. “I’m human, remember?”

  “It seems no one ever lets me forget. What is your point?”

  “Maybe you don’t mind murdering innocent people. I’m different.”

  Acton became thoughtful, finally shrugging.

  “That’s it then?” Tanner asked.

  “Yes. I will slip off the raider and find another means to Planet Zero.” The Shand unbuckled his restraints.

  “Wait,” Tanner said. “The Coalition people will find you too in time.”

  “That’s doubtful, as I know how to hide.”

  “You mean that other Shand in the weapons area will help you?”

  “He has no bearing on this,” Acton said. “I will merge into the herd. It will be easy.”

  “The Coalition might murder everyone in the hideaway to find you,” Tanner said.

  “Possibly true, but I will slip away nevertheless.”

  Tanner stared out the window. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to fall into Coalition hands. It would be worst if Special Intelligence caught him. Yet, just blasting off in here would kill people. He couldn’t have that on his conscience, could he?

  “I don’t know what to do,” Tanner said.

  “I realize this.” Acton held out his hand. “I would like the Innoo Flaam back.”

  Tanner moaned, closing his eyes. He would fight against the best of them, but to just— He swore under his breath and began turning on the thruster and side jets. “Maybe I can do this without killing too many innocents,” he said under this breath.

  Acton sat back down, watching him.

  “We’re talking about cyborgs,” Tanner said. “If we fail, millions possibly billions of people could die.”

  “That is true,” Acton said.

  “I have to do this.”

  “That is also true. I did not realize humans could be so coldly rational at the right time.”

  Tanner glanced at Acton, muttered some choice curses under his breath and said, “Hang on, you royal bastard. We’re about to leave this place.”

  The Dark Star lifted off the repair yard floor. Cables snapped off the raider, metal rods splintered and cranes crashed onto the floor as the small spaceship began to float through the air.

  “I hate doing this,” Tanner muttered.

  “You’d better fly faster,” Acton said. “The Coalition admiral will give her reply in less than ten minutes.”

  Tanner glanced at the Shand.

  “If the admiral’s offer is high enough, the notables might agree to capture us for the Coalition. We have to not only leave the asteroid but be well on our way through the belt.”

  “I never signed up for this,” Tanner said.

  “I think you’ll find that saving the galaxy for others is a thankless task.”

  Tanner scowled, trying to pilot the raider in such a way as to do the least damage possible. They were out of the building and now moving through the built up area.

  “What are you talking about?” the centurion asked.

  “Having to do the hateful task no one ever understands,” Acton said. “Such as us are a people alone.”

  Tanner gave the Shand a second look. He hadn’t expected something like that from Acton. Then, he remembered the control unit in the Lithian’s skull. He recalled Lacy, and he remembered the blood leaking from the bruiser’s ears back in the Calisto Grandee corridor. It felt as if too much of this didn’t quite make sense.

  “Are there are lot of Shands in the galaxy?” Tanner asked.

  Acton shrugged.

  “Do you people have a special purpose?” Tanner asked.

  “It would be better to increase speed,” Acton said. “Our escape is taking too long.”

  “If I just plow out, I’ll wreck the raider.”

  “Have you forgotten your retraining already?”

  Tanner thought about that, and he brightened, realizing the small ship could project a force field for limited periods.

  Lights began to flash in the large passageways. People raced in
terror on the streets away from the raider.

  “If the notables agree to capture us,” Acton said. “They can employ the siege guns in space against the raider. Nothing we possess will protect us from those guns.”

  “”I haven’t forgotten about the siege guns. That’s why I’m not going crazy in here. If I do the least amount of damage here, that might make the least number of notables angry at us.”

  “Speed is our best guarantee,” Acton said. “This excessive tepidness will ruin our mission.”

  “It’s not always winning the game that counts but how you win that makes the difference.”

  “That is a quaint notion,” Acton said. “I suspect you are saying this because of your extreme fatigue. Perhaps if you allow me to pilot the craft—”

  “No,” Tanner said. “I have this.”

  For the next ten minutes, Tanner guided the raider through the passageways, destroying as little as possible. Finally, he reached a huge hatch. It was open. He took it. The hatch began to close behind him.

  “We are in the main hangar bay area,” Acton announced.

  “They’ll surely train their guns and missiles on us once we’re outside. I don’t see how our actions have escaped the notables’ attention.”

  Acton checked his blue-glowing slate. “I assure you, it has not. The admiral’s message is no doubt several minutes away. We must escape now, Captain. You must employ full cloak and ram through the outer hull.”

  “Their outer weapons will lock onto to us if I do that.”

  “You do not realize what kind of cloaking devices we have.”

  “It won’t make us invisible.”

  “It will to their targeting sensors until they rectify the matter. That will take time. During that time, we will accelerate out of the worst danger zone.”

  Tanner leaned back in his seat. “If I ram the bulkhead, it will damage our ship.”

  “You must first beam the bulkhead, of course. Do you see the new green switch on your board?”

  Tanner glanced down. “I see it, but I don’t remember learning about it.”