“How come I’m not floating?”
“They’re built into the exoskeleton,” he explained. “Don’t worry; the skeleton’s systems will enable you to float if you wish.”
“What about you?”
“We need to get the Cargo hold; there’s a rack of them there. And we need to get Lena on the way. We need to go, now!” With that, he lifted Heather from the table, careful to keep her restrained as he threw her over his shoulder. Fiona followed him as he floated from the Med Bay, doing her best to keep up. The exoskeleton he had built for her, compensated for the lack of gravity and provided her with some competency at propelling herself through the now weightless Pod Alpha. Cyrus smiled to himself; the exoskeleton was one of his masterpieces, especially considering how quickly he had put it together.
Kendrick utilized his datapad to communicate with the others, transmitting directly to their datapads. “Fire drill alpha,” he announced. “Anday ebay arefulcay; heytay areay robablypay onitoringmay ouray ommunicationscay.”
“Pig Latin?” Amanda looked dubiously at Kendrick. “Really?”
He shrugged. “I never trained as an agent with a codebook. We practiced this just in case and we didn’t have time to learn actual Latin from Ronan. Should throw them off long enough for us to move without broadcasting what we’re doing. Now, we’ve got to get Ronan out of his cabin, if he hasn’t gotten out already, and get Cyrus and Terri, along with our two unconscious friends.”
With that, Kendrick propelled himself to the central hub, the bridge crew close behind, where they ran into Cyrus; Heather and Lena over his shoulders, as well as Fiona.
“Captain,” Cyrus said, “I refuse to speak Pig Latin.”
“Ken,” Fiona gasped, rushing to him and embracing him.
“It’s okay, Fi. I’m just glad you’re all right,” he said. “What about Terri?”
“She’s in our cabin,” Amanda answered.
Kendrick nodded. “Round up Terri and head to the cargo bay; worse comes to worst, the escape pods will have life support. Kang and I will get Ronan and meet you there. Amanda, Cyrus, Keep Fiona and Terri safe!”
“You’ve got it, sir,” Amanda said, leaving with Cyrus and Fiona, as Kendrick and Mun went to get Ronan.
As Kang followed the captain, he admired how even with the sabotage making itself known, Kendrick kept a good handle on the action and masterfully controlled what was within his sphere of influence. The captain had a plan, which was more than Fujita had when the Fujin was sabotaged. No matter how crazy things got, the captain was ready and acted without hesitation. Kang only hoped that the captain’s efforts would be enough.
“Once we get Ronan out of the chapel,” Kendrick said, “we’ll make a quick stop by my cabin. There’s something I need.”
“No need,” came the priest’s voice as he floated towards them, a large satchel over his shoulder. “I jammed a chair in the door as it was closing.”
“You bring us presents?” asked Mun.
“The wine and blessed hosts,” replied the priest.
Kendrick nodded. “All right, let’s get to my cabin. I have weapons there. Mun, your Hapkido instructor teach you how to use a sword?”
“Yeah,” Mun said with puzzlement as they followed Kendrick. “Why?”
“’Cause I got a sharp one, perfect for a guy with your background.”
“You got a jin-gum?” Mun lit up. “No way!”
“Jin-gum?” Ronan raised an eyebrow.
“Korea term; a functional sword,” Kendrick explained as he opened the door to his cabin. “Traditionally made, but with modern materials. She’ll cut through ten millimeters of steel and still hold an edge.”
He floated up to the loft and retrieved the sword, along with his 10mm pistol and an old Colt .45, then grabbed a plasma pistol for Terri and Fiona each. Propelling himself down to Mun and Ronan, he handed Ronan the Colt and Mun the sword.
“If they board us, make your sabeom proud!”
“Sabeom?” Ronan asked. “Is that like a sensei?”
“Yeah,” Mun said, holding the sword as though it were the Holy Grail. “Master Song. He loved teaching the sword. He’d love this sword.”
“We get out of this, I’ll have to meet him,” Kendrick said. “Now, let’s go.”
Kendrick, Mun and Ronan walked into the cargo bay, their mag-boots making in inordinate amount of noise with every step. Cyrus and Amanda stood guard with Terri and Fiona in front of the escape pods, the pod doors open to receive them. The unconscious Heather was nowhere to be seen. Kendrick handed Terri and Fiona each a plasma pistol, the doctor hugging him tightly after receiving hers. He kissed her, glad to have her in his arms.
Cyrus was practically wearing an arsenal; two submachine guns suspended from shoulder holsters at his sides, a shotgun slung over his back and two large pistols at each hip. The hilt of a large knife peaked out from the top of his boot and pouches filled with ammo and grenades hung from his belt. As impressive as he looked, Kendrick had seen the big man in action twice and knew that the look paled compared to the reality. Amanda brandished her U.P.A. standard issue plasma pistol and a U.P.A. standard issue 9mm pistol rested in a holster on her hip. Kendrick hoped that this would not turn into a firefight; he had lost enough friends on this odyssey and did not wish to lose anymore.
“Any change in Heather?” he asked Cyrus. “And where did you put her?”
“No changes,” replied the big merc. “Heather and Lena are in escape pods; Lena in Pod-One, Heather in Pod-Two, just in case we need to get out in a hurry.”
“Good thinking,” agreed Kendrick. “All right, Cyrus, I want you and Keyes to keep Terri and Fiona safe. Kang, Father, you two, come with me.”
“To do what?” asked Mun.
“Meet our adversary, that’s what,” Kendrick declared. “Whoever’s behind this is probably on their way here, if they aren’t here already.”
“What if they just blow us to bits?” a worried Terri asked.
“Then we take to the escape pods if possible, or we die in space,” said Kendrick. “There ain’t a lot of options here; unless they contact us, all we can do is prepare as best we can.”
Fiona pulled him to her tightly, then lowered his breather and kissed him. “I will be with you,” she promised. “I am in your heart, never forget that!”
“I know,” he replied. “All right everyone, let’s move out!”
Mun nodded and the three went back into the main corridor to the primary boarding air lock and prepared their ambush.
It did not take long for their enemy to make his presence known. Royce’s datapad chirped and a deep voice came through, the face on the screen unfamiliar. The face was that of a middle-aged Caucasian male. He was clean shaven, but still had the shadow of a beard. Dark hair going gray at the sides, framed a distinguished looking face; one which wore an expression of confident arrogance. His voice marked him as an American, though Kendrick could not pinpoint the region.
“Captain Kendrick Royce, we meet at long last.”
“You have me at a disadvantage,” said Kendrick as formally as he could manage.
“In more ways than one,” the man replied. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve followed your exploits for quite some time, Captain Royce. You’ve proven far more resourceful than even I had predicated.”
“Still don’t know who you are,” quipped Kendrick.
“Colonel Siegfried Tracht, U.S.S.M.C.”
“And Lorgen’s commander, I assume,” Kendrick added, hoping for confirmation.
“He was on loan,” said Tracht. “I warned him to be professional with you; he was to contact you and extend an offer, not destroy the Fujin and fire at you. Nor was he supposed to destroy the A.M.S. Verona or hijack the Ness Frigate, Ramos, or hijack the U.S.S. Phantasm. He’s still after you, but he’s on my long list of people who need to disappear … permanently. But I always have a backup plan and you hired her on Luna.”
“So Heather was working f
or you the entire time,” sighed Kendrick.
“Not to her knowledge at the time, but yes,” confirmed Tracht. “That’s why I wasn’t worried when Lorgen broke bad; I already had my ace in the hole. Now, it’s time to talk turkey.”
“Okay; shoot,” said Kendrick. “Tell me what you want.”
“I already have what I wanted from Doctor Keane,” Tracht began. “I’m prepared to purge her record and leave her with you as an olive branch.”
“Okay,” Kendrick said, keeping his voice even. “What else do you want? You didn’t go to all this trouble just to tell me that, did you?”
“Not at all,” said Tracht. “As I said; I want to make you an offer.”
“Go on,” Kendrick prompted him, annoyed by the cat and mouse games.
“Royce, I’ll be blunt; we want you.” Tracht smiled his warmest, most personable smile.
Kendrick knew the look; it was a mask designed to put the other party at ease. But the captain was in no position to fight back. Unless Tracht sent men to board them, they were dead in space, while Tracht was probably aboard a warship more than capable of vaporizing the crippled star liner. Best just to hear him out, the captain thought.
“Captain Royce, you outflew … everyone! You command a frigate-sized liner all by your lonesome and you’re a goddam rock and roll icon to boot! We want you in the fleet.”
“If I’d wanted to be in the fleet, I could have joined right out of the academy; my scores were higher than anyone’s before or since.”
“True enough, Royce,” said Tracht. “For starters, I’ll insure that you won’t be prosecuted as an accessory to Doctor Keane, the possession and reactivation of a sentient G.A.I.S.F and the deaths of the soldiers you had to kill in your escape from Lorgen. In other words, you get to live.”
“What about my crew and my ship?” Kendrick would go to the gallows for something he believed in, but if his crew were going with him, then it was not worth it. He still had no idea what the status of Lena was and hoped that Tracht might have a means of restoring her.
“I’m authorized to offer full pardons for your crew, including Cyrus Freeman, and you keep your ship,” said Tracht. “Starfleet and the United States government will waive their claim to the android, but it stays with you; I can’t guarantee its safety otherwise. Look, Kendrick; I like you. Your acceptance of this offer helps us both. It’s a win/win.”
“How do I know you’ll keep your word?”
“Well,” said Tracht with a chuckle, “really, you don’t. But this whole conversation is a waste of my time if I don’t keep my word, now isn’t it?”
“Can I have a few minutes to decide?” Kendrick asked. “I need to confer with my crew. No tricks, Colonel; you have my word.”
“Because I know what your word means,” said Tracht, “I will extend to you thirty minutes.”
“That’s more than fair, Colonel,” said Kendrick with relief. “Contact me on this frequency in thirty minutes’ time.” He closed the channel, then produced a roll of electrical tape and covered the microphones of his data-pad and those of Ronan and Mun, then closed the covers.
“Okay, let’s get to the cargo hold. We have a lot to discuss.”
Adrimal Bruce’s image hovered over a table in the conference room with Colonel Tracht and Captain Gifford’s aboard the Liberty. Tracht was calmly drinking a glass of whiskey, while Bruce seemed to be pacing nervously.
“You think he’ll take it?” asked Admiral Bruce.
“Hard to say,” said Tracht. “On the one hand, he’d rather die than be roped into working for the military. But even more than his principles, he loves that ship and those people. After his wife died, he’d have willingly gone to his death just to spite you. But now? Heather’s covert communiqués told me that he had a new lease on life; he married Doctor Keane and the two are madly in love. That gives us leverage.”
Carol Gifford’s winced at the comment, while Bruce looked angry.
“You mean you’ll let that bitch live?” the admiral barked.
“I’m authorized to, so of course. A guarantee of her safety, guarantees his cooperation.”
“What about that Escort-7 unit?” Bruce was most concerned about this.
“What about it?” Tracht asked nonchalantly. “He keeps it on that ship and puts it to work, and Starfleet gets real-time feedback about how well an android can be integrated with a living crew.
“Sentient androids represent an existential threat to the human race,” Bruce warned. “We can’t let them live! Not even one!”
“Yes, we can,” Tracht countered. “This mission is far more important than your android fixation. The android stays and that comes from higher up the chain than you and I. We may have to ask for Keyes and the Jenkins woman if the Alliance raises a stink, but I doubt he considers them part of his crew.”
“And if he does?”
“Don’t fuck this up, Admiral,” warned Tracht. “This is the closest we’ve gotten to actually getting him to work with us. And I still haven’t forgotten about your little indiscretion with that G.A.I.S.F. unit in the first place; the unit most directly responsible for killing those troopers, though I’m happy to hang that on Lorgen now that he’s gone off the deep end.”
“You play a dangerous game, Colonel,” Bruce warned.
“We all play a dangerous game, Admiral,” Tracht countered. “But not all of us play to win. I’m playing the long game, Admiral. I win, and humanity wins; and the future of our species is secured.”
Kendrick and his crew were gathered in the cargo bay, expressions ranging from grimly determined to worried sick as he relayed what Tracht had told him.
“That’s Tracht’s offer,” said Kendrick in closing. “Heather was a plant. It’s me they’re after; they want me to work for them and they seem willing to go to very extreme lengths to get me to say yes.”
“And we all get pardoned and can go on our merry way?” Cyrus was dubious about this and Keyes’ expression said that she was as well.
“Yeah, that’s the gist of it,” confirmed Kendrick. “Lena and Fiona remain aboard Selene; or whatever ship they put me on, and the rest of you are free as a bird.”
“And you trust them?” asked Keyes incredulously.
“No, I don’t trust them, Amanda,” Kendrick retorted angrily, “but I’m not exactly bargaining from a position of strength, now am I?”
“No, I guess not,” Amanda sighed with resignation.
“We’re at Tracht’s mercy,” Kendrick reiterated. “He’ll be contacting me in less than five minutes anyway, so unless Father O’Carmody can produce a miracle, we either take his offer or face U.S. justice, which will include a lot of what amounts to torture rebilled as ‘enhanced interrogation’ methods prior to either dying or disappearing into some privatized prison, all while Lena gets disassembled. I won’t do that to you, any of you and I couldn’t bear to see them do that to Fiona and Lena. I’ll swallow my pride and take the offer, principles be damned.”
“You know,” said Ronan, “God produces miracles, not priests. But I pray without ceasing that He’ll see fit to send one our way.”
Before Kendrick could respond, his datapad chirped, indicating that Tracht was calling. He opened the lid and removed the tape from the microphone.
“Royce here.”
“Captain Royce,” said Tracht. “Have you made your decision?”
“Yeah,” Kendrick acknowledged. “I’ll work with you. So long as my crew is pardoned and released, including Keyes and Terri, and so long as I retain possession of my ship and custody of Heather and the gynoid, Lena.”
“Absolutely,” said Tracht, as though it were obvious. “I wouldn’t dream of parting you and the lovely synthetic lady. You will also have custody of Doctor Keane … oh, excuse me; Doctor Kinsale. So far as the public and the rest of the corporate world are concerned, Doctor Keane is dead. Fiona Kinsale never leaves your side or your employ; consider this her sentence. So if you two get a ‘divorce,’ you’ll b
e widowed … so to speak. And Heather … oh, she’s my insurance. I wouldn’t dream of parting her from you either, though she might be a little different than you remember upon waking.”
“Fair enough,” Kendrick said, not happy about that last part. “And the rest of them go free; no agents hunting them down, no arranged accidents, and no funny business?”
“So long as they keep up their end of the bargain,” the colonel warned.
“And just what is their end of the bargain?”
“They maintain the story you’re going to tell the press,” said Tracht. “A story that will exonerate the U.S., portray Lorgen as going rogue and confirm the harmonious nature of our new partnership. Oh, and an agreement never to work against any U.S. based corporation. Of course, Keyes and her little girlfriend go back to the Alliance. This project is bigger than any of them.”
Kendrick was intrigued in spite of himself. “All right, Colonel; you’ve got yourself the fastest ship in the stars, and her captain.”
“Son, you made the right choice,” said Tracht cheerfully. “And your country will thank you. Now, I need you to come aboard the Liberty so that we can ‘shake on it’ so to speak.”
“Sign on the dotted line?” asked Kendrick.
“You know it, Captain,” Tracht said with a chuckle. “I’ll send a shuttle to retrieve you, and only you. Don’t get any ideas about offering resistance now, Captain; your crew will pay the price if you do.”
“I already agreed, didn’t I?” Royce was perturbed at Tracht’s continued need to threaten. “I’m not going back on my word.”
“I’m sorry, Captain,” said Tracht good-naturedly. “Old habit. Shuttle will be there in ten minutes. Be ready.”
“Yeah,” sighed Kendrick. “I’ll exit in a space suit. Don’t be late.”
Kendrick stood in the airlock, its outer door open. He gazed out into space, taking in the majesty of the universe and wondering what would become of them. Fiona stood at his side, clothed in a space suite and her exoskeleton. Her confidence in the face of what was happening surprised him; before her encounter with death, Fiona would have been a basket case. Now, she stood resolute, unafraid in the face of the danger that awaited them.
No Safe Harbor: The Silver Liner Page 20